Spirited

That is the word that her teacher used to describe her today.  As in, "She's been, um, very, (long pause) spirited today."  I think that is an excellent description of Kayden.  She lives life to the fullest, is undeterred by most set backs, views any size obstacle as a challenge, and pretty much follows her own beat.

Yesterday during our "nap" time, I walked back past her room to find her naked and a wet diaper on the floor in the hallway.  I said, "let's put on a fresh diaper." She replied, "No, I don't like diapers.  Only panties."  I let it go because we only had about 20 minutes before we had to get ready to leave anyway.  As we were getting ready to leave, I encouraged her to wear a diaper (she's not potty trained).  And she said no, that she only wanted to wear panties.  I then said that was fine but that if she was going to wear panties, she had to sit on the potty.  Her response?  "I don't like to sit on the potty.  I'll just wear panties."

Great. As we are leaving to go to two doctor's appointments in a row she decides to start potty training but only doing half of it.  I gathered all the extra clothes and we headed out.  Two and a half hours later we returned home and she had refused to sit on the potty twice (once at each doctor) even when Keeley and I both did but she also hadn't had an accident.  They sat down for a snack and then started to play in the playroom while I switched some laundry.  Suddenly I heard, "TINKLES!" So I ran to get her and she was very upset that she was wet.  We got her clothes off and had her sit on the potty and she said, "No, I don't want to go on the potty."  I finally convinced her to sit there for a few minutes, got her in dry clothes, and then asked her to help me clean up.  She took me to where the accident was.  Most kids would have an accident on the floor or in a chair.  Kayden is not most kids.  Apparently she had been climbing from the windowsill onto our play kitchen (which she isn't supposed to be doing...) so all the tinkle got into the sink (which really upset Keeley).

Today, she changed out of her nighttime diaper at 6:15 and didn't go or have an accident until 12:15 - despite sitting on the potty five times.  I fully understand that potty training is a control issue and that she is a child that likes to have control.  That is the entire reason I haven't brought up potty training at all.  She finally decides she wants to and then she STILL has to figure out a way to make it be a control issue.

I swear this child is going to make me grey before she turns three.  I picked her up from school today and, while we were waiting for Keeley, brushed the hair off her forehead.  I noticed that huge scratch on her head and asked her what happened.  She said, "I fell down in the garden".  When I asked if the teachers did anything, she said "No, I didn't cry, I just kept playing with Lily."  I hopped out of the car to ask the teachers about it and they had no idea.  Look at her poor face!  Can we not get over one set of injuries before getting more?

Grandad's Birthday

Grandad came over on Sunday to celebrate his birthday.  The girls have decided that birthday = celebration = cupcakes so I made some cupcakes and we sang "happy birthday" while Grandad got to blow out two candles (the girls each picked one).  Keeley told him he had to lick the frosting off the candle.

Grandad also brought a Santa for us to put up.  He is intended to go outside but it was cold and the Santa was the perfect size for the girls so we put him up in the playroom instead.

Naked

When the girls get home from school, each likes to get ready for naps differently.  Keeley likes to put on a leotard (obviously) and Kayden likes to sleep in a fresh diaper.  This particular day, Kayden got distracted in her changing process and I caught her running through the house like this.

No clothes or diaper, two socks, and one shoe.  Nice look, baby.

Santa Party

We went to a Santa Party on Saturday (after the tree farm incident). This was probably not my wisest parenting move as neither girl napped, Keeley's last experience with Santa was a nightmare, Kayden was injured, and I was going alone because Kelly had a hockey game.  However, I just thought it sounded like so much fun. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in a fire truck complete with lights.  Kayden was in awe - Keeley was in the truck because she was too cold.  Once he got in the house, he sat down to read The Night Before Christmas.  Keeley clung to my leg until she saw Presley sitting on the floor, at which point she walked over there and Kayden followed!

Both girls also insisted on bringing their baby dolls which was also a bad choice.  After Santa read the story, he invited the kids to come talk to him.  I was beyond shocked that my girls were the first to head up there.

The girls checking Santa out up close and deciding if they want to talk to him.

Kayden detailing that she'd like a doll house with animals for Christmas, but not too interested in getting a treat out of Santa's bag.

Keeley was not answering Santa's questions so he decided to pick her up.  I tried to stop him, but I failed and this happened.

And then there were tears and crying about how she didn't want to sit with Santa and why did he pick her up and not Kayden.  You'll notice Kayden is no where to be found in this picture.  Keeley cried at 8 months with Santa and we've not been back since then.  It was traumatizing again at 3.5 in a household setting so I'm thinking we're probably done with meeting Santa.

Tragedy at the Tree Farm

 Saturday morning Kelly and I took the girls up to a tree farm to look at some trees for our backyard.  Shortly after arriving, Keeley decided she needed to go to the bathroom and, of course, Kayden needed to follow.  We got finished and were getting back outside to catch up with Kelly and the man from the farm.  Kayden said, "I'm a little chilly" and I turned around to watch her putting her hands in her pockets.  She got them situated and I could tell she wasn't going to ask to have her jacket zipped up so I turned back around.  I had not even taken three steps when I heard the cries.  My girls do not suffer in silence and there is lots of crying at our house.  Crying from being upset/scared/frustrated that things didn't go like they were planning...and then there is crying because they are truly injured.  That cry resonates differently with moms and I was scared to turn around and see what she'd done.  When I turned around, she was face down on the rock walk way, hands still in her pocket.  I'm not sure if she tripped or just lost her footing and fell down.  What I do know is that she took the entire fall on her face because her hands were in her pockets.

I scooped her up without even looking at what was wrong and started back to the car where we could assess out of the wind.  We got in the car and I put her in my lap facing me, thrilled to noticed that her eyes looked fine and her mouth was not bleeding.  Her nose and forehead were a different story.

As I held her, she kept saying, "I want to go home.  I want to go home."  We found Kelly and headed home.  My plan was to get some medicine on the way home for her because she seemed to be in so much pain, but she fell asleep within minutes of getting on the highway.  We called the pediatrician and emailed a picture to Aunt Pat (a pediatrician) to see if we should do something about the nose in case it was broken and they said there wasn't anything to do at that point because it would still be too swollen.

Yesterday, her nose started to bleed a little bit again and so I called the ENT  - who wants to see her.  Please pray for no broken nose.  I've heard that you have to put kids under to fix them at this age.

Still pretty swollen and bruised up on Monday afternoon.

I feel so bad for her.  She's a dare devil and incurs plenty of injuries because of that, but she was just trying to catch up with big sister when this happened :-(

Update:  The ENT on Tuesday told us that it is broken.  Unfortunately, it is still too swollen to make any for sure decisions.  We go back on Monday (9 days after the incident) to assess if it has healed on its own okay or if we need to fix it.  It will be a surgical procedure that we will have done on Tuesday or Thursday next week because we only have 14 days to fix it.  Poor thing.  Yucky way to spend the week before Christmas.

Christmas Program

Kelly and I were supposed to leave early Saturday morning to fly to Vegas for our half marathon.  And then I got the news that the girls' Christmas program was going to be the same day.  I tried to make the flights work but it was getting stressful and I was just about to give up on making it work.  And then I got the news that Kayden was going to be a sheep in the program and Keeley started singing her song with all the hand motions all the time.  I got on the phone and figured out how to get it all arranged because there was no way I was missing Keeley singing "Go and tell" and Kayden singing "Jingle Bells" and "Baa baa black sheep" in her sheep costume.  It was adorable and I'm so glad we rearranged our trip and stayed.  Keeley sang proudly and Kayden was just adorable.  It was also really cute to watch the girls watch each other.  They stood up and waved at each other.  So fun.

Kayden posing in all black.  Her sheep costume was at the church.

Keeley in her program dress.  I purchased 3 and let the girls pick.  This was the one Keeley picked because it was the most white - which is her current favorite color.  As soon as she tried it on, she told me she needed a headband. I did not find the headband she described (red or purple with a red rose) but she settled for this white one since it is her favorite color.

Kayden in her sheep costume (minus the ears that she didn't want to wear).  She was so proud of her costume because she got to help make it with "my big kids".

Keeley would not let go of Oma until Ella arrived (in pink).  Ella is her best friend even though they got off to a rough start when "Ella pushed my ear into the tree on the playground".  They are inseparable now and wait until the other is finished working at school so that they can share their snack.

You can hardly see it, but there is a very precocious 2.5 year old slowly pulling the sign of the pew.  She also tasted her costume.  I think the performance ended just before we had some real problems on our hands!

Christmas Decorating

The girls were very excited to put up Christmas decorations this year.  As with Halloween, I had to tell them that some people do not follow the rules and put them up too early.  They were not happy that I made them wait.

The girls scoping out a place for lights while Kelly sets up the Christmas tree.

Hanging the net lets in the bushes.

Kayden helping out with the net lights.

I think Kelly is trying to convince the girls to spread out the ornaments.  It was a losing battle.

Helping Kayden get the hooks on the branches.

Showing off her work.

I'm not entirely sure that Kelly felt this was a stress free decorating experience.  Fighting with the lights/cords, having the ornaments get broken, and then having them clumped all in one place on the tree were not what I think he envisioned!  I on the other hand, thought it was great fun...on my side of the camera :-)