Merry Christmas

Kalea had her 2nd Christmas this year and if this was one to foreshadow the future, then this girl has a lot of presents to look forward to. We did a double dose of Christmas this year, one at my auntie's house and then Christmas day we hosted at our house with Aja's family and my Mom and Bonnie. Kalea unveiled a new look this Christmas - pigtails! Her hair is now long enough for multiple ponytails, so the lil munchkin rocked the Boo look from Monsters Inc this Christmas. She handled gift opening very well, and seemed to not get overwhelmed with all of her new things. She loved the boxes and wrapping paper. She even went as far as kissing a picture of Rudolph on one of the gifts wrapping paper. The kid is full of love that she enjoys to express through kissing everything in sight. We really have been lucky to have such a great lil rug rat enter into our lives, and it is such a treat to watch her as she grows. It is also so much fun to see all the people in her life come around her and cover her with love. Christmas takes on a new light when a child enters in your life, and I have enjoyed watching Kalea during this season play with family, sit on Santa's lap, open presents, and just have fun.

Bag of Tricks

Kalea has a few things down now when you ask her questions. She is able to respond & show that she understands what is being said. This past week Noelle and Bonnie were able to catch a few of them on camera. Please excuse the brief nose picking - this is a trick that we are not very proud of.

Veggies!

Kalea's favorite show has got to be Veggietales. She has watched it since she was little and it was the show that would grab her attention so much that I used it to give her a bottle when she was younger. Now that she is older, Bob and Larry still are her favorite. She has said "Bob" for a while now, and whenever the start of the show happens, she automatically glues her eyes to the screen & asks "Bob?" Here is some of the enjoyment we get out of watching our little kid lovingly dance along and sing with the opening to Veggietales.

Learning

One thing that continues to amaze me about being a parent is watching how fast kids learn early on in their lives. Kalea is really beginning to sound things out and making her own words right now while beginning to grasp new words all the time. She is always asking "what's that?" or her own version of that same question and pointing at things. She is so curious and eager to get into things so that she can see what they do and what she can do with them.
We have set up gates in our house now so that Kalea can't get into the kitchen and go into the hallway. Kalea is already trying to find ways to get around these gates. She constantly tugs on them, and recently she has begun to try and climb these things when she really wants in. she sticks her little foot in any nook or cranny that she can find and tries to lift herself. She has also used her blocks box as a step in some cases to give her a stool to climb up on to help her in her quest to get to the other side.
We have invested in this time of curiousity and learning by getting Kalea a reading system designed for kids under 5. We are expecting it to come in the mail soon and hopefully this can keep Kalea's interest in the right direction instead of using all that brain power to figure out ways to out-think our child safety devices.

Kalea Slideshow

Auntie Bonnie put together a slideshow of Kalea's pics through the last year.

Kalea and Her Kisses

Halloween

Kalea dressed for halloween for the first time this year since last year her mom and dad didn't even reaalize it was halloween until we went out to go to Kalea's first doctor's appointment and saw a bunch of people with costumes on walking in the streets - having a baby seperates you from the real world for a couple of days. Kalea dressed up as bumble bee and we went and had brunch with Aja at her work. Followed that up with a visit to grandma's with a little modeling of the costume. We went window shopping, and then finished the day of at the Kawase's for some dinner & hanging out as trick or treaters interrupted our scary movie watching. The little bee was cute as can be, and I think she knew it because every time she put her costume on she got a smile on her face and looked around for a reaction which was never hard to find. The kid is getting a personality and becomes more aware of her surroundings and what's going on everyday.