Kaelia's 1st Swim

We took Kaelia swimming for the first time today. Taelyn loves to swim in our little pool across the street, and Kaelia loves to participate in anything that Taelyn does. So we got the girls dressed in their little bathing suits and decided to go for a swim since it was a pretty hot day.

Kaelia loved the water! I started her off by sitting her on my lap and dangling her feet in the water. She kept inching forward and trying to lunge right off my lap, so I put her entire body in the cold water (pools are not heated here), and she loved it. I think she especially liked "standing" next to Taelyn while I held her so she could feel like she was just like her big sister. Taelyn loved having Kaelia in the water too. She came over to pat Kaelia's belly from time to time and tried to impress Kaelia by showing her all her "big kid" swim moves. This entailed jumping up in down in the water and splashing. Taelyn even got a little carried away and went under water a couple of times. She is really good at holding her breath when this happens and then thinks it is funny to blow the water out of her mouth and off her face.

Taelyn - 18-21 Months

Taelyn has been growing as usual over the last three months, both physically and intellectually. She is now 25.6 lbs., and 32 inches tall. She has continued to slim down in baby fat while growing in length.

Taelyn's interest in the alphabet has certainly not decreased. She now knows all of the letters while only a few of them are still difficult for her to say (S, V, and W). Whenever capital letters are visible (on TV, road signs, books, building signs, etc.), Taelyn will shout out some of the letters with enthusiasm. She also understands that letters come together to make words and has been working on writing her letters. This actually means that she scribbles some lines on her paper and says "T" to show that she just drew a "T." It's pretty cute!

Two and three word sentences are now a regular part of Taelyn's vocabulary while she will attempt to also say more than three words if she is repeating a phrase that we say. And Taelyn likes to sing songs as well. Her favorites are the Winnie the Pooh song and the Elmo song. For the Winnie the Pooh song, she will sing "ah na ah na Pooh, ah na ah na, stu uh uh" which translates to "Winnie the Pooh all stuffed with fluff."

Taelyn has recently started saying the word "no" as well. As of right now, she says it to be cute or funny - not to be difficult. Sometimes when I ask her if she wants to get her diaper changed, she will smile at me, blush, and say "Oh" (that's her way of saying "no") so that she can get a response out of me. I of course act like I am shocked that she said "no" and she thinks that she did something really funny.

Aside from the verbal growth, Taelyn has also become very affectionate over the last few months. She loves to gives hugs and kisses and tell us that she loves us. Whenever she talks about love, she gives herself a hug and says "oh oo, mama" or "oh oo, dada" for "love you mama, love you dada." And she loves to give Kaelia hugs and kisses too. This also extends to her favorite toys (Elmo, dog, any Pooh character, pig) and the pictures inside of her books.

Taelyn is going through a very exciting time in life as she learns to communicate and do things on her own, and we are enjoying every minute of it! Here is a little slideshow to capture some of her best moments these last three months.

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Kaelia - 5 Months

This past month has gone by fast, and I can't believe Kaelia is already 5 months. She has grown significantly this month, now weighing 15.7 lbs with a length of 25.8 inches and a head circumference of 15.8 inches. She barely gained any weight last month, but she certainly made up for this month by packing on two extra pounds - and it shows!

Kaelia started off the month with a big fascination with her toes. She loves to grab them and study them - especially when she is wearing pajamas with objects on the feet. She has one pair with bees on the feet that she (and her sister) love to play with. About half way through this month, Kaelia also rolled over for the first time. We were playing Nintendo Wii while we were on vacation in Hermanus. Kaelia was on her stomach just under the TV, and I think she wanted to see what all of the commotion was about. (She doesn't usually fuss much, but always want to be included in what we are doing.) As Kaelia turned her head to get a better view of our crazy Wii antics, she gradually kept moving and moving until she made a complete roll on to her back. Since then, she has rolled over a few more times, but not consistently yet. Kaelia found her voice this month too. She likes to scream from the top of her little lungs just because she can. Whenever she does this, she is in a great mood and smiles along as she screams.

Kaelia continues to admire her sister every day. She often will reach out and try to touch Taelyn's arm or pull her hair. During bath time, Kaelia loves to kick her sister over and over again, and Taelyn doesn't mind at all; we are rather surprised too because Kaelia has a pretty powerful kick!

Trick or Treat!

We just went on our first trick-or-treating experience as a family tonight, and we had such a good time. Kaelia was an M&M which was quite fitting for her because she often makes the same expression on her face that the M&M guy makes on her onesie. Taelyn was Winnie the Pooh because he is one of her favorite characters these days. When we went to the costume shop to pick out an outfit, she saw the Pooh costume and immediately started saying him name over and over. Then when she tried it on, she didn't want to take off; she walked all around the store staying "Pooh" in her costume. Everyone else in the store certainly seemed to be entertained.

During our trick-or-treating extravaganza, Taelyn did a very good job of saying "trick or treat" before getting her candy (it actually sounded more like "ticky tee") and "thank you" afterward ("tay tee"). And the fact that she got candy every time she said "trick or treat" motivated her even more! When we were done, she wouldn't give up her candy bucket.

Kaelia also did very well as her sister went from house to house. She sat in the stroller, smiling as people admired her while passing by.

It was also fun to see how festive the houses were that participated in the trick-or-treating. They went all-out in decorations and setting the mood of Halloween. While one house had a smoke and bubble maker, others even had haunted rooms or pathways that we had to follow to get to the candy. We all had a wonderful time!

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October Break in Hermanus

Last week was our October holiday where we spent a week in Hermanus, South Africa. It is a quaint town about 1.5 hours south of Capetown. Directly up against the ocean, we stayed in a beautiful 10-person house with a small group of people from our school where we spent most mornings watching wales out at sea. Hermanus is the #1 spot in the world to go wale watching.

Justin also took a trip to go shark cage diving. He was placed in a cage off the side of a boat as lots of chum was thrown in to the water to bait the great white sharks. Then when a shark came by, Justin ducked in to the water in snorkeling gear to see the shark come inches from his body. It was quite the thrill-seeking experience.

We spent a day in Capetown as well where the main focus was climbing Table Mountain. This is a decent hike that normally takes the average person about 2.5 to get to the top. Justin decided to run the trail while I took the girls up the cable car; to both of our surprise, Justin actually beat us to the top by running the trail in 30 minutes! Once we met up, he took the girls for a walk at the top of the mountain while I went for a run amongst the trails there. We witnessed some amazing views, although the fog came in quickly and ruined the visibility.

Another highlight of our trip was visiting local wineries in Hermanus. The town is very well-known for its vineyards and wine. We spent multiple afternoons going from winery to winery, trying some samples and having some lunch. The landscape was impressively beautiful as well.

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Kaelia - 4 Months

Kaelia had her 4 Month doctor's appointment today. She has not gained much weight since last month (13.8 lbs. now), but she has jumped in length (24.8 inches) and head circumference (15.7 inches). Another physical feature that has emerged this month is with her hair. It is getting longer every week with a couple of curly strands.

Kaelia has been quite fascinated with her hands this month. She loves to stare at them, suck them, and manipulate random objects with them. Sometimes this even includes her sister's hair. Kaelia also had her first laugh. While sitting in her bouncer, I started singing "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar," and when I shouted out "Kaelia," she opened up a huge grin and let out a few giggles. The more I sang the song, the more she laughed! Several days later, I was able to record her cute little chuckles.

ABC's & 123's

Taelyn has been learning the alphabet and to count this past month. With her counting, she is simply reciting numbers up to five, but it is certainly a start. If we start off by saying "1," then she will respond "2." Sometimes it takes a little prodding on our part, but she will count up to five.

Taelyn understands alphabet recognition even better. She likes to spot letters on various items like her blocks, games that we have in the house, and on her alphabet puzzle. She seems to have mastered B, C, D, E, O, T, X, Y, and Z so far and continues to learn more and more letters every week. And thanks to her puzzle, she has even begun to pair letters with objects. This morning, she just said "D duck" and "O octopus" (octopus is a tough word for her, though, so it didn't exactly sound like it should - but we know what she's trying to say).

I know all parents think that their child is a genius, but we really do feel like Taelyn is taking on her numbers and alphabet earlier than most toddlers. And the fact that she loves learning with her puzzle and will initiate the learning is exciting. Who knows? Perhaps she will know the entire alphabet by the time she is two!