Getting to know... Kyra

The first in 100 words to describe Kyra is opinionated. I had no idea that a 1 year old could be so opinonated. This girl knows what she wants, and most of the time she knows how to get it. It's both adorable and exhausting. Here are a few other things she's been up to lately.

She prefers cherrios to vegetables (what person in their right mind dosen't?) and she make her preference perfectly clear. When I place both veggies (of every color, shape and size) and a few cherrios on her tray she will systematically pick out a cherrio, put it in her mouth, and then pick a veggie and drop it on the floor. This continues cherrio, veggie, cherrio, veggie until she has eaten every cherrio, and then its just the soft sound of splat, splat, splat as each veggie left is picked up and quitely dropped over the edge. She pulls no faces, there is no melodramatic scene. It is just a very calm, clear, consice, message... no veggies thank you, just cherrios.

She has no fear of exploring on her own, as long as there are no other people around. My mom came to visit last week, and so we went down to Dallas to Fair Park. We walked around outside and then visited one of the gardens. We brought her little "walker" toy thinking that it would be fun for her to walk the gardens instead of going in the stroller. We were right, but it wasn't the flowers she was interest in. She loved the grass, the pebbles embedded in the pavement, dirt, and especially dry leaves. The flowers she could have cared less about.
When we got up to leave, I called to her "Kyra, follow me, we're leaving." She got up and took a few steps toward me with her walker, and then a spark of comprehension went off in her eyes. She was mobile and .... free. She whipped her walker around and headed off in the opposite direction. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but the same situation occurs in the halls at church, in stores (I occasionally let her push her stroller when we go out shopping), and at home outside on the sidewalk. The funny thing is if a person walks onto the scene and trys to talk to her she makes a bee-line back to me in a panic. An explorer, but not a people person.

I am the electromagnet, she is the paper clip. She decides when the magnet is on. Today it has been on ALL day.

She is the spitting image of her father. From the baby pictures of Jon, she looks like him, they have the same "giraffe" tounge (hence her nickname "Raffi"), and they are both obsessed with electronic devices that flash, make noise, and/or control things. Her favorite toys are the remote controls for the TV, DVD player and reciever. She also loves cell phones, xbox controllers, cords, flashing lights, buttons, ... you get the point. It always amazes me that she will sit and play quietly or just sit and watch as Jon plays "Hexic" (known to Kyra as "colors") on the 360 or "Viva Pinata." It's cute to see Kyra treck on behind Jon as he calls out "Come on Kyra lets go play colors." Peas in a pod.