girls update

Kiersten is talking so much lately. she has been saying new words every day. Some of them she says once, and then never again. Others, she keeps saying, but they all sound so cute. One of my favorite things about her learning to speak, is that she will sing songs. She totally sings the tune, but doesn't neccesarily say all the words. She sings ring around the rosie, the alphabet song, old MacDonald, and the wonderpets theme song. I love hearing the way she says, "ashy, ashy, all fall dowww!" so cute! She has also started putting words together into short phrases. She says, "let go", "I don't know", "thankyou", "bless you", "bum change", "I love you" and "where are you?" That one is my favorite. Here are some other words that she can say;
whoa!, help, mine, more, stinky, grapes, baby, beeby (binky), spongebob, tickle, kitty, diaper, yum, and drink.
today I painted my nails, and she looked at each one and said, "pretty". I loved that. she can also name body parts now. the ones she knows best are, nose, eye, ears, mouth, teeth, feet, belly, back, hair, and chubby cheeks. I can hardly believe she'll be 18 months in two more days! She seems to be growing up so much faster than Kara did, but I guess that's what happens when you have a big sister to look up to. She definitely has her own little personality. She loves to laugh and tease everyone. She loves to be sneaky and play games. She wants to do everything Kara can do, and you can tell she really loves her life.
Kara is turning into such a fun little girl. She's convinced that she knows everything, and has more confidence than anyone I've ever met. She likes being the older sister, and tries to boss Kiersten around. When Kiersten actually complies, it just makes Kara's day. She has started wanting to pick out her own outfits all the time. Sometimes she actually picks something out that I will take her out in public with. Most times, if we're going somewhere, she needs a little help. She is learning to rhyme words. She is actually getting the hang of it the last few days. She's so particular about how I do her hair, what shoes she wears, and what she will eat. That can be frustrating, but we're trying to let her come to her own decisions about the foods she likes. Her memory seems so sharp, she is always referencing things I expect her to have forgotten about, and she is also starting to come to conclusions about things on her own. She is so excited to start school on tuesday, and keeps telling me about all the friends she's going to make. She always asks how many girls will be there and how many kids. She is convinced that kid means the same as boy, and she wont hear anything to the contrary. She has gotten pretty upset a few times when Ben has tried to tell her that she and Kiersten are kids. So we are letting go of the subject for now, and we'll just let her figure it out on her own.
They are both so cute and happy, and although I miss certain things about them when they were younger, we are all excited to see what they are going to learn next, and what the future holds for them.