14 Months Old

Our sweet little Kendall is 14 months old this week! Words to describe her at this age are: playful, curious, excitable, lovable, and busy!

I think Kendall's verbal development is on the verge of an explosion. But for now she still sticks to the basics like "dada," "mama," and "papa" but has recently added "hot" and "dahh" (for dog). She knows that a nod of the head means yes and shake means no. And she's been signing regularly for "more," "please," and "eat." When she gets really excited about something, she speaks in tongues! She erupts with all kinds of vocal tones, "words," and pitches for several seconds straight - it's pretty fun to watch and hear :)

Things Kendall cannot get enough of are babies (real, dolls, or pictures), airplanes, and dogs and cats (real or pictures). The sight of each of these results in her speaking in tongues, so you can imagine how much speaking she did at Babies R Us and the pet store the other day! We checked out a book about cats from the library the other day and she will page through it until she finds her favorite page - one where the cat is eating from a dish - and she'll squeal with excitement while signing "eat" over and over again. 

She can sit and play with her dolls independently for long stretches of time. She feeds them, rocks them, pushes them in the stroller, and covers them with blankets for naps. Sometimes I peek in on her in the playroom and she's just standing there rocking a baby looking out the window. Hmm, seems oddly familiar to me... She's got the biggest heart for babies -- and she's just a baby herself :)

Kendie (our top nickname for her) has become quite attached to some of her favorite items. She has to bring three things in her crib with her for naps and nighttime: her baby doll and two stuffed animals (a bunny and a monkey). Katelyn was never attached to a "lovey" except for her paci if that counts, so it's new to me that Kendall sleeps with comfort items. She's a great sleeper and is usually down for the night by 7 or 7:30 and sleeps until 6 when she wakes up to eat and then goes back to bed until about 7:30 am. 

She's still just the sweetest little thing - she loves to run full speed and just wrap her arms around legs for a standing hug. She also blows kisses and gives hugs and high fives generously. Lately, she's been pushing boundaries to see if they're still in place day after day. Her favorite is to stand on the toddler chairs in the playroom and look at me with an "I'm doing something I shouldn't and it makes me feel adventurous" grin!  

Her most daring feat (so far!) happened a couple weeks ago. We had just arrived home from Target and Katelyn ran to the backyard to play. I brought Kendall and an armful of grocery bags into the house via the door that goes from the garage to the house. I quickly ran back out to grab the final bag from the trunk and upon arriving back at the door (we're talking 10 seconds max), realize it's been LOCKED. All other doors are also LOCKED. My baby is LOCKED in. And we are LOCKED out. Nooo! Noooooooo! By the grace of God, my cell phone was in the car (not in my diaper bag like it usually is, which was locked in the house... with the baby.) I called Michael in a panic while I planted myself in front of an open window and summoned Kendall to me through the screen. That open window was also a blessing. After Coach Michael gave some clearcut instructions to this panicked, unable to think straight mama, the adrenaline pumping through my veins allowed me to tear through the screen, hoist the window up with Superman-strength, and shake and shimmy my big bottom through it to finally reach Kendall. Not a pretty sight, I'm certain, but the reunion sure was. My mind was racing and I had visions of her doing all the "off limits" things to hear heart's content: climbing stairs (and falling), splashing in the toilets, eating an entire bag of candy corn, ingesting cleaning products, and lighting matches - ha! Thankfully, the whole ordeal was only about 4 minutes, but it was a L-O-N-G 4 minutes.

She made up for all of it with this...

And she has since signed a contract agreeing to give me more snuggles in lieu of any more lockouts. :)

Kendall, you are such a ray of sunshine! Thank you for sharing all the smiles, laughs, and love  - oh, the love! - with us. You're a beautiful blessing - pure and simple.