forever changing into a little girl

Where in the world did my baby go? I realized I was hearing her call me "mom" instead of "mommy" for a few days and her sentances are becoming more accurate and less "cute" as we have called it. Instead of "whad you do?" she says "what did you do?" But at the same time, it sure is easier to understand her!
Although, we have had a few backslides...in the sleep department, of course. She is overwhelmed every night in the dark room, even with her new turtle nightlight. Most nights, she sleeps in the big bed with mommy, which she now calls "kira's bed." Uh-huh, ok. I don't think so!

front page news

we had only been in new york for a few hours, but it was the annual ice cream social and fireworks party, so we all headed over to the rec center. Kira spent most of the time running away from us and splashing in the mud puddles, but sat still long enough to get her picture taken...it was on the front page of yesterday's newspaper!
See here:
http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=CA&Date=20070711&Category=NEWS0412&ArtNo=707110804&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=3

Juice, please...

I had worried about this some when Alayna was a newborn. That Kira might get jealous of Alayna's feeding times and want to try and nurse again. Of course, she didn't. But just a couple of nights ago, I was sitting in the rocking chair with Alayna for the upteenth time to feed her. Kira sat patiently on the bed until I was done and Alayna was safely in her crib. Then, she said "kira's turn, mommy." Thinking she just wanted some cuddle time (because she often says "kira's turn" and comes to sit with me), I hoisted her up into my lap. We rocked for a minute and then she started fiddling with my shirt...afraid of what might happen next, I stopped her and explained that only babies drank milk from mommy and big girls needed to use a cup. She looked at me with those big blue eyes and said.....

JUICE, PLEASE!

And then just laughed and laughed.

Silly girl!

Singing and reading

Kira loves to sing. And I mean LOVES to sing. Everything is a song to her! We have tons and tons of children's music CDs and she knows every word to all the songs! She also loves to sing the songs that her daddy makes up...especially the ones he sings to Alayna. She also loves to tickle Alayna...and even says "ticka, ticka, ticka" and just laaauuuugggghs!

She has also been reading, and reading, and reading...we have been going to the library once a week so she can pick out a couple of books (and we have started going to a playgroup there, too). She gets so excited! Her favorite books right now are:

The Day the Babies Crawled Away (babies crawed ayay)
Hurry, Hurry (she can read this whole book to herself!)
Curious George
Kitten's First Full Moon
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (mommy's personal favorite!)

I am starting a wish list for Kira online at Amazon. Although we love to check out books at the library, it would be better to have our own copies of the ones we read every day! We also have some DVDs and Educational books we want! Here is her list:
http://amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/002-9240328-7514464?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=3IML7T10O5CWY

Of course, mommy actually finds a little time to read now, too...so she has her own list. Only a few books on it at this current moment, but I have a list of over 50 books that I have been wanting to read! Hopefully today I will get the list uploaded...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/21UUDJCYRWUNU/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go/002-9240328-7514464

Coming soon...an online list of my favorite books for kiddos and mommys. :)

Backslide

We have had a major backslide in the sleeping. Kira has been so good at putting herself to sleep for naptime and bedtime, that it took us completely by surprise when she stopped. She was fine one night and the next night she came running out every 30 minutes or so to find us. And it never stopped. We are going on 3 weeks now of not sleeping well. We have tried sitting with her to help her fall asleep, stickers as rewards, following a bedtime routine, moving bedtime back (and forward, too!). Nothing is really working. So, what we need now is prayer. Prayer that she will go to sleep soon, because if Kira doesn't sleep, then nobody else does either!

Pop goes the keys...

Since my computer was having so much trouble, I splurged on a new laptop a couple of weeks ago. So far, I really love it...and so does Kira. She loves the slide show of all my pictures that pops up as a screen saver. And, last night, she loved popping off all the keys on the keyboard! Ack! I wa in shock when I came into the room and realized what I was looking at. Of course, I was able to pop most of them back on. My shift key and my enter key, though, are not quite right...and may never be like they should be. I have to order a new shift key to make it work as part of the spring is missing. The odd part was that I am a fast, no sight of the keys needed kind of typist. But, when it came to putting all those keys back on, I could not remember where most of them went! It was a challenging puzzle to say the least! So, I guess it's no more slide show for Kira for a while. Until i can figure out a safe way to keep it at eye level again...

Injured at class

I knew it would happen eventually. She loves to "dangle" from my arms and swing...and she often tries to plop down when I hold her hand to cross the street, which results in being dragged a few seconds before we can readjust. I didn't think it would happen at music class.
We were playing a game all holding hands in a circle when she tripped (or lunged maybe, I don't really know!). There was a crackle in her arm and a few seconds before the scream. I knew what had happened right away, so we were able to go to the side of the class and get ourselves pulled together. She wouldn't let go of her arm and she was very upset. SHe wouldn't move her arm at all from the elbow down. I moved it a little, thought it snapped back, but she was still loudly upset.
So, of course, we called the doctor, who said to come right in. Of course, by the time we got there, it was better. But, she taught me how to fix it, not if, but WHEN it happens again! UGH!