Is There Any Resemblance???!!

Daddy

Daddy

Daddy

Daddy
Kaelyn

Where do you think she got her belly? Mommy

Mommy

Mommy

Mommy

Gold in Her Tummy

So, adventures in toddlerhood continue. This week, Kaelyn has discovered how to pull her earrings out of her ears. It has to hurt, but she thinks it is quite a game. I on the other hand have been quite frustrated by having to search for earrings around the house. The studs that she originally got were supposed to kind of lock so it was more tricky to just pull out. Well, it seemed to start when I had accidentally knock one out when I pulled off her shirt (ouch). Didn't bother her, but she like the idea of mommy putting it back in (means there is a way to make it come out). So, then the game began. At nap time I started to find missing earrings. Put them back in thinking not too much of it and then I couldn't find one yesterday. I knew it had to be around her bed somewhere because they were in her ears when I put her down and not when I get her up. No site of it at all. I asked her if she put it in her mouth and she nodded her head yes. Then I asked her if she ate it and again a head nod. Well, I asked my friend Amy about what she would suggest and she said to get earrings with screw on backs. I had never heard of them before. I wasn't going to put her other earrings back in incase she ate more, but we had to do something quick so that her holes wouldn't grow back in (easily done at this age). So, off to the mall we went today. We tried several places and things were just too expensive. Then, Kaelyn pottyed in her pants, so off to the Sears potty we went and then asked about their earrings. We found some for a good price, bought them, and went home. Put them in her ears, put her in bed, and then a few minutes later heard her say "uhoh". Went in there and the earring was out, put it back in because it seemed that I didn't put the back on well, it was a little messed up. I figured if it came out again, we would just take them back and get some more expensive ones. Well, a few minutes later I decided to go in and check on her and both earrings were out and one was in her mouth. The cubic zirconium was gone and the gold stud was chewed up. Well, there went the idea of taking them back.
We got a call a bit later saying that someone had found my wallet in Sears. Wow, didn't even know it was missing, but back to the mall I go and decided to go ahead and get the better earrings that she had no chance of taking off herself. Got my wallet back with all of the cash missing. I had all of my cards, but felt the need to cancel the cards as well. You never know what someone can do with just numbers. So, and expensive day to say the least. Then Kaelyn finally pooped and there was an earring back. Still have two missing studs though, so we will wait for the next set of poop. Oh the joys of parenthood. If you ever have to dig through poop, I suggest putting it in a plastic bag that you can see through. That way you never have to actually touch it until you find what you are looking for.

She Loves Her Veggies

This past week or two has been a wonderful change in the veggie department. Kaelyn seems to really love broccoli and has been talking about it at odd times. Weird, I know, but wonderful. She also ate yellow squash like a champ tonight and devoured butternut squash soup and asked to eat tomatoes yesterday. What is going on with our child? I don't want to change this. She has also started to like eating meat by itself instead of hid in things. That makes life so much easier.


The pottying has gotten so much better except when she downs a whole 12oz of slightly flavored water. It is kind of humerous at that point when she potties every 10 minutes for the next hour and a half. Kaelyn just got over a case of bronchitis and seems to be healthy at the moment. Yeah!!! Amen!!! And she has slept past 7am the last 2 mornings. A dream come true. This morning it was 7:40!! Her naps have been fabulous too for the past week. She has been sleeping on average 3 hrs. Makes for getting lots done.



She is enjoying the Christmas season this year and we are having fun with it. Her favorite song is jingle bells. She could have me sing it 20 times a day if I would. She talks a bit about baby Jesus in the nativity. Speaking of Jesus, the other day I was praying with her before bedtime and out of the blue she said "thank you Jesus, Amen" She said her first prayer on her own. It blessed our hearts so much.



Another fabulous breakthrough has been the nursery at church. We decided to go ahead and put Kaelyn in the 2 year old room because she is potty training seems so much happier when she comes in there. Now whenever we get near that room so tries as hard as she can to wriggle out of our arms and says "pay"(play). Last week we left with her screaming "PAY". She was not ready to go. It was a nice change from coming to pick her up with a tear soaked face. I think that she just really enjoys the little bit bigger kids and the toys. I know have some other stories to share, but I can't think of them right now.



Stuffing her face with yellow squash.





We had a full day at home yesterday and she was getting bored toward the end, so we got the play dough out. It kept her occupied on her own for about 30 minutes. Notice the tongue sticking out slightly. A thinking face. Just like Daddy.

Having fun with a boa

This picture is a classic. The other day she had wanted to put her boots on, so we did, and I was cleaning out her closet. She found her swimsuit top and asked me to put it on. Then she was searching everywhere saying "panties". I wasn't catching on. She final found what she was looking for and it was her swimsuit bottom. Silly mommy and smart daughter. She looks lovely don't you think. This sparked the idea of getting some dress up clothes for Christmas. Don't read this Kaelyn or you will ruin the surprise.

Just cuteness. Don't you love the hair. She decided to take her pig tails out

Helping mommy heard the goats. "coming goats coming" meaning come on goats

They always look cute from behind walking in the toddler stage, especially in boots.

Another just cuteness pic. It was cold this morning.

So, the real skinny on our potty fun

We are so proud of our little girl and her potty learning experience. It has been a roller coaster lately though, but it has made me a much more relaxed mom. We thought a few weeks ago that we had this thing mastered. She was doing so well and going several days without accidents and even then it would just be an isolated one. But after we got back from North Carolina, it all went south. Now she is having more accidents then successes. As in the post before, she is telling us more when she does need to go and as soon as she goes, she tells us too, but I am finding myself between a rock and a hard place. I know that life has been very hectic for us right now, so we are trying to take it all in stride and not make a big deal out of accidents, but I was so enjoying where we were. It is obvious how stress affects these little ones. I am debating wether or not to bring out some diapers again because I have a whole laundry basket full of wet pants, but I don't want to set her back further by doing so. I think we will just stick it out and be patient and let time tell. But I don't want to creat undo stress for her either. She does so well when it is just the three of us, but as soon as we get around lots of other people, it is up in the air. Oh well, I know that she is young and potty training is a process, but I just thought I would pass on the experience.

18 Months Old

Kaelyn is now 1 and a half!!! Wow!! That went fast. She is such a delight to us and keeps us in stitches all the time and brings us to joyful tears often. She loves making animal noises and spotting animals and pretending to be animals. It is so cute. She is talking in sentances now and tells us that she loves us. She seems to really love Grammy because she says out of the blue, "Grammy, I love you". We have to ask her to say it to us. I know that will change. Grammy loves it.
Today, Kaelyn had her dr's appointment and it went very well. Stats are 27lbs 4oz (75-90%), 32in (50-75%) and her head is in the 90th percentile. The Dr. told us that Kaelyn is functioning developmentally like a 2 and a half year old. While she was sitting there getting examined, she all of a sudden said "pee pee". We had to take a potty break in the middle, but is fabulous that recently she has gotten better at telling us that she needs to go. Dr. A was very patient with us. We sadly had to tell him that this will hopefully be our last visit because of our move.(hopefully meaning that we don't want kaelyn to get sick enough to have to come back in.)
Kaelyn loves listening to music in the car. If she doesn't have her music on, she lets you know, but she is learning to appreciate mom and dad's music too. I think that is all for now.
Don't take my picture mom, just let me outside PEEESSSE!!!!!
It was finally cold enough to get all bundled up in our coat and gloves. She looked cute and enjoyed her gloves.
The other day I found her in my craft/laundry room having found my bag of ribbons. She took a few off of the reels. It was quite a moment of exploration.

Animal noises

So, our cute toot has been up to a lot of learning these days, both good and bad. The good is that she has master most any animal noise we can think of and imitate. She has started to pretend to be animals which is so much fun. The best is when she comes out of the bath with her lion towel and walks around roaring and then laughing. She loves reading her books, more by herself than with mommy or daddy, but that is ok for now. She continues to aquire new tastes and food is always a plus around here. If she doesn't eat well it most often means that she is sick or that she is stressed. We have occasionally had the battle of wills but have learned that a time or two in time out fixes it very quickly.

Kaelyn is finding more and more ways to entertain herself as well, her favorite being a tub of beans and things to pour them into. Putting things in and out is the most interesting thing for her now. She has also figured out how to get the water dispensor on the fridge to work. Thank goodness for the built in lock system. Same goes for the buttons on the washer and dryer and the dishwasher.

She has gotten to spend lots of time with some friends over the past two weeks, at mom's group and our new Bible study. At the Bible study, she would go outside and play and after a few minutes, would walk back in and find me, give me a hug, say momma, momma, and then go back outside and play. She just wanted to know that I was still there. She is very afraid of me leaving right now. Whenever Grammy comes by or we go and see her, Kaelyn gets very clingy and doesn't want much to do with Grammy. If I budge from my spot, especially if I go anywhere near the door, she starts to cry or whine. Tender time right now for her.

Let's see, what else has happened in the last two weeks for our Kaelyn. She has enjoyed so much getting to see daddy lots lately. She still has her days where she wants mommy instead, but she doesn't cry if I leave and she is with dad. In the video you can see what they have been upto.


We had two days of no accidents, but that didn't last long. Right now, there seems to be a potty protest, but oh well, give it a little time and tender love and hopefully the wheels will turn back around. Enjoy the pics.




Itsy Bitsy Spider, her favorite song

So innocent

She loves feeding her animals

Watching the ducks at Hafer Park
Now, she has started a new trend, arm and face painting with the finger painting. Boy was that a mess to clean up. Thankfully the paint washed out of the clothes. Time for painting aprons.
Bubble baths are always fun with daddy
She looks so grown up doing the dishes

She looked so cute in the hat and we weren't fast enough to get the camera, so this was the reaction when we tried to put it back on.
Her new thing is to slosh her water around in her mouth before swallowing

Potty Stories

The realm of pottying has beena wonderful adventure around here lately. We seem to have really gotten the nack of this thing down as long as Kaelyn and I tag team it. For the last week, we have managed 1 to 2 accidents a day, and most of those have been in the evening or when she is outside. She has been so cute about it and gets so excited when she goes. She has gotten used to using other peoples potties too. Yeah, I don't have to carry the potty in my bag everywhere. It stays in the car, but it doesn't have to always go in now. Today, she came running to me and said "pee pee" pointing to her panties and we ran to the potty and she went. As of late, her saying "pee pee" has been an after the fact thing, so this was an awesome step in the right direction. She is dry most mornings now and at nap times, so my diaper wash has been almost nothing. I have really enjoyed learning so much through this process and Kaelyn enjoys being successful. One of her new favorite things is to put on her Elmo panties. We only wear these in the house for now, but you mention them and she goes buserk, "elmo, elmo, elmo" over and over again. She won't let you help her put them on. Of course she doesn't quite have the nack down yet, but her efforts are priceless. She most often gets both feet in one hole and then tries to pull them up and starts whining. It is really cute except for the whining.

She can say her Name

Kaelyn said her first and last name today. I was trying to get her to coroporate with something and so I was using her full name. Next thing I know she is saying "Kayin Gurmin". It was too cute. And then she counted to ten two times while we were playing with a mancala board. She skips out on seven but belts out eight and gets all excited when she says ten.

Another cute thing was that she was coloring a picture yesterday and when she was done she came into the kitchen and put it in the trash can, opened the drawer with the towels in it and then started scrubing the floor with it and then proceeded to wipe of her table and then unfortunately her nose. Yum yum. She certainly is an imetater. And she has started to crawl around like different animals and makes animal noises. I love it because it is a game she will let me play with her.

Amazing

Friday was an amazing day for Kaelyn. When Kevin came home from Lawton, Kaelyn saw him at the door and started saying daddy, daddy, daddy really loud and running toward the door. She gave him a huge hug and kisses. She has never done this before to either of us when we come home from being gone any amount of time. It was so very precious. She used to just snub us when we came home as to say, "I'll teach you to leave me again".


The other amazing thing that she did on this fabulous Friday was count to 6 almost all by herself. I don't even remember what it was that we were counting, but I said one, then she said one, two, I said three and then out of the blue she said three, four, five, six. She had only ever said one two before and all of our counting books only go up to five, so I have no idea how she learned six. They pick up things so stinkin fast.


She has been working with Grammy doing a cute song with actions called Teddy Bear. I had done it with her maybe two times before and when we did it this weekend, she did all of the hand motions. it was too cute. I am going to try and get it on video soon. We love our onry cute toot. That is all for now.




She looks too grown up in this pic. She is sporting her new recycled wool shorties I experiment with making.
I also made some flannel fitted diapers. I like them a lot.
Love the open mouth before the bite is even on the spoon. I know, maybe not appropriate, but this is after her bath running around with her lion towel on her head and for some reason carrying a Supernanny book. She was having lots of fun.
checking out the cute baby lions at the zoo. They are starting to get big now and were playing lots, putting their paws on the glass.

Poor Dexter

another cute video. When we were in Wyoming, Dexter was Kaelyn's favorite form of entertainment. We found her doing this one day and caught it on video. We love her laugh. And Amy, we love your old soaker.

To Pucker or Not to Pucker

Here is a cute video of Kaelyn eating a lemon. Her expressions are priceless.

15 month Check-up

Today Kaelyn had her 15 month check-up and it went very well. She has evened out now in her height and weight. She is 25 lbs which is in the 75-90% and 31 inches in the 50-75%. She has grown 3 inches in the last three months. Big growth spirt for our cute little squirt. Dr. Albiek asked us how many words Kaelyn is saying and I told him somewhere around 40. After he left the room, while waiting for shots (eek), I started counting how many words she says. It was about 65. I just had to put in a little brag on my Kaelyn. She is becoming quite a motor mouth. We are very proud.

Today we also got to go to Bouncin' Craze with our mommy's group. It's an inflatable playground. Kaelyn had fallen asleep in the car on the way there and was a bit hesitant to play at first. She wanted nothing to do with the bouncing. Then, she got a second wind and had a blast bouncing and going down the slides. We are so blessed to have these mommies and their kiddos to spend time with.

Water Fun with our Friend

This week, Kaelyn got to have a bunch of fun with her friend Colton. They play better and better each time that we get together. We got to have some fun play time at home and swim in the turtle pool, then off to naps and then the spraygrounds. We are in an iffy time right now because both kiddos have been working to give up their morning naps. Colton has officially given his up, but Kaelyn still has one here and there. She took a short morning nap and decided that she wasn't ready for an afternoon nap. It didn't dampen any fun though thankfully. At the spray park, it took Colton a little warming up to the idea of things spraying, but then he was blowing bubbles in the water. Kaelyn couldn't get enough of the water. She has come a long way this summer when it comes to the water. At the beginning of the summer, she wanted nothing to do with it, and now she doesn't care if water gets in her face and chokes her up. She goes right back after it. Now we just need to teach her how to swim before she dives in on her own, which she has attempted several time. No fear for sure. Enjoy the pics of our water babies.

Which direction should I go?
When the water went down, she would put her head down by the spout and then it would spray her in the face. She would flinch, walk away, and then go back at it.
Handsome little man
blowing bubbles


Trying to eat the water
Isn't she beautiful