Monday, April 27, 2009

Fun craft & doctor's visit


Today, Kylie made an alligator out of the letter A.

The idea came from No Time for Flashcards This is a great crafty blog for toddlers. I love doing crafts with Kylie. Craft time takes around 15 minutes (most days I wish it was a little longer) but Kylie is so proud of her work and talks about whatever she made for the rest of the day.


Kylie had her well baby doctor's appointment today. She weighs 24 pounds and is 33 inches long. She did NOT care for standing on the scale. They had to weigh me holding her and then me without her. She did NOT like taking her shirt off so the doctor could hear her heart. Lots of cries and demands to "go home". But she didn't mind her ear exam at all and didn't cry at all for her one Hep shot. My Kylie is so unpredictable.


Sunday, April 26, 2009

It's been a crazy week

There's been a lot of stress around Karen's job lately. On top of that, she got called away for a trip (leaving today) which changes our vacation plans. So there was a lot of scurrying around making travel plans, changing travel plans and so forth. You know, I think that children can feel stress and changes within the family, don't you?

So I wasn't that surprised when Kylie had a hard day on Saturday. Lots and lots of tears and hysterical crying. She skipped her nap that day and was inconsolable by late afternoon. She had a hard time getting to sleep that night (which is very unusual for her) and was again whiny and teary on Sunday morning. She hasn't eaten much this weekend which always concerns me.

But byy Sunday afternoon, she seemed a bit more like her regular self and we went to the park. You might remember that Kylie likes to pat trees. Well, she's added more trees to her patting route. She's now saying, "Hello trees" to the ones by the park sidewalk. There are over ten of them but she dutifully visits them all.

Lately, she's been climbing to the top of the slide but refusing to go down. She insists I clean it if it's wet (I carry around a hand towel to dry off wet swings and slides and such). Then she smirks and makes her way back down the stairs. This child loves to have things in order and loves to have me clean things up. Here she is after sending some mulch chips down the slide. This is the cute "no" smile I get when I say, "Go on down".


Karen was supposed to take the camera with her this week. I had the camera bag all packed up but then we forgot it. It's one more thing I'll have to carry on the plane but I don't mind when I can get pictures like these:


We moved Kylie's plastic play table outside. I brought some paper and crayons outside and she did some coloring. I noticed with a sinking sensation that she did all her coloring with her left hand. I've also noticed she does most of her eating with her left hand. I'm left-handed and I wouldn't wish it on her for anything. I've heard that kids can still switch hands but for now it looks like I've got a left-handed daughter.


Just a few more pictures to share. The other morning, the sun was pouring through the three windows in our front door. The light was doing that thing were you could see every molecule of dust floating in the air. Kylie kept reaching her hands out to touch the sun. She also liked going "under the sun" and "hugging the sun". These pictures are straight out of the camera. Oh, and the green blob is a sun flare (I hope). There isn't a green blob on my floors; I promise.


Here are a few recent scrapbook pages:
Right now

Sweet and silly

Now excuse me while I try to put my house back in order from the packing and toddler whirlwinds.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I am

I am.... still sick. I'm pretty sure that I'm over the cold. But now I am suffering from allergies. I still feel just as yucky and my voice keeps coming and going. Thankfully, Kylie is all better (just a few normal sniffles and coughs) and Karen's never gotten the cold.

I am.... cooking a few new recipes like:
Rachel Ray's White Pizza
Pioneer Woman's Steak sandwich
Kraft's Loaded Potato soup.
I also tried Rachel Ray's Buffalo Chicken Chili recipe but didn't like it.

I am.... listening to Matt Wertz "Under the Summer Sun", Queen Latifah's "Travelin' Light" and Tony Bennett and k.d.Lang's "Wonderful World".

I am... grateful for our new battery-operated, cordless lawn mower. I'm also grateful for craigslist where we were able to sell our old mower. And to Karen, who has done the mowing the past three times.

I am... pleased I can pull Kylie's side bangs into one barrette on top of her head. Her hair is now long enough to do this.


I am...still taking a picture a day. 113 days in and I haven't missed a day. Here are a few recents:


I am scrapbooking when I can:
Sound of your laugh

Brush?

Duck pond

Quick trip to the zoo


I am... loving you, dear readers. Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Tulip farm

Today we made our annual, traditional trip to the Tulip Farm. You might remember that we went there right before Kylie's birth and again on her first birthday.

Today's trip was so colorful and memorable.






Laryngitis and more

I caught Kylie's cold on Sunday night and by Tuesday night, I completely lost my voice. I just started to get it back yesterday. So, I had four days with barely any talking. You would think that it would be a welcome relief around here but I think both Karen and Kylie knew how frustrated I was not being able to express myself.

When I did creak something out, it sounded horrible. And I'll tell you, I missed singing to Kylie the most. I didn't really realize how much I sing to her throughout the day until I couldn't any more.

But then, you should have heard me explaining to Kylie why I had to put her on the Time Out Naughty Bench when I could barely talk. It would have made a funny video.

So, Kylie has had a total of three time-outs in her two short years--two from me and one from Karen.

Kylie's "terrible two" behavior comes in the form of crying. Instead of getting angry and stomping or yelling, Kylie cries. Big ole buckets of tears. She mostly cries from being misunderstood. But sometimes she cries when she can't control her moms.

For example, on Saturday I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee while Kylie ate her breakfast. Just like I always do every morning. Kylie told me, "No coffee Mommy. Put cup down!" I said, "I'm drinking my coffee Kylie". She said, "No Mommy No!" and then burst into tears. She sobbed as if I told her that all her dolls had disappeared.

I bit my lip to keep from snorting with laughter but then she pointed to her tear-soaked cheeks and whimpered, "I'm crying Mommy". Too much. I had to step away for a moment to keep from laughing at her.

So it looks like, for now, that Kylie's going to express her angst with the most pitiful tears. But you know, I'll take that over shouting and kicking any day.

On a more positive development, Kylie is tall enough to use this step to reach the bathroom sink. I'm so relieved. Washing her hands by setting her on the kitchen counter or trying to hold her over the bathroom sink always resulted in wet shirts and pants (mine and hers). But now she can stand on the step and wash her hands (with a little help from me) like a big girl.

She can also turn the light on and off. She's demonstrating that for you here.


Almost all the parks we go to have this little counter-top area under the play gym. The kids use it as a take-out window. In the past, Kylie would put fistfuls of mulch chips on the counter and then laugh and knock them off. But for the past few days, she's pretended that she's either ordering or delivering food. Yesterday, it was an ice cream booth and she gave me lots of ice-cream wood chips.


Kylie learned that the park slides get hot in the summer. I tried to convince her to come down anyway by telling her she had on jeans and would be fine. She just scowled at me and said, "Too hot Mommy".


She calls dandelions brown flowers. I usually correct her when she uses the wrong color but "brown flowers" for dandelions is too cute to change.


Spring at last!


How about some vintage Spring?

Friday, April 17, 2009

Kylie's Birthday

We decided to open presents first (not much choice when she saw them sitting there waiting for her)...


and then cake








Kylie wanted to blow out her candles three times. She kept dipping her fingers into the cake to eat the icing. When we asked if we could have a bite, Kylie kept replying, "Kylie's bite!" She ate about all the icing off the top.

We paused a moment from picture taking and video recording to have some cake with her. She had a moment where she thought she was going to cry because we cut into HER cake but she quickly got over it. She pulled all the Elmo stuff off including the plastic crayons, balloons and her candle. And then, after a while, she decorated the cake herself by putting them all back in.

After cake, we measured her with this wall chart. And then it was time to play with her presents.


It was a wonderful day. Thank you all so much for your well wishes!

Happy Birthday Kylie- 2 years old!

From her birth,

To turning one year old,


To the day before her birthday (where she's enjoying a pre-birthday cupcake), Kylie's been our greatest love and delight. Happy Birthday darling girl!




Stay tuned for pictures of birthday cake and presents!