3/29/13

Kenzie ate about half of her maltomeal and raisins at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her noodles and her mixed fruit and most of her salad and about half of her meaty spaghetti sauce.

Kenzie asked to look at the weather on my iPad yesterday afternoon. When I pulled it up, she said, "what's the chance of rain?" We have never had another kiddos who had the knowledge to ask that question, let alone in such perfect context! She is a smart little girl!

Kenzie, Joslyn and Riley were doing puzzles today after they helped watched me fix breakfast. Kenzie is so sweet to her little sister and did such and awesome job of helping her get pieces in when she couldn't quite get them. She also was cheering her on when she did get them in or put them back in the puzzle shelf. It is so sweet to watch!

Kenzie and Riley were playing at the table today with some of the food items. Kenzie put her face right up to Riley's and told her "Be very careful! It's pretty hot and might be kind of spicy!" Riley nodded seriously like she totally got it and it was real food.

Kenzie and Joslyn were pretending to "put make-up on" each other and themselves. I think Kenzie said it first, but am not 100% sure. What I do know is that Kenzie told Joslyn that she needed to put some "behind your ear". Joslyn immediately turned her ear toward Kenzie and Kenzie brushed the little Duplo flower behind her ear after moving her hair out of the way. After then Kenzie told Joslyn, "now lift up your arm because I need to put some make-up on her arm pit!" I just cracked up! Joslyn did and then they switched roles!

Kenzie was very engaged in building cool stuff with the Duplos again today and asked me to "take a picture to show mom and dad" after every little adjustment she made. I did take a couple and here is one of them. : )

3/28/13

Kenzie ate a bite of blueberries and all of her cinnamon raisin English muffin at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her sweet potatoes and se lends on canned cherries and canned chicken on saltines.

Kenzie was using a spatula to "get spiders out of the cracks". One of the 'cracks' she was talking about was obviously the crease under Joslyn's chin because she was trying to clear it out with the spatula too.

Kenzie and Joslyn were doing some heavy duty spring cleaning together. Kenzie was "getting the spray" and spraying all over with it while Joslyn scrubbed it with one of the scarves/handkerchiefs. They were doing walls, the box, the wall thermometer, and many other things.

Kenzie is such a leader! It amazes me how many times the kiddos will all or almost all be playing on one side of the room until Kenzie decides to go to the other side. Within seconds the whole crew is over there with her!

Aaron accidentally rolled off of the mattress and bonked his head on the carpet pretty hard. I played it up, saying BONK... loudly to help him not cry. It ended up being ekind of a mistake on my part because all of kiddos thought it was funny, then started rolling off and bonking their heads also. Kenzie was bonking and laughing right along with the others. They are so kooky!

3/27/13

Kenzie ate thirds on peaches and seconds on biscuit at breakfast. At lunch she ate thirds on pineapple, seconds on peas and all of her dinner roll and baked beans.

Kenzie and Emily were playing in the igloo. Aaron, Thomas and Riley were all trying to bug them. First they were trying to crawl into the igloo with them and when that didn't work, they were drumming on the igloo to get them to pop their heads out and get after them.

Kenzie and Joslyn were putting cake on plates and setting them on the table. Kenzie was verbalizing, "one of Riley, one for Jozzy, one for Emily, one for Thomas, now we're ready". They were also fixing soup and milk to go with the cake.

After playing nicely for a period of time together with Joslyn, Kenzie decided that she needed to work on her button pushing skills with her. She was finding thing after thing to do to her to make her upset. Obviously I didn't let that continue for long and split them on different sides of the room.

Thomas was messing around behind the igloo and managed to get himself stuck back there. Kenzie had to really work (trying first to get his slippers off because she obviously thought that was why he was stuck) to get him out. She then tried from one side then the other, until she was successful! She was so proud of herself. : )

Aaron, Kenzie and Joslyn were all driving their "trains" along the big block tracks again today. There are three sections between the interlocking bumps, so it worked great for each of them to each have their own "track" to run their trains.

3/26/13

Kenzie ate all of her hashbrowns and seconds on waffles at breakfast. At lunch she ate a couple bites of her red peppers and all of her shrimp, brown rice and orange slices.

Kenzie was directing Thomas and Emily for a while this morning. She asked Emily for a "snack bag" then said she was putting "some goldfish" in it. She asked both Thomas and Emily if they wanted "sprite or water". It cracked me up.

Kenzie was first intentionally matching Joslyn's tutu when they were jumping and dancing to the silly music on the iPod. She then noticed the one Emily had on and switched to match her instead.

Kenzie was "helping Emily take a bath" this morning. They were playing in the box, using it as their bathroom. Kenzie was using a doll bottle as the shampoo for her hair, rubbing her legs with one of the scarves (probably a washcloth) and then asked her "does that feel better?"

Kenzie and Joslyn made the big block sidewalk into a train track to drive their long Duplo trains on. The width of the Duplos fit between the big block bumps just perfect. It was great and engaged them most of the time in the block room. I was feeding Noah his bottle so couldn't get a picture.

Kenzie was naming the characters on my shirt many times throughout the morning.

3/25/13

Kenzie ate all of her raisins and Cheerios at breakfast. At lunch she ate seconds on cheese sandwich and all of her apple slices and tomato soup.

All of the kiddos were really burning some energy off this morning, jumping on the mattress. There was seven of then on it at once for most of about 5 minutes.

After breakfast Kenzie announced, "You have a rainbow on your ceiling!" Sure enough, there was a sunspot on the ceiling from the sun through the side window in the big room. They stared at it until it faded and went away about 10 minutes).

Kenzie, Thomas and Riley played together on the rowdy side, mostly just racing around after each other and laughing. Kenzie was bossing both of them, and they listened just enough to keep Kenzie happy.

Kenzie was trying to convince the other big kiddos that "ghosts" were after them. Joslyn immediately told her "There's no ghosts or monsters at Gary and Lauralea's", then turned to me for reinforcement, "Right, Lauralea?" That is our stance because some kiddos get scared and it also often leads to too crazy of a line of play.

3/22/13

Kenzie ate about half of her oatmeal and most of her craisins at breakfast. At lunch she ate seconds on pasta and peas with shredded cheese on it and all of her lean ground beef and her applesauce.

Yesterday Kenzie was "testing" Emily and Thomas to see if they knew the what "same" and "different" were. She was using the heart poster right by the gate and the one by the big yellow-orange chair.

Kenzie regrouped for a while this morning then did much better when she rejoined the group. She just acted like she was too overwhelmed by the transition this morning for whatever reason. Maybe Riley's crying had gotten on her nerves also.

After breakfast she and Joslyn played at the table with the dolls and food for about 50 minutes. They were having some great dialogues as they played. They were feeding the babies and Kenzie suddenly yelled to Joslyn "She's spitting up! Quick grab me a burp rag!" A little bit later she asked Joslyn, "Will you change my baby? She's really poopy!"

Kenzie was asking all of the kiddos if they wanted her to "fix your hair". She wasn't get any customers, so Riley took pity on her and sat down for her to do it.

Kenzie was holding on to the side of the Duplo table and her feet kind of slid a little. Her face just lit up and she started slide/running in place saying, "Hey! I'm running on my treadmill!" She then invited Joslyn to try it too. She joined her and they were really laughing and having fun with it.

3/21/13

Kenzie ate all of her blueberry waffles and a bite of blueberries at breakfast. At lunch she ate seconds on turkey burger sandwich and all of her green beans, and kiwi.

Kenzie was determined to play with Emily this morning, even though Emily really didn't want to much of the time. Finally Emily decided to play with her and then Kenzie wouldn't let anyone else near them. I think she decided she had to take advantage of it and wasn't going to let anyone else infringe on her time.

Kenzie was having a hard time being a good friend today. It seemed like she was slapping at someone every time we turned around. We finally had her play in the back room for a while to help her reset her "good friend" button. When she was ready to come back out she did very well until right before lunch when she decided she needed to harass Joslyn and Riley.

We went back to the block room earlier than usual today because 1) Reid work up early and 2) I thought it might help Kenzie to have fewer kiddos to deal with since she was struggling. Kenzie loved it and really got into creating with the Duplos. At first she was asking Joslyn to help her, then took over after it started taking form.

3/20/13

Kenzie ate thirds on dried mangos ad seconds on jelly toast at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her burrito and tropical fruit and about half f her sweet potatoes.

Kenzie, Aaron and Emily were playing puppy tag this morning, at Kenzie's leading. She was being the puppy and chasing the other two around. When she caught Emily, she told her she was the puppy now. Emily then crawled around after them until she caught Aaron and so forth. They did it for about 15 minutes.

Kenzie was asking for music and when the songs came on, she was singing and doing the motions with several of them. Of course, when she did it, several of the other kiddos started following her lead.

Kenzie headed over to the book area asking "who wants to read?" Of course she had several takers who followed her right over. She "read" them one book then moved on to something else. I have noticed a theme here -- Kenzie leading and kiddos following. : )

Kenzie and Thomas played together some this morning. Thomas was twisting the strings of her apron around and around, trying to help her "tie" it. They were also wrapping up the books in the scarves and piling them up in a corner like presents at a party.

Joslyn and Kenzie have kind of been in Duplo building competition the last few days. They take a bunch of Duplos and move off into opposite ends of the room and start creating, then show each other and me when they decide they are 'done'.

I accidentally hurt Kenzie's toe pretty badly right before lunch today. Joslyn had put a bunch of the Duplos behind the big block shelf and I went to lift/scoot it out so I could get them out at the same time that Kenzie came over to see what I was doing. It obviously scraped/squished her big toe (she just had socks on) as I slid it. It made what looks like a big hang nail on the inside of her big toe, bled and really hurt her. I feel awful! Of course, I cuddled her, put a band aid on it, put an ice pack on it, cuddled her some more... She played it to the max because she knew I felt so bad and asked me if I would carry her out to watch me fix lunch and then on out to lunch. I did, but she walked with it just find after lunch to wash and go potty, so I am pretty sure it was just the scrape and nothing more serious. I am Sooo sorry! : (

3/19/13

Kenzie ate all of her plums and a bite of her cinnamon roll at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her cantaloup and waffles, about half of her hashbrowns and a couple bites of her scrambled eggs.

Kenzie asked if we could "do the blue thingies today?" The "blue thingies" are the magna doodles. We did do them and Kenzie was very engaged. She scribbled for a while first, then wanted her name written on there. I wrote it then showed her how she could trace it herself. She was very excited and actually did a pretty good job of actually going over the lines without wandering.

Kenzie also requested to "do the handprint game". We haven't done it for about a month,I'd say. Between all of them, they were still able to guess almost all but one of them.

Kenzie was rolling around on the mattress like a crazy girl this morning. Part of the reason she was doing it was to bother the other kiddos who were trying to jump. She also was trying to roll into them when they were on the mattress.

Kenzie worked the entire time we were in the block room in the back on one big Duplo creation. It actually took quite a bit of trial and error experimentation because she had some Duplos UNDER the big plates, so for a while it was very uneven and had to be adjusted multiple times.

3/18/13

Kenzie ate all of her mixed fruit and Kix cereal at breakfast. At lunch she ate thirds mandarin oranges and seconds on both ham sandwich and peas.

Kenzie and Riley were using the big stuffed rabbit to stand, balance and jump on. They were also carrying it around together. Riley was holding the ears and Kenzie the feet. Kenzie was calling it "the big chubby bunny" and having it get Riley.

Kenzie went up and was talking to Emily, who obviously wasn't in the mood to be talked to and just grunted/growled at her. Kenzie frowned and said, "Hey! Be normal!"

Kenzie put a see through scarf on her head and around her waist and said she was "married". She also said, "Joslyn married me". You don't need to panic though. I think she meant 'performed the ceremony' rather than 'was the groom'.

Kenzie was thrilled to see that the Duplo flowers were out with this set and stuck all of them onto one plate like a flower garden. She then asked me to take a picture to show mommy.

3/15/13

Kenzie ate almost all of her rice and all of her raisins at breakfast. At lunch she ate aunt half of her carrots, and all of her meatloaf, French bread and iced apricots.

Kenzie was trying to line Emily out as far as where she could play. After she had finished and Emily didn't comply, but just stood there staring at her, Kenzie looked at me with her hands on her hips and said, "I gave her three options."

RaeAhnna has been calling me "Mom" frequently and Joslyn really doesn't like it. She keeps telling her and me, "She's (you're) not mom, you're Lauralea!" Kenzie heard her and said, "That kind of freaks me out too!" : )

Our furnace didn't turn on this morning and it was a little chilly after breakfast. We got all of the kiddos with short sleeves their jackets. When Kenzie was putting hers on she said, "I'm just a freezin' little monkey!" We were all thankful when the furnace guy, Randy came over rand got it going again.

Kenzie was doing something and Mia came overly her. Obviously she must have been a little drooly because Kenzie turned around to her and said, "Don't slobber on me, sweetheart!" The things she says make me laugh so many times a day!

Joslyn and Kenzie were pretending that the bid interlocking block building was "Schroeder's house" because they had a "birthday cake for him". The 'cake' was make out of Duplo blocks and was Joslyn's idea. The name Schroeder came from Kenzie.

Kenzie also built with and alongside of Aaron with the Duplos. She started out just helping him, then kind of took over the creation and made it into her "street sweeper". It was pretty creative!

3/13/13 & 3/14/13

Kenzie ate all of her grapes and thirds on cinnamon toast at breakfast. At lunch she ate about half of her dinner roll and all of her home made chicken strips, potatoes and cherries.

Kenzie was playing with Cooper on the couch when Gary put him there for a little this morning. He responds to her so much and she really enjoys him. Every time she would lean up toward him he would put his arms around her neck as if to hug her -- sometimes getting a handful of hair, which she calmly extracted from his fist.

Kenzie was in the corner behind the igloo saying "blow dry, blow dry..." Emily started imitating her and when Gary asked them what they were blow drying they said it was their hands.

Kenzie and Emily were sitting in the big yellow chair side by side and Emily was quietly looking at the pictures of her book while Kenzie loudly sang her books. It didn't really even distract Emily from her focus.

Joslyn was a little out of sorts this morning and it kind of had a magnetic factor for Kenzie. It seemed like Kenzie was often right by or in front of her pestering her in some way.

3/12/13

Kenzie ate both pears and blueberry waffle at breakfast. At lunch she ate thirds on saltine crackers (including the first set with tuna on it) and all of her sweet potatoes and seconds on orange slices.

Kenzie was jumping on the mattress and almost bounced off the end. She came over chuckling and said, "the new mattress is really bouncy!"

Kenzie, Riley, Thomas, Joslyn, and Aaron were all squished into the little corner behind the igloo. Kenzie told them it was their car and they were going shopping at Costco. She would then announce, "okay, we're here! Everybody out!" When they didn't get there as soon as he wanted, Thomas asked, "are we there yet?" and Kenzie told him, "Not yet! I will tell you when we're there!"

Kenzie and Joslyn decided to "fix" Mia as she was lying on the floor taking a little rest. They were massaging her tummy, messing with her feet and other parts. Mia was actually letting them do it for a long time.

When we switched to the back room the big interlocking blocks were built so that they looked kind of like a counter. Obviously Kenzie thought the same thing because she called Riley and Aaron over to get their "chicken nuggets and fries". Aaron obviously liked the idea because he 'ate' them, then went over to the counter and asked "more nuggets". Kenzie loved that!

3/11/13

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

Riley was crawling around saying, "oof -- oof -- oof". Kenzie was calling her "my cute little puppy" and trying to lead her around, get her to come and feed her. It was pretty funny.

Christina and Matthew had an old mattress that they were getting rid of that was way more springy than our jumping mattress, so we traded and the kiddos are all having a lot of fun jumping higher than with the other one.

Kenzie led Riley, Aaron and Emily in songs today. They sang Twinkle, Jingle Bells, Baa Baa, and several others. Riley was actually singing several words in the first two.

Kenzie asked Aaron if he wanted to go sit at the table so she could bring him food. He did and she brought him one little section of cucumber, saying " We're just having a little snack!" He looked at her so funny!

Kenzie came up to me with a runny nose and said, "I feel like crumb today, Lauralea!" She really didn't act like she felt bad though and had a pretty good day all the way around.

3/7/13

Kenzie ate all of her bread and seconds on cantaloup at breakfast. At lunch she ate a bite of her squash and all of her crescent roll, turkey slice and eked mangos.

Yesterday, when I put pony tails in my hair to try to keep it out of my face, Kenzie looked at them and said, "Hey! You look like Kenzie!" it cracked me up, especially because she was talking about herself in the third person.

Emily was wearing the raccoon suit and Kenzie came up behind her, lifted up her tail and said,"I'll hold up your tail so you can poop!" Emily (and Gary and I) all cracked up!

Today Kenzie, Emily and Joslyn played together with the Velcro fruits and vegetables, knives and cutting boards at the kitchen set. They played peacefully together for about 20 minutes. Usually three just doesn't last that long!

Kenzie was being a great big sister today. She was helping Riley wrap her bunny baby up several times, asking her if the baby had the "flu", and other great pretend play conversations.

Aaron and Joslyn were hanging out under the picnic table, examining the underneath with their binoculars. Kenzie and Riley saw what they were doing and went over to start peeking in the hold and sticking the play knives through it. All of them were having a great time!

Kenzie jumped onto the mattress right before we switched to the back room and she landed funny and "twisted" her leg. I put an ice pack on it and she was walking some better by lunch, but still limping a little and said it still hurt (but wasn't crying after the first little bit). I will let you know if it still seems to be bugging her after nap time.

3/4/13 & 3/5/13

Kenzie ate all of her apricots and seconds on bagel at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her applesauce, some of the shredded cheese off of the peas and pasta (which she did have her tasting bite of, along with the tilapia).

Kenzie cracked me up this morning when she looked it the window about 5 minutes after mom had left and said, "I need to wave at mom!" She was a little pouty but not teary. When I asked her if she wanted to write mom a note to tell her good-bye she just lit up. She started typing immediately and then told me when she was done and it was ready to send.

Kenzie was doing a little fishing with the play fishing poles first thing and had to be reminded that we were only supposed to catch fish not humans! : ).

Kenzie was being my helper today, which she loves to do. One of the things she did was help me keep Noah away from the monitor plug in in the back room. He was determined to get it while I was feeding Reid his bottle, so Kenzie went and stood in front of it until I was done.

At breakfast Kenzie announced, "my friend, Jozzy's back!" Joslyn beamed and immediately answered, "yeah, I am back!" It was a really cute exchange!

Joslyn, Kenzie, Thomas and Emily all put on dress up animal suits and were jumping on the mattress. I told them they were my crazy little jungle animals and they thought that was funny. As they were jumping Kenzie started singing the "monkeys jumping on the bed" chant then they would all "fall" at the right time. It was pretty funny.

We were doing more "testing" today and Kenzie just can't get enough of that. She has also been doing a great job of waiting until I tell her it is her turn to try something now, rather that always trying to say the answer or help whoever is doing it at that moment.

3/1/13

Kenzie ate abut half of her maltomeal and raisins at breakfast. At lunch she ate most of her meaty spaghetti sauce and all of her noodles, mixed fruit and salad with ranch.

Yesterday afternoon Kenzie and Riley were playing side by side at the kitchen set. Out of the blue, Kenzie asked Riley, "Do you want me to call your mom? Are you gonna be puking?" What a kick!?

Kenzie asked me to put a "regular" pony in her hair today after she took off her hat for breakfast. I assumed that meant with all her hair in it, but I can't get the front of her hair to stay in when I do that so I put a little one in the front first, then did a "regular"pony.

Aaron got bit by one of the children today bad enough that it broke the skin. Kenzie was extremely concerned and gave Aaron love after love and asked him if he was okay many times throughout the morning. She kept wanting to lift up his shirt to look at it until he got sick of it and started telling her No!

She, Emily and Aaron were "burying" the stuffed animals behind the igloo. They then were taking turns sitting on the pile while the other ones yanked the animal directly under them out so they plopped down to the next one. Laughter erupted even with the anticipation of it.

Kenzie pointed to the pile of developmental profiles and asked, "Can we do some more of that?" We are actually almost done with most of the kiddos finally. It has felt more challenging this year, maybe because of having three younger infants that have needs to be met outside of the regular routines.

Kenzie was scaring me a little today. She was asking all of the kiddos, "Do you want some more pills?" I'm not really comfortable with her pill pushing in child care! : )