2.5 Years Old!!

My little girl is officially 2.5 years old. Well, yesterday that is. :) We are so blessed by her, but I think you all knew that already. ;)

Yesterday, Kairis said "I don't get it"...her first real official "sentence". I could tell how challenging saying 4 words together was, as it came out choppy at first, but then smooth the second and third time she said it. She is mimicking Tim and I a whole lot these days...her favorites are "Oh goodness!", "oh dear" and other similar phrases. She was at my mom's house Monday night for a couple hours, and when I came to pick her up, she said "no! stay here!". She loves her Nana. :) I'm sure that made my mom feel special.

Kairis has all of her teeth in too--she got the last of her two year old molars in about 2.5 months ago. We are so happy to be done with teething!

I am considering enrolling Kairis in a gymnastics class or something. She is really flexible and enjoys "swinging" on bars, climbing everything and tumbling by doing somersaults. I think she'd really thrive in a group gymnastics class...so, we'll see.

We took a mini vacation to Eagle Crest last week, for a few days. We took Kairis swimming in the indoor pool, and she was hesitant of the water at first, but by the second day, became very comfortable with it again.

On a personal note, we are still in the application process for China. We hope to hear something soon. We are getting anxious and excited about moving, if that's what God has for us.

INFJ

Kairis is starting to speak in sentence form now! It's been a blast watching her communicate with us and others. I have also been reading a great book called "Nurture by Nature" and identifying children's personality type sets through Meyer's Briggs assessments. Kairis is a strong INFJ, meaning she's introverted, intuitive, feeling and judging. Her characteristics as described in the book are so right on--and the most interesting thing is that as she gets old and more talkative, her deep and rich imagination will be more obvious to Tim and I. I have just started to notice what a deep imagination Kairis has, as the other day, I walked into the living room where she was in her "own little world" dancing and talking to herself. As I walked in to grab something, she jumped and said I "scared me!". I guess I "scared her" as she was deep in imaginary play. So cute!!

She is also making things up, and pretend playing a whole lot. The book also described Kairis to a "T" during her baby year, being highly sensitive, cautious, needing lots of affirmation and close physical contact with her parents. Wanting to please, and very compliant. Yep...that's her! A real INFJ. Just like her daddy.

Daddy Date

I had a Saturday meeting a couple weeks ago, and Tim took Kairis on a daddy-daughter date to Burgerville and The Humane Society. She loves animals, so this was a hit! Enjoy these cute pictures!












(this picture is of Kairis doing an infamous "Kairis" thing...wearing Tim's boxers...her fav, the turkeys. :) )

Christmas Memories

We had a special Christmas this year. It seems that Kairis brings so much more joy and excitement along as she gets older....not that we shouldn't have joy and excitement in Christ's birth alone, however there is just something so magical in a way when you are able to view it through a 2 year olds eyes.

Some of our traditions this year included visiting Peacock Lane to see the Christmas lights, making an Advent Calendar with a new activity for each day in December to do together as a family, making gingerbread cookies at GG's while wearing our "ginger" jammies, building a gingerbread house and decorating it, sharing gifts with friends and family, and going to our church Christmas Eve service. I'd say the highlights for Kairis included her fascination and adoration for anything "baby jesus" and nativity related. She loved our nativity scenes, and enjoyed learning about his birthday. She also loved drinking hot cocoa and eating popcorn, as one of the activities from our advent calendar. :)




(insert cheesy grin here)

What is it about 2?

The age of 2 is magical to me. It never used to be, until Kairis came along. I love watching how much she is learning, and being able to participate in the excitement over the simplest of things. Smashing bananas in milk with cheerios for breakfast makes her giggle and squeal in delight. Hearing her gasp with glee in the backseat as a mail truck drives past us, or looking outside the window one early morning as the fog settles in, and exclaiming "snow!!" It's all just so precious to me. My heart melts when she takes her little sticky hands and places them on my cheeks, stares me in the eyes and says "love you mama", "miss you mama" and then gives me a tight hug around the neck. I love hearing her holler when daddy comes home from work and listen to her try and tell him about her day while talking to him on the phone.

My heart is so full of love for this little girl. She's truly a joy to Tim and I, and we thank God every day for giving her to us for this time.

Kairis' Sayings...

Kairis is pretend playing a whole lot these days....she frequently "answers" the door and lets her friends in for tea parties. She loves to cook with garlic, (she's my kinda-gal!) and gets very serious about her play times....often times, she doesn't like to be interrupted, but still insists that I play with her by staying quiet and in the same room with her. Talk about a typical, bossy, controlling first born! I mean that with the best of intentions, too! :)

This morning, she told me that we buy eggs from the bank. Hmm...I might have to break it to her that eggs actually come from chickens and not the nice bank teller behind the window.

Christmas Time 2010

Our little peanut wearing her favorite "meow" jammies.

This Christmas season in our new home has been a joy. The day after we arrived home from Kansas, we decided to don on our rainboots, mittens and warm coats and walk out to our backyard to cut down our very own Christmas Tree, a beautiful Norman Noble. Remember, we moved to a Christmas Tree Farm this past summer? Our excursion didn't last that long, as it was cold and we had a cranky girl on our hands that was still adjusting from the time change and all...but, all in all, it was enjoyable. Here's our cozy country home decked out for Christmas.




The first ornament Kairis hung--a classic handmade (by me when I was little) candy cane.



Like I mentioned...Kairis was a little grouchy on our tree hunt...but cute, none-the-less! ;)