kapria faith | 7 years old

I want to talk about my Kapria Faith. This girl is AMAZING.

Kap's in first grade. This means that she knows all about how everyone should be doing things and that she knows better than me. This can make for some really hard moments. (Like when she wanted bangs and I said no. So she cut them herself.) We've been learning how to communicate better with one another. The first few months of first grade were rocky with a lot of meltdowns from Kap and poor reactions from me (which only make the situation worse). But I've been reading Parenting with Love and Logic and have been trying to be more conscientious about parenting and it seems to be helping both of us. One thing that has really worked - which Travis started - is the "restart." When one of us is struggling, we can restart the moment over. Apologize and begin again. Kapria has really taken to this, and it has saved us all in moments when we're going down the out-of-control, unkind road. We've done a restart, and she has followed it up with the sweetest service - like making my bed or giving me a huge hug and kiss or fixing Mila's necklace that she broke. 

Kap and Mila love each other so much. They share a room (always have) and get along most of the time. Like any siblings they do annoy each other: fight over borrowing clothes, refuse to play each other's games, and make each other cry regularly. BUT those moments are surrounded by love: cleaning up each other's messes when the other is having a bad day, loaning toys and clothes, playing for hours, and recently helping each other with reading. As Kap says, they're, "Best Sisters Forever." And seeing them happy together makes my heart so full.  

Kapria is CRAZY in love with her baby sister and loves being in her face all the time. Because she loves Ever SO MUCH she doesn't know what else to do but to intrude on her personal space. It's so sweet and yet so overwhelming at times. When Mila was born, Kap was just 2. I didn't have to fight over being a mom. I could easily distract her from bothering the baby and could mostly hold the baby all I wanted. Now I find that my baby time has to be shared with two other moms who think they often know better than I do what Ever needs. Sometimes I'm patient with them. Other times I'm not. It's been an emotional but wonderful ten months.

Kappy has the biggest imagination and is great at telling stories and doing pretend play. She loves to put together costumes for a favorite character in a show she's watching. So if she's watching Scooby Doo, she'll pause the show to go put together a costume to look like Daphne. Or if she's watching Monster High, she'll put together a costume to look like Laguna Blue. The costumes are always super creative. I love it. She loves to create things, too, with paper and tape or string or anything she can find. She'll put together a whole setup across the living or create her own kite - pretty much if there's something she wants that we don't have, she'll figure out a way to make her own. She's ingenious.

She is learning to read, and it's slow going, but she is doing so great. At the beginning of first grade - and for several months - she still prefered to tell book stories in her own way rather than reading the words on the page. But we have made sure to read daily, and as she is recognizing more and more words, reading has become exciting to her. She has started listening to Mila read and helping her, and I love seeing them read together.

She's very much into what's fair and right and equal. If she feels wronged, she gets very frustrated and REACTS. We are working on ways to appropriately and kindly respond to injustice and honest mistakes alike.

She has so much energy to use up in a day that must get out through some means, even if it ends up being through bouncing off the couch and into the love sac or wrestling with her dad.

She adores her sisters and loves her cousins. Loves rock climbing with her dad. Loves singing and dancing and absolutely NEEDS to be outside every day. She has so much energy and excitement and JOY. She truly is happy every day all day. Sometimes it can be hard to remember that her excitement for life is just that - because she doesn't want to listen in her excitement. But her happiness is so all encompassing that it shines throughout our home. 

She has a fierce love of Christ and is always the one to remind us of reading scriptures every day and saying prayer. She regularly tells me how much she wants to see Jesus and how much she loves him. She longs to bear her testimony in front of others, but gets nervous. She has born her sweet and simple testimony to me on two different occasions. Each time she was nervous, but so proud when she finished. And each time I felt her sincere desire to share what she knows to be true and it was beautiful.

I love this girl with all my heart. She amazes me every single day.

first day of preschool

Kapria loves going to Miss Laurie's Preschool. She adores Miss Laurie, who is also the primary chorister and just the most amazing, energetic, happy, and sweet person. Miss Laurie is always full of praise and excitement when she sees the kids, and I know she's the perfect preschool teacher for Kapria.

Kapria is the only girl in a class with four boys, and she's also the oldest. She's always gotten along really well with boys, so I know she'll do great. She already came home and told me how much she liked playing with Kody and Aaron. And she got to cut paper, which is one of her all time favorite things to do. I guess I need to let her cut paper more often at our house.

I'm excited for this next adventure for her, but I'm not ready for her to be in school yet. Good thing we have two more years until kindergarten. She could probably start next year (she's right on the edge of some state cut-offs with her September birthday), but Trav and I have thought about it a lot and researched and talked to many many family members and friends, and the conclusion we've come to is that we want her to start when she's six. That way she'll be the oldest in her class rather than the youngest. And most importantly, we want all the time we can get with our girls at home with me before we start school for the next 20 + years of our family's life.

So I'm enjoying these next two years as much as I can. I love love love being home with my girls.

swimming!

haircuts part 3: the results

And what you've all been waiting for...

Kapria absolutely loves her new haircut. That night she kept looking in the mirror and smiling at herself. Trav didn't get home until after the girls went to bed, and she had such a hard time going to sleep because she couldn't wait to show him. The next morning she ran into our room and said, "Dad, look at my haircut!" She also was excited to show her friends. It's so fun to see your kids love something about themselves.

Truth be told, I really really miss her long hair. It's like my baby girl is gone and now there's this growing-up-girl that's getting so big so fast. But seeing her happiness makes me happy we did it. The other day she did say, "Now I’ll grow it long again, then I’ll cut it. Then I’ll grow it, then I’ll cut it.” Wait till she realizes how long it takes to grow your hair to lower-back length...

And Mila got a slight A-line trim, which helped with how her hair lays but didn't take too much off the length. (She really did not want me to take any pictures of her new hair and kept running away. So here's the best I got. She still looks cute :)

I love my beautiful girls!

haircuts part 2: getting the job done

 

The girls were really good about sitting for their haircuts. Kapria was especially serious. She wanted to go first and she was so quiet and listened perfectly.

haircuts part 1: before

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
We'd talked about cutting Kapria's hair for awhile because she hates having it fixed at all and especially hates having it combed. One day after an especially rough time of combing her incredibly tangled hair (and lots of tears and running away), I maybe sorta threatened to cut it all off. To which she replied, "Yes I want it cut!"

But I was sad to cut it and so put off making an appointment for a long time. I love her beautiful hair. Then I finally just called my friend and did it, mainly because Mila's hair was looking so scraggly and needed a trim.

Kapria was so excited. She wanted her hair "Short! Short! Short!" I convinced her that ponytail-length would be short enough. Summer's coming, after all, and we want to pull it back sometimes, right?

tails and monsters and more

Kapria now loves to pretend play. For a few days in June she wore this tail everywhere. She also loves to pretend to be a monster (especially with Dad). Some other things we do: fight dragons, dress up as princesses, and make friends with mermaids.

Lately, though, she's been Lavagirl. And if you play with her, you might get to be Sharkboy.

counting teeth

I had a dentist appointment this morning, and they wanted me to bring Kapria for a "get to know the dentist" visit. I talked it up for a few days, and she was so excited to go with me.

She had a great time! They had a basket of toys that she played with, then she sat on my lap for part of my cleaning and watched the hygenist. When the dentist came ("Dr. Dave") she stayed on my lap and let him count her teeth. Nineteen of them! She has one molar that's half-way through, and one more top molar to grow in, then she'll be done growing teeth for a few years.

We do have to watch the frenum (frenulum) inside her upper lip. Hers is a little low, so it's causing a gap between her front teeth. If it doesn't go away by the time she's five or six, she'll need to have it clipped. I read about my friend's daughter having that procedure done about a month ago, and since then I noticed Kapria had the same problem. It's not a big deal either way, but of course we'd rather avoid any type of mouth procedures. We'll see in a couple years...



You can see she found the bracelet stash. And that upper right picture looks like I'm restraining her, but really, she just laid down and I held her to keep her from falling off my lap. She did great!

Oh, and no cavities for me. Happy Day!

hard goodbyes: a story

Kapria was really excited to send all her pacifiers away to the Paci Fairy. That is, until that night when she had to go bed with Boo instead of her Paci. She said, "I'm so sad, Mom. I want my paci." It's a good thing the fairy took them all, or I would have caved then and there.

Since that night, she's asked for it a few times, but overall has been really good. We're working on helping her sleep better through the night, and getting rid of the pacifier was the first step.

She sure loves her talking Boo doll, though. We're grateful for new friends. Sometimes they help us forget the things we miss the most, which can be a good thing when you need it.

what kapria's been up to: september

Some other things:

• Trav has been teaching her boys vs. girls. She's really into it, and will tell us who's a boy and who's a girl all the time.


• She started saying prayers a little bit. Most of the time she wants one of us to say it, but once in awhile she'll join in.


• She recognizes when she needs a diaper change. I'm thinking potty training is coming soon...but I don't mind waiting a bit longer.


• She likes to help change her own diaper. This can be disastrous at times.


• She also likes to help change Mila's diaper. She's good at it, and so far we haven't had any messes (not true of the prior item).


• She plays with friends really well, provided that she's not too tired.


• She loves pretend playing. Today we had pretend treats and she went to "school."


• She is doing better with sharing and taking turns.


• She runs away as soon as she gets outside. She is getting braver and going farther every time she runs.


• She gets timeout when she runs.


• If she has something she's not supposed to, and we tell her to give it back to us, she throws it. Then she goes and picks it up and hands it to us, since she knows that's what she's supposed to do in the first place.


• She's getting better about holding hands when we're crossing the street. Most times she'll take my hand now without me making her.


• She loves to jump and is so proud when she does.


• She climbs on everything - the counter, the elliptical, the door, the couch - and jumps off a lot of things too. She is a great climber. We're excited to have her start rock climbing with us.


• Whenever we go out, she wants to walk everywhere. This is good, until she wanders away and thinks she doesn't have to listen. Then she has to be carried, usually kicking and screaming (we still have a single stroller, otherwise she'd get strapped in if she ran away).


• She has started telling us she loves us. Yesterday she ran up to me three times a row and threw her arms around my legs in a big hug. I loved it.


• She reads stories to us and is really enjoying reading picture books instead of board books.

There are so many things to say about my girls! But I'll stop with that many for now. Every day is so much fun and I am reminded how wonderful life is. I love being Kapria's mom.

monthly milestones: august: kapria

August was a pretty busy month for us. Kapria had a lot of fun. Here are some of the things she did:

Got a big girl bed
Hung out with Uncle Mckenon - she loves him and wants to do everything with him.
Took Uncle Mckenon (aka Elder Abreu) to the MTC.
Played a lot with cousins.
Played a lot with Nonny Kare.
Met and fell in love with a Nonny Kare's puppy.
Got a new baby sister.

Sleeping

The sleeping issues seem to have gone. For awhile Kapria wanted to sleep on the floor rather than her bed. I figure as long as she's sleeping and happy, why does it matter? She tells us where she wants to sleep each night, and so far everything is going well.

When she wakes up in the morning or after her naps, she will play in her room for awhile. When she's ready to come out, she'll knock on the door and call to us. It is so cute to hear her voice call, "M-o-o-o-m!"

Names

Kapria loves calling people by name. For awhile now she has preferred calling Travis by name rather than "Dad. One morning when she woke up, I went in to her room to get her and she said to me, "Where's Travis?" She does that a lot now. Just last week she started calling me Shar. Ha ha ha. We always respond and say, "Dad is at work," or "Mom will help you," - just making sure we emphasize what she should call us. But I think it's pretty funny.

Playing

She loves to pretend play. Often she'll say, "Bye! I'm going to the store." Or "to sacrament" (that one took me awhile to figure out what she was saying.) or "to play."

Or she'll say, "Mom, let's go."

"Where?"

"To school."

Then she takes my hand and leads me into her room to play.

Kapria also likes to play on her own. She can entertain herself for quite awhile. A favorite toy is my old cell phone. She has some pretty cute conversations on her cell phone as she wanders around the house.

Testing the Boundaries

Tantrums happen once in awhile, especially when she's tired. We've learned to ignore those, and they mostly go away. But what has been hard is when she hits or pushes Mila. She tends to do that when she's not getting her way, wants attention, or has been told she has to wait to hold the baby. She also has a hard time listening and just wants to do what SHE wants, not what Mom or Dad wants. We try to clearly state the boundaries, but of course she is testing us and pushing the limits. Some days are really frustrating. Other days go really well. I love her energy and enthusiasm and wonder at this age, but it sure can be a hard age, too.

But you know, two-year-olds just feel big emotions. When Kapria's sad, she's extremely sad - and it comes out in hitting, pushing, throwing, running away. But when she's happy, she's really happy - and that comes out in hugs, smiles, "let's go play, Mom," "I love yous" and more.

I love you, Kapria!

big girl bed

Kapria's bed arrived before the baby. We're glad because we wanted to get her into a big girl bed before that so she could have some time to adjust to it before more life changes came.

She was so excited to help Dad put it together.

We've talked it up a lot. She loves sitting on Weston's big boy bed, so we talked about how she gets a big girl bed just like his. She's pretty happy.



She went to sleep really well and so far is loving being a big girl.
I'm missing my baby, though!

what kapria's been up to

Kapria is 21 months old, i.e., 1 year and then some.

During the month of June, she has gotten a lot better about letting us brush her teeth. She'll most of the time sit still. Then we brush top and bottom and sides. Then say "cheese" so we can get the front. And we have to hurry, because she's trying to stick her tongue out all the while because at the very end we say "tongue" and she sticks that out to get brushed. Whew! We're done.

On the 26th she got her shirt on all by herself. It took about 5 minutes of her trying to get into it. As soon as she got it on, she immediately started crying because she wanted it off. But at least she's trying to get dressed.

She loves to swing. When we go to the park, she relaxes into the swing and is happy for about 10 or 15 minutes. Often she'll even fall asleep, if she's really tired.

She sings and chats to herself and her dolls all day long.

She most often wants a doll or stuffed animal to go to bed with her.

She must pick out her own story at bedtime - we are no longer allowed to pick for her.

She reads on her own all the time.

Yay - we have a reader!

what kapria has been up to

April was a crazy busy month, and Kapria was busy right along with us. Here are some of the big things from this month.

Pretend Play
She loves playing with her dolls and does everything with them that happens to her. Time out, eating, riding in the stroller, taking a nap. Her babies do it all.

Helping
She also likes to help me with whatever job needs to be done: sweeping, cleaning the bathroom, wiping the table. She's a great helper.

Long-term Memory
She's starting to remember a lot. I mentioned earlier that she remembers all her family now, and asks about them every day by name.

New Tooth
She got a new tooth: her bottom right incisor. This was preceded by probably the worst teething she's had. She normally gets really acidic diapers when she's teething, but they go away within two or three days. Not this time. They lasted over a week, and she had a horrible diaper rash. We decided to look into some remedies online and found out that milk can make diaper rash worse. Who knew?! We've never stopped her from drinking milk before, and the rash has always gone away. Not this time. We felt horrible. So we decided to quit giving her milk, which was a little nervous making because she was still taking a bottle every morning when she woke up and every night right before bedtime. I loved that time with her, so I was sad to give it up. I actually tried to hold onto it, and so put other things in her bottle, but she would have nothing to do with it.

No More Bottle
So, just like that, she was done with the bottle. When she could drink milk again (after about a week), she did not want it in a bottle. So sippy cups it is.

About two weeks after all this, she did ask for a bottle one morning. I gave her the cup instead, and she was fine. However, she won't drink milk now unless it's in her cereal bowl. So I highly encourage her drinking from a bowl - whatever gets her those healthy calories!

Bathtub Prayer
Kapria said her first prayer at the beginning of this month. She was playing in the bathtub when she knelt, folded her arms, and asked to say prayer. She repeated a lot of it after us. Now every time she takes a bath she wants to pray. But so far that first time is the only time she would "say" the prayer.

Every month is a new adventure with her, and we're loving every minute of it.

happy 18 months!

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Wow, the last 6 months have flown by. From one year old to now, Kapria is doing so much more. She is walking, running, jumping, climbing, and attempting to do everything on her own. She talks a ton. Her vocabulary grows every day as she is always repeating words that we say; once she repeats a word, she'll start using it regularly. One day I decided to write down every word she said. I couldn't keep up with it all, but here goes:

daddy. mom. show. sleep. baby. dog. cat. hippo. elmo. cereal. bottle (bobble). help (elp). milk (moke). yeah. bird. amen. book. blanket (bink). passy (for pacifier). mine. no. bike. wow. uh oh. mouth (mouf). owie. up. eat. I stuck. bye. off. banana. water. drink. out. puzzle. potty. mouse. nose. eyes. dub dub. lap (bap). shoes. oh no. nap. door. heavy. andrew (andew). foot. touch. see. chip (ship). please (peez). cheese. peanut butter (p budder). jelly (jeyee). thank you (tay-tou). drink (bink). cup. lettuce (leyuce). water (wayer). more. yum. piece. orange (orge). chair. light (yite). yuck. I need elmo. get help. high chair. yours. watch. glove (tove). kick. snack (sack). love ya (yuv ya). hi daddy. fish. bless you. I say bless you. it's a puzzle. back. ruf-ruf. outside. daddy's shoe. zipper. zip. down. dirt. hat. no, no dirt. hot. more (more-more). yay. bike. knock knock. prayer. brush. teeth. bath. walk. tave. weston (weson). soap. wash. sing. sock.

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She loves dancing and carrying her babies around. She pushes her stroller and tries to do everything with her babies that we do with her: feeding, diaper changing, wrapping in a blanket, loving. She's going to be such a great sister.

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Stats:

21 lbs 2 oz (she gained less than a pound in six months, so we're working on getting her to eat more).
32 inches tall (she grew 2.5 inches)
Huggable as ever

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bubbles

Kapria had her first bubble bath this month. I kept meaning to buy the soap, but I never remembered to put it on the grocery list. I finally remembered, and is it any surprise what a hit the bubbles were?

Bubble Bath Fun

i love nursery

Today was Kapria's first day in nursery, and she loved it!
Here she is with her first nursery lesson handout:

I loved getting to actually listen to a lesson in Relief Society without trying to entertain her and keep her quiet for the third hour in a row. And I know she loved playing with the other kids and the new-to-her toys. She was all smiles when we dropped her off and all smiles when we picked her up.
Yay for nursery!

happy 12 months!

On September 4th Kapria turned 12 months = one year. The month of August was jam-packed with fun and as usual, lots of changes. Here's the overview of how Kapria changed in those fast five weeks.

• She stood by herself and loves standing all the time now.
• She pulls herself up to everything.
• She does not sit still.
  
  
• She dances to music while standing. One of her favorite toys is the music table. It's the first thing she wants to play with each day.
  



• She plays really well with other kids. She loves to chase her friend, Andrew, around the house. It works because Andrew likes to be chased.
• One of her favorite activities is spinning in my office chair.
  


• She loves hugging. This is nice, because Weston gives her hugs all the time. She has started giving us more hugs, which I love. A hug from a baby is the most divine thing.
• She cuddles more and will sit in our laps to cuddle for awhile, most often if she's tired. Otherwise, it's go-go-go.
  
  
• She gives big kisses when you ask. If you ask nicely. And if she feels like it.
  
  
• She signs a lot and is very clear about what she wants or doesn't want.
• She tells us yes or no by nodding or shaking her head.
  
  
• When she's eating, she lets you know she's done by throwing her food off the side of her highchair. Good thing I mop regularly. Oh wait...I meant never.
• She has gotten pickier about eating - though peas, carrots, and Ritz wheat crackers are always a favorite.
  
• She got 5 new teeth this month: 2 on the bottom and 3 on the top, for a grand total of 8.
  



• She took 4 steps all by herself on 08.15.08. She walked from Travis to the lovesac, and back and forth. It was a great fun game. She was so proud of herself.
• She mostly walks around holding one of our hands, but loves to try steps every once in awhile. She knows she can now, so it's only a matter of time.
  
  
• She likes to make her opinion known. I love this because I feel like each time she picks something she is telling me a bit about herself. We like to give her options to choose between, so when she gets dressed we let her pick between 2 outfits. Or when I'm choosing something at the store for her - say pajamas - I let her pick between my two favorites. I'm learning she likes pink a lot. It seems to be a common choice (with no swaying on my part, and no, it's not the only color option offered).
  
  
• At naptime and bedtime she picks what story to read out of a few options. Some days she chooses the same story every time. Some days she chooses a different one each time. Here's a daily choice.



• She picks a favorite toy to play with for the day and carries it around with her everyhere.
  
  
• She brushes her teeth by herself. Mostly this = sucking all the toothpaste off the toothbrush and mom or dad moving her hand as much as possible to brush while said toothpaste eating is happening.



• She discovered where I put the hairclips that she so loves playing with - in her hair. They no longer stay put very well. I am surprised that the pain from yanking them out doesn't stop her from doing it. She must have a hard head. Hmm...like someone else I know.



• She wakes up cheerful nearly every day. Every night we pick a few stuffed animals to put in her crib. We usually hear her first wake up around 8:15 or 8:30. She's a slow waker-upper, and if we go in right away she may or may not be happy. But now she gets to emerge from grogginess as she plays with her stuffed animals for awhile. Most mornings she talks to them (and we love hearing her little talking voice). This lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then she's ready to get up, happy as can be (and we've had the chance to emerge from our own clouds of sleep as well).
  
  
• On 09.03.08 she got brave. She stood in the doorway, then walked across the hall to the next wall. Usually she would only walk person-to-person so that we could catch her. But this time she did it all by herself. Way to go, baby!
  
  
  
  

Kapria:
you are amazing.
you are loved.
you are ours.
and we are yours.

love m&d

Happy 11 Months!

On August 4th Kapria turned 11 months. The month of July was super busy as she suddenly grew like crazy. She's on the brink of escaping babyhood...but I'll keep her there as long as I can. I could cry just thinking about her growing too fast. But y'all want to hear what she's doing, so I'll focus on that instead.



Teething
She got her first top tooth this month, for a grand total of 3 teeth.

Eating
She loves to feed herself. Here favorite foods are: bananas (for breakfast everyday - she never gets sick of them) and olives (she would eat a whole can of them if we let her), cheerios, peaches, green beans, carrots, bread, and string cheese.



She's really good about trying everything. If she shakes her head to tell me "no" to a bite of something new, I say, "just try one bite." And she will. If she doesn't want more, I don't force her to eat it. But usually after the first bite she learns it's yummy and will eat more. The exceptions: pears. For some reason she refuses to eat them. That's okay - we all like different things. It's fun learning what she likes.

Moving
On Sunday, July 6th she started crawling, and every day since then has been non-stop busy. She had already been pulling herself up on every piece of furniture, box, leg, toy that's nearby (and some that didn't work out so well). She started cruising along all the furniture, and moves so fast now. With lots of practice - and after many falls - she has mastered the art of lowering herself down from a standing position. So there aren't quite as many hard falls...

All her moving has definitely gotten rid of those baby rolls. I miss them! She's looking more like a little girl every day, though.



Talking
Kapria says "mom" and "dada" all day long, every day. She has been for months. I keep waiting for her to say more, and this month she surprised us with "baby" and "bye bye." Now, I know those are close, but she really did say them differently, and she associated them with different things (her doll, or waving). She has since stopped saying them. It only lasted about a week. But it was cool to recognize words she was saying. She's also starting saying "nana" for banana. I guess it makes sense - she says the words that are most important to her. hah!

She has started signing a lot more, though. She signs "bottle," "eat," "more," and "all done" every day now. It's so nice to know what she wants. And she loves being understood. We're learning so much about each other and it's the most amazing experience. I love the little person that she is.

Loving
She gives big open-mouth kisses. When she wants us to kiss her, she'll put her head forward and rest her forehead on our chins. She gives great big hugs every once in awhile that make everything else in the world disappear and in that moment life is perfect.

Attaching
It's a good thing when kids start making attachments. Kapria has started doing that this last month. And here's what she's attached to:

Mommy. Yep - she decided she's a Mommy's Girl. People have been asking "so, who'd she pick" for the past few months, and I had hoped she would always keep picking both of us. She really is happiest when we're all home together and gets crazy excited about having family time. I suppose it's inevitable that kids attach to one parent, and I've been told it's healthy for them to do that. I love that she wants me to be with her...pretty much all the time. I can't help feeling warm inside when I get home and she is so excited to see me. But it makes my heart hurt when she won't go to Trav. I know I would be sad if she were turning away from me. Darn having to pick.

Striped Blanket. She's been sleeping with it since she was a baby, but now she's learning that it's her blanket. She grabs it and snuggles it, and takes the end and rubs her nose with it. She'll carry it around with her sometimes. I love it.

And her favorite items: a little stuffed hippo that has flat plastic circles for hands and feet (she chews on them all the time); straps of any kind, but especially straps with buckles that clip together. For example: car seat buckles, stroller buckles, belt buckles. You get the picture. And her new favorite books are animal books. She adores cats, and so those are the favorite pages to look at.



Playing
Her favorite game is when someone will chase her around the lovesac. She holds on and runs around it. Then waits for you to come surprise her. She loves being surprised.

She also loves the growling game. Basically, you growl back and forth at each other. Isn't it amazing what you consider fun once a baby enters the family?

One of her other favorite activities is listening to the Dragon Tales soundtrack. I turn it on, pick her up, and we dance around the room. She thinks this is great fun, and I can consider it a workout, right?

Laughing
Kapria laughs the most when she plays with Travis. He tickles her, throws her in the love sac, chases her around it, throws her in the air. She loves all of it and laughs so much. She also laughs when she sees other kids and still gets so excited to be around any kids.

She makes us laugh all the time. She started making a funny face where she scrunches her nose, and she shows this off all the time. She sticks her tongue out all the time, too. I think this has the most to do with her new teeth. But it sure is cute.



Learning
She's learning to drink from a sippy cup. She knows how, she just doesn't care to use it. Maybe we'll just skip straight to a cup...but I'm just not ready for that many spills.

She learned how to suck from a straw. She was so proud of herself when she got some of my jamba juice (strawberries wild...my fave). It was a rare treat!

She also learned that when Mom sits down to work, she can get her to stop by crawling over to the chair and crying. She has become a master at this. I can do everything else around the house, but when I sit at the computer to work, she immediately comes over and bangs on my chair and cries. Sometimes she'll play next to me for awhile, but most times she does not want me sitting at my desk. Maybe she wants her own keyboard...I'll have to look into that.
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Bonus: Her eyes are officialy brown. They've been changing all these months, and depending on what she wore could look blue, green, or light brown. But I think they can officially be called brown now. They're kind of golden-ish.



We sure love you, Kapria!

Crawling is the New Rolling

I am slowly learning what Kapria's personality is like. She gets very comfortable doing one thing, and likes to think about the next thing. But she doesn't much like practicing what that next thing might be.

So for the past few months she has been sitting up, rolling, and reaching, reaching, reaching as far as her little arms can stretch to get toys and things. If she really wanted something, she would scoot on her bum and roll and turn every which way to get it. She even started pulling herself up to standing. But she refused to go on hands and knees.


Then on Sunday, July 6th, she did this for the first time:

I thought she might need some practice before she really got moving. But apparently she only needed a little. By Monday morning, she was crawling like a pro and she now gets into everything. If it can be crawled to, climbed on, pulled down, or reached - Kapria has it.