Another month of new discoveries and learning, learning learning!
You have totally figured out possession this month. "Daddy chair, mommy shirt, daddy bike, Kinley seat, mommy car."
I didn't realize it until recently but you also seem to get plurals. I never really noticed if you were saying things like "dogs" vs. "dog." But a week or so ago I made you 8 little snowmen out of toilet paper rolls to play with and I hear you often saying "snowmans." That's when I first realized that you knew to put an "s" on the end. And I grin to myself every time I hear "snowmans."
Once I heard you sing along with a song playing. We listen to a family station on Pandora and there is a song that says "But the one little duck with the feather on his back, He led the others with his quack, quack, quack." And you jumped right in with the quacks that day.
You're getting better and better at saying your own name. It still sounds something like "Heenee" most of the time, but it's getting more and more clear every day.
We've traveled all over the place this year, which means Daddy and I decided it didn't really make sense to travel for the holidays. Since we were here on Thanksgiving and I was cooking anyway, Daddy invited his friend Patrick and his Dad, Tom, to come join us, rather than eating Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant as they had planned. We enjoyed the extra company, and you had lots of fun playing with Tom. I was busy in the kitchen and noticed Daddy and Patrick both nearby but no sign of you. I peeked around the corner to check on you and there you were sitting on the couch with Tom, happy as a clam. After we ate you were ready for him to play with you again and he was enjoying himself thoroughly as well. Tom doesn't have any grandchildren and since your grandparents couldn't be here with us, I think the two of you made a great pair.
You have turned into official trash patrol when we visit parks or other public places. When you see trash on the ground you point and won't go on until I pick it up. This means I often end up with pocketfuls of trash by the time we find a trash can upon leaving the park. I do appreciate your need to take care of the environment, so I'm not complaining. (Though sometimes I would prefer not to have to pick up some of the really yucky stuff.)
If there was ever any doubt that you miss Daddy when he's not here, we now know. Multiple times every day you say "Daddy work" and point to the door.
You say "Daddy" any time you hear my phone ring or chime.
You have discovered the doorbell and say "button" every time we go in and out. I let you push it and when it rings you say "Daddy." I don't exactly get that one, since Daddy generally doesn't ring the doorbell, but whatever makes you happy.
I am completely to blame for this one. You say "tootin'" anytime you or anyone farts. Turns out, that happens more than I realized. It's adorable so I don't even care if you do it in public or in front of other people, Daddy and I just think it's funny. One night you got up in the early morning hours and came in to our bed. We're all laying quietly trying to go back to sleep and out of nowhere: "Tootin'!" I couldn't help it, I started giggling, you did too, and Daddy was just trying to figure out what we were doing still awake.
You love accessories. Shoes, bags, sunglasses, hats. This feels the complete opposite of me so I secretly (a) fear you being a big shopper and me having to fund it and take you places to do it, and (b) hope you have great style and can dress me when you get older.
When you are struggling with something and want to ask for my assistance, you bring it to me and say "help you." I know this is a result of me asking "do you want me to help you?" countless times. I think it is adorable.
There are some disposable bowls and napkins in a low cabinet that you like to play with. One day I was making dinner and looked over to find you had placed a paper bowl at each place at the table. It was adorable. Since then I've often found you "setting the table" with the bowls, napkins, and even some of your kiddie cups and plastic forks.
You try to play Daddy and me by asking for hugs when we ask you to do something you don't want to. Like, "Kinley I want you to sit on the potty for a few minutes." "Hug!" To which I reply, "I would love to give you a hug, once you're sitting on the potty." (Not to give the impression that you don't like the potty, you're doing amazing with it!)
You love Christmas trees this year. And I love that you love them.
You have become obsessed with marshmallows. You want them every day, or more accurately, at every meal and snack, and in between. Though I can't blame you. I love marshmallows, too. You say "mow-ohs" and point to the pantry.
I'm quite certain your favorite color is blue. When given the choice between different colors of the same item you almost always choose blue.
And now, for your biggest achievements this month....
1. Letters - You can fully recognize LOTS of letters, both capital and some lowercase. I don't even have an estimate of how many you know because sometimes I hear you identify letters I didn't even know you knew, so I think the number is a lot higher than I even realize. On top of that, you are learning the sounds the letters make. When we ride in the car or walk around in the grocery store I will ask you "what sound does __ make?" and you love to be able to tell me.
Your favorite letter has been B from the beginning. It's the first one you could identify and the first one you knew the sound for. For weeks you've been walking around the house saying "B uh buh" (B says buh), which I'm pretty sure came from the singing alphabet magnets we have on the fridge from your Toliver cousins.
2. Colors - You can correctly identify red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and black.
3. Animal Sounds - Just like the letter sounds game, you like to do the same with animal sounds. You know the sounds for cat, dog, horse, cow, pig, sheep, rooster, chicken, frog, owl, monkey, and lion. I'm sure you would love to know more but I ran out of sounds to teach you. If anyone reading this can think of other animal sounds, please give me some ideas.
4. Numbers - You can count to 12 with minimal assistance. The "minimal assistance" is that I let you say a number then I repeat it before you say the next one. For some reason you do better if I say the number before, as opposed to you just counting straight through on your own. This has been great fun in the past week or so as this is very new. You love it and Daddy and I do too.
The first time we discovered that you knew how to count was when you and I went outside before bed to look at the moon. Every night when we do this I point out what we see (moon, stars, cars going home, city lights, street lights) and then we count planes. You have started pointing out these things for me and one of the nights when I got ready to start counting planes you jumped right in with "1, 2." That night you made it to 3 and from there you just keep counting higher and higher.
Finally, an update on potty training. You are doing great. When we are at home you wear only underwear unless you are napping or overnight. I would say we get around 70% of your pee in the potty and pretty much 100% of your poops. You sometimes tell me when you need to go, which is huge. Other times, when I ask you to sit on the potty you immediately go, which tells me you have been holding it. Another big win. A few days ago I decided to even start trying some naps diaper-free. I don't intend to start going out of the house or overnight without a diaper for awhile but I think we're making huge strides anyway. This may seem like a lot of talk about pee and poop, but if you one day have children of your own, you will understand.
I also taught you to say "love you." It's great.
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