6/20/13

Kenzie only ate a bite of both whole wheat English muffin and blueberries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on plain saltines and all of her canned chicken on salines, cherries and sweet potatoes.  

Kenzie was playing with Emily and she did something to her Emily didn't like.  Emily told her, "I don't like that!"  Kenzie looked at her like she was crazy and said, "WHAT are you talking about?!"

Aaron and Thomas were following Emily and Kenzie around bugging them so I let them go play in the back room to get away from them.  They played great with the keyboards and zoo creatures until breakfast, happy to be free from those male menaces.  : )

Kenzie was having a blast bossing Riley and Aaron around for a while this morning.  Nora was on the same side with them, but she wasn't nearly as cooperative, so Kenzie kind of just worked around her. They were "loading the car" (behind the igloo) with all of the stuffed animals.  

Thomas told Gary that he had to go potty and actual went.  I was telling him he was getting big like Kenzie and Emily and Avery (his sister) and Morgan.  Kenzie immediately piped up I with "and Alayna and Jadey.  Don't forget about them!"  

6/19/13

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

Kenzie and Riley did puzzles for about 15 minutes before breakfast today.  When Riley even hesitates in getting a piece in, Kenzie is right there to help her, whether she needs or wants it or not!  

Kenzie and Aaron played on the rowdy side quite a bit this morning, with Riley joining them off and on.  Kenzie accidentally tipped over as they were playing and bonked her head on the floor, which made Aaron crack up.  The then took turns tipping over on purpose, bonking their heads and laughing.  

When they got tired of that game, Kenzie then decided they should use each other as drums.  I had to keep reminding them to drum gently, but they were having a blast with it!

Several times today when Kenzie loved and hugged on Gary, she bought my attention to it -- "Hey, Lauralea!  Look!  I'm hugging on Gary!"  It was very sweet and so cute! 

I love how focused Kenzie get on the story when we are reading to the kiddos, either in a group or individually.  She is always the one who chimes in first when she knows what comes next, makes the animal sounds, or answers the questions we ask.

6/18/13

Kenzie ate seconds on waffles and all of her hashbrowns at breakfast.  At  lunch she ate all of her shrimp and oranges, about half of her rice and a couple bites of fresh peppers.  

Kenzie was so excited when I brought out big bear.  I had Micala sew up the latest tear in it, so we were able to play with him again.  She wasn't the only one glad to see the old friend!  They were cuddling, laying and jumping on him like crazy the first hour or so.  They then started fighting over him and being aggressive with each other, so he took a break so he didn't get ripped again.  

Kenzie was teeter-tottering with Aaron, but Aaron weighs so much more than Kenzie that he would just sit down on the ground and she was stuck in the air, yelling "let me down!" which he thought was hilarious!  

Kenzie has been giving both Gary and I extra loves yesterday and today. She has been just wrapping her arms around our necks and cuddling like crazy.  I'm sure she is feeling the upcoming changes!  

Today Kenzie was mauling Gary so Gary started tickling her arm pit.  When she caught her breath she looked him straight  in the eye and said,  "You rat!"  : ) Gary loved that!  

6/14/13

Kenzie ate about half of both her dried cranberries and her oatmeal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on peas and pasta with cheese and all of her applesauce and lean ground beef.  

Kenzie and Emily played house with their babies and some food for a long time.  They were dressing (mostly undressing actually), wrapping and unwrapping and feeding dollies, pretending to sleep, waking up to go to work...

Kenzie has been very interested in my watch and the clocks in all of the rooms lately.  She frequently asks me what time it is or how long until whatever she thinks is next.  I thought it was cute that she came with a watch today.  She is obviously interested in it at home too, at least a little. 

For a few minutes it was just your three kiddos on the rowdy side.  It was fun to watch the three of them interact.  You can tell both Cooper and Riley are used to Kenzie just mauling them because they not just let her do it, but fed off of it and seemed to like it and want more.  Cooper should be exceptionally tough and tolerant!  : )

Emily and Kenzie were pretending to fix each others hair this morning in front of the mirror.  They were asking each other if they wanted "a whale spout or braid".  

When we went to the back room Kenzie built a creation with the big interlocking blocks that had a hole in it for her to put some Duplos in.  She then closed up I the opening, calling it her "hide-a-way" and saying it was to "keep Noah from getting my stuff". 

6/13/13

Kenzie ate a bite of her blueberries and about half of her cinnamon raisin English muffins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on turkey sandwich and all of her fresh pineapple (the kiwi were still too hard) and green beans.  

Kenzie saw that it was raining out and immediately wanted to switch the weather wheel from cloudy to rainy.  She also announce to all of the kiddos that we "won't be able to go outside because it's raining.  

Kenzie was in "help her friends" mode, which was very sweet.  Riley was wanting the toys that she was playing with so she went over to the toy shelf and found the exact toys and gave her them.  She also helped Nora when she was trying to get Rae's toys, as well as several others.  It was like she was in problem solving mode.  Another thing she did great was be a good example for several of the other kiddos on how to play with Cooper without getting nose to nose with him.  Granted, she doesn't always do that well, but today she really was.  

Kenzie and Emily were talking to each other about "graduating" while they were playing today.  Emily told Kenzie she "can't go to my house when I graduate".  Kenzie then told her "I'm not going to graduate for a while!" to which Emily disagreed with emphatically, leading to quite the argument (but only verbal bantering).  

She and Emily were sitting in the big yellowish chair and Kenzie announced that they were "riding in my vehicle".  It just cracked me up that it wasn't a 'car' or 'truck'.

When we switched to the back room, Kenzie immediately asked me to help her build an airplane.  Here is what we came up with.  It wasn't real representative, but it was good enough to appease her and that was all that mattered!  

6/12/13

Kenzie ate thirds on mangoes and all of her jelly toast at breakfast.  A lunch she ate seconds on beef and bean burrito and all of her tropical fruit and her sweet potatoes.  

I love how Kenzie calls Riley "Rooey".  It is so cute and sweet.  She also has been trying to lift her up frequently, which we have vetoed for safety issues.  

I read her a story about a farm cow having a cold and sneezing everywhere, which Kenzie really liked then reenacted using one of the stuffed animal cows with Emily in the igloo.  They were cracking up!  

I read/sang a bunch of farm themed books today and Kenzie sang all of the songs ones with me (old McDonald, farmer in the dell...).  

Gary got smart today when we went outside.  He took the garbage can over to the fence by the apple tree for them to throw the baby apples in.  I don't know why it is dropping them like that.  She literally had handfuls today!  

Kenzie's pony tail fell out shortly after breakfast and she wanted two partial ponies like Emily was wearing.  With her ex braid, it made them frizzy, which actually looked really cute!  

6/11/13

Kenzie ate all of her cinnamon roll and second on prunes (Riley's) ate breakfast.  At lunch she ate only her tasting bite or two of everything -- waffles, eggs, hashbrowns and cantaloup.  She did empty her milk though, so she was obviously mainly thirsty.  

Kenzie was so excited that Emily was back and immediately wanted to play on the back room because Emily was back there.  Even after I was done cooking, they wanted to stay back until breakfast.

Kenzie was using the pans to stack today.  She had all six of them, plus a lid stacked up.  She then kept trying to carry the whole stack around the room, which obviously ended with them toppling and having to start all over!  : )

She, Riley and Emily played on the rowdy side of the room for a while after breakfast.  Kenzie likes to talk about the "shadow getting us" when they are playing in and around the igloo.  It really isn't even a shadow, it is the the little ray of light that shines through a hole in the base of the igloo.  

When we went outside, Kenzie immediately went over to the fence to start searching for "pineapples" (baby apples) off of the neighbors tree.  It must be losing them pretty regularly because they found more today, even though they had found all there were to be found yesterday. 

6/10/13

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

Kenzie spotted a bunny in the neighbor's yard across the road and said "maybe it's one of my bunnies from the farm!"  That would be a long trip on little bunny legs!  

Emily didn't show up today and Kenzie must have asked where she was at least 12 times.  Thomas also didn't come today -- mom doesn't work most Mondays.  The consequences of that were her harassing Riley even more than usual.  

Kenzie was just wandering, trying to wrestle or pester, so I asked her to cook me some food to get her engaged in some type of play.  She bit on it and soon she and all of the other walking children were coking and feeding me faster than I could "eat" it.  I finally told them all I was stuffed full and they needed to cook for each other.  They did that until it was time to go outside,  

Outside, Kenzie spotted a tiny apple that had fallen off of the neighbors tree into our yard.  Of course, then she and Riley were scouring the fence line for more apples.  They ended up finding quite a few of them.  

6/7/13

Kenzie ate about half of her rice and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her dried apricots, and only bites of her meatloaf, French bread and cooked carrots.  

When we were playing outside, Kenzie, Emily and Riley were in one of the little houses.  Aaron started to go by on his bike and Kenzie stuck her arm through the window and said, "Here, have a beer!"  

I don't know how many times today Kenzie was talking to Emily and she wasn't listening very well so Kenzie called out, "Emily!  Emily Fritch!"  It just cracked me up and made me wonder how many times she has heard  "Kenzie!  Kenzie Cline!"  : )

Kenzie was putting stuffed animals in her shirt and saying she was "protecting them", or that they were her "baby" or "booby".  She never misses a thing and just says what she thinks!  

I was hugging Kenzie this morning after I did her hair and told her "I love you so much". She hugged me back tight and asked, "and did you miss me what I was at the farm?"  I thought that was so cute and sweet!  

Kenzie was being a little too rowdy when she and Riley were playing and she accidentally ran right into the changing table and bounced the right side of her head off of it, knocking her down so she literally bounced the left side of her head off of floor.  It obviously hurt pretty bad because she just howled!  

About 10 minutes later she bonked it on the changing table again, but much lighter.  Gary told her "don't dent our changing table", which made her keep bonking her head on it on purpose and saying, "I'm denting your changing table!"

Kenzie was thrilled when I told her we were going to do parachute play today.  She was lining everyone out with what to do, where to stand, how to do big and little waves, lift it up an go under it, use it as a blanket, sit on it for an impromptu circle, and anything else she could think of.  She also love it when I draped it over one of the pieces of play equipment like a tent.  

6/6/13

Kenzie ate thirds on cinnamon toast and seconds on grapes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a couple bites of her chicken, about half of her hashbrowns, and all of her biscuit and her canned cherries.  

Kenzie has been asking to help lay out nap mats the last couple days.  She actually does a great job of it as long as she remembers the direction the mat lays.  She has done some of them perpendicular to how they are supposed to be, but always in the correct spot.  

She and Riley wanted to do puzzles this morning.  She did a couple on her own, but really preferred watching and helping Riley.  I was working with her on waiting until Riley asked for (or at least looked like she wanted) help.  

Kenzie struggled some with both listening and being good friends today. We had to insist on her stopping what she was doing to look at us and respond several times.  Usually she is pretty good about that, but it was like her impulsiveness was getting the better of her today.  

We got down the Geo Climber (or Geo Mountain, as Kenzie named it) today.  All of the kiddos gravitated to it like it was a magnet for about 15 minutes then began to scatter somewhat.  

6/5/13

Kenzie ate all of her peaches and a bite of her bagel at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of salad and ham, most of her corn and about half of her macaroni and cheese.  

Kenzie was so sweet this morning.  Emily had put the majority of the toys into the box so I told her she needed to move a bunch of them back out. As soon as I said it, Kenzie said, I will help her!

Kenzie, Aaron and Emily were all taking turns playing peek on and under the black chair.  They actually regulated the turn taking among themselves and doing it in a predictable sequence.  All of them were really enjoying it, but Aaron was really cracking up.  

Kenzie got all of the kiddos to sit down on the edge of the mattress, then was having them practice some sign language.  It was so cute.  Everyone, except Nora, was cooperating with what she told them to do.  Nora had her own ideas, which stretched her teaching skills to the point of snapping at her student!  

Kenzie put the smallest cow outfit on inside out.  It was really cute because the legs of it were about 4 inches too short.  Emily saw what she did and found the other bigger one to put one also.  

All of the kiddos have been thrilled that warmer weather is here (as are we).  One of the things it means is that sand table play and bubble are back.  They had so much fun with the sand table from Mia to Kenzie!

6/4/13

Kenzie ate all of her pears and most of her waffles at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her sweet potatoes, fresh oranges and tuna and thirds on saltines. 

Kenzie piled up alI the animals in the middle of the rowdy side and told her friends, "it's a fire.  I'm gonna light it so we can cook some marshmallows."

Kenzie tries to play with Emily a lot, but she is often a little too enthusiastic and hands-on for her.  Emily either gets teary or upset with her or just moves away to do her own thing". 

Kenzie, Riley, Emily and Thomas were all doing puzzles this morning.  Kenzie was so busy helping Thomas and Riley that she couldn't get her own put together.  Emily pretty much just stayed focused on her own, neither needing help nor helping the others.  

Kenzie is always creating very interesting Duplo things.  Even if she only has a few pieces they are interesting.  I love the creativity, spacial awareness and problem solving skills she shows in this area also.  

6/3/13

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

Kenzie wanted two braids this morning and she looked so cute in them when they were done.  I have a picture, but it isn't wanting to upload today for some reason!  Ugh!! 

Kenzie was being the "dad" and the "grandma" during her and Emily's house play today.  They were in the box "bedrooms" with their baby dolls, blankets and food.  Kenzie was also telling Riley to "go sit on the pot and I'll be right back" during their play.  Riley dutifully went over to the corner and squatted down!  

Mia bit Kenzie's pointer finger really hard today when they were playing on the climber/ balance beam.  I didn't see what precipitated it.  I immediately put a cold cloth on it and we cuddled for several minutes.  I don't think it will bruise, but it was bad.  She was quite traumatized by it and mentioned that Mia should not have bitten her multiple times throughout the morning.  

Kenzie played with Emily mostly this morning during large group time, with Riley joining several times also. When we switched to our small groups Kenzie mostly played with Aaron.  They worked together to build a very long "sidewalk/stage" and played on it.  In the other room they each had a barn that they were playing with and Aaron kept looking at Kenzie and trying to imitate exactly what she was doing.