Independence

Kaylee's getting to be a lot more independent these days. She's been practicing her walking everyday. She still doesn't take more than a few steps at a time, but she seems to be able to stand for longer periods of time now.

I'm really loving this age with Kaylee. She is such a joy! She's a lot more interactive and can understand what I'm telling her most of the time. She knows what she shouldn't touch, but that doesn't stop her from looking over her shoulder to see if I'm looking. When I am looking, she just smiles that mischevious smile, and backs away.

She likes to play around the coffee table. If we're on opposite sides, she'll duck down and laugh when I poke my head down as well. Then she'll pop up and laugh when I do too. We can go back and forth for quite a while and it seems very amusing to her.

I love the way she finds certain toys and latches on to them. Yesterday she got a hold of a little toy flower pot and some toy gardening tool and wouldn't let go. She held one in each hand for over two hours. If I tried to pry them out, like when I went to feed her, she'd cry. She'd cry when I tried getting her in and out of her car seat and her toys were in the way. But she held on to them with a death grip. They were soon forgotten however, when we got to Jeff's work yesterday and she found a few new toys to hold onto (they have a little play area for kids). She held on to these new toys all evening.

So for the 4th of July we went again to our friends house where they had a bonfire and bbq. Kaylee had a lot of fun playing in the grass and watching us play trac ball. She went to bed in the pack-n-play without a fuss and slept through about two hours of fireworks being shot off right outside the window. But eventually she woke up all scared and confused, so I brought her outside to watch the fireworks. She couldn't get used to them. Every time she jumped and cried. So I took her home early and Jeff just got a ride home. It was a lot of fun while we were there. After I got Kaylee home and put to bed, I watched the Bellingham fire show from our back deck. I could still see it through the trees. It was nice.

So here's a picture of Kaylee in her festive shirt: