New words

To the casual bystander, it would totally sound like Kylie is still just baby babbling. But to those of us that know her well, we are hearing more and more come out of her mouth!

Uncle Adam has been trying to get her to say his name for months now. Just this week she's started trying to copy him and while it sounds a lot like her amen (or "Ahm"), she now says Adam. It sounds something like "Ahdm." Not to be outdone by her husband, Aunt Traci decided to get in on the name action. When Traci realized that her name was way too hard for Kylie, she decided to let Kylie call her "CiCi" for now. Eager to please one of her favorite people on the planet, Kylie tried her best and came out with something that sounded more like "sheshe." But Traci was pleased even though it is a bit off.

Kylie now also gets Maya's name out more clearly and even nods her head as she pronounces the second syllable of her doggie's name. It is time to get out the video camera again and record these words before she really learns how to say them! We're also working on "grandma" because some of mom's friends are astonished that Kylie doesn't call her anything yet. (Umm, hello folks, she doesn't talk...)

My favorite is that Kylie is starting to say "China" now. No, not because I want her to be able to tell folks where she was born, but because she LOVES looking at a little photo album that I put together for her. It provides me with an easy way to make sure she grows up knowing her story. It has pictures of Ian and I all through the adoption process, from the day we first went to a seminar to the day we met her. She points to each picture and I tell her a bit about it. And most of the time she tries to copy some of what I say.

I've been quite the shutterbug lately and have more pictures than I know what to do with. Here are a few of my favorites from the past few days...

When we asked Kylie where she wanted to go for her 18 month birthday dinner she said "Gateway to Athens, please!" And once there she wanted to dip her green beans (from home ~ gotta have something besides cucumbers with the keftethes) in tzatki sauce.

So sweet!

"Look over there! (While I throw the beach ball at you...)"

"Mommy I can float in the pool by myself!"

Ahh, Little Miss Independence...