"Ba Ba," "Hi," straws and baby forks...

Kylie asked me to let her family and friends in on some of her latest accomplishments. (She said that a run down of our first overnight trip away from home was nice, but she really wanted you to know her most recent news!)

Our precious daughter came to us babbling "ma ma, da da, & ba ba." We are pretty sure that back in February those were just sounds and now ma ma and da da have real meaning as she only uses those two sounds when she sees us. "Ba ba" is one we haven't quite figured out. We noticed just before we headed north last week that when she hears "The Hop" on her "Kids Party Remix Favorites" CD ~ yes, we boogie to it at least once a day ~ that she gets really excited at the beginning of the song when there is a series of "ba ba ba ba, ba ba ba ba...". She looks around as if to say, "Hey, someone is speaking my language!" and then begins singing along ~ completely in key! (Yes, it is captured on video, that should be priceless to play back for her one day!) This also seems to have become her favorite conversation piece because she will look at us and say ba ba over and over in different intonations and volumes. It is as if she is carrying on a complete conversation with just one syllable. (Some also captured on video...)

Of course we read to her, sing to her, sing along with CDs with her, speak in front of her, and speak directly to her so that she continues to develop in her language skills. Tuesday (May 15th) for the first time we heard a new word, "Hi!" This has been one of my favorite of her accomplishments yet. We say, "Hi Kylie!" to her and she responds, "Hi!" Sometimes it is almost a whisper and sometimes it is full volume. One thing that remains the same though, there is no mistaking that this girl is learning English in the south! She has the cutest little southern accent as she greets you! Now I wonder what word will come out of her mouth next!

Wednesday on our way home we decided to stop for a relaxed dinner instead of pushing through to make it home in time to eat. (When you've been away for a week, what is there to eat in the fridge?) We went to Cracker Barrel because I really wanted a vegetable plate and because of how much Kylie loves green beans, we ordered her one too. Kids meals there include a drink and because we left one of her bottles in the car, I just told the waitress to bring her out a cup of water. It came out with a lid and a straw and I'll admit that I had doubts after our sippy cup experiences. But of course Kylie got the hang of it in about 5 seconds and then wanted to drink after every bite. Dinner took a bit longer, but we were excited that we could finally break out the small Tupperware cups with the sealing straw holes at home for her water and milk. Thursday Kylie's eyes lit up when I handed her a cup with a straw! She paraded all through the kitchen proudly showing her ability to drink a beverage from such a wonderful invention. Oh thank you to whoever invented the straw, Kylie's sippy cup frustration days are over!

I also discovered on Thursday as I was going through Kylie's Tupperware drawer (one of the few drawers that is not "off-limits" in the kitchen to her) looking for her cool cups that we had some plastic baby forks. I decided to check them out because of her intense interest in feeding herself with a real fork last week. She showed that she likes to use her right hand...


and her left...

...maybe she is going to be ambidextrous ~ she still switches off when she uses a crayon or attempts throwing a tennis ball for Maya.

The funny thing about the fork is that as she ran out of meatloaf it became harder and harder to "stab" her food. The mashed potatoes just don't stay on as well when you jab at them. I guess she was still hungry and didn't feel like being bothered with the tiny bits of payoff her great efforts were producing, so after the fork went in her mouth, I got this...

...which was essentially a question being asked with her eyes of, "Could you help a sister out here?" So of course I loaded up the fork, gave it back to her, she'd get the payload of potato to her mouth and then hand the fork back to me. Cuteness!