Now that Kerry has turned two, I thought I should document all of the things she can do and some of the things that make up her personality now. I warn you, it may be long and rambling but I don't want to forget anything.

She has a vocabulary of 80+ words and is adding to it daily, especially over the last few weeks. She loves to identify objects, people, animals, body parts and then exclaim loudly "dehh-it-iss!" (there it is). It's really cute. This girl is LOUD when she wants to be..always has been. Thats another one of the things that we noticed first about her. She's not really stringing words together yet, but I think it won't be long. She's been getting especially frustrated lately when she can't communicate something to us in words.

She has known a lot of her shapes for months now, but has added a couple more recently. One of her favorite toys has always been her shape sorter, and she can consistently show you the heart, star, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, oval, and cross. I think she's ready to start learning colors, too, as I've noticed that she can often match two things of the same color now. She likes to "count" things as she puts them away, but every number is five, or "pive" so far.

When we met her at 15 months, she was walking, but I don't think she had been for more than a month or two. She had an adorable little Frankenstein/Zombie type walk. I believe she spent too much time in a walker, so she had the mechanics down, but lacked a bit in balance and core strength. Within a few weeks, that was gone and she now runs steadily, jumps and climbs constantly, and has great balance. Her fine motor skills have always been great. One of the first things we noticed about her was how well she used her hands.

She has a mouthful of pearly whites. Soon after we met her she cut her bottom eye-teeth, and she's currently cutting her bottom "two year" molars. She likes to brush her teeth herself (after Mama's gone at them first, of course). She's always been obsessed with teeth, and not just her own. I can't tell you how many thorough dental examinations we've gotten from her, especially in those first months home.

Her personality has shone through pretty much from the second day with us, but continues to blossom more and more. She's very much a multi-faceted girl. She has a great sense of humor, with the best laugh. She's silly and comical, yet can be very focused and serious about the task at hand, whatever it may be. She can be very her "hard on herself" and gets upset if she doesn't succeed at whatever it is she's attempting. She's always been very observant and can imitate or repeat almost anything she sees us do. We have to be careful what we do around her. Lately she likes to "help" clean. She especially likes to sweep and if she gets a hold of a paper towel, she'll go around wiping things down. She is an absolute bundle of energy....she is on the go all day long. Like I've mentioned before, several times a day she gets so excitable that she starts hopping in place, or she does a little tap dance that we've labeled her "happy feet" routine, all the while just squealing and giggling =).

It's a sight to behold.

She has become more and more affectionate lately. She give us hugs and kisses freely...well...mostly. We have this little game that we sometimes play, not sure how it started out. I'll ask for a hug or kiss, she'll say "no" with a playful little grin which is my cue to say "please?" and then pretend to cry, at which point she giggles and gives me the longed for hug or kiss.

Although she responds readily to Kerry or Kerry Lu, she still calls herself "Ying Ying" (her nickname in the orphanage).

Like any good southern gal, she loves sweet tea.