Kira, Version 1.5

Happy 18 month birthday to Kira! How did our baby get to be such a big girl?

Kira had her 18 month appointment today and weighed in at 22 pounds, 8 ounces (25th percentile) and 34 inches long (97th percentile). Doctor Mindy was impressed with her language development and her other abilities, such as dressing herself and singing. Alex came along with us for the appointment, as he woke up this morning with a slight fever and cough...and despite the current mania surrounding swine flu, was diagnosed with a simple cold (imagine that!)

At 18 months, Kira is finally walking like a pro. She hardly ever scoots on her tush any more and instead loves to toddle around after her big brother and sister. She WORSHIPS Alex- he's the first person she asks for when she wakes up and the one she wants to say good night to before she goes to bed. Kira loves to sing- she can sing a pretty good version of the ABC's and also "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She has a huge vocabulary- too many words to count- and identifies cars, trucks, dogs, ducks, balls, books and lots of other objects. She loves to draw and always wants to do whatever art projects Alex and Ari are doing, including stamps, markers, paints, play doh, etc.

Kira is a great eater and eats just about everything, unlike her more picky big brother and sister. Her favorite foods are pretzels, cheese, yogurt and ice cream. She is very hard-headed though and wants to do everything (include feeding herself messy foods like cereal and yogurt) by herself. She won't even let Mommy help with brushing her teeth- she insists on doing it herself.

Kira is also a total ham and great actress. She makes happy faces, mad faces and surprised faces to entertain her audience. She's very clingy to Mommy right now but can be happy with Poppy Jack or Opa...a grandpa's girl! She loves to give hugs and kisses and adores puppy dogs.

This week we also had a special visit from Aunt Candy and Cousin Jordan. Arielle in particular took to Jordan and keeps telling Mommy, "I love Jordan!" She is also constantly calling to him to show him things: "Jordan, look!" All three kids have loved having their great aunt and cousin around and are going to miss them a lot when they leave.

We can't believe it is May already but we're looking forward to warmer weather and a fun month ahead!