Toddler Thoughts

Keeley cracks me up on a daily basis with the things she says and does. I just love watching her mind work. Here are a few examples:

* Daddy can fix EVERYTHING. A book page that gets torn, the stroller wheels get muddy, the swing at the park is wet. To every problem we encounter, Keeley looks at me thoughtfully and, with a nod of her head, says "dada fix it". Apparently he is the hero. Never mind the fact that I spend all day every day with her!! Daddy has the solutions and power to fix everything.

* She runs to the back door and yells "Maggie". Then she proceeds to open the back door, let Carbo in, and close the back door with Maggie still outside. This is followed by a look to me and a laugh. No idea why this is funny to her but she does it all the time.

* She is much more into pretending. How cute is she reading her book to Cassie?


* She remembers things better now. We told her today that we would go ride the carousel at the mall after her nap. The very first thing she said when she woke up was "ride horsies" She was very excited as we waited for Kayden to wake up. The entire way to the mall she talked about the horsies and then she seemed terrified while we were there and refused to actually ride on a horse.

Here we are on a bench.
Kelly wasn't so lucky. All the benches were taken when he got on with her so he was the dad standing on the carousel holding a toddler next to a horse the whole time. We rode the carosel three times. You'd think one of those times she'd get on a "horsie" that goes "up down up down". You would be wrong to think that.And, just in case you were wondering. She is wearing pajamas. Are they clean pajamas? Absolutely not. She wore them to bed last night and then all day today. They were her selection when she and Kelly went to Little Gym and for the mall. I thought I was going to outsmart her because she let me take them off when I changed her diapers. I was wrong though because she then quickly insisted that would be what she wore to the mall.

I think that other parents must look at me oddly. I spend a decent amount of time and energy getting myself ready. I try to shower, fix my hair and make-up, and put on nice clothes every day. Why then does my daughter always look like a ragamuffin? I suppose I just don't see what is so wrong with letting her wear what she wants to as long as it is weather appropriate. Do I wish that she wore cute dresses and boots and actually let me do something with her hair? Yes. Am I glad that she is independent (and strong willed) enough to make decisions about how she presents herself to the world? Absolutely. Just know that when you see her and her hair is a bit scraggly and her clothes are interesting, that I am doing my best to allow her to express herself and develop independence - not neglecting her!

More Bumps and Bruises

If you had asked, I would have never in a million years guessed Kayden would be more prone to bumps and bruises than my other little monkey. Apparently she is though. This is my sweet little girl today. Look at all the injuries on her face!!!

She has an abrasion from being pushed out the door, a bump and small puncture wound from hitting her head on the fireplace, a scratch on the inside corner of her eye from rubbing her eyes because she won't sit still long enough to go to sleep, and a cut on the other eye from falling in the bathtub!

She is fearless though. Completely fearless.

Notice that there is an open door and a tunnel. Did she use either of those? Nope. Every time she insisted on climbing over the wall.

Here she shows off climbing into and out of Keeley's red car. She's taking it over!

She is obsessed with crawling into and attempting to crawl through the end tables.

And, last but certainly not least. She pulled herself OUT of the bath tub not once or twice but FOUR times tonight before we decided bath time was really over for her. She leans herself forward and hikes her legs up until she gets enough leverage to slide her slippery little body right over the edge into your lap. Then she smiles and laughs like it was the most fun she's ever had. Oh my are we ever in for it with this one!

I also fear she will not love her crib as Keeley does. When Keeley is tired, frustrated, overwhelmed, hurt, has hurt Kayden, etc. she says "crib" and will go play in there for 20-30 minutes at a time. Kayden gets mad when we approach her room and will throw all her dolls and pacifiers out of the crib (while yelling and crying) if she doesn't want to take a nap. With her latest bathtub escapade, I'm sure we will soon have a jail break from the crib as well!

Here she is with her determined face! Look how cute that tongue is!

Big Accomplishment

Big accomplishment for mom that is. One of my friends sent out an email this morning suggesting a trip to the mall's carousel and play ground to get out some of the stir-craziness that we all have with this yucky weather. I usually don't do anything in the mornings because I don't want to mess up Kayden's sleeping. This morning however, she wasn't sleeping and she had been awake since 6 (and from 9-12) so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Things were not looking good as Keeley insisted on wearing her pajamas (with some breakfast on them) and I dropped a full bottle of baby food on the floor right before we left. I like the glass bottles because they are "safer" but with a clumsy mom and a crawler in the house, they make me a bit nervous.

The decision to leave seemed like an even worse one when I discovered the thick fog and left over ice from yesterday.

We pushed through though and got to the mall safely. A quick walk around the carousel once inside showed me that our friends were not yet there (how I was the only one on time with 2 and they have one is a bit of a mystery to me....) . We waited around a little bit and I tried to see if Keeley wanted to ride the horses. She said no so we went down to the play area. Both girls played (I forgot the camera) and our friends caught up with us down there. A few minutes after they got there, Keeley decided it was time for milk and horses. She proceeded to climb into the stroller and wait for me. We headed back up stairs where I managed to order and eat lunch for myself and feed both the girls. A very kind custodian brought me two high chairs so I did have a little help.

After lunch, we rode the horses. Keeley actually refused to sit on a horse so all three of us sat in a bench on the carousel instead. I successfully changed both their diapers, bought us some cookies, and loaded everyone up.

This was our first big outing that I did alone. We were at the mall for 2 hours and didn't have any major issues! I feel quit successful :-)

Locks

Keeley has figured out how to let the dogs in and out (diapers optional apparently).


And she has also mastered the deadbolt.


No rest for the parents here!

8 months!

Kayden is 8 months old today. Time is going so very, very fast. I'm growing more and more convinced that she is going to be our trouble maker. She is certainly more adventurous and busy than Keeley was at this age (as is evidenced by the pictures below). She's bitten through her tongue, gotten her head bumped and scratched trying to keep up with big sister, fallen and hit her head on the fireplace....Today I couldn't find her and when I finally did, she was hiding behind the table drinking Keeley's juice. I say hiding because when I finally found her, she gave me a sly smile because she knew she wasn't supposed to drinking Keeley's juice and I had walked past the play room a couple times already looking for her.

On to big stuff...she weighs 18 lb 9 ounces. She loves to eat and is very independent about it. She pretty much refuses to be fed baby food. Her favorites are table foods right now - namely sautéed squash and waffles. The entire time she is in the bathtub, she is standing up at the faucet banging on the tub and squealing. She is still really focused on cruising and crawling (super fast!) but she is now also learning to climb. She can climb into chairs, almost onto the fireplace, and I caught her trying to climb from on top of Keeley's little potty onto the big potty right before bath time tonight. I'm still not a huge fan of the sleep situation but it is made bearable by the fact that she is pretty much happy regardless of how much sleep she gets. She just got her top two teeth - that makes 4 teeth and a very cute grin.

She is definitely a second sibling. "No Kayden" is a frequently heard phrase around our house because she is so very interested in Keeley and all of Keeley's things. Keeley is not a fan of that and quickly tells her so.

Needless to say, this one is definitely giving us a run for our money!!

See the bruise/scratch from big sister's help out the back door.

Exploring her closet.

Even Keeley thinks this is a bad idea...

Dad snapped this picture

She got in the chair all by herself!

Life is happy again (for the moment at least)

Neither of my little ones feel very well right now. When babies don't feel good, mama gets worn out very fast. I'm tired of waking up at 5, being covered with who knows what all day, and having clingy kids. In the midst of all that though, we still have our sweet moments. Keeley is just learning to put her sentences together. This morning she was up before Kelly left and she said "bye bye daddy". It was so cute.

We had a rough morning (as is becoming standard around our house right now) and after I fed the girls lunch I gave them both some motrin and let them play in the bath for a little bit. After the bath, all three of us rocked while I sang to them. BOTH of my girls fell asleep in my arms. After a little while Kayden stirred and pulled Keeley's hair so I put both in their cribs and they went back to sleep.

I can't think of anything sweeter than holding both your babies while they sleep.

Toddler Minds

The little personality Keeley is developing is really making me laugh. I just wanted to jot down a few things that have made me smile the last few days.

1. While on a walk, Keeley insisted I pick up a hairspray top sitting in the street and put it in the trash can.

2. At the park, she noticed a coke bottle lid and said "oh no. oh no." She picked it up and marched straight over to the trash to throw it away.

3. A friend of ours was very, very upset to leave our house the other day and she started crying. Keeley said (with many long pauses) "Katelyn. Sad. Crying. Hugs kisses." She then went to give her hugs and kisses. Later I told her Katelyn was sad and that her teeth were hurting her. She responded "Katelyn. Crying. Motrin."

4. Yesterday Keeley opened the trash bin under our shredder and proceeded to scatter paper everywhere. She then picked up my jump drive, held it to her ear and said "hi. mess. mess." while waving her hand over the mess that she made. I asked her who she was talking to and she said "dada".

"Don't eat peas out of the dust pan"

When I uttered that statement today to my precocious 22 month old, I was instantly aware that I am losing the war. Previously, I felt I was just losing the small battles on a daily basis. Now I am quite certain that being outnumbered is not good for my mothering skills. I need to keep this in mind any time I think that having another kid is something I wish we had done...

I was just trying to eat my lunch. I know, I know. Eating a calm meal with no problems goes out the window as soon as you have a baby. Really, I suppose it goes out the window when you get pregnant because you are nauseous, getting up to pee a million times, having heartburn, picking at your food because it just doesn't look good, eating in small quantities because you there is no room for your stomach, etc.

Anyway, I was trying to eat my lunch today while Keeley and Kayden played in the kitchen. Keeley had requested some Just Peas. I was thrilled because that is a vegetable. As she was eating from the container (she is really into that right now), she spilled some. Kayden immediately crawled over to try to eat the scattered peas. I didn't worry about that because Kayden can have peas and she needs to work on finger food anyway. Keeley did worry about it. Apparently Kayden is not allowed to eat her food or come close to it. Obviously this means that Keeley should take her hand to scatter peas all over the floor and move around as Kayden tries to eat the newly scattered peas. Kayden followed the peas, Keeley followed Kayden and continued to scatter.

This went on for a moment or two and I tried to ignore them. My ability to ignore ended when I noticed Keeley intentionally getting the peas out of the container and putting them on the floor to scatter. I took the peas away and went to get the dust pan and broom. This resulted in serious melt down from Keeley because she insists on helping with everything. I decided to sweep and let her carry the dustpan full of peas. This didn't work for two reasons 1. she can't carry the dustpan and dump it in the trash without spilling everywhere and 2. the dustpan was too tempting as a plate. She hadn't made it three steps before her mouth was in the dustpan getting the peas to stick to her tongue. Gross.

Active Participant

Kayden insists on being a very, very active participant in all of life's activities. Yesterday we went for a walk in the stroller and she spent the entire time either craned around looking and talking to me or sitting straight up with both hands in the air like she was on a roller coaster. She also feels she must be doing whatever Keeley is doing. Keeley opened the door to go outside today so Kayden took off to join her. Kayden was crawling over the threshold when I hear "out, go, out" and then crying. Keeley had pushed Kayden over the threshold. This resulted in a significant bruising and an abrasion on her forehead. Kayden gets herself plenty of bruises and injuries on her own, she certainly doesn't need big sister's ever-present help!

On the move!

Kayden is getting so close to walking. She can slowly lower herself to the ground now when she's not holding on to anything instead of just falling. She has started to cruise much more and is even doing it on flat surfaces instead of only on ones where she can grab on. Moving while pushing her toys is also becoming a bigger deal. She did a lot of this while I had Keeley at her surgery. She's so cute.

Language Development

On Wednesday night before Keeley's surgery, I woke her up before we went to bed to see if I could get her to drink some milk. She had a little and then we read stories. While we were reading them, she started to get close to putting two words together to form a more complete thought. She has hundreds of words but, up until that point, had only used one at a time to get her idea across. The next morning, she started actually doing it. Most of what she says is a command "hold you, read that, close it, wash it, kiss it" but it is still pretty cute. The way that toddler language develops is amazing to me.

She's also done some funny things this weekend with her words. On Saturday we went to look at some flooring. We went during Kayden's nap time because she wasn't napping. This meant that she was being noisy in the car while she was trying to fall asleep in the car (side note: Kayden is the noisiest child ever. She isn't the loudest, she is just constantly noisy - unless she is trying to get your attention at which point she just stares at you with a smile and waits for you to see her). After about 10 minutes in the car, Keeley looked at her and said "stop". I laughed for a long time.

Tonight, as we were moving toward bed, Keeley got on her bike and said "levi's" I asked where she was going and she said "house". Apparently she wanted to go to Levi's house. Watch out Levi, you've got an older woman after you!

Surgery Day

Keeley had her surgery today. I panicked yesterday when they called and said they had moved it to 10 am. Not being able to eat until 10 wasn't going to be a problem. Not being allowed milk was going to be a huge problem. Fortunately, Keeley understands a lot more now when you talk to her. We talked about the fact that she couldn't have her milk in the morning and she didn't push for it too much. I also let her have her pacifier which probably eased the frustration.

As soon as we checked in, they gave her some "goofy juice" just like they did when her cyst was removed. She seemed even more drunk this time since she is more vocal and mobile than she was then. Unfortunately, she did put up a little bit of a fight when they took her away which made me sad. I love, love, love her doctor. He had a purple dog waiting for her on the bed where we waited, he talked to her when he came in the room, he was really fast, and he checked on us again while we were in recovery.

The procedure went well. Recovery did not go so well. I try very hard to prepare Keeley for what is going on and multiple people told me that her IV would be removed before she woke up. None of those people told the recovery nurse that apparently because she still had it in her hand when I got back to her. It is bad enough waking up from surgery knowing what to expect, that made it even worse for Keeley. The told me she was a fighter and started kicking before she even opened her eyes. Once we got the IV out and she drank her milk (An entire 12 ounces in less than 5 minutes. That kid loves her milk), she calmed down and slept really hard in my arms for the rest of the time in recovery.

She seems to be bothered a little when she wakes up from naps but otherwise seems okay. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Boo to Zyrtec

Apparently Keeley simply doesn't respond well to medicine. Or, at least not as it is expected. I woke up miserable with allergies this morning and Keeley woke up with a runny nose. I figured that she might appreciate some allergy medicine because I know I sure do when I am miserable in the morning.

I gave her the children's Zyrtec and we went on about our day. I felt great - my medicine worked. Keeley's nose ran the entire day but she was in a good mood for most of it. Toward the end of the day, she got a little grumpy. That is quite possibly because she refused to nap. You'd think that would make her tired at bedtime. Nope. She went to bed later than normal and only because she finally gave in. Nothing about her looked tired (except some of the fussiness and frustration).

Unfortunately, I chose to give her Zyrtec on the same day that Kayden only took one, one hour nap this morning. By 4:30, my kitchen looked like this.

Yep, that is a tent in my kitchen (Obviously. Doesn't everyone need a tent in their kitchen?) and ALL of Kayden's spoons all over the floor.

Do you see the insanity of this? Keeley refused to eat in her seat today and insisted on Kayden's. She also insisted on eating Kayden's food. This left me holding Kayden because it was unacceptable for Kayden to be in Keeley's chair. The dog water is on the table because Kayden kept playing in it when I put her down. I had to put her down because she couldn't be in Keeley's chair and was too fussy from not napping to be in my arms for long. The dog bowls are empty because Kayden scatters it on the floor and then Keeley carries it by the handful to the dogs and tells them to eat it.

I texted Kelly and said "I'm done". Fortunately, I have the most amazing husband ever. He left shortly there after and told me I could leave as soon as he walked in the door.

Moral of the story: no more Zyrtec for Keeley.

Singing a Different Tune

When we started Mother's Day Out, there was definite drama upon drop off and pick up each day. This improved slowly. First we ended the drama and there was just a sad resignation about leaving me and we had very enthusiastic reunions. Then we moved to okay drop offs and me having to wait around for her to get ready to leave. This week tops it all.

When walking up to the doors to drop her off, Keeley tripped and cut her lip (side note: I swear she is just determined to have no front teeth with the number of times she hits them). She was crying and I was dreading the hand-off. I asked her teacher if I could come in and make sure that she was okay. I checked her out and Ms. Karen asked to hold her. Keeley lifted her arms and Kayden and I left.

I was one of the first ones at pick up time. I peaked through the window and saw her eating her snack with her friends at the little half circle table. She smiled and said "Hiyeeeeee". I came inside to gather everything up since she was still eating. When I got inside, Ms. Kathy told me that she requested Luke be her buddy. I asked what she meant and they told me that when she was put in the bye-bye buggy to go on their walk that she immediately pointed to the seat next to her and said "Luke". That sounds more like a demand than a request, but still pretty cute. Apparently she asked for Luke to sit next to her at the table too because he was there in place of her regular dining companion. I'm not entirely sure the obsession is reciprocal but he does at least like her a little because they were sharing snacks - too cute.

Other parents came and we said bye to Kaleb, to Peter, to Jessica, to Luke - and Keeley was still eating. She finally finished her snack and I asked if she was ready to go home. She looked at me, shook her head, and said "nope" with a smile. I got her out of her table and she proceeded to run around the room hiding and saying "bye bye". I asked if she was saying good bye to Maysen. She said "no, mama". Well, okay then. Apparently she is too busy for Mom!

And the messes continue...

Kayden figured out how to open drawers and pull out the contents today. Hooray.

Hooray for the potty!

Diaper changes have been such a nightmare lately because Keeley insists on doing it herself. She, unfortunately, lacks the dexterity to do it and that causes frustration for everyone. At least one time a day for the last few days we have had a crying diaper change because after 15 minutes or so of naked toddler running around and refusing to let me do it or help her do it, I have to hold her down. Today was no different - except for a minor complication in the middle. After 10 minutes of running around, Keeley was in the kitchen and I heard "uh-oh" I went in there to see that she was mortified because she had tinkled on the floor. She quickly let me put on her diaper and then clean up the mess that was distressing her.

At that point, I decided to start making a more conscious effort to introduce potty training - or at least familiarize her to it. She shows plenty of the signs: she can (make that insists) on taking her pants on and off, she is very interested when we are using the restroom, she identifies when she has or is about to dirty her diaper, etc. We have a seat that goes on the toilet but it scares her. I was hoping she'd warm up to that one because, let's be honest, a child sized toilet is just one more thing to deal with that needs cleaning.

When we went shopping today, we picked up a child sized potty and planned to research our selection when we got home. We thought we'd made a good choice because it looks like a toilet and it plays a little song when the kid actually goes to the bathroom. As soon as I got it out of the bag, Keeley got very excited talking about the "kids" and the "potty" and "tinkle". She started taking her pants off and then her diaper. So I was stuck trying to quickly assemble the potty with a naked bottom in the kitchen.

She sat on the potty a couple times in the kitchen and familiarized herself with it. We then moved it into the living room. She sat down and I turned to get the manual when I heard it playing the song. The song scared Keeley and she hoped up and looked in the little potty. Kelly, Keeley, and I were all very excited for her. She then pulled on a pull-up and made the all important call to Oma (who was also very excited). We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I am in no hurry to bring on the mess and timing issues of potty training. But I am ready for the independence struggles over the diaper being put on to end! A step in the right direction for sure!

First "sentence"

Keeley has TONS of words and is quite the little mimic when you speak. However, up until today, she only puts words together that I think she believes are one word anyway (wake-up, all-gee...). Today she told the dogs to go out, opened the back door for them, waited for them to leave, closed the back door, and then said "bye-bye doggies". She then gave a satisfied nod and continued to play.

Playing together

I'm loving every minute of the girls playing together and both being friendly about it. I know that the days are limited and that I should enjoy it before the fighting starts....Tonight while I was making dinner, Keeley was playing outside. She left the door open and Kayden was looking outside. It takes Kayden a while to work up the nerve to crawl over the threshold into the back yard. I looked down to cut some chicken and when I looked up, Kayden was standing up at Keeley's cottage. They played together for a while. Keeley decided after a bit that Kayden might want the little table to play with - but then decided it would be more fun for her to crawl all over it instead. They were so cute!


I guess the time has come for the toys to really be for both of them instead of just Keeley's. Unfortunately, the cuteness of their playing together didn't end well. Keeley said "bye bye" to Kayden and tried to close the cottage door. This didn't work because Kayden's arm was stuck between the door and the mailbox. She started crying because she was hurt and Keeley started crying because Kayden was crying....oh well! It was definitely cute while it lasted!

The World According to Keeley

Oh to be in the mind of my oldest.

* Everything must be blue. This includes her pacifier, her night light, all cups, and all plates.

* You must never wear someone else's clothes. My poor mom has been in quite a pickle at our house lately because it is exceptionally upsetting to Keeley if mom wears one of my jackets.

* Kelly has to put gas in my car. On the way to the doctor today I said we were stopping to get gas and Keeley kept saying "dada". I kept explaining that he was at work but she kept insisting Dada would put gas in my car.

* Diapers must have cookie monster on them or you hear "oh no" and "all gee" (all gone) a lot. Unfortunately for me, Elmo is the predominant diaper in the package.

* Kelly apparently has specific detergents for the washing machine that are his. She points to them and says "dada" with an emphatic head nod. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

* Her food frequently has to be placed in a cup (blue of course) even if it would be much more appropriate in a bowl or on a plate.

* There are only 2 songs in her world: Five Little Monkeys at the house and Elmo in the car. We listen to them on repeat all day long.

And then there is the independence factor:
* As most of you know, she is pretty opinionated about her clothing.

* Diaper changes have become a battle. This is because she wants to do it. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the dexterity to do it so diaper changes now take about 30 minutes. She tries to wipe and then moves all over the house trying to put on the diaper by herself. I've tried talking her into pull-ups. She got them on and said "no, diff" and then angrily took them off. I've tried fastening the diaper really loose and letting her step into it like a pull-up but this too was unacceptable. She just wants to do it by herself.

* She wants to put more milk in her cup. But she insists that she do all of it - the unscrewing of the lid, holding the lid and cup, screwing the lid back on....this does not work out well for mom.

* She wants to play her music by herself. This includes opening and closing the dvd player and using the "mote" to select the song.

* All lights must be turned on and off by her.

More surgery

Keeley's adenoidectomy is scheduled for January 15th. I once thought I had healthy children...they seem to be proving me wrong.

Major life discoveries

Here are some highlights of the big discoveries my girls have made the last few days.

Kayden learning to climb into a bookcase.

Keeley discovering the penguins at the Dallas World Aquarium.

Kayden learning to drink from a straw cup.

More climbing. Yes, my 7 month old is on top of all that stuff reaching for her food. Where my girls get their fearlessness is beyond me!

Learning to climb into the bathtub on her own...possibly not a good discovery.

Just like big sister

Kayden is obsessed with everything about her big sister. Here are some cute pictures that show just how much.Helping herself to some of Keeley's graham crackers.

Working on puzzles with Keeley.

Laughing about playing with Keeley's bike while Keeley was napping.

Playing in the diaper box together.