Kyla is now two and a half, and grows evermore independent with each passing month. She has now decided that she wants to dress herself and put on her own shoes. This coupled with the fact that she wants to get herself into her car seat means that we have to plan for extra time to get out of the house, but the more she does it, the faster she'll get. She is playing independently a lot more too, which has made her parents' lives a little easier.She is doing a fine job with her manners, saying "please" and "thank you" usually without being asked. In fact she has even begun to remind me when I owe someone a "thank you," especially when I owe her one.
Kyla seems to be a natural leader (in other words, she's bossy). She gets a kick out of giving direction to her friends, who are often happy to oblige her. In her favorite roll playing game she is a teacher while Becky and I are her students. Her class is an eclectic one that includes saying our ABC's, singing songs, and doing jumping jacks.
Sharing is still not one of Kyla's strong suits however. After Stroller Strides she gets to play at Toddler Time and Becky has told her she needs to let other children play with any toy she is done with. Her answer to this rule is to gather all of her toys around her so that she is able to touch each one concurrently. I have to admire her ingenuity.
Kyla made her first visit to a dentist that went surprisingly well. She was very cooperative opening her mouth for her teeth cleaning and fluoride treatment and never seem to get too scared. When I got home that night she was very excited to tell me about it.
She finally decided that she wanted to move into her new room after we made a big deal about her new "big kid bed." Once she seemed comfortable there we started working on getting Blake's room ready by putting on a fresh coat of paint, replacing the gliders pink cushions with red ones, and putting the B-L-A-K-E letters up above the window.
On the 18th Cassie and Lexie threw Becky a baby shower. It was a girls-only affair for the first half, but then Kyla and I were allowed to join for the remainder. In baby shower tradition there were games, including one that required the participants to guess what each of three different bags of white powder were (none of which would have been found at an '80s New Wave party). Blake received a lot of very boyish clothing and Kyla even got some big sister gifts.Two more months to go!
