Kara Mae is 22 months old.

Noooooooo! Kara can't be turning 2 in two months! How can that be??? We've so enjoyed these 22 months with her and have a hard time remembering not having both girls, but how can she be that old?

She's getting so big! She's getting way too long for a lot of her clothes and we are truly moving clothes from one side of the closet (Jana's) to the other (Kara's).

Look at how tall she is getting? She's hanging on to the edge of the counter.
And look at her here, grabbing something off the counter.

This kid is a character! She's so stinking sweet. She's a snuggler! She has the greatest coy little looks, pretending that she's shy, but we all know the truth.

Her vocabulary is growing so quickly these days. She's also putting together 3 or 4 word sentences.
"I ready a go, Mommy!"
"A brush a teeth, Mama!"
"I a coming!"

Every where she goes she has to "a walk". She doesn't want to ride in the stroller or be carried. She must "a walk" or "a run". (Did you notice that everything starts with "a" for her?)

Since Mama started a new job for the rest of the school year, Kara is enjoying some social time at Brenda's house (a friend of Mommy's) with Kara's new friend: "a Noly buddy." Nolynd is about the same age as Kara and they are having a wonderful time together. Kara is also enjoying Brenda, who is very willing to enjoy Kara-snuggles. Kara spent most of the week calling Nolynd "Noah", but she's now getting better and saying "A Noly, buddy." The other adorable thing about being at Brenda is that she has a little yappy dog "JC"; however, Kara calls him "Little Maiya." Slight size difference. :-)

Kara's newest trick that we love is that she knows the Sandra Boynton book "Moo, Bah, La, La, La." She loves to make the animal sounds in the story and will bring it to you and call the book "La, la, la."

Kara still loves slides and swings. Her favorite is to climb up the slide.

She's also very into her baby, play food, Mama's kitchen utensils, and play houses.
First she must dump out all the playfood.
And then pretend to eat it.

Okay, okay, less pretend and lots of slobbering.
She has also stopped tolerating "a clip" in her hair. She rips them out of her hair so quickly and then holds them up proudly!

Going...
Going...
Gone.

Her eyes seem to be lightening up and becoming more of a steely-blue like Mama's. They are still a very cool color, but not as blue as big sis's eyes. And this kid is starting to get some hair!

She's actually even had her first pair of real piggy tails, not just pulling up the front part of her hair. This also seems to be one of her favorite places to sit - directly under the snack cabinet. Her other favorite place to sit is... I kid you not, in the fridge. We'll have to get a shot of that this month.

Ah, our sweet girl!


Kara LOVES car seats... as long as they are not strapped into a car. She strongly disagrees to getting strapped into her car seat, but loves to sit in big sis' booster seat. Silly girl. She also loves playing with the old bottles and sippy cups that she has outgrown. "A bottle"!

Such a little ham!

Jana's 3 years and 1 month old!

How has it been a month since her birthday already?

Jana's struggling with sleep these days. Ever since the "Binky fairy" came and she gave her binkies to all those babies without binkies, she's had trouble falling asleep. What used to take 5 minutes to settle in and fall asleep with her binky, now takes an hour or two, or Mama lying down with her. Speaking of which, I accidentally started something I wish I hadn't. During the first few days of no binky, Jana wasn't sleeping, so consequently, we weren't sleeping. To help calm her down and bring her out of her hysterical crying, I would lie down with her. But, I was so tired that I would fall asleep very quickly. So, now she won't take naps unless I stay until she falls asleep. Ugh! We've gotten it down to 5 minutes of snuggles at bed time, but I can't seem to get her to take a nap unless I lie down with her.

Jana's doing a great with potty training through the night. She decided long ago that it was a punishment to be in a pull up, so we have chosen not to fight that battle. We have a good system to get her cleaned up and back asleep as soon as possible if she has an accident. It's been maybe once every two or three weeks that she's had an accident, but has pretty much guarenteed getting up at least once a night.

Jana's becoming such a little girl. She loves to wear dresses, have her fingernails painted, and wear her dress up clothes. Her favorite saying right now is "I only like pink and purple a lot."

Here is Jana and her friend Lizzy at their Valentine's Day party. She's really getting attached to her friends at school and her usual "Mommy's my best friend," "Daddy's my best friend," or "Sissy's my best friend" is occasionally being replaced with "Lizzy's my best friend," "Lily's my best friend," or "Janae's my best friend."

Scarfing down ice cream at the Valentine's Day party.
Delivering her Valentine's to her friends at school.

So excited about her Valentine's from her friends.

Making a silly face at Grandpa. Oh, can you see the teenage sass in those eyes already? Yikes!!!

Jana's always loved bubbles, but now enjoys blowing them for herself, not just running after them and trying to eat them. Ewww!

It seems to be getting increasingly more difficult to get pictures of her. I seem to have to bribe her with something to sit long enough to get more than the back of her head.

Fishies anyone?

Jana and Kara's favorite game these days is "chase." They love to chase each other around, but inevitably it ends in tears because either Kara falls or Jana tackles her.

The very cool new developments with Jana is that she's starting to recognize the letters in her name and Kara's name in the signs as we drive down the road. I'll hear "I see a 'J', Mama, like in J-A-N-A." She's also started rhyming. Her favorite saying is, "Mommy, you're a funny bunny, honey."

Some picture fun!

I've been home all this week, so the girls and I have been having some fun. They have been such characters.

Tell me this kid doesn't pose!

Binky addiction.

"Mama, I'm Tinkerbell." "Smile, Tinkerbell." "Don't call me Tinkerbell. I'm Jana!"

Or shall we call you Fancy Nancy.

A typical post-nap look. Yikes. Spacey eyes, one piggy up, one piggy down, and soaked in drool from the binky. Attractive, huh? I call it teenage bribery!

Little Miss Sassy Pants, so proud of her outfit today - She seriously sparkled a bit when people told her how cute she looked today. Yikes!

So close, yet so far... almost a cute picture of the two of them... almost.

Oh my, what a difference a year makes!!!!

Back story: I was looking for a pair of shorts for Jana to wear to her first gymnastics class today and she found a pair of her old pants. The cotton capris that she lived in last year. She insisted on wearing them. They are size 2T, so it's not like she's wearing something ridiculously sized. I about fell over - they fit better around her than they did last spring and summer, but oh my. Look at the length of these capris. How did she grow so much in one year??????

Here is Jana on 2/15/08 in the same pants, but just solid green - fit the same way and same length. She's looking like such a baby here!

Here is Jana on March 3, 2008 in these pants.

And here's Jana today.
Really? Is she this big now?