Kamdyn at 22 months

I posted the other day about Kamdyn pulling to stand.  It is her most recent milestone, and I am very excited about it.  I'm excited about the fact that I know things will take off from here. 

Please, this is seriously NO big deal, Mom.

She will only gain more strength, more confidence on her feet, and explore her environment even more.  Even though that exploring will keep this mama on her toes, I don't care.  I'm ready.  We've waited.  Bring it on. 

OOH, look at me now.  I can pull to stand!

This means PICK ME UP!:

After I posted the other day about Kamdyn pulling to stand on the steps, she decided she needed to keep impressing us.  Last Saturday, she pulled up on the couch!  And she's been doing it ever since.  Now, it's like she's been doing it forever.



  
Since Kamdyn has her 2 year evaluation coming up soon, her OT gave me a heads up about what Kamdyn will have to do in order to progress to the next step, as far as OT goes.  For her "test", she will have to stack 3 one inch blocks.  Her OT did say that she would hold the blocks in place after she stacks it.  Kamdyn and I did this the other day, and she did it fine.  So that one is a check.  Kamdyn will also have to put a circle, triangle, and square into a puzzle or shape sorter, not sure which one but same idea. 

This might make me a bad Ds mom, but I'll be honest and say that I don't do Mommy Therapy Time anymore.  I did for a while.  I would set aside time to work on certain skills, but now that Kamdyn is older, and I have learned that she does things in her own time when SHE wants to, I feel like it is better for her to be involved and play as a family.  So if we're all sitting on the living room floor, and Kamdyn is interested in her standing table toy, I would help her to stand up at it to play.  Or if we were all sitting on the couch, and she crawled over and pulled up to her knees, I would help her pull to stand so she could see us better.  Many times, Madison and Austin will go into Kamdyn's room, camp out on her floor, and play with all of the toys in her room.  I might go in, sit down with Kamdyn, and help her do a puzzle.  Just the other day, I was teaching "group time" during our home school lesson.  Madison brought Kamdyn over and sat her next to her, while we counted and recited special sounds.  Kamdyn joined in and made noises along with us, doing her best to imitate our speech.  We had our own little Speech Therapy session, and it was part of our daily routine.  These have become part of our routine, and they naturally flow, rather than, "Oh man, I didn't work on ________ with Kamdyn today."  That is just too much pressure. 

Deep in thought and concentration:

So with all of that said, after Kamdyn's OT mentioned the skills she needs to have, I decided I would stray from my usual ways, and set aside time each day to work specifically on placing a circle, triangle, and square into a puzzle or shape sorter.  I'm sure I've missed a day or two, and that's fine.  So far, Kamdyn will place the shape and try to push it in.  Sometimes, it's lined up right, and she gets it.  Other times, she will continue to push even though it's not lined up, and then give up when it won't go in.  I'm not so much worried about her passing a test. It's more that I want her to be able to move on to the next skill.  I think she will get it before the evaluation.  If she doesn't, that's fine too, but I think she will.  She's so close.

After something more challenging, I like to have her do something that I know she will feel successful at, and she loves her pig.

Kamdyn loves to give hugs, even to butterfly pillows.

Sometimes she plays this game, where she will lean in over and over and give hug after hug.  We also love the way she pats our back, while she's giving a hug.


Kamdyn likes to play with babies too.  A few months back, I brought out her baby dolls, and I started showing her how to hug the baby, rock the baby, pat the baby.  I also bought one of those play baby bottles that looks like the milk is going down, when they hold it upside down.  Now, Kamdyn will even feed the baby, but the baby doesn't get much, before she starts sucking on the bottle for herself.  So she knows how to play with baby dolls, but she has not been around many real babies.  This was Kamdyn this past weekend with some babies:



She kept patting their little heads.  It was SO cute when she reached out her arms and did her sign for "hug me" to the baby.  Too bad the baby didn't speak Kamdyn.  She definitely LOVES babies.  Did you see her imitating by banging the ground and then stomping her feet like the baby was too?  Priceless!

Kamdyn has some new signs:  cat, sorry, boo boo, bunny. 

She also knows many parts of her body:  eyes, nose, mouth, hair, belly, toes, leg, and ears.  Kamdyn has an ear infection this week, and she has been feeling pretty yucky between that and the 2 new teeth that are coming in.  The other night, I was rocking her, and she started tapping her pointer finger and her thumb together.  I knew she was trying to tell me something, because she did it over and over again.  "I don't know what that is," I told her.  "What does that mean?" I asked.  Then she pointed up to her ear.  She was telling me "boo boo ear".  I seriously love this kid!

I think she's doing pretty great!