KACEY IS 1 (PLUS SOME)

Kacey is 1 (plus 2 months)! Two months ago our baby burst into toddlerhood. She already fills the roll well.

We celebrated Kacey's birthday in Washington this year. Unfortunately (or maybe not unfortunately) for her, her birthday falls near a holiday, and this year especially fell on the weekend. We took advantage of the weekend and holiday and drove to Washington to visit Kyle's parents. We arrived the evening before her birthday and partied the next day. She wasn't feeling especially fantastic that day. She had a bit of a fever and was cranky. Poor girl. She perked up for some cupcake- but didn't really get into it as much as we had hoped.

At 11 months Kacey picked up on walking and she hasn't really stopped moving since. She walks and walks and walks. And gets into everything. I really love that she walks now. I don't have to carry her everywhere and she can entertain herself more easily. This also means more messes to clean up and a more constant watch over where she is. "Where's Kacey?" is a common phrase around the house. 

Our house isn't set up well for baby gates. So, I just don't put any up. Instead upon being mobile our babies learn to go up and down on their own. Kacey is proficient in the stairs- which also means she is all over the house. Up and down the stairs she goes, all day long. Usually she wants to be where her older sisters are, even if they might not want her around. Keira's latest complaint: "Kacey is super bugging me." She tries to close Kacey out of the playroom so she won't mess up her play. Soon enough these two will be buddies and Kacey will stop "super bugging" her.

Kacey is a bookworm. She loves to read books. All. Day. Long. Which is fantastic. Except for when I'm busy trying to make dinner or something and she doesn't understand the need to be patient. Otherwise, there are almost always board books pulled out on the floor. She's quite funny to watch her select a book. She pulls out books and drops them on the floor until she finds one that interests her. Of course she has her favorites, which are usually full of pictures of animals, or Dr. Seuss's The Eye Book. For a time any book she wanted to read she would bring to us repeating "eye... eye..." 

Kacey wanted to read, but I was occupied in the kitchen at the moment.
Keira was kind and volunteered to read The Eye Book to her.

Slowly Kacey is starting to talk. She has said uh-oh for a while now, she also says baby (dada), up, and hi. She has a few signs she uses consistently: all done and water (which is her multipurpose sign for any drink and sometimes even just a signal that she wants something.) Kacey also knows a good number of animal sounds: dog, cat, fish (open/close lips), rabbit (sniff), snake, cow, horse, sheep, duck, pig, gorilla (beats chest with fists), elephant, lion, bee, penguin (waddle). 

She is obsessed with animals. If we are at the park and someone else has brought their dog, I can hardly peel her away from them. It is a constant game of pulling her back, otherwise she won't leave them alone. She just gets so excited to see animals. 

Kacey loves to drag any of her swaddle blankets around the house, and often will have two or three in tow. She also loves to carry around any baby doll and will give them hugs and pat their backs. Just last week we discovered how much she enjoys balls. She loves to throw and chase them, but she also does a pretty good job dribbling them around. She will be entertained for a good 20-30 minutes by kicking the soccer ball around the living room and down the stairs. She also enjoys being destructive with the girls' Legos, which of course they don't appreciate so much. Especially Hailey. We hear a lot of "No, no, Kacey" from Hailey.

I've found the best way to entertain her is to give her a container with something in it along with a second empty container. She will transfer the contents from one to the other and back again. That started when she began to pull down the fruit strips or granola bars from the pantry and put them in the recycling container. Now I most often give her a bag of pom poms and a round utensil holder to put them in. It makes a huge mess, I've been finding them all over the house, but it keeps her entertained for a little while when I need it. She also loves lids. On again, off again. It's good fun.

She also loves to sit herself in a seat: on the stairs, in a chair, in Keira's kitchen booster seat which currently sits on the floor next to her high chair. Stand up, sit down, repeat. Fun and easy entertainment.

With her blossoming toddlerness has come mild tantrums. If she doesn't get what she wants she will throw herself backward onto the floor, or sometimes to whatever is behind her which of course only makes things worse. She knows how to whine/fake cry. It's kind of hilarious to me to see her pull that one out, it's so obvious she's trying to milk it.

She is a pretty good eater, as long as she hasn't snacked too much throughout the day. She loves any type of fruit and will drop everything for it. If she is eating something, but sees something else she wants more, she will spit out the food in her mouth instead of finishing chewing. A few times she has tasted something and didn't like it and immediately tried to wipe it off of her tongue with her hand. She does eat most anything, as long as she is in the right mood. If she isn't, she will dump it all off her tray onto the floor. Hailey isn't a fan of sweeping the kitchen after Kacey has eaten, there is usually plenty to clean up.

Enjoying a post-Lagoon popsicle.

It looks like she fought with the popsicle more than she enjoyed it.
There was even a bit in her hair on the back of her head.

Kacey loves to be outside. If she wants to go out she will bring her shoes to me to put on. She loves to walk along the side walk and explore. She has also discovered how much fun it is to ride Keira's (soon to be Kacey's) scooter. She stands with two feet and holds on with both hands while anyone with the generosity of killing their back pushes her around. We went all the way around the block one day- she held on the whole ride. Recently she has been introduced to slides and the playground. She loves the slide and enjoys climbing up and down the stairs. Pushing things, anything, is a blast. Usually it's her stroller or her bubble lawn mower, sometimes it's even me.

Of course we love Kacey. Honestly, we feel like we have blinked and suddenly she isn't a baby anymore. Though the older she gets the more fun she becomes.