KEIRA

Sometimes I look at Keira and I can't believe how grown up my "baby" is becoming.  She is now THREE years, TEN months old!  When did that happen?  She's still a little peanut.  Just 27 1/2 pounds,  but even with such a small stature, she has a HUGE personality and presence. 

Keira is very silly and creative.  She loves making faces, singing as loud as possible (Firework by Katy Perry and the Elizabeth Mitchell version of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds are among her favorites), and using her imagination.  She can sit and play with the dolls in the dollhouse or her Strawberry Shortcake figures, or stuffed animals and create all kinds of little adventures for them.  She has a very artistic side too and LOVES to paint.  She could paint with her watercolors all day long if I'd let her.  She's still a scribbler when she has a crayon or marker in hand, but give her a paintbrush and a page from her favorite coloring book, and she'll paint you a masterpiece!

Keira is very moody.  She can be happy and laughing one minute and stomping upstairs and slamming her bedroom door the next.  This has her daddy and I very scared about the teenage years.  

Keira is very sensitive and has a deep love and fascination with babies.  She often pretends her stuffed animals or dollies are sick and she hold them and kisses them until they are all better.  She carefully feeds them from her toy bottles and there are often lots of toys lovingly wrapped up in baby blankets around the house.  This has her Grandmom Esther convinced we have a future pediatrician on our hands.   When we are out in public, like at the grocery store or mall, it is impossible to keep her away from any crying babies we might encounter.  She immediately asks me if she can "say hi to the babies" and "make them feel better".  She really is a natural caretaker.

Keira is the life of any party.  She is extremely social and outgoing and has no problem going up to complete strangers and saying, "You want to be my friend?"  She plays well with others (for the most part) and likes being anywhere that is loud, busy, and full of people!  Keira is a busy little girl and always on the go.  A party is her favorite place to be.

Keira is very grown up in some ways and a little immature for her age in others.  She is extremely independent.  She wants no assistance AT ALL when climbing the gigantic steps on her school bus, and it is getting harder and harder to pick out her clothes without her protesting my choice ("That not beautiful enough").  She very much has a "I'll do it all by myself" attitude and rarely wants help doing anything.  At the same time, Keira loves being cuddled and still wants to be held like an infant.  You know, like across you chest with your arms wrapped around her?  It looks ridiculous, but she loves it.  She's still a thumbsucker and will sometimes fake cry like a baby for attention.  Although she sleeps well in her big girl bed (we transitioned right around Thanksgiving), she still asks for her crib and insists she is NOT a big girl.  "I a BABY!!"  she repeatedly tells me.  I'm not sure what this baby stuff is all about, but I suspect it is a passing phase and there will come a day when I'll wish she would let me rock her and hold her like an infant just one more time.

Yes, my baby is growing up.  It is still impossible for me to look at her without remembering how she started out in this world;  Tiny, sick, with every odd stacked against her.  It makes me appreciate the little person she is becoming even more.  

And I'll keep reminding myself that every time she stomps up the stairs and slams that bedroom door.

:)