Matt Simerson

Sorry folks, but we just have too much fun playing with Kayla to spend time writing about it. She is too much fun!

At just over 16 months, her personality is really starting to develop. She displays a surprising number of emotions and jabbers incessantly, unless someone else is around, or we are videoconferencing with grandpa and grandma, in which case we can’t get a peep out her. She has 5 pair of shoes now, well on her way to becoming an American woman. Except that she really has a thing for daddy’s tools, and is quite curious to see how things work. When she has decided it’s time for our daily walk, she brings her socks and shoes to us. Once shod, she stands by the door and makes pitiful little sounds until one of us complies.

She has learned most of her face parts by name and is just starting to learn the names of colors. At the top of her reading list is 101 Dalmatians, Goodnight Moon, and her touch and feel bedtime book. Her two favorite objects are the moon and birds. Both are quite thrilling to see in real life and in pictures. Two evenings ago we were walking around our cul-de-sac and had to pause to see the moon. And we paused, and paused, and paused, and paused….

She very much enjoys baths but disdains a wet face. That makes rinsing her hair challenging. Mommy tries the delicate approach. Daddy just dumps handfuls of water over her head. Neither way prevents her from recoiling but one method only lasts for 5 seconds, which is not quite long enough to work up to a cry. Despite the aversions to a wet face, the wading pool Grandpa & Grandma Ruby sent home with us continues to be a big hit. We would toss that pool onto our back porch on 100° days (Aug-Sep). The very instant she could see it, anxious cries of excitement ring out.

We are also learning a lot from her. For instance, we did not know the primary reason why bathrooms have doors. Jen and I have lived in a fairly “open” environment. We never bother closing any doors except the ones that keep the hot Texas air out (or the Michigan mosquitoes). This has changed. It might have had something to do with the toilet paper Kayla loves to unroll, but I doubt it. It was the sinister news I received one night while I was in Atlanta.

While talking on the phone with Jen, she told me that she had forgotten to close the guest bathroom door. With the two of us in the house, one of us always catches that detail. It slipped by unnoticed until Jen heard the sound of the toilet lid closing. Not content to simply play in the conveniently placed pool and drench herself from head to toe, Kayla decided that her stuffed animals would like to play in the mini-pool as well. That door remains closed now at all times.

We have also given Kayla a new nickname, “harm.” We spend a part of each day making sure anything that she could hurt, or might hurt her, is out of “harm’s” way. She is at the point where she knows no limits, but she is very smart. It only takes whacking her head once to dissuade her from doing “that” again.

She has taught us to be fastidious housekeepers. Anything within 12 inches of the edge of a desk is subject to relocation under the Kayla World Organization Plan. We haven’t entirely deduced the logic behind the KWOP but the results are quite predictable. One, or often two, adults walking around the house, checking the trash cans, toy bins, and anywhere else about knee-height for something that was too close to the edge of a desk or counter. Being quite wise, mommy has taken to planting decoys to help distract her.

Bedtime has become somewhat ritualistic. Late in the evening she starts getting tired and silly. Then we play and be silly until she crashes. Tonight I recorded a couple minutes of us being silly.

641

If you’ve got the bandwidth, click here to see the Kayla-Go-Round movie.