1/31/12

Kenzie ate all of her pears and a taste of her blueberry muffin at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her tuna on saltines and a bite of both oranges and sweet potatoes. 

Kenzie was still pretty fussy today.  She didn't want anyone to look at her (let alone touch her) most of the morning.  She actually verbalized to both Jadey and Joslyn, "Don't look at me!"  She want me to cuddle her all morning, which I obviously couldn't do, but did hold her as much as possible.  When she fussed it made her nose run even more and made her more miserable, so it was kind of a viscous cycle.  She also was asking for her binky and to "go home" several times, which she never does. 

One funny thing that she did today was notice the tape on the book Morgan was looking at beside us as I held her.  She looked at it then up at Gary and said, "Thank you fix Morgie's book, Gary!"  That specific book has had tape on it for a long time, so I don't even know that he was the one that fixed it, but she has seen him fixing several lately...  : )  After that she started searching diligently through the stack of books she had and finally found one that had a little tear in it for him to fix.  She took it over to him then when he went out to get the mending tape she immediately asked, "What Gary doing?"  Silly little goose!  : 0  

1/30/12

Kenzie ate all of her fruit salad and about half of her Chex cereal at breakfast.  At lunch she drank all of her tomato soup and ate all of her apple slices and a couple bites of her roast beef sandwich. 

Kenzie was a little sensitive this morning and wanted (or needed) more cuddling than usual.  She asked both Gary and I to hold her multiple times today, which we did as long as we didn't have another kiddo that needed attended to. 

As far as playing goes, she mainly played with Morgan (with only a couple upsets).  They looked at books together, did some "eating" together and played on the mattress.  When Morgan wanted to cuddle for a little, Kenzie went over to Emily and asked, "Wanna play?"  It was really cute.  She wanted NOTHING to do with Jadey today and every time Jadey came close to her she either yelled or started fussing! 

Kenzie liked it when I asked her if she wanted to help me with Riley because she was getting hungry and Kenzie wanted to cuddle at the same time.  So I had Kenzie on my lap with Riley kind of on both of our laps and her "helping" me feed Riley.  : ) 

1/27/12

Kenzie ate all of her prunes and most of her oatmeal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate almost all of her tater-tot casserole and all of her biscuit and mandarin oranges.  I think sitting at the table agrees with her eating habits.  She sees the other kiddos eating theirs and wants to be a "big kid" too.  : ) 

Jadey went into the corner around beside the diapering station in the big room and was rubbing her eyelids and cheeks with her finger and saying she was doing "make-up".  Morgan and Kenzie both immediately picked up on that and had to "do make-up" too.   It was pretty funny!

After Kenzie's skirt fell off for the second time, I switched her into a pair of pants from her cubby that I thought might stay up a little better.  : )  She not only is slender, but also has such a little butt that it makes some clothes very challenging for her to keep on.  A couple times in the last week Morgan has even noticed and helped her pull up her pants so they don't fall off.  : )

Kenzie was holding one of the stuffed bunnies above her head today and looking at it's bottom.  She then turned to Morgan and said, "He poopy!' 

I decided Kenzie may be part vampire.  Today she and Jadey were in too close of a space together and Kenzie bent over (Jadey was sitting on the floor) and chomped (lightly) on her neck.  She caught herself in the act so there was no permanent damage, just a red spot for a while, but it looked pretty vampirish when it happened!  : )

1/26/12

Kenzie ate most of her french bread and bites of her melon at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite of squash ("like a big girl") and all of her dried mango bites, crescent roll and turkey slice. 

Kenzie spent time doing puzzles today and was doing a great job putting most of them together.  She loves doing the stuff that the bigger kiddos do!  : ) 

All of the bigger kiddos were using the laundry baskets as merry-go-rounds today.  They were putting dolls inside of them then pushing them around and around in circles until they (not the dolls) were dizzy!  : ) They were also loading and unloading them with everything and anything they could.


Morgan and Kenzie played together happily for quite a while again today.  They were playing on and around the climber/balance beam and mattress for a long time today.  There are holds through the steps of the climber/balance beam and were sticking there hands into the holds and catching each other's hands. 

1/25/12

Kenzie ate all of her toast and a couple mixed berries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate everything -- ham, bean soup, kiwi and saltines.  We have been having her sit at the table with the "big kiddos" occasionally to break her in gently for when Riley takes her spot in the high chair.  Lunch today was at the table and she really seems to eat better when she is right there watching all of the other kiddos have their "tasting bite" and just eating in general. 

Kenzie and Morgan sat for about 10 minutes and looked at books together in the big yellow chair.  It is so funny to watch them "read" to each other because you really see some of your own behaviors mirrored in them.  For example, every time Kenzie finished looking at a book, she would lean up and put it behind her back.  I do that so the kiddos aren't distracted by the completed books.  She also would "read" along until the last page, then say "The end!" and snap it shut (another thing I do!).  : ) 

Morgan and Kenzie were having laundry basket cage races today.  They would both put one of the laundry baskets up over their head (looking like a cage) then race across the side of the room and bump into the wall (sometimes so hard that they knocked themselves over).  Peyton and Joslyn were both watching the show and laughing at them (especially when they crashed into the wall then fell over). 

1/24/12

Kenzie ate all of her dried apricots and whole wheat bagel at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her pea and pasta salad some applesauce and a bite of fish. 

Kenzie was determined that she needed to "fix" everyone else's hair (actually mess it up) even when they tried to run away from her or yelled at her.  After reminding her multiple times that she would "only comb your hair", I finally had to have the combs all "take a break".  : )

Kenzie and Morgan had so much fun playing with the pop-up toaster this morning.  They were literally playing with them for over 30 minutes.  They each had a toaster, and were pretty much taking turns so they could watch each other's pop up.  If by chance the toast, egg, or pancake hit them in the face when it popped up, that just made it better.  Several times both of them were literally bent over because of laughter!

We got out the laundry baskets for them to play with and in today and they all really enjoyed that.  They were using them as doll cribs, drums, rolling toys, hats...  They also really enjoyed crawling into them.  I showed them how to take it over to something so they could hang on while they were climbing in.  Usually to get out, they just tipped over then crawled out. 



I forgot to post this picture of them singing yesterday, so here it is too...  : ) 

1/23/12

Kenzie ate most of both her bran flakes and her craisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her cheese pizza, most of her tropical fruit and a bite or two of her steamed cauliflower. 

It was not only "new" toy exchange, but also one of her favorites, so she was very engaged all morning. : )  She was playing with the pop-up toasters, and having me up curlers in her hair a lot! 

I also set up our little fish tube deal today and she and the rest of the kiddos were super excited about that.  For about 5 minutes they were all over there watching them move and "swim" and jumping up and down saying, "They wake up!  They wake up!"  : ) 

I had forgotten to get out this set of stuffed animals this time so when I did, I reminded them all that if they started fighting over them instead of sharing or taking turns the bunnies would have to go in "Time out"!  She nodded solemnly and pointed up to the shelf where I had put a couple of problem causing stuffed animals last week.

I was sitting on the floor with them today and one of the kiddos came over and asked to sing a certain song which lead to another and another until we had spent about 20 minutes singing.  The kiddos were doing a lot of actual singing this time (as well as the motions).  It was fun.  Many times those spontaneous interactions are more meaningful and "successful" than the planned ones! 

1/20/12

Kenzie ate a bite of malt-o-meal or two and about half of her raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate several bites of burger out of her spaghetti and all of the noodles with sauce, salad with ranch and mixed fruit. 

Morgan and Kenzie were playing what I am going to call the "I love you -- that side!" game.  Morgan started it by giving Kenzie a hug then saying, "I love you -- that side!" and racing over to the other side of the room.  When Kenzie followed her she would give her a brief hug and repeat it.  They played it for at least 10 minutes and Kenzie was chuckling basically the whole time.  They probably would have continued it even longer if one of the other kiddos hadn't come and distracted them.  : )

They were also playing "Go Potty!"  Regretfully it wasn't the real thing, but one of them would announce "Go Potty!" and they would race over to the corner by the big window and squat down for a minute or so then jump up and say "All done!  Go play!"  Morgan started it, but Kenzie picked up on it right away and probably did it more than Morgan did. 


Morgan, Kenzie and Jadey were all sitting on the yellow chair looking at books.  Jadey suddenly announced that there was "candy" in her book.  Kenzie immediately perked right up and said, "I want canny!"  All three of them spent the next several minutes 'eating' candy off of the book page. 

1/19/12

Kenzie sat at the "big kiddo" table today for meals.  Our rule at the table is that everyone needs to have a taste of what is on their plates.  It was amazing.  She watched at Morgan, Jadey and Joslyn (Alayna wasn't here) all ate some of everything, then took her tasting bites super congenially.  : )  Not only that, but she ate more of everything that she had tasted!  It is amazing what peer pressure can do (even positively and at this age!).  At breakfast she ate all of her cinnamon raisin English muffin and bites of her blueberries.  At lunch she ate All of her canned cherries, canned chicken on saltines and over half of her potato salad. 

We have decided that this group of kiddos do a lot of "pack" playing.  When one of them does something, they all do it MOST of the time (like a pack of canines).  Today Kenzie was the leader with several things.  One of them was that she got down on her hands and knees and started crawling everywhere.  Before long, every mobile child was on their hands and knees crawling around following her.  : ) 

She has been cracking me up lately when we redirect her.  She has been doing a very good job of listening and cooperating, but she has been putting her little hands on her hips well over half the time.  Even though it may be a minor act of defiance, it is so cute and funny that is too hard not to laugh! 

1/18/12

Kenzie ate all of her peaches and most of her biscuit at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her pineapple, bites of roll and baked beans and no steamed broccoli. 

Kenzie and Emily just think it is the funniest thing to put the Velcro fruits and vegetables into the stainless steal sinks in the little kitchen sets then shuffle them around to make some pretty loud clanking sounds. They both just laugh like crazy girls when they do it.  : )

Kenzie was standing at the window looking out this morning.  When I asked her what she was doing she said, "watchin' for my gramma!"  : )  How cute is that?!

She and Morgan made up a game that both of them thought was hilarious.  Morgan would say, "Hey Kenzie!" from somewhere in the room and Kenzie would turn around and make eye contact with her and they would both chuckle.  They must have done it for at least 15 minutes!  It was really cute!

Gary went out and re-shoveled today and all of the kiddos were lined up at the big window to watch when he was out there.  They thought it was great fun to see him scrape up that white stuff then throw it around!  : )

1/17/12

Kenzie ate no hashbrowns and all of her waffles at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite of her red pepper and seconds on orange slices, brown rice and shrimp.

Gary got "the looks" from Kenzie today when he asked her to do something that she really wasn't too keen on doing.  Boy!  Does she know how to look daggers?!  : )  Even then she is cute though...

Morgan, Jadey and Kenzie all played a cover each other up game for about 15 -20 minutes.  They would take turns laying down and the other two would do the covering.  The person laying down would then hop up and it was the next ones turns.  For some reason they thought it was not only a LOT of fun, but also quite funny!  : )

For some reason she, Jadey, Emily and Peyton were in extra loud mode.  It didn't matter if they were singing, talking (yelling) or playing (banging) it was loud.  I felt like I was doing way more sound redirection than I ever have. 

She and Alayna were "reading" books to each other.  They both had a book on their laps, but were doing a super good job of taking turns "reading" them.  They even had some pretty good discussions.  I decided it might be the youngest book discussion group ever!  : )

1/16/12

Kenzie ate bites of her banana and most of her cheerios at breakfast.  At lunch she drank all of her tomato soup and ate about half of both her apple slices and her grilled cheese sandwich. 



Kenzie and Morgan were hugging over and over this morning.  They were best buddies until our granddaughter, Story, woke up then Kenzie followed her around like a little puppy dog after that.  It was pretty cute!



It was so cute how much they were all enthralled with Story.  When she first got up this morning, Gary took her to the couch to cuddle and wake up a little before playing.  It was like she was a magnet.  Literally all of the kiddos here today (except sleeping Riley) were surrounding her instantly.  So cute!  : ) 

While she was still being Morgan's buddy, they were covering each other with blankets, and then she kept asking Morgan, "You wanna read stories?"  When Morgan didn't respond, she just plopped down by her and started reading the book in her hand. 

1/13/12

Kenzie ate about half of her craisins and oatmeal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her applesauce, about half of her pea and noodle casserole and several bites of lean ground beef. 

Kenzie and Morgan played together quite a bit again today.  They were dressing up in the play shoes, shirts and hats and when Kenzie got on the clothes she wanted, she asked Morgan, "Can I go Costco?"  They then walked around the room until they got to "Costco". 

Morgan watched as Joslyn asked and then sat on Jadey's lap.  She them saw that Kenzie was sitting down and went over (without asking) and plopped down on her lap!  Kenzie kind of chuckled at first, then started pushing to get her off.  I think there was just a little too much of a mismatch size-wise there.  : )

Morgan and Kenzie played pretty congenially most of the time.  One time they had some conflict over one of the cleaning "rags".  Kenzie started to bite Morgan and stopped herself, then Morgan attacked her back (knee).  She didn't bite very hard, but it did make a small red mark.  Jadey was instantly there giving her loved then putting a "cold cloth" on it (really one of the play cleaning 'rags') for several minutes.  

After I had changed one of the poopy babies, Morgan went over to the stuffed Grover we have out and announced that he was poopy.  She got one of the play "rags" and started "cleaning his bumm", and changing him.  She was really into doing it for about 15 minutes.  After the first couple minutes, Kenzie decided she was making it look like too much fun and had to find a stuffed animal to "change" also.  It was really cute. 

I had to include this picture of Riley!  Even she was wearing the dress ups!  : )  

1/12/12

Kenzie ate nothing at breakfast -- blueberries and blueberry bread pudding.  At lunch she ate the turkey out of her turkey burger and one green bean (no kiwi). 

Kenzie was very tired acting and had a bigger melt-down than I have ever seen her have.  She tried to bite one of the kiddos so we intervened and moved her away from the situation.  She started screaming, so we moved her further away, which just made her furious, then she had a hard time regrouping.  I don't thing it would have gotten to that point, but I was trying to feed baby Nora and she was wanting me.  Nora is so easily distractable that I couldn't help her right then.  After she had regrouped she was very cuddly with both Gary and I.  She was also asleep immediately at nap time. 

Kenzie and Joslyn were taking turns jumping off of the climber/balance beam deal onto the mattress for quite a while today.  They were "counting" for each other, cheering for each other and saying "Ready, set, GO!" which was really cute. 

Kenzie was really interacting and talking to Riley this morning.  When Riley woke up, Kenzie came over and asked, "Riley Roo get up!" then climbed up by us and gave her a sweet love and was visiting with her for quite a while. 

1/11/12

Kenzie ate all of her dried mango and bites of her toast with jelly at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her tropical fruit, a couple bites of beef and bean burrito and a taste of sweet potatoes. 

When mom went by after dropping her off this morning, Kenzie looked at me and more like stated than asked, "Doing errands?!"  That cracked me up!  Another thing she did that cracked me up was when her nose was running.  Often the kiddos will come up and let us know their noses are running, but pointing to it or telling us "I've got a booger!", "Need nose wipe", "Tissue please" or even just "Oh, oh!"  Kenzie did a first.  She came up and said "I got snot!" three times in quick succession.  : ) 

Kenzie and Emily played peek-a-boo around the dress up deal for about 5 minutes solid.  They were taking turns doing it and both were really chuckling! 

Kenzie was determined that she needed her hair done when I was fixing Morgan's and Emily's this morning.  Although her pony tail still looked just fine, I went ahead and fixed it.  I decided to do something a little crazy with it and ended up putting it in four pony tails.  I had to take a front and back picture of it in case it is all messed up at pick up time tonight (and for the rest of the family to see).  : )  I thought it was just too cute.  It reminded me of a Dr Seuss character or something.  : )

Kenzie wanted Alayna to play with her today.  She went over to her, reached for her hand and asked "You wanna walk, Layna?"  Alayna took her hand and they strolled around the room for a while.  After a while Alayna let go and started to go do something else.  Kenzie was immediately there and this time asked, "Wanna hold Kenzie hand?"  I thought that was so sweet! 

1/10/12

Kenzie ate about half of her prunes and seconds on cinnamon roll at breakfast.  At lunch she really didn't eat much.  We had scrambled eggs, waffles, hashbrowns and cantaloup.  She had a couple bites of waffle, but I think that was it.  She did drink most of her milk though. 

Morgan and Kenzie played together quite a bit again today.  They both were dressing up in the sports clothes.  Kenzie just had a cap on, but Morgan put on knee pads, a cap and soccer shoes.  She then told Kenzie something about "hockey" (Morgan's mom plays on a hockey team, I think).  : ) 

Kenzie and Morgan were also really getting a kick out of playing with one of the cooking pans we have out.  They weren't exactly playing with it the traditional way.  The pans have clear bottoms in them and they were taking turns putting the open part of the pan up to their face and then the other one would stick their face up to the clear part of the bottom of the pan.  They were both just cracking up over and over! 

The other thing that was very noteworthy that they were doing together today was with the play pot holder/"rags" that are out right now.  I looked over and they both had them up to their noses and were using them as tissues.  Needless to say, they immediately went into the "chew" bucket to be cleaned!  Ugh!!!  : ) 

Just an FYI, Riley has been fussy for us too (at least as fussy as we have seen her).  She didn't want to drink much, eat anything, and has just wanted to sleep or cuddle.  Poor sweetie!  She isn't inconsolable, by any means, just not her usual self. 

1/9/12

Kenzie ate all of her mixed fruit and about half (or a little more) of her Kix cereal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her ham sandwich, all of her mandarin oranges and about half of her steamed broccoli. 

Kenzie was using one of the play dressing bottles as a "sprayer" (spray bottle) and "cleaning" the big room with it and a "rag" off and on basically all morning.  Morgan, Jadey and later Emily all joined in.  It is so cute to watch them.  Sometimes I'm tempted to give them the real thing but then there ore those stinking Child Labor Laws!  : ) 

This morning Kenzie was "cooking" over at one of the little kitchen sets and Thomas was determined to harass her.  More than anything he was just hanging around too close, but every once in a while he would try to grab something she had put down there or even just touch it.  Gary and I were both watching closely, ready to intervene if needed.  We had Kenzie tell him to "move back" then helped him listen and move away and so forth.  Pretty soon he was right back there and Kenzie had had enough.  She started to bite him, looked up at me, then stopped herself before she chomped.  Hooray!

Kenzie cracked Gary and I up this morning when she called me "Lauralea-Roo" after breakfast.  It just doesn't have the same ring as Riley-Roo!  : ) 

Kenzie and Morgan played together quite a bit also this morning.  They were "cooking" and playing with the food stuff, setting plates around the table and putting fruits and veggies on them.  They were also talking on the "toobabloo" (which is a type of phone that you can hear yourself in extra well).  It was pretty cute because they each had two of them, one for each ear, for the majority of the time. 

1/6/12

Kenzie ate bites of her raisins and all of her rice at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her french bread and meatloaf, most of her dried apricots and even a couple bites of her cooked carrots. 

Kenzie and the other kiddos were having a blast jumping and dancing  with the teddy beats today.  What I thought was funny was that as soon as I got out the camera, Kenzie stopped dancing.  I still thought this picture of her chewing on the bear's ear was super cute, though. 

Kenzie has been doing so well on her nap mat.  As you can see she just lays there and goes right to sleep.  Almost every day after I help her wash her hands, she goes over to Gary and gives him a love, then takes my hand as asks, "Nap mat big girl?" as we head over to her spot.  It is so cute.  She lays right down and doesn't mess around at all, just goes right to sleep. 



Kenzie was very sweet today to Thomas.  Usually she really doesn't ;ay much attention to him or just yells at him for something or another.  Today she went over to him and give him a very nice love out of the blue and said, "Hi Tom-Tom!"  It was great! 

I had to add a couple pictures in here of Riley reading.  She has really been interested in looking at the books now that she is able to sit up for periods of time.  I just think it is so cute! 

1/5/12

Kenzie ate all of her cinnamon toast and thirds on grapes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her canned cherries and dinner roll, about half of her chicken trips and a bite of mashed potatoes. 

Kenzie and Jadey were having a lot of fun playing what Jadey deemed "the game".  Jadey was sitting on the balance beam/climber deal by the mattress and Kenzie was standing on the mattress.  Kenzie was giving Jadey her hands and then would lean back away from her toward the mattress.  Jadey would then let go of Kenzie's hands and Kenzie would obviously flop backward onto the mattress.  They would both just crack up then.  I am not sure why they thought that was so funny, but listening to them was hilarious.  As soon as Kenzie was laying on the mattress, she would then say "Again", jump up and head back toward Jadey with her hands out for her to hold.  Silly girls!

If Kenzie starts doing somersaults at home and calls them "back flip", she had picked that up from Morgan!  : )  Morgan has been doing that for a couple months now and always ends it with "like Monte".  None of the other kiddos had really done it and then today I heard all of the talkers saying it, so...  : )

We had a couple crows and several squirrels outside of the big window today to entertain the kiddos.  Our neighbor across the street is feeding the squirrels, so we should be seeing them on a regular basis!  Kenzie really gets a kick out of watching them. 

1/4/12

Kenzie ate all of her whole wheat bagel and seconds on peaches at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite or two or corn, all of her homemade macaroni and cheese and seconds on lettuce shreds with ranch on it. 

Yesterday and today Kenzie kept asking me, "You take Christmas down?"  I thought that was such a cute way to state it! 

Kenzie was a little fussy this morning until about 10:00.  We worked hard to remind her to use her words and if she didn't do it on her own to help her have the words to say before actually giving her what she wanted with just the whining.  She wanted to cuddle a lot and even then wasn't real happy.  She pooped about 10:00 and that really seemed to change her disposition.  By the way, Riley also pooped (not long after noon). 

Kenzie had this specific cup and spoon that she played with much of our big room play time.  She was stirring, pouring and pretending to eat with the pair. 

Today Joslyn, Kenzie, Jadey and Morgan kept taking turns "cuddling" on my lap.  The majority of the time it was Morgan and Kenzie and for most of that they created their own "game".  Morgan was pretending to cry or fuss and Kenzie would lean over toward her and say, "Morgan?" then Morgan would laugh and they would start all over again.  Whenever Morgan didn't do it, Kenzie would tell her "Again!"  It was hilarious!  

1/3/12

Kenzie ate a bite of her blueberry muffin and all of her pears at breakfast (and drank quite a bit of milk).  At lunch she ate all of her crackers, her oranges and no tuna or sweet potatoes. 

Kenzie seemed super glad to be back.  She not only did well most of the time with her friends, she also gave frequent and spontaneous hugs to adults and kiddos throughout the morning.  It was especially sweet to see her hugging each of her friends this morning after she came.  Morgan especially enjoyed the Kenzie hugs.

Of course, Gary and I both enjoyed them immensely too.  Gary especially thought it was precious when she would come over and visit with him and he would visit back and in the middle of the conversation, she would throw her arms around his neck and hug him.  : )  Who wouldn't be enthralled?!

Kenzie did have a few times of trying to "re-establish" her territory when she first came -- that struggle with the toddler "Mine" syndrome, you know...  But she responded well to our reminders of "find a toy that no one is playing with" or "she's using that one so you have to wait until she is done and puts it down."

One thing that I that I thought was hilarious was how she was instructing Thomas to "Take it back side" when Thomas had one of the hard toys over one the rowdy side of the big room.  We try to keep the toys away from there so that no one falls on them while jumping on the mattress or otherwise being rowdy.  She knows the rules very well and can tell others exactly what they are. Does that mean she always follows them?  Not necessarily...  : )