We had a wonderful birthday weekend for Kali with Nana, Poppy, Grandma Gail, Grandpa Rich, Aunt Nat, Uncle Kurt, Celia and Della. We had brunch over at Nana & Poppy's house on a beautiful spring day. I have to admit that, so far, the Spring birthday for Kali is a lot easier to plan than the Winter birthday for Sabrina! Open door, nice weather = play! The girls played in the wagon, the zipline, the water/sand table, and with the spray bottles all morning. Kali loved her chocolate cupcake, and all of the big girls (S, C & D) were very sweet to "Baby Kali" and didn't steal her cupcake or presents (until later...Sabrina thinks some of her presents are great and Kali isn't aware enough to care...yet...).
April has been a very busy month for us with the trip to Cabo earlier, Gail and Rich's visit this weekend and a trip to Santa Fe this coming weekend, so sleep and eating have been in "survival" mode...I'll nurse her when she needs it, feed her whatever she'll eat, even if that means sticking with the food packets for awhile longer, despite the doctor's guidance that she should be eating mostly table food by now. Unfortunately, that usually means Kali still wakes up 1x per night, but it could be worse because she eats quickly and goes right back to sleep. She's a happy baby otherwise, as long as she gets what she wants. She definitely knows how to push us with her constant walking, climbing (on top of EVERYTHING), and curiosity. She gets frustrated when she doesn't have something to do, so that generally means that our travel mugs and tuperware get taken out of the cupboards about 15 times/day - it keeps her busy. She can DESTROY a room in no time these days, just checking everything out. Toys, legos, crayons, napkins, the dishwasher, toys, toys, toys. She'll make an absolute beeline for any open door or staircase and she will let you know that's she NOT ok with you blocking it off. This is becoming more and more of an issue with our back deck! She'll fling herself onto the ground, despondent, if you close the sliding glass door in front of her. She'll run to the bottom of the stairs if she sees an opening (often I am not quick enough to grab the gate, stop her and click the gate in a short enough time and she'll sneak up a few steps...she's a quick little bugger!) But as soon as you catch her eye, she always breaks into a huge smile. If you catch her heading toward the stairs, she'll crack up and go faster. She has a hilarious arm motion when you try to run after her (which completely slows her down...so it's even funnier to watch) with one arm high the other out to the side, in and out, in and out. She's recently discovered the stairs at Nana and Poppy's house and she'll run across the living room (laughing, usually) until somebody discovers her and runs after her.
We've caught a few "mamamamama"s and "dadadadada"s but not very consistently. She's certainly finding her lungs though. She's got a pretty loud "GAA" and "DAAA" while pointing to things and she can shriek loudly when she wants some attention.
She thinks Pongo is funny and tries to play with him, although we have to watch carefully because she's not always very gentle. He continues to be a great dog with the kids, albeit rambunctious, so I think they'll all get along better when the girls are older. When they play around the house, he thinks it's the best thing ever, but he can quickly end the game by running and "playing" which usually means knocking them over or kissing them too excitedly. It's pretty sad to watch, really!
Sabrina has matured so much recently. She's sweet, but realistic about Kalira. She finds her cute, but Kali is so mobile and so curious that she gets into ALL of Sabrina's toys and activities and it gets on her nerves, as it would with anybody. She's not mean to her, but she's not blindly tolerant either. Unfortunately, Kali also has a terrible habit of grabbing Sabrina's hair - it's as if she knows that Sabrina's LEAST favorite thing in the world is somebody touching her hair! Already acting like sisters, I guess.
They've recently started sharing the "tower" in the kitchen and it's been good for them. Sabrina can see that Kali eats some real food now and they each get a water cup and a plate of snacks, but it's also close quarters and leads to some squabbles. It's interesting to see them starting to interact more and more like two girls instead of a girl and a baby. It's been good, though, and I think the next phase, once Kali starts to understand and communicate more is going to be better than the past 6-8 months since Kali has been moving. It's been tough, but I'm hoping that they are just getting some of the sibling frustration out early!
Sabrina is really absorbing letters and reading lately. She certainly can't "read" but she can spell a host of words (Sabrina Day, Kalira Teal, Molly, Brent, Halsey, Nana, Poppy, dog, cat, Pongo, zoo...) and she regularly asks us how to spell certain words. And we're pretty much done being able to spell anything in front of her because she immediately asks "Mommy, what did you just spell?" Kind of defeats the purpose of spelling in the first place! She's starting to write letters well also. She made Poppy a great birthday card a few weeks ago and can write her name fairly well (despite a few backward "S"s now and then).
Another new development lately is that she's suddenly started coloring inside the lines. I remember noticing a few months ago that she colors all over the page, regardless of what is on it. Now, she'll pay special attention to the picture she's coloring, choose colors, and try to stay within the lines.
She pays very special attention to people's likes and dislikes these days. She knows that Poppy doesn't like mustard, Nana likes tomatoes but doesn't like ketchup, I don't like spiders, Daddy likes everything spicy ("but just a little bit spicy"), and cow's milk tastes "a little bit funky" to her. I told her once that Poppy doesn't like it when kids whine and complain and it made a huge impact on her. For weeks after that, she would tell Poppy if she was a little bit grumpy before he saw her that day ("Poppy, I was a little bit grumpy earlier today. You don't like it when kids are whiney, do you?") and she would try not to cry or complain in front of him. Had I known she was going to listen to that so well, I would have made it universal and not just Poppy! It's funny what sticks with her. She'll often comment on something several days after we say it, especially when you think she isn't listening or paying attention because she won't comment at the time you say it, but a few days later, it'll pop out of her mouth at the strangest times. It's always a good reminder to us that she hears everything and understands much more than I believe.
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