Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The joy

The joy is Kyra. Our wonderful, sweet, adorable (and only occasionally evil) daughter celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday. We had a small, quiet celebration at our home and today we had the big party at a local children's play place called Busy Bees. Kyra and 10 of her friends had a blast.

Having Kyra is amazing. She's so completely different from Blaine. She's much bolder. More fearless than Blaine, but also much, much more cautious. She takes more risks, but they are calculated risks. I'm frequently asked something like "is that your daughter standing at the top of the tall slide?" I just nod and smile because I know she's fine. If that had been Blaine at the same age, I would have been hovering beneath, waiting for the inevitable fall.

She still has problems expressing herself. We are working with her and the speech delay. It's fun to see her learning new words and trying out new signs. Her sign language skills are amazing and she is using her signs as a bridge to language. She now can say "dog" and "cat" but only if she is making the sign at the same time. My dad likes to say that I would be mute if you tied my hands behind my back, so I guess Kyra will be following in my footsteps and will be a very visual speaker, using her hands to get her point across. Make no mistake, however. She has no problem getting what she wants when she wants it. She may not be able to speak the words, but she knows how to make herself understood.

She is still our Princessa Hooliganka and we wouldn't change a thing. She brings such joy to our lives everyday. Pure, unadulterated joy. Happy birthday baby girl. We love you.