Halloween

Kaya was Minnie Mouse for Halloween this year. She loved running around in the dress, but wasn't as thrilled with wearing the ears. She mostly wanted to take them off and chew on them! It was really hard to get a good picture of Kaya in her costume this year, because she can't stay still. Grandma and Grandpa M came over to visit and to see her in her costume. After that, Kaya went trick or treating to a few houses, including Grandma and Grandpa C's house. She also got to pat the dog that lives across the street - Roxy. She really liked that. She thinks Roxy is a big cat!

Trip to NJ

Today Kaya, Mommy, and Aunt Jessica drove to Princeton to see Anita and her new baby Sid. He's pretty cute!

Happy Birthday Uncle John!

Kaya's Uncle John is celebrating his birthday today!

Today Kaya got to do the long car ride back home to PA. And she also had lunch for the first time at Wendy's! Kaya ate a few pieces of her chicken nuggets, but more importantly, had many many spoonfuls of Grandma's frosty! Kaya's parents are happy that she's a little older now and can enjoy the finer things in life!

First Wedding Reception

Kaya got to attend her first wedding reception today, on the lake in Canandaguia NY! Kaya started her day with a long car ride through lots of rain with Daddy, Mommy, and Grandma Martin. Kaya doesn't like to be in her carseat long, so it was great that her "Granny-Nanny" was there to entertain her! While Mommy and Daddy went to the wedding, Kaya and Grandma had a fun time running up and down the halls of their hotel, and riding the elevator. Kaya liked to push the buttons in the elevator. Then after the wedding, Kaya and Grandma got dressed up and were able to attend the wedding reception. Kaya really liked the lodge feel of the reception hotel, and she kept running back and forth through the lobby and pointing at the stuffed bear at the entrance and over the doorway, and at a stuffed animal bear in the gift shop. She defintely had alot to say to those bears! One hotel guest couple decided that because she was being so cute with all her running and pointing, that she needed a stuffed animal bear - so they bought her one as a surprise! Kaya loved carrying him around the rest of the night!
At the reception, Kaya also liked dancing a little - both alone and with Mommy and Daddy. And when the band took a break, she even tried to run behind the microphones to check out their equipment. All in all Kaya had a great night. :)

Shuttling

Another new hobby that Kaya has adopted in the past month is shuttling toys back and forth. For example, she will move stuff animals from the couch to the chair, and then move them all back one by one, in the same order. She'll bring Mommy 4 mini books, and then take them all back to the shelf. She'll bring her shoes to Daddy, and then take them away again. And she does this about 100 times in a row. It really is amazing that she doesn't sleep a bit better!

Freedom

Within the last few weeks, Kaya's parents purchased a few additional baby gates and opened up more of the house to Kaya. She's absolutely loving the fact that she can run into the front hallway, through the front room, and through the pocket door and back to the kitchen. Naturally she is related to Mommy as she likes running in circles. She also loves going into the front hallway and shaking the bells on the door, as well as tapping her Pooh Happy Birthday balloon to make it sing to her. And when it does sing, she likes to dance and sing along. We think she's a good dancer and has a great singing voice.

"Dis" and "Dat"?

Kaya has become more verbal this past month. She's constantly pointing at objects around her and asking "Dis?" or "Dat?". She wants to know what everything is called, and she wants to play with absolutely everything she sees. She is especially interested in all things lighting - lights on the ceiling, light switches, and the dome light in Mommy's car. Obviously Kaya is related to Daddy and the two will be holding father-daughter days in the IKEA lighting section soon.

Kaya's also just talking up a storm about everything and nothing. She's not really understandable yet, but she clearly says "Aya" to talk about herself, and cat pretty well. And of course Mama and Dada. She also knows which door Daddy comes through when he gets home from work, as she'll point in that direction and ask "Dada?" all the time when she's waiting for him to get home.

New Shoes

Kaya got her second pair of everyday shoes today! They are pink and size 4.5, and have little flowers stitched all over them. They will replace her size 4 navy blue ones that she has grown out of. Mommy is a little sad because she loved those blue shoes!

Update: On Monday, Kaya got lots of compliments on her new shoes from her teachers at school!

Pumpkins

Today Kaya went to Pete's Produce, a farm near her home, to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween. Kaya took off running as soon as she got there, and had fun patting the pumpkins and trying to pick them up. She helped Daddy pick out a big pumpkin for carving, and then even found a small pumpkin and carried it around and put it in the wagon all by herself! Then she also helped Daddy by pushing the wagon and trying to pull the handle. When Daddy was paying for Kaya's new toys, Kaya walked around and picked up several purple flowers that had fallen off some of the mums that were for sale. She definitely recognized that these flowers belonged in a group, and she picked them up and handed them to Mommy. She also tried to give some to a few strangers.
Later in the evening, Kaya also got to taste raspberries for the first time. Mommy and Daddy bought them for Kaya along with the pumpkins. At home, Kaya kept saying "mmm..mmm.mmm" while she ate her raspberries, and after she was done, even pointed to the colander of berries that she knew was up on the counter and kept saying "mmm. mmm. mmm!" to let Mommy know she wanted more. It's nice to know she can communicate her needs even though she doesn't talk much yet!

Infant Carseat

Today was Kaya's last morning riding in her infant carseat on the way to school. For the last month, Kaya has been riding backwards in her old carseat in the morning, and then forwards in her new carseat in the afternoon. This was mainly because Mommy and Daddy could quickly transfer Kaya from bed to carseat to car in the morning without waking her up. BUT Mommy has decided that since Kaya has grown past the 30 inch limit for the old seat, it's time to stop using it. Plus it was getting too heavy to carry!