Oh, this little munchkin...

Never a dull moment with this sweet little girl, I tell ya! What a personality she has developed! She incites laughter every single day with her little antics and her charm! A few of her recent doings:

She has found this little cubby that is her new favorite place to hang out. Not sure why, since it is so tiny, but she loves to crawl in there and just hang out with her books or her sippy cup or her doll friends. It is like her secret fort, but it's not so secret. She seems so proud when she is in her special place! And for the record, yes, I do attempt to do her hair every day, though these pictures indicate otherwise. But that is yet another of Kaiya's little tactics -- pulling out her hair! Almost every day, she finds her pony's or piggies and pulls them right out. I often wonder why I even bother, but at least the attempt makes me feel better!

(This is what she looks like pretty much EVERY day when I get her up from her nap. There was once a cute piggie on top of her head. But it died. At the hands of Kaiya.)

She is fascinated, and I mean FASCINATED with Skype and using the web cam. I mean the only people we ever talk to on it is my parents, but ohhh, she gets so excited! She now associates daddy's computer with gma and gpa Asplund because whenever we pull that out, she immediately starts hyperventilating and saying, "Papa, Gaa-ma!" It is about the cutest thing on the planet! And I think it's one of the highlights of her week to see her grandparents on that screen. She completely takes it over, pushing me right aside and tries so hard to physically crawl in it to see them! She puts on quite the show every week, which I think pretty much melts gma and gpa and I'm sooo grateful that she has that constant contact with them. She adores them and it will be nice that she will recognize them when they return because of this weekly contact! Now if we could just keep her from pushing all the buttons on the computer!

Bath time is the BEST time. I can't believe how much this girl loves to be in the water! Sometimes she is in there so long that the water is no longer warm, and yet she doesn't seem to care one bit! It makes me anxious for her to be old enough to take swim lessons because I think this girl is going to be a little fish! She loves to lay on her belly or on her back and splash around like nuts! Most of the time I have to watch her from a distance, though, because she can go a little crazy with the splashing and floundering about! Even amidst all that fun, she still always has time to pass out some kisses, though! What a sweet girl! We have had to be a bit innovative with PJ's lately. Kaiya became obsessed with unzipping them all the way down every single night. It's not just PJ's, though. It's anything that has a zipper! I can't keep hoodies on her, or sweaters or anything that zips! Same goes if I am wearing a zipper as well. She will do anything to get her hands on it! With her PJ's, though, she couldn't figure out how to undo the snap at the top, but without fail, she would get the zipper down and that's how we would find her every morning. The real problem came when she later also found that when she was unzipped, she could also undo her diaper and I would find that sitting somewhere in the corner of the crib in the morning as well. Naked little girl! So, now we keep a onesie on underneath so she at least can't take her diaper off! Next, I guess we'll need to get out the duct tape and some safety pins to keep her in her PJ's! Anyone else experienced this little issue?!

Kaiya recently started LOVING being on her belly. Not just when she sleeps, but always! Several times throughout the day, she will just plop down on her tummy and just lay there and play. She now gets on her belly in the bath tub as well, and kind-of laps at the water and sits up on her elbows. It is so cute! The only problem is that she also likes to POOP on her tummy, so we have to keep a real close eye on her in the bath when she gets on her stomach, just to make sure no treats come out the other side! Yesterday, for about 1/2 hour, she took laps running around the room in a circle, then dropping down to lay on her belly, then up again for another lap. Over and over again! On the flip side, though, she also uses her BACK when she wants to have a little fit! Oh yes, the melt-downs on the back have started, sometimes even complete with kicking and arching! I like her much better on her tummy! Little miss Independent!

She also loves throwing things. This is a tough one for us! It's throwing things down the stairs (her favorite thing), throwing things off her food tray, throwing things at Chase, throwing things on the tile floor to hear the loud crash, and pretty much throwing things whenever and wherever she is. She's not trying to be mean, she just really likes to throw!She's got a good arm, I must say, but we are trying to channel the throwing in appropriate ways and it doesn't seem to be working too well! And forget time-outs. We try, but how effective do you think they are when she sits there and laughs or makes sweet faces or says, "sawee" or immitates us with "no, no, no". Usually that just means that we have to turn away so she can't see us laughing! Little stinker! Looks like we've got a little baseball player on our hands, though, with all that throwing!

(the wind-up -- this is serious business)

(waiting for it to hit the bottom of the stairs...)

(ahhh, yet another perfect throw!)

Kaiya has become very interested in pictures lately. She loves to see pictures where she recognizes daddy and mommy, and gmas and gpas, and Jessika. She got the cutest postcard in the mail from gma and gpa Asplund on their mission, riding an elephant and she squeals and kisses it every time she sees it! When she walks by pictures hanging on the walls, she will stop and point and say, "Hi, daddy!" or "Mama!!" It's pretty cute. She can't figure out who that baby is that mom and dad are holding in all those pictures, though! (It's her!) She just says, "baby" and I guess that's good enough for her! Guess it's almost time to update our family pictures!

And one of her favorite things that she has been learning lately is about animals. She loves to make their sounds (cow = Boooo, not mooo for some reason; horse = nay, dog = arrrrf, complete with a head shake, duck = kack, chicken = bawk-bawk, and this is also what she says when she wants chicken nuggets for lunch!) She is in love with the rocking horse donated by her cousins, and made a special ride just for her gpa Asplund's birthday to send to India! (Yee-haa, or Ahhh-haaa, as Kaiya says it!)

So, this little girl is our constant entertainment! I LOVE, LOVE this phase! She is so active, curious, and TALKATIVE and is learning sooo quickly! It amazes me how easily she picks things up and how that little mind of hers is always going! She continues to do sooo well in nursery, thank goodness, and just seems to be such a happy, happy little girl! That of course, also makes for happy, happy parents! We love this little munchkin to pieces! Oh yeah, and one more thing I need to get on video soon, she has started saying "Taylor"! But in her own special way! It's "Lay-lo" for her and it is so adorable!! She points to my stomach when she says it, so I hope she isn't totally confused when Taylor comes OUT of my stomach! We love you, Ya-ya!