5/31/13

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

When Joslyn came today, Kenzie was out watching me fix the oatmeal.  She asked very sweetly, "Can I go tell Joslyn, Happy Graduation?"  It was so cute.  She went right out and did exactly that.

Joslyn went to her preschool for a few minutes before she came this morning and was excitedly telling the other kiddos about it and having "stuff just my size".  Kenzie was really listening to every word she said and even asking her questions about friends there and specific toys.  It was cute!  

Kenzie and Joslyn were chasing and "getting" Riley which she LOVED for a while until she got tired of it!  I the had to intervene because they were still having fun with it, regardless of Riley's change of heart!  : )

Kenzie got very engaged in looking at books independently.  She didn't want to read to anyone, or have anyone by her -- just needed some down time, I think.  She spent over 15 minutes doing it.

Kenzie made another wonderful creation with the Duplos today and called it her boat.  She wanted to pose for a picture with it and pose she did.  I loved it!  

When the "flying trapeze" song came on today Kenzie got super excited, squealing and chuckling.  She then announced to everyone, "It's the circus!"

5/30/13

Kenzie ate thirds on French bread and all of her melon at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her sliced turkey and her dried mangoes, about half of her crescent roll and a couple bites of squash.  

Kenzie was reminding kiddos to stay out of other kiddos spaces several times today.  I know that she has heard that a several times here and probably at least a couple at home, I would presume!  : )

Kenzie and Emily sat in the book corner looking at books in parallel play. Kenzie was sitting on the floor in the book area and Emily on the chair.  Every once in a while one of them would show the other one something in the book they were looking at, but didn't interact much other than that!  

I have been working on a new Rules Poster and have been having Kenzie  and a couple of the other kiddos help with posing for pictures to add for visuals.  She has loved it and keeps asking to "do more".  It is the perfect job for her.  She love helping, posing/getting her picture taken and telling others what to do, so...  : )

For "Quiet/Inside Voices

"Ask a Friend for Help"

"Use Your Words"

5/29/13

Kenzie ate thirds on toast and all of her mixed berries at breakfast.  She was very impressed with herself for eating all of her berries and kept saying, "I ate them ALL this time!"  Usually she leaves the blueberries and just picks out the raspberries and blackberries.  At lunch she ate almost all of her bean soup and all of her saltines, ham and mandarin oranges (subbed for kiwi that were too hard still).  

Kenzie bonked her head lightly while she was playing this morning and immediately said, "Ow!  I bonked my cute little head!"  She and Emily then had to bonk their heads on purpose a couple more times, both saying it!  : )

Kenzie and Thomas were having a discussion/argument at the end of breakfast this morning when it was just the two of them and Mia still eating.  Thomas was saying, "I yellow!" while looking at the poster with his face in the flower.  Kenzie looked at his cubby (thinking that is what he was talking about) and said, "No! you're red!"  They went back and forth that was a few times until Gary helped them sort it out!  

I think it is so sweet how Kenzie calls Riley "little one".  She does it a lot and in all different types of situations -- when she hurts herself, when Riley tackles or wrestles her, when she is just playing and Kenzie goes over to her...

Kenzie was doing some awesome bridge making gymnastics between the mattress and the igloo today.  She was very proud of it and wanted me to take a picture!  : )

We did both sign language and songs this morning and Kenzie remembered a lot of the signs, even though we haven't worked with them outside of just the daily use for about a month.  

We went to the back rooms today because the grass was so wet this morning. Kenzie immediately
started building with the Duplos.  After she had created for a while she said she was making a "present for Riley".

When we switched to the other back room it was stinky in there because one of Gary's kiddos had pooped.  Both Joslyn and Kenzie immediately plugged their noses and asked for spray!  : )  

5/28/13

Kenzie ate all of her bran flakes and seconds on craisins at breakfast. At lunch she ate seconds on everything -- cheese pizza, corn and tropical fruit.  

Joslyn didn't see Kenzie right away when she came.  She came over to me and asked, "Where's Kenzie?"  Kenzie heard her and came racing over with her arms wide out to give her a love.  They hugged each other so tight and were both grinning from ear to ear!  It was very sweet!

Kenzie gathered seven children around the table and then started leading them in a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday!  She informed everyone that it was "RaeAhnna's birthday".  She also passed plates or bowls out to each person at the table.  I love how detailed and complex her play is getting.  It seems to get more so every day.  

The water was a little too warm one of the times when she was washing her hands today.  Instead of telling us it was too hot she announce, "Hey!  It's the wrong temperature!"  What a kiddo!  

One of the times Emily fell and hurt herself today, she came over for a love and Kenzie was very empathetic.  She looked at her sweetly and said, "It's OK!  Accidents happen!"  

Kenzie sat down right in front of Riley, tipped her head up and said, "Riley, can you see if I have a runny nose?"  Riley immediately helped her out and stuck her finger in her nose!  Oh boy!  : ). 

Kenzie was "fixing" Thomas' hair and Aaron and Riley decided to join the event.  Aaron was sitting behind Kenzie and every time he touched her hair, she whirled around to look at him, which made him crack up! Kenzie loves making him (or anyone) laugh, so did it over and over.

5/21/13

Kenzie ate thirds on waffle and all of her hashbrowns at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her shrimp, rice and oranges, and a couple bites of red pepper.  

Kenzie was very cuddly with me this morning, which I loved.  She wasn't fussy or even clingy, just lovey and cuddly!  

We were waiting for Gary to set up breakfast this morning and the kiddos were a little antsy so I started playing "busy bee" with them.  They all really liked it when I had the "bee" tickle-get them, especially Kenzie and Riley.  After they tired of that (about 12-15 times) I moved onto the "Theres a spider on my..." song and had the spider be on different spot on each of the kiddos.  Again they loved it!  

Kenzie and Joslyn were playing "bakery".  When they street sweeper came by all of the kiddos were excited and stopped what they we doing to head over to the window and watch it.  After it had moved on, Kenzie announced to Joslyn, "OK, Jozzy, let's get back to up our bakery!"

Joslyn and Kenzie were pretending that the box was their bedrooms, each had a side.  They were each laying in their respective sides, covered with a blanket, and reading a book.  It was very cute. I would have taken a picture, but I was helping Nora calm down after falling down.  They actually played together great all of inside time.  

Outside Joslyn wasn't going along with what Kenzie wanted to do and was actually trying to do a little bossing herself, which didn't go over well with Kenzie so they parted ways for a while!  

Kenzie lined all of the kiddos up by the fence and was "telling them a story" about the three pigs.  It was so cute!

5/20/13

Kenzie came out and sat down for breakfast, then said, "My tummy hurts.  I don't want to eat!"  She was probably full from her morning snack.  She made up for not eating breakfast at lunch -- thirds on cheese sandwich and all of her tomato soup and apple slices.  

After we had waited for mom for a couple minutes, I commented that it looked like momma might have forgotten and gone the other way.  Kenzie got a a sad look on her face and asked, "Can we just wait a little more?"  About that time Leslie came in and we realized what had happened and mom was soon at the window!  Nice save!  

She played on the mattress and with the stuffed animals for a while then came over and stood in front of me saying she was tired.  She asked so sweetly "Can you scoot over so I can sit by you please?"  We cuddled on the couch for about five minutes, then she was off and running again.  

Kenzie was pretending to be the baby and designated Aaron as the daddy and Emily as the mom.  Emily went along with it great.  Aaron, on the other hand kind of faded in and out of the picture.  

Kenzie asked "Hey Thomas!  Will you be a good friend to me?" when he came over to the side she was playing on.  I loved the straightforwardness!  

Kenzie was harassing Riley like crazy this morning -- hugging, grabbing, tickling, sitting on her...  After a while the tables turned and Riley started harassing her instead.  Kenzie immediately started whining and saying "help me".  It cracked us up because what Riley was doing to her was nothing completed to what she had just been doing.  

5/17/13

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

Kenzie, Joslyn and Riley all came out to watch me fix the oatmeal today (although Riley abandoned us to go do some puzzles after a minute or so).  Of course, the main reason they want to watch is to be the lucky recipients of a little bit of brown sugar after I add some to the oatmeal.  They also were very impressed when I refilled our brown sugar container with a bag from CostCo.  I'm sure they were thinking how wonderful to have all of that sweet stuff in one place!  Both Kenzie and Joslyn were smacking their lips and saying, "That's a LOT of brown sugar!"  

I decided to forego kids music today and put on some good old wholesome country tunes.  I played some of my favorites and was dancing with them, which isn't a very pretty sight, I'm sure.  When a slower song came on I got down on my knees and did some slow dancing with any of the kiddos who wanted to.  Kenzie was my first taker and she seemed to really like the slow swaying as we cuddled with one hand in mine and the other around my back.  Joslyn didn't want to do it, but did watch with a pretty dreamy look and big smile on her face, enjoying it from a distance!

Due to the rain at outside time we decided to get down the tunnels for a change of pace.  The kiddos had a blast with it and did it over and over.  We had to remind the older ones to slow down a little to give the younger ones a chance for their turns because they were so excited.

My kiddos were thrilled to be back in the block room again when we went back after the Tunnel craze.  They immediately started rebuilding the partially dismantled train, playing on it only briefly before moving on to create with duplos again.  Riley went over to Kenzie with a duplo piece and handed it to her, saying 'hep".  Kenzie patiently sat down with Riley and worked with her on what she was building  for a couple minutes before moving back to what she was doing.  It was so sweet!

5/15&16/13

Kenzie ate all of her prunes and her cinnamon roll at breakfast yesterday.  She especially liked the frosting!  At breakfast today she ate almost all of her cinnamon raisin English muffins and a tiny bite of her blueberries.  At lunch she ate seconds on turkey burger sandwich and all of her green beans and kiwi.  

Kenzie was feeling very adventurous this morning.  She, Riley and Joslyn wanted to come "watch" while I cut up some peppers and onions for our dinner tonight.  Kenzie asked for a "taste" of pepper and both she and Joslyn ended up eating several little slices of peppers (Riley wasn't interested).  Kenzie then asked if she could have a bite of onion.  I gave her a tiny taste and she liked it and asked for more, which surprised me.  

Kenzie was trying to get Riley to harass her like she was before.  Riley was more than happy to accommodate the request and climbed on her, tickled her and hugged her for several minutes.  

Kenzie was being a little loud during meal time, so Thomas put his finger to his mouth and said, "Too loud, Shhhh!"  Kenzie wasn't impressed, to say the least and told him, "Thomas, don't try to quiet me down!"

Kenzie and Joslyn were pretending that Emily was their puppy, which Emily loved.  After Emily had crawled around for several minutes she lay down on the mattress and would not get up, no matter how much Kenzie cajoled her.  Kenzie then, pretended to call someone and told Joslyn "I'm calling my neighbor to see if he can help."

Joslyn and Emily were riding on the "hang-a-vator" (maybe a cross between a hang glider and an elevator?).  Kenzie was operating it, whatever it was.  After a while they switched positions so Kenzie was the rider and joslyn the operator.  They had piled up all of the stuffed bunnies on the black chair then were sitting on it.  They played on it for about half an hour.  It always amazes me to watch what really holds their attention.  

Joslyn and Kenzie made amazing buildings with the Duplo blocks.  They worked at it for most of the time we were in that room.  We haven't gone back to the block room as much lately because of going outside in the morning instead, so they were even no excited and engaged to be back there!

5/14/13

Kenzie ate all of her dried mangoes and no jelly toast at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her beef and bean burrito and her tropical fruit and a bite of her sweet potatoes.  

After breakfast, Kenzie made a big pile with the stuffed rabbits in the middle of the rowdy side of the big room they ran, danced and twirled around the pile.  After she got tired of that she announced, "We gotta clean up the dance room!"  She recruited Riley and Emily to help her move all of the rabbits out of the way, then they started dancing (kind of looked like break dancing).  

Emily was sitting on the edge of the mattress for a minute or so and Kenzie went over and asked, "Why won't you get up and play with me?"  Emily said it was because she was "stuck because I'm buckled".  Kenzie went over and made some hand motions in front of her then told her she was unbuckled.  Emily wasn't convinced and said she was still stuck.  A while later Emily got up and Kenzie, amazed, said "wow!  Who got you unbuckled?!"  

Kenzie loved it when Riley started harassing her after Nora moved away from her this morning.  She was encouraging her to do it more when she stopped briefly.  She especially liked it when Riley crawled up on her back like she was riding her horsey, Kenzie.  

Kenzie climbed up the side of the changing table like a little monkey. She then just hung there for probably about a minute.  Emily saw what she was doing and had to imitate it also.  Riley also tried, but couldn't quite do it.  She was very intrigued and entertained by it, regardless.  

 

Kenzie and Emily were collecting the little shed buds and blossoms that had blown off of a couple different treed into our yard.  She really likes those little detailed things like that, as you well know.  

5/13/13

Kenzie ate several bites of her Kix and a bite of her mixed fruit at breakfast.  A lunch she ate seconds on ham sandwich and all of her peas and mandarin oranges. 

I think everyone had good weekends because they were in great moods, but very high energy -- racing and chasing around the rowdy side like crazy.  I can't believe there weren't any severe crashes, although I did try to lower the intensity several times when it looked like it was near disaster!  : ) It was great when it was outside time where there is so much more space to use those large muscles!  

Kenzie was so cute with Emily.  She obviously missed her last week because she was gone three of the days and then Emily was gone one of the days when Kenzie was here.  She gave Emily multiple hugs, told her "hi" and wanted her undivided attention a lot.  

Kenzie was being the teacher today.  First of all, she had had Emily and Nora sit on the couch and gave them each one of Gary's pillows to "draw" on.  After that she told them it was time to "go outside" and riley joined them as they raced around the rowdy side for a while.  She, then, had them all sit on the mattress and led them in three songs, which Aaron also joined and they all participated in great.  It was adorable!  

5/10/13

Kenzie ate about half of her rice and raisins at breakfast.  A lunch she ate most of her meatloaf, all of her French bread and only a bite or two of both cooked carrots and dried apricots.  

Kenzie and Joslyn were doing some pretty advanced dramatic play this morning.  They were pretending to sleep and put each other to bed, complete with "turning off" and on the lights, telling every one to be quiet and go to sleep, then to "get up and get ready" when it was time to wake up.  

Kenzie was using the sash on one of the dress up clothes to measure things.  She was measuring Riley's baby, the gate and various other things.  

Kenzie was being very sweet and teasing Gary off and on all morning.  Over all, she was just very sweet to everyone so I think she has missed being here the last couple days.  

Kenzie was playing with Riley and telling her there were bugs in different areas of the rowdy side, then they would "run away" from the "bug".  It was really cute and I think Riley kind of thought there were real bugs by the look on her face!  

When we came outside, Kenzie looked at the blankets I have hanging on the fence and asked Gary, "Why did you sneeze on the blanket?"  That was some kind of a sneeze!  : )

Kenzie and Joslyn were having a blast teeter tottering side by side, but independently.  It was fun to watch them!  

5/3/13

Kenzie ate bites of her oatmeal and about half of her prunes at breakfast. At lunch she ate most of her hashbrown casserole and all of her mandarin oranges and her biscuit.

Kenzie was pretending to hold an air microphone and announcing different things in a very circus announcer type voice! It was really funny! One of the things the was announcing that cracked me up was "And nnnooowww, Thomas is going to jump." Thomas just looked at her like she had lost it!

Yesterday afternoon Kenzie and I spotted a bee buzzing around on the patio. Kenzie called down to Gary who was visiting with Thomas' mom t the gate, "Hey Gary! We need you up here!" She knew Gary would take care of it!

Both yesterday and today at nap time she double (or quadruple) checked to make sure "Gary got all of the ants, right?" It was especially sweet when she asked yesterday and I told her he did, then she specifically asked, "did he also get them all where Riley is sleeping." How thoughtful! : )

Kenzie thought it was so funny when Riley was behind the "counter" made with the big blocks in the back room and kept popping over it to "get" her or Joslyn. She laughed SOOO hard, which made it even more fun for Riley!

5/2/13

Kenzie ate all of her French bread and her cantaloupe at breakfast. At lunch she ate about half of her crescent roll and all of her sliced turkey, dried mangoes and fresh pineapple (subbed for squash).

Kenzie was burying Riley under the stuffed bunnies in the black chair today. Riley was being very cooperative with her, even though she didn't look like she was enjoying it much.

Emily spotted two spiders on the wall after breakfast. Thankfully Joslyn was on the other side of room when Emily announced her amazing find. She still was very nervous about the whole thing, even with Kenzie standing guard right in front of her to "protect" her. After Gary had successfully "got" both of them, Kenzie told Joslyn, "it's okay now, Jozzy, Gary took care of it!" Joslyn heaved a big sigh and said, "Yeah, I'm freakin' out here!" : )

Joslyn and Kenzie asked me to make them a "counter" today with the big interlocking blocks in the back room. I called it "McDonalds". Joslyn went right along with that by Kenzie insisted it was "Wendy's, 'cuz i want a frosty!"

While we were in the back rooms Kenzie created a play "flashlight" with a Duplo flower on the end of a Duplo fence. Joslyn loved the idea and immediately copied the prototype. The flashlights eventually evolved into spy glasses and cameras. She and Kenzie were obviously spying on me, but not being very sneaky about it.

5/1/13

Kenzie ate all of her toast and all of the blackberries and raspberries out of the mixed berries (leaving all of the blueberries). At lunch she ate everything (bean soup, saltines, kiwi and ham) and seconds on the crackers and bean soup.

Kenzie, Emily, Joslyn and Riley were all playing with their dolls until breakfast. They actually all got along with zero conflict! Most of the time, Kenzie was having Riley be one of the babies. She named one of the babies "Charlie" and he was always in trouble (biting, and making other "bad choice"es). He was "taking a break" a lot.

Kenzie took Thomas but the hand and led over to the wall on the mattress. She announced to Riley, me and anyone else that would listen "We're getting married!" She then came up to me and asked " can you turn on the music for our wedding?" I did and she immediately held him by both hands and started dancing and chanting "this is our wedding" over and over. She must have finally convinced him because he started chanting with her. It was hysterical!

Kenzie, Joslyn, Riley and Aaron were playing their own form of musical chairs without the music with the "train" they made out of the big interlocking blocks. One of them would get up for some reason and they all would shift seats.