The first 16

 Note to anyone who reads this* This is a total mom post and I go on and on and on and on about how awesome my only daughter is. You may want to skip this journal entry :) But feel free. You have been warned~

In 6 short days, Kelsey will officially be 16 months old. How this happened I have no idea, but I gotta say she is pretty stinkin cute now a days and holy cow she is too much fun. I seriously have so much fun  watching her learn new things. Sometimes I get to see the progression of the learning, but most of the time its like "Holy cow! When did you learn that?!" She's busy these days and church is pretty much no fun, but man she is great to have around. 
Someday I know Kelsey will have a school project where she will be asked to list her stages of life when she was a baby in explicit detail. Seeing how that is a mom's homework assignment and not really the childs, I thought I would get a jump start now so I can do my homework later. w

Kelsey has always loved to read. She flips through all her pages and just babbles along with the pictures. She now is starting to get favorite books and will bring me the same ones over and over. She always brings me Goodnight Moon and Moo, Baa, La La La. I don't know why but she loves these books. In our new house, our closets don't have doors and so there is a step up into the closet. She has claimed that has her reading nook. I always find her sitting in the closet, her feet dangling, with a book on her lap. Super cute

Kelsey babbles all day long. I find it quite hilarious but sometimes I just wish I knew what she was trying to say. I don't even know if she is trying to say anything or if she is like her mom and loves the sound of her own voice, I don't know, but it is really adorable. Kelsey can say a few words:

 craker (which she says when she wants a drink or a cracker so good luck with that one)

 Dad, hi, that, this, shoes, book, duck, nigh night, Jesus, pretty, happy ball, uh-oh

Bye (probably my favorite word because she say bYYYYYYYe) 

Mom (least favorite because it is always MOM!!! MOM!!!! MOM!!!! ten notches above the rest. I wonder where she gets that from:)  

Kelsey is getting really awesome with animal noises too. We have tried to film it but she is crazy camera shy and so we can't get it on camera, but she says moo, quack, neigh and baa which both are just forced laughs and both are hilarious, oink but like the oink you make with your nose not your mouth, sssssss for a snake, oo-oo for a monkey, roar for a bear/lion/hippo/ and all the other scary animals out there, and opens and closes her mouth for a fish. The fish is easily my favorite.

It amazes me the things she just picked up on.  I swear I wake up every day and am just like "when did you learn that?"

When ever we pray, she bows her head over and over until we are done and then she says amen. It makes me laugh every prayer because she like REALLY bows her head. Chin to chest for like 5 seconds every time. 

When we are going somewhere she runs to the door and yells bye. When I ask her to get her shoes so we can go bye bye, she runs into her room, grabs her shoes and brings them to me saying shoes, shoes.

When she is tired she will go to her changing table where her binkies are, open her mouth super wide until I give her one, and then run to her crib and say nigh night over and over until I put her in the crib. WHAT?! I love it. 

One thing she has learned, is that she can be a picky eater. NOOOOO!!!! We struggle. We struggle so much that our little chunky is slipping down the charts to join her skinny cousins. She does love some foods but she hardly eats anything besides those. She loves crasians, cheese, yogurt, noodles, bread, eggs, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. Everything else is on a day to day basis. Its super frustrating because as you can see everything on that list is high in nutrition. I try not to worry too much.  We try every meal and eventually she will be old enough to know she has to eat what we give her right?

 

If Kelsey could have her way she would be outside all day long with no boundaries, no fences, lots of rocks to climb, and no parents. She loves to explore and she is super brave. Ethan and I were talking about how fearless sh has become and we just can't understand where she gets it. I mean she is fearless and Ethan and I are not that way at all.  She will do anything. For example the other day I caught her climbing on her rocking chair with one foot on her changing table trying to make the rocking chair rock. WHAT?! Her newest trick is to climb up the couch all the way to the top of the back and see how long she can stand there. She also is fearless with animals. I'm glad she isn't afraid to pet a dog, but sometimes I wish she were. I mean not every dog is nice and she is going to get into trouble if we're not careful. Its  cute to watch her and it makes leaving her in playgroups or with babysitters really easy, but sometimes I wish she had some fear. It would just make my job a little easier.

  

Kelsey is very camera shy and not huge into smiling. When she does smile though it just melts my heart and her laugh is like sent from heaven. My favorite is when she copies my smile. I squint when I smile and I will look at her and she is squinting with her nose all scrunchy. Of course we have tried to capture it but she always looks the other way when a picture is being taken. When we can capture it it is a happy day!

One picture I took fast enough to get the smile....

 

And then there are these. "Kelsey smile. Hey Kels smile. Kelsey look at mommy. Kelsey! KELSEY!"

 

When it finally happens, it is the most exciting thing in the world!

 

Our morning routine has gotten to be really fun. She still hates getting dressed, but has started helping me and she still tries to get away when I change her diaper. After we have clothes on she fights me as I try to do her hair. I don't know why I try because everything ends up out anyway. Sometimes I can distract her long enough to leave in bows and bands for a little bit, but in the end she always find them. My favorite is that she loves to brush her teeth.  Every morning, I say "lets brush your teeth." She puts her hand up to her mouth and goes up and down, and while she is brushing her teeth I do her hair. She loves to brush her teeth and tongue and has started sticking out her tongue,saying ahh, and letting me brush it. Seriously, babies are so smart! I love this mom gig.

Kelsey is not a fan of too many sweet things (We are working on it) but she is a HUGE fan of ice cream. You go girl!

Kelsey has always had really good rhythm. Ever since she was a baby she loved to dance. Here is a post when she was 6 months old "Mommys girl" and luckily things haven't really changed. We have so many dance parties in our house. She will dance to anything: music, greeting cards that sing, cell phones, commercials, tv, everything! She loves it and we love watching her. The other day I busted out some clogging steps and after I clogged, she started stomping her feet on the kitchen floor. I would clog, she would watch, and then she would stomp her feet. I can't WAIT to teach her for real!

 A few more of moms favs. She gives great hugs and kisses. Kelsey is super snugly and has always been that way. I totally lucked out because I love it. When she gives you a kiss she always goes MMMMM. When she finishes drinking she goes AHH. One day we passed a picture of Jesus and she said Jesus. I didn't teach her that so that was also a cool moment for me as a mother to remember how close these cute little babies are to heaven. When we are outside and she sees anything green she goes Pretty. When I am dressed for church she runs her hand down my face and goes pretty. When ever she hears laughter she does a totally fake laugh, but at least someone is laughing at my jokes right? Whenever she sees a baby she goes Awe baby, even if it is a picture of herself. She LOVE LOVE LOVES puppies and always goes Awe baby, woof woof. Super cute. When she wakes up from a nap she always looks for Ethan and goes room to room saying, Dad? Dad? Every time she sees a male, she goes dad? When we walk on campus and a man walks by she goes Awe? It is actually hilarious and they always laugh.  She says hi and bye to everyone, but doesn't know what to do when they actually respond back. When she sees herself in a picture she goes Awe Baby. When she sees Ethan in a picture she goes Hi dad. When she sees something really awesome she goes WHOA! (like a leaf, my slippers, you know. The really awesome stuff in life) She always shhs us. She has learned that we need to be quiet in church and other places and so she shhs everything now. Including mom and dad when we are just talking at dinner or in the car. She is learning how to shut doors and shuts herself in bedrooms all the time. When I ask if she wants a snack she runs to the pantry and hits the door saying cracker cracker? She still plays in the toilet and as she is doing she goes no, no, no. She goes to the trash and starts playing in the trash and says no, no, no. I get frustrated a lot and I always grunt (im working on it) but now she grunts at everything. Most of the time she grunts after I do and then busts up. She loves water bottles and always tries to steals peoples.

Well Kels there you go. You don't sleep super great, you are a picky eater, but you love to be outside and love to move. You love to read and are learning to say your prayers. You laugh super easy but are really camera shy. You love to play with dad and always come to mom when you want to be held. You are always happy, very easy going, and are the bright spots to my day. We love you Kels.