5/29/12

Just a note to let you know I am not doing actual journals today.  Gary hurt his back over the weekend and we don't have a sub so I was doing almost everything while Gary hung out, monitored the room and used lots of verbal guidance techniques to help as much as possible.  Anyway, I wasn't really able to focus on specifics of that the kiddos were doing.  I do know that they did amazingly well since it was a long weekend, things were different here with me doing more of the stuff and Gary not mobile...  Sorry for the inconvenience.  We are working on getting a sub for Wednesday through Friday so Gary can just relax, not stress over the extra work for me and just concentrate on healing up... 

5/25/12

Kenzie at about half of her rice and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her dried apricots, most of her meatloaf, about half of her french bread and a tasting bite of cooked carrots. 

I had to roll Kenzie's skirt waist down so it would stay on her today.  That seemed to bug her so we ended up just taking it off.

After daddy came and left this morning Kenzie got a little teary and said, "My tummy hurts!"  Interesting because it could have actually been stress over possibly being in trouble for the ring, daddy leaving without her or just because it was almost breakfast time.  : )  

She has done excellent on pottying today, even pooping a little bit in the toilet.  Morgan was very supportive or her and cheered like crazy.  Kenzie was very proud of herself.  No accidents so far.

Morgan had each foot in a play bowl and was pretending to "skate" around the big room.  She make it look so fun that Kenzie had to do it also, except Kenzie called it, "skaping".  : ) 


Kenzie had Morgan lay down on the step today and was leaning over her intent on pretending to put something in her ears.  When I asked Kenzie what she was putting in Morgan's ears she quickly said, "eye drops".  Well, of course!  I should have known that!  : ) 

 Just so you know in case Kenzie starts singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" song, Alayna's favorite song has now switched from "Jesus Loves Me" to "Ring of Fire" and she wants to sing it all the time!  : ) 

5/24/12

Kenzie ate second on both cinnamon toast and fresh strawberries at breakfast.  We substituted them for grapes since Wal-mart was out of grapes when I went shopping.  At lunch Kenzie ate about half of her mashed potatoes and dinner roll and all of her canned cherries and chicken.

One of the things we always ask the kiddos when they want to go wash after meal is if there mouth is empty.  That way we don't have to worry about them choking by playing with food in their mouths.  We have noticed the last couple weeks that when Kenzie is done she will automatically open her mouth to show us it is gone. Today it was extra cute when she announced to Gary loudly, "I'm all done" and then immediately tips her little head up to him and opens her mouth wide.  : ) 

Kenzie was walking around singing "oats, peas, beans and Riley grows" today instead of "barley".  It cracked me up.  I thought I had heard he do it one other time, but wasn't sure.  This time there was no mistaking it!  ; )
 
Kenzie had a play fork today and was walking around the room with her fork out asking, "Ya want carrot cake?" to first one person then another. 

We played a game called "Hug a Bug" today.  We have played it plenty in the past, but we felt this group of kiddos have been too young to do it until now.  It is similar to 'Musical chairs' in theory, but helps the kiddos with spacial issues and build friendships.  We play dance music and then when we stop the music we announce "Hug a bug!  Find someone to hug nicely!"  They then each find a friend to give a hug and we turn the music on.  They really enjoyed it, but tired of it quickly.  Definitely something we will try again. 

Kenzie was dry all morning.  I put a pull-up on her before nap and she pooped in it right away.  I don't know if she was actually waiting for it to poop, but it sure seemed like it. 

5/23/12

Kenzie ate second on while wheat mini bagel this morning and all of her peaches at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her salad and her macaroni and cheese and ham.  She also had about half of her corn. 


The street sweeper was a hit for all of the kiddos this morning.  Kenzie kept calling it "the cleaner", which was adorable!  Either the sprayer or the actual sweeper came by at least 4 times this morning and the loved that.  They were all plastered to the window.  The actual street sweeper looked up and saw them as he creeped along the sidewalk, waved and smiled so big!  He obviously thought it was as cute as we did!  : ) 


Kenzie and Morgan played together most of the morning very peacefully.  Jadey was home celebrating turning three with her mom today so there wasn't the three way dynamic.  It is amazing how different it is when any of the three are absent.  That third person just makes it challenging to keep it peaceful -- takes way more problem solving skills than just with two.  It is pretty much past their developmental level for the most part. 


Kenzie and Morgan were wearing the bath robes for quite a while this morning, calling them their "bath towel" and pretending to be bathing.  They would go over to one of the corners and say, "shower, shower, shower..." then go over to the mirror, presumably to see if they were clean.  : )  

They were also going around to all of the posters "eating them".  They would stand on their tippy-toes if they needed and then put their mouth up to the poster and make munching sounds.  It must have looked fun because even Peyton started imitating them!  

5/22/12

Kenzie ate all of her pears and several "tasty bites" of her blueberry muffin at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her oranges and her tuna on saltines as well as her "tasty bite" of sweet potatoes.  I love how she interpreted "tasting bite" as "tasty bite".  : ) 

Kenzie did puzzles for a while first thing this morning with first Emily then Jadey.  She is pretty good at putting the puzzles together, but she also gets distracted easily by whoever else is out there working on other puzzles.  Often she has abandoned her own puzzle to go over and "help" the other kiddo doing puzzles (whether they have actually asked for help or not)! 

The 6 oldest kiddos plus Thomas were really moving in packs today.  They ALL were reading stories on the couch and chair then they all transferred to the other side of the room and found curlers to use as their microphones.  After singing at the top of their lungs for a while, they then abandoned that and raced over to dance to the music, then they went to the table to have "breakfast", then back to the couch and chair to read again.  It literally was like that until we split into our small groups!  Crazy kiddos! 

During one of the book reading episodes Kenzie was sticking her face right into the open book then saying, "Scary!" and snapping it shut quickly.  She did this over and over and Jadey picked right up on it.  None of our books are scary from my perspective so I am not sure how she came up with that one!  : ) 

All of the kiddos really enjoyed drawing with the magna doodles today.  They were talking with each other what they made.  One of the kiddos asked Kenzie what she was making and she said, "Scribbling!"  At least she is honest!  : ) 

5/21/12

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 about half of both her roast beef sandwich and her apple bits. 

Kenzie and Riley were both pretty clinging and a little out of sorts this morning -- too much fun this weekend probably!  : )  Gary shared that Riley had been mommy's girl all weekend so I wasn't surprised.  Riley really wasn't fussy as long as I was holding her or playing right by her, but I am sure I got more cuddles from her than I have the rest of the time she has been here put together. 

Kenzie was just kind of whimpering most of the morning, but didn't say anything specific was wrong when asked.  She sat on my lap, cuddled with me or played close by me most of the morning also.  She was also asking for her binkie several times today, which she never does, except at nap time.  She was also quite feisty with the kiddos numerous times so we had a couple different lessons about how Tucker the Turtle is nice to his friends and makes good choices. 

One of the things Kenzie said today that just cracked me up when when she was sitting on my lap just kind of watching what the other kiddos were playing with and doing.  She was giving some great narrative of what she was observing and the funniest was when Morgan went over to the mattress and started jumping.  Kenzie narrated with "There's our jumping girl!"  Morgan grinned from ear to ear and jumped even higher! 

All of the kiddos were putting on robes or PJ's this morning and Kenzie brought over the one that looks like a jester outfit.  Kenzie said, "help me with my 'yoker suit'."  I frequently call it the Joker PJ's, because I have a hard time remembering the word "jester" most of the time.  That must have been where she got it from.  : )

All of the kiddos were struggling with engaging in free play appropriately for a while this morning, so I started singing songs with them.  We started out with some pretty familiar ones, then moved to some ones we haven't sang often or at all.  For some reason they were all very into it today. 

5/18/12

Kenzie at about half of her oatmeal and a bite of her prunes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate between a third and half of her hashbrown casserole and all of her mandarin oranges and biscuit. 

Morgan, Kenzie and Jadey suddenly decided that one of the sets of curlers was a microphone.  They each had one of them and were singing real and made-up songs at the top of their lungs.  Part of the time they were singing the same song together, but more often they were each singing a different song, which made it a little chaotic to say the least!  : ) 

One thing that was have noticed Kenzie has really been doing lately that we are working on is throwing toys.  She sometimes will pick up a toy and literally wing it across the room.  While we value the ability to throw so well, inside it is a little dangerous with kiddos all over the place.  We have been having her go over to what she has thrown, pick it up and "put it down gently".  She really doesn't like that, but we haven't figured out a better solution.  Any ideas?

Kenzie took off her socks today to be like Morgan and was very impressed when she found an "owie on her ankle.  When she showed Jadey, Jadey immediately whipped her sock off also and showed her the "blister owie" on her foot.  : )  It is amazing how may times they compare owies a day.  


I scrubbed off my fingernail polish today during outside time and you would have thought it was the best "activity" we have had ever for most of the kiddos!  Kenzie, Morgan and Jadey basically watched for the entire 10 nails and had lots of questions during the process.  Kenzie kept pointing out itsy bitsy spots that I hadn't gotten all the way off, of course. 


It has been so nice to be able to have morning and afternoon outside time most days lately.  It is good for all of us!  : )

5/17/12

Kenzie ate all of her french bread and bites of her oranges at breakfast.  At lunch she ate her "tasty bite" (tasting bite) of squash and all of her turkey, crescent roll and dried mangoes. 

Kenzie and three other kiddos played at the picnic table with the food stuff for about 20 minutes this morning.  They were very engaged and just 'eating' and 'visiting' right along.  They even let Thomas join them off an on during that time. 

Kenzie and Morgan were reading side by side on the yellow chair for quite a while today.  It was fun to observe them and listen to the 'reading' that was being done.  you can tell the ones we read aloud the most because they know most of the story lines for those.  The others they either just talk about the picture or put a totally different song or story to it that they ARE familiar with.  : ) 

One of the beanie baby bunnies we have got a hole in it and was loosing quite a few of the little plastic beads out of it before we realized it.  Kenzie was extremely happy to be able to search for little bitty things to pick up and be a helper! 

We got out the light Frisbees out again today and played Frisbee chase.  I would throw all six of them to different parts of the yard and the kiddos were race after them to get them and bring them back for me to throw again.  They wanted to do it over and over and over again (almost 30 minutes of it!). 

5/16/12

Kenzie ate most of her whole wheat bagel and a couple bites of mixed berries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on ham and all of her bean soup, saltines and kiwi. 

Kenzie and Morgan bonked heads (well, noses actually) while they were playing and for some reason they decided it was funny rather than an owie.  They then started giving 'Eskimo kisses' (at least that is what we called rubbing noses like that when I was a kiddo) over and over, laughing each time.

Morgan got Kenzie's attention and told her it was "sing time".  Morgan started leading her in several different songs and Kenzie was participating very cooperatively, singing right along.  One of the songs was a made-up one about a "doganhead" (which is one of Gary's words for goof-ball).  Then they started singing "Baa, baa black sheep" which evolved into "baa, baa Aaron" someway!  : )  Of course, Morgan leading only lasted for three songs and then Kenzie decided it was her turn to choose songs and do the leading.  : )  

Outside this morning All of the kiddos really had fun trying to make a basket after I got the hoop back out and the balls that will fit in it.  Kenzie worked and worked at it but never quite make it. She preferred carrying the "squishy balls" (ones that look like they are made out of chicken wire type fencing and can totally flatten then pop right back up) in her mouth like a puppy. 

5/15/12

Kenzie ate most of her dried apricots and a couple bites of bagel at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her tilapia and all of her applesauce and her pea and pasta dish.

Kenzie was very excited that we had the bubbly fish tank deal out today.  She, Morgan, Jadey and Emily watched it for quite a while, talking about the different colored fish, the colors the bubbles changed and how the fish were swimming.  It was fun to listen to. 

Kenzie had gone potty three times so far today and pooped in her panties.  I am just going to have to wait until she poops in the potty to use panties her because it is just too hard to ensure it is contained and takes so much longer to get her cleaned up.  She is also low on pull-ups.  If you would rather do diapers than pull-ups, that is fine too.  There are definitely benefits as it gives more incentive to be out of boring old diapers and into panties than cute little pull-ups, they contain excretion better, and they are easier to put on when they need to be changed (don't have to take the clothes off to get them on without undoing the tabs).  She and Riley have enough wipes right now, but they are out of extras if you wanted to do that at the same time.  : )

Jadey was putting the curlers in her hair pretty successfully this morning and Kenzie was quite intrigued.  She worked and worked at it  but finally asked Jadey to help her after they kept falling right back out!  : )

Kenzie put on a pair of sleeper PJs today and wore them for about an hour or so.  For part of it she also asked Gary to put one of the head-bands around her head so she looked like a cute little "hippy" in PJs.  : )  Later she was also pretending to brush her teeth using one of the play forks.  She was really scrubbing while she watched herself in the mirror and tipped her head all different directions.  What a fun kiddo to watch! 

5/14/12

We had a very busy and kind of crazy morning so personal notes will be limited today (as I didn't have much time to closely observe and take notes).

The morning started out with me not setting my alarm close correctly, so I didn't get up in time to put away the old toy exchange and make sure the new one was totally in place.  I hate that feeling when I wake up and have slept in.  It is not the tone I like to set for the day.  : (  I did rush around and get things moved OUT of the big room, but just piled, not put away and I didn't have time to ensure everything was out that needed to be and in its right spots.  Missy brings out the new stuff, but doesn't always know where everything goes and frequently doesn't do the stuffed animals and dolls. 


We had a surprise monitoring visit from our food program sponsor, which isn't a big deal, but I have to say I was a little flustered just because I didn't have things as tidy looking as I like and so forth.  It also means that I have to find the paperwork they need to make sure is up to date and show them where the fridge and freezer thermometers are so they can check for appropriate temperatures... 

In addition to those extras we were trying to begin the new round of intensive potty training!  We have the two who are already 100% trained and the four we are working with now...  Hmmm...  Kenzie went three times this morning (but was wet two of them also).  She also pooped in her pull-up.  

The kiddos really enjoyed putting stickers on their papers for art today and worked hard to get some all over their papers.

So we survived the morning -- late start, unplanned visitor, extra trips to the bathroom, one peeing accident on the floor, one whole bowl of spilled cereal on the floor, quite a bit of Monday transition tears and frustrations, several other minor mishaps and all!  : )  

5/11/12

Kenzie ate about half of her malt-o-meal and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch we had a change in our menu because Gary had fixed meatloaf, roll, mashed potatoes and fruit salad for a men's group he goes to on Thursdays.  There was enough left over that we just decided to use it rather than fix a whole new meal.  Kenzie ate all of her roll, most of her meatloaf, about half of her fruit salad (picking out the things she liked most) and a bite of her mashed potatoes. 

Kenzie and Morgan vacillated between playing great together and being in each other's space and face like crazy today.  They really do have a love-hate relationship and I never know which it will be from the initial contact.  : )  Today they played great together when they were building with the duplos, but could NOT sit together while they were looking at books because they were grabbing, screaming and hitting at each other. 

Kenzie was having so much fun putting one of the dolls to bed.  She had to arrange them just right then was tucking them in and saying (or singing) "Good-night" to them.  After a few minutes she woke them up and it started all over again. 

5/10/11

All of the bigger kiddos were very excited that Bode came to visit for a couple hours this morning.  His big brother, Tate, had a program at school that he was going to go to and mom needed to go into work but didn't want to run him across town for just a short period then pick him up for the program.  Bode is so great with the littler kiddos and did a wonderful job of entertaining them and leading them in some fun play.  He was teaching them some new stunts on the climber and mattress, "reading" to them, building with the big blocks and Duplos with them and showing them what letters the ABC banner had on them.  It was great! 

Kenzie again told me potty multiple times today and went a couple other times when I just took them.  We will try panties again starting Monday when we do another intensive round of training.  : ) 

Kenzie stack a couple of the duplo plates together and was carrying them around under her arm like they were a book.  She spontaneously told me, "this is my homework".  It cracked me up. 

I have noticed that for the last two or so weeks Kenzie has been much more cuddly and wanted to be close to either Gary or me (especially me).  I think I had talked about her wanting to go with me any time I left the room, but she has also wanted to "cuddle" much more with either of us.  We have seen this many times when a new sibling is on its way.  It is interesting because you would think that there really isn't even much of an indicator for them that anything is going to be different, but somehow they seem to pick up on it!  I have to say that I have been enjoying the extra cuddle times because she has always been a little too busy for them!  : ) 

5/9/12

Kenzie ate all of her peaches and most of her biscuit at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her pineapple and broccoli, and about half of both her dinner roll and her baked beans. 

Kenzie was in a super happy and teasing mood today.  She kind of vacillated between harassing me and Gary, but was definitely rowdier when it was with Gary.  Her little eyes just gleam and sparkle and that giggle is impossible not to chuckle along with!  It wasn't just one or two time this morning, but off and on throughout the entire morning.  Talk about a lot of fun!  : )

Kenzie and Morgan also played together a lot this morning.  they were pretending that the stuffed characters were their "babies" and they were taking care of them and taking them to various different places (the doctor, the store, the office, Costco, home...).  Morgan had a little Donald Duck and a Timone from Lion King and Kenzie had two Elmos as their babies. 

They also were in a line on the climber steps again doing the shoulder massages for the one sitting in front of them.  Joslyn and Emily also joined them for that and they traded spots a few times.  Most of the time Emily was massaging Joslyn, Joslyn massaging Kenzie and Kenzie Morgan. 

5/7&8/12

I am combining these two days because Gary wasn't feeling very well so I wasn't able to take very many notes on what was going on on Monday.  Kenzie was into showing off her shirts both days.  On Monday she had a great Elmo shirt and on Tuesday it was a whale shirt.  On Monday she had to go get the stuffed Elmo and hold it up to her shirt, telling everyone, "It matches!"  On Tuesday she had to show all the kiddos that she had a "whale spout" like the whale on her shirt. 

Kenzie and several of the other kiddos were playing like they were looking for and catching "bumble bees" inside and out.  They could cup air in their hands and say it was a bumble bee.  Kenzie became very upset when Jadey went over to her cupped hands and put her own around then then said she had "Kenzie's bumble bee".  I had to comfort her then have Jadey bring "it" back to her!  : ) 

Kenzie got very quiet and testy (not wanting anyone even close to her) before she pooped today, then was racing around like crazy and laughing at every little thing after I changed her.  It is amazing how it can affect them! 

5/4/12

Kenzie was playing with the stuffed Elmo quite a bit.  She even brought him over to me and asked, "Please wipe Elmo's nose!"  I laughed at her and pretended to wipe it (but without a tissue).  That was NOT good enough!  She asked again and added "with a tissue" this time!  : ) 

Kenzie has wanted to go with me every time I leave the room lately.  She will either ask to "watch", "help" or "go potty".  It doesn't matter if I am just stepping out to grab something off of the table, making a bottle for one of the babies, setting up for a meal, getting another roll of tissue, getting extra diapers from the back room...) she is right behind me asking to go.  Unless I see that there are several right there that will also be asking to go, I have usually be letting her trek along with me. 

After breakfast Kenzie asked Morgan for help with her sleeves.  Morgan wasn't really paying attention so I offered to do it for her instead.  She looked at me like I had totally lost it and said, "No, My friend Morgie do it!"  When Morgan heard it put that way, she did it immediately.  : )

Morgan and Kenzie were looking at a book about opposites with Bambi in it.  Kenzie pointed Bambi out and told Morgan, "This is Bambi!"  Morgan frowned at her and said, "No, a deer!"  : ) 

5/3/12

Kenzie was so funny when you guys left this morning.  She went racing over to the big window to wave.  She stood there for at least a couple minutes (long after you should have gone by) and finally said, "Where'd that stinkin' Daddy go?"  I explained that they were probably parked so they drove the other way, but she still repeated it several times, with a gleam of mischief in her eye.

Kenzie and Alayna were playing chase on the "rowdy" side of the big room for quite a while.  Kenzie fell down and bonked her head pretty good on the base of the chair.  She probably would have cried, but Alayna started cracking up, so Kenzie started chuckling instead.  It is amazing how the same exact thing (or even a lesser crash) and one time they are laughing, but the next they are crying like they need to make a hospital trip!

Kenzie was playing with Emily for a while today.  Kenzie was having Emily sit down so she could "do sunscreen".  She gave her step by step instructions and then told her, "OK you can go play now" when she was done!  It is so funny to hear myself in their words so often!

5/2/12

Kenzie ate all of her jelly toast and second on dried mangoes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her tropical fruit, a bite of her sweet potatoes and about half of her beef and bean burrito. 

The sticker Kenzie had on her shirt when she got here was a great conversation piece at the breakfast table.  Morgan started it by asking if she got the sticker from the doctor.  They then discussed who had gotten stickers at the doctor and what kind of stickers they were.  I didn't say a word the entire time, but they were all animatedly participating. After they finished breakfast, it carried over into their dramatic play.  They each chose a stuffed character and were taking them to the "doctor" then back "home" to put the baby to bed, then back to the doctor and so forth.  This, too, was all on their own initiative and very interesting and fun to observe.

Kenzie and Morgan were filling their individual little people buses full of people and legos in the back rooms.  They ended up looking more like dump trucks than buses, but they were having a blast filling, carrying and dumping stuff.

Kenzie wanted to come out and 'help' me set up lunch today, so I decided to actually let her try to help.  I had her put the table kiddos' cups in the correct spots and also the spoons.  She did an excellent job.  She is such a details girl that it is right up her alley!  She was very proud of it and had to announce to all of her friends that she had done it at Lunch.  : )  

5/1/12

Kenzie ate all of her prunes and seconds on cinnamon roll at breakfast.  At lunch she ate very little to make up for it!  : )  She ate her tasting bite of everything and most of her waffle.

Kenzie asked to do puzzles this morning and I was out there with them during that time period.  I am very impressed with her problem solving skills in that arena.  She completes them as well, if not better than any of the children here right now (including those older than she).  One of the things that I loved observing is how she talks her self through the process.  She was saying things like, "Where it go?", "That not it!", "Turn it round" and so forth.  It is really fun to be able to listen to what is going on in her little head.  : )

Kenzie invited Morgan to come "read" with her.  They were looking at a book that had a bunch of different colored airplanes in it.  Kenzie was asking her, "Do you like that one?" about each plane.  They "read" several books together, interacting like that the entire time.  Many of the things I heard them say were the types of things I always say and types of questions I ask regularly when I read stories to them.  Modeling sure had a big impact even then we aren't really doing it intentionally!

I can't even remember what got it started now, but the kiddos started bringing me a stuffed animal (the character type ones are out right now, like Big Bird and Pooh) and I would try to think of a song relating to either the character or what it represented.  After I had done a couple, they started bringing them by the handful and I think I literally sang a song about every single one we had out!  Some were quite a stretch, but the kiddos all loved it.

One of the "animals" that was out was a turtle.  I don't know the character that he is supposed to me, but I made him into our "Tucker the Turtle".  Tucker is a character in a book we have about making good behavior choices (using words rather than yelling, hitting, grabbing...; stopping when you are angry and tucking inside you shell -- keeping your hands and body to yourself-- taking deep breaths to calm yourself and then coming up with a good choice or plan).  Using the stuffed animal really increased everyone's interest and participation in the "story".