Kailey Update

Now Kailey gets an update. She is a constant delight to us, especially because she's back to sleeping good. We had to let her cry it out some, but we are all feeling much better now that she's back to a long, deep sleep at night. Usually it's eight or nine hours, a feeding, then another couple of hours. I can do that. I was feeling a little bad about letting her cry until she started waking up super happy in the mornings. Then I realized that if I need better sleep, she does too.

She continues to get faster and faster crawling. She's all over the house and will follow me from room to room. She hasn't seemed to even notice the stairs yet which is very nice. I think they're just off her beaten path. As soon as she finds anything slightly raised from the floor, she pulls up on it or uses it to push up. She loves to stand up, raise both hands in the air and squeal in excitement before she falls down. She's getting steadier and steadier both standing and sitting back down from a standing position. She cruises around the couch well and can let herself off the couch into a standing position. She continues to amaze me.

Her most recently acquired skill is a lot of verbalizing. She is saying, "mama," "dada," and "bubba" indiscriminately but definitely knows that the "dada" stands for John because she starts rapidly repeating it when he gets home. She's starting to repeat sounds that I make. Little John never really did that. He just listened and then one day said the word. He was always a studious one. Kailey's a little more hands-on and wants to play the game with you. Both ways are fun. I can already see big differences in their learning styles. John has to have repeated correction and daily setting of boundaries. Kailey figures out you're not going to let her do something and figures it's a waste of time to keep trying. I feel quite sure she will grow into some of the other behaviors with time but he was already showing that tendency at this age.

Speaking of Bubba, he is still a favorite person. She thinks he can do anything! He helps me in the car by entertaining her and I will hear lots of giggles back there while driving. He asks where she is as soon as he doesn't see her for a few minutes and gives her lots of kisses. Precious, precious moments.

Kailey's hugs and kisses are precious, her babbles delightful, her smile sunshine, her laugh contagious, and her love that unconditional baby kind that gives us a glimpse into the heart of God. I think there are few ways that God reveals more of Himself to me than through a small child and what is revealed about my heart when I'm around one.