Where Is the Time Going?

Kaitlyn turned 18 months on March 5!! And we celebrated the anniversary of her sealing on March 8!! I know it sounds so cliche, but I cannot help but ask "where has the time gone?" I sometimes like to gather my little girl up and cradle her like she's a little baby and ask her if she'll be Mama's baby . . . that usually lasts for all of about one second as Kaitlyn would much rather be running and exploring. More than once it's been said to me "she just never sits still does she". The answer to that is NOPE!!

Kaitlyn has truly been a joy to us and Jeff and I can't imagine life without her. What a miracle that she is part of our family!! A few things she enjoys at 18 months:

• Doing it herself. Be it eating, reading, or playing, Kaitlyn likes to do it herself. I've worked out a few tricks with eating and know that if I give her a fork to hold and me a fork to hold I can sometimes get a few bites of more than just crumbs into her mouth. Doesn't always work . . . sometimes she wants to hold both utinsels - one in each hand. (A little beside the point, she's actually a little bit ambidextrous.) She wants to eat whatever Jeff and I are eating. For example, last night I was eating my highly nutritious & healthy dinner of Chik-Fil-A and Kaitlyn wanted some. Happy to share, I fixed her up with her own nuggets and fries, but little missy wasn't happy until she too had her own dipping sauce which she proceeded to eat (straight sauce and nothing else) with a spoon and then her finger once Daddy took away the spoon. She likes to turn the pages of her own books so there's no sitting on Mom's lap to read, she sits on her own chair and I sit on mine and read out loud while she looks at a different book and turns her own pages. Brushing her teeth is another thing she loves so long as she gets to do it herself. But when Mom takes over to scrub, the mouth closes and that's it.
• Climbing. Onto the barstools, up the stairs, down the stairs, onto the counter, onto the table, onto the piano bench (thankfully not any further there). Pretty much nothing stops her. She likes to try to climb the gate I have at the entrance to our family room. So far she stops when we tell her no, but I'm sure some day she'll figure it out. I've seen her get her leg up to try to climb out of the crib, but she's still a little too short - though at 35+ inches it won't be much longer until she figures it out.
• Playing outside. Though winter was mild, with spring has come beautiful weather. Kaitlyn likes to walk outside, play in the grass, and loves the playground. She goes up and down the slides, rope ladders, and climbing walls.
• Her babies. She is a good Mommy who will carry her doll around loving and kissing her. She'll also feed her bottles and with a spoon.
• The computer. Kaitlyn thinks that the funnest thing ever is to play with the mouse on the computer. So we've taken to moving every chair far, far away from the computer desk and pushing the computer and mouse as far away from the edge as possible. Nevertheless, I found one day that a folder had been renamed to "nmnmnbmbnn". Sadly, I have no idea what it used to be named so thus it will remain forevermore.
• The cell phone. Not just any phone - it has to be a real one. BIG thanks to Grandpa O for giving her not just one, but two, phones that were no longer being used at his house. She now has more than me.

I am watching her grow every day and love watching her learn new things. Just recently, she picked up her diaper after I had gotten her out of bed and changed her and she went down the stairs, straight to the garbage, and threw it away. Who knew that she had picked up on that routine. And she goes straight for the bathroom and her toothbrush after scriptures at night. Good thing too - Jeff and I have a bad habit of forgetting teeth at night so she's keeping us on the straight and narrow. And this week Jeff told me that he'd found her with our mail key (which I keep in a kitchen drawer) trying to "work it" at the back door.

She was sneezing the other day and I said bless you, then said to her "Do you need to do it again?" She promptly responded with a quick "Choo" and a giggle. And watching her clap her hands mimicing her Daddy the other night while they played left us all in stitches. He clapped his hands with a big whoosh and she would clap her hands, grunt, and laugh. Oh my gosh - this girl makes me SMILE!!

Enjoy the pictures that were taken March 14.

By the time we finished with the first outfit, I was hoping we'd get her Easter dress. But Kaitlyn usually has her own agenda these days and more pictures was not high on her list. The Easter pictures aren't the cutest pictures she's ever taken, but I'm posting anyway.

I never could get her to put her arm down and with a really cute smile in the previous one. And the last one - well that just pretty much says it all - the columns are knocked over, the bow has been pulled off, and the look on her face pretty much says "she's had it!!"

Here's to the last 18 months and to a great many more yet to come!!