18 Month Old Portraits

Here are Kylee's 18 month old portraits. If you want any prints, just let me know which one(s) and what size.

Party Animals

At the end of last week/beginning of this week we had 5 days in a row of celebrations. Thursday grandma made chunky monkey cake and took us out to eat for my birthday. Friday and Saturday we celebrated Independence Day. Sunday Aunt Michelle had a birthday party for her Great Dane, Izzy. Monday was grandma's birthday. We took her to lunch; then went to her house in the evening for cookie cake.

The puppy party was by far the most interesting. Aunt Michelle had hamburgers, hot dogs, and paw shaped cupcakes for the humans. The dogs (7 of them!) got hamburger and hot dog shaped squeaky toys, dog cookies, Purina pup cups (doggy ice cream), and a bowl full of balls. Kylee was very excited to see the dogs wearing birthday hats. I forgot to bring my camera, but here are a few pictures Aunt Michelle took.

The birthday girl

cupcakes


Kylee and Damsel after eating their treats

Kylee fighting the dogs for the bowl of balls

Singing Happy Birthday to grandma (I forgot gym was cancelled this week)

Celebrating the 4th

Friday night we went to Chris Talley's house for a BBQ. We had a great time and met some new friends. Kylee ate her first rice crispy treat, went on her first tractor ride, and saw fireworks for the first time. She hated the loud popping firecrackers. She takes after her mommy that way! So, we spent a lot of the time in Chris's house with the kitty and the desserts. Kylee played with the cat while I stuffed my face with sweets.

Saturday we went to grandpa's house for another BBQ. As usual Kylee had a blast playing with Uncle Tony.

I took Kylee home for a short nap. Then we picked daddy up from grandpa's and went to Aunt Pattys for homemade ice cream and swimming. We were excited to get Kylee into the big pool for the first time this summer, but she wasn't interested.

She did however enjoy standing outside of the water and splashing in the hot tub.

Later in the evening we went back to grandpa's house for fireworks. Grandpa has a huge window from his living room to his backyard. So Tony, Kylee, and I had a quiet, air conditioned, front row seat to our own firework show put on by the rest of the Puccino clan. It was perfect!! Kylee loved watching all of the sparkly fireworks. Each time she saw one she'd exclaim "Wow! Crackle sky!"

The Fourth of July has always been one of my least favorite holidays, but I have to admit I really enjoyed this one.

Tutu Fun

By the end of the day, Kylee usually asks me to take her clothes off. Monday night she asked for her shirt off, but she did NOT want me to touch her tutu. As soon as the shirt was off, she started twirling around the living room. The last few times I've given her a bath, she's asked for a tutu when she got out.
She also really likes necklaces. She usually doesn't keep them on very long, but she loves to take them on and off. Apparently my tomboy has a girlie side!

Even More Randomness: Videos

Since Robert came home from Iraq I haven't been filming Kylee much at all. I've been trying to remember to at least get a few video clips on my camera every now and then, but I usually forget. When I do remember, by the time I grab the camera, turn it on, and switch it to video mode, the moment has usually passed.

Here is Kylee "reading" her favorite book, Please Puppy Please. She is saying "Oh No!" because that is what the book says on the page, not because the page is falling out. I didn't get the camera on in time to catch her saying the "puppy puppy puppy please puppy" part.

The other day it started sprinkling. As soon as Kylee noticed the rain, she started singing "Rain, Rain Go Away." By the time I ran inside to get the camera and came back out, she had finished singing. I asked her to sing it again. She did, but wasn't nearly as into it as she had been when she started the song on her own. I guess the moment had passed. Anyways, she can't say the 'r' sound yet, so rain sounds like "main". If you listen close, you can also hear her say "go away".

This is a video of Kylee trying to sing the Monkeys on the Bed song. The background noise (grandma feeding the dogs) makes it hard to hear, but at least you can kind of see how excited she gets.

Kylee knows that to hop you have to both jump and move forward. The only problem is she can't figure out how to do both at the same time. Here she is trying to hop like a frog.

This last clip was taken about a month ago. She found a towel, put it over her face, and started running into things. As you can see, she thought this was hilarious and was not happy when I took the towel off. She used to do this all the time when she was about 11 months old. Luckily, she doesn't do it much anymore.

More Random Updates

Last time we went to Wal-mart, we got Kylee a new sing along CD for the car. She LOVES it! She is very into singing right now and gets very excited about it. She can't sing all of the words to any songs. So, she just sings the ones she can say and then babbles the rest to the tune of the song. It's hilarious to watch, and I always get a kick out which words she actually does sing. Her favorite songs to sing are Apples and Bananas, 5 Little Monkeys, 6 Little ducks, and The Wheels on the Bus.

Another one of Kylee's favorite things is drawing. She loves to lay on the floor on her tummy and draw in her journal. She also loves drawing with sidewalk chalk, especially at grandma's house.

Kylee recognizes the OU symbol and associates it with Uncle Steven. Monday I had an OU shirt on. Kylee kept pointing to the insignia and saying "O-U!" The next day she kept throwing her arms in the air and shouting"Go OU! Yay Uncle!"

Very Happy Unbirthday

Today Kylee turned 18 months old!! I can't believe my baby is already 1 1/2!!!!! Daddy absolutely insists that the 18 month mark is NOT a birthday, but birthday or not, it is definitely worth noting. From tomorrow on she will be closer to being 2 yrs old than 1! For some reason, that makes me sad. I think it's because it seems like this year has flown by even faster than her first. She is growing up so fast!!! It is depressing to look back and see how fast she has changed, but at the same time, it is fun to see the awesome toddler she has become. I love her so much and am so very proud of her! There are definitely days that I want to pull my hair out, but even on those days she makes laugh.

Last week Rikki suggested doing tea parties with the girls. Fabulous idea! This morning Rikki and Charli came over with Charli's porcelain tea set, and the girls celebrated Kylee's "unbirthday" by having their very first tea party. We all had a lot of fun. Kylee was very excited about the tea and cookies. Charli was very enthused about pouring, serving, and role playing the whole occasion.

After that we traded the tea soaked dresses for swimsuits and took the party outside. The girls splashed in the water table, rolled in the sandbox, blew bubbles, and painted the house. What a fun day!