Keana continues to show off her little personality. It was Sarah’s birthday on Friday and Keana sang along with “happy birthday mama” and proposed several toasts at our burgers and champagne lunch saying, “Cheers!” throughout the meal. It’s amazing to see her pick up on all these social protocols. They seem so complex for a little baby yet she learns them after only observing them once. I guess it really scares us on some level too to realize that it does only take her one time seeing something to imprint it on her brain. And it’s not just her copying us either. There’s a little bit of that, but time and again she’ll bust out with something that lets us know she’s learning everything right now and she knows what it means and when to use it.

Keana’s almost two now and she’s definitely exerting her independence. She’s able to communicate really well and has been forming longer, more complex sentences. This has made it much easier for us to understand what she wants and allows us to explain things better to her. That being said, the word “no” has become pretty popular too, but it hasn’t really been that frustrating for us. Most of the time it’s really okay for her to say “no” and for the other times we just have to explain the situation to her and she understands. Don’t get me wrong either, this girl is a spitfire, but if we treat her with respect by acknowledging her intelligence and capabilities, the outcome is generally good for all of us. After-all, isn’t that really what any of us wants? The need to be heard and respected seems to run deep in everyone and we see it emerging more and more in Keana every day.