Busy Days

Kennedy never ceases to amaze me.  She is growing up so fast, learning so much, and is such a wonderful big sister.  I love to see the grown up things she does.  Like sitting down with a book, and signing/saying words as she points them out.  Part of her night time routine is to say goodnight to her baby and put her to sleep.  The first night we did it, she made her own routine.  She kissed her, hugged her, laid her in her bed, signed night night, bent over, put her finger to her mouth and said "sshhhh" and went and got in her bed!  My heart just melted.  She is learning new signs all the time.  Of course, she only learns the ones she wants.  For example, I've been trying to teach her the sign for help.  We've been working on it for weeks.  But I showed her the sign for cookie one day in the grocery store, and she now demands cookies when we get out of the car, at any store.  She learned train in about five minutes one day, while we were at the park waiting to ride the train.  She recently started Little Gym, and Kennedy is having a blast!  On the first day when the teacher asked her to give her five, Kennedy ran up to her and hugged her.  

These two kids keep me on my toes, which results in my blog suffering.  But they are only little for such a short time, I just have to enjoy every moment enjoying them, and then spend all of my free time cleaning up after them.  Although their small age gap is sometimes tough, I wouldn't have it any other way.  They are best friends and have so much fun together!

Here are some recent photos from our adventures and her accomplishments.

Playing in the sand on our trip to Clearwater Beach!

Getting ready for her first swim in the Gulf of Mexico with mommy!

 Caleb gets more kisses than any of us these days.

 Checking out North Carolina beaches. We're not so sure...

Pushing Caleb on his car is one of her favorite things to do.

Climbing is another favorite past time.

Alike in so many ways, yet so different.

Still loving the swing!

The princess loves to color. And eat her crayons. (Does this EVER stop???)

Bathing beauty enjoying a break from her pool to have a popsicle.

 Talk about my heart melting into a puddle. There just are no words.

Finally!  Interested in something other than throwing the puzzle pieces.  She claps for herself when she puts one in.  Sometimes even if it's not in all the way or in the right spot.

Watching Signing Times and drawing! (Much better than eating crayons.)

I just love the way these two play and do things together.  I never get sick of watching them do things together.  Except maybe when they are fighting over the iPad.

Pretty sure they were conspiring against me here.

Although she COULD stack blocks before, she had no interest.  Now it's a favorite thing to do!

Along with climbing on the furniture and turning light switches on.

Their favorite activity? Making messes.

Brushing our teeth and practicing speech sounds before bed!

The day she learned the sign for train! 

Taking care of her baby!

Who is this big girl running around the park?

She loves her brother so much, she can't even let him nap sometimes.

The Little People Disney Princess castle is one of their favorite toys to play with!

One morning I went to her room to get her, and she was in her chair, rocking her baby.

Mommy/Daughter Starbucks date after Little Gym.

Exploring new parks, and going down the big kid slides all on my own!

 Little Gym fun!

Yes, We're Still Here

Bad blogger.  Bad, bad, bad blogger.  What can I say?  I'm at a point between my life is far too chaotic to blog and my life isn't nearly exciting enough to blog.

So, I'll start with an update.  Kennedy is doing amazing, as always.  She has been rocking speech therapy and we are seeing huge changes in her communication skills.  New words and new signs show up all the time.  She actually has a few that I've had to look up when she does them!  One of her new words is butt, she was very proud when she learned that one, but thankfully the use of it is tapering off.    She is our little super star and she's very happy that her "baby brother" is getting to be so much fun.  She absolutely adores him and they are so cute playing together.  Caleb, is a giant.  He weighs about one pound less than she does.  He is FINALLY starting to eat solids.  Yes, that's right.  It took my "typical" child 9 months to decide that he would just the rest of the world with eating solids. When Kennedy was a baby, everyone warned me that we would have feeding issues, need feeding therapy, etc.  It was quite the opposite.  She took off with solids, just before 6 months and never looked back.  Who would have thought that we would have multiple conversations with the pediatrician about our "typical" son who should have no feeding issues.  Ironic, huh?

The things doctors say?
This should be a blog post in itself.  But since I've been such a horrible blogger, I felt bad posting a month later, with a random vent about the medical field.  Today was Kennedy's Opthalmology appointment.  I went there with great anxiety, over how I would amuse her for 2 or more hours while we went through the whole process.  Thankfully, the iPad came through.  Kennedy made a friend in the office, and they danced together to the ABCMouse letter videos.  I'm sure her mother was just as thankful as I was that the kids made quick friends and amused each other.

Of course, there was some anxiety that we would be told she needed glasses.  Yes, I know glasses aren't the end of the world.  But the task of keeping glasses on a two year old...especially my crazy, determined toddler who has a mind of her own.  The assistant got the drops in her eyes, Kennedy and her friend Jillian played, and all was going well.  Maybe I let my guard down a little.  I was immediately unimpressed with the physician.  Especially when mid-exam he called out to the assistant to write a script for glasses.  He then proceeded to *yell* at me for the way that I was attempting to hold her for the exam.  Demanding that I need to get control of her, and hold her the right way, because clearly she can use her arms to push the equipment away.  Oh, and don't forget - she's half my size so I should have no problem controlling her.  He was also incredibly rude to his assistant.  At one point I told him he had 30 seconds to finish his exam, or I was leaving.  When he told me that she would need glasses, and I questioned the difference of opinions between our last Ophthalmologist, he explained his reasoning by saying, "Because this is how I do things.  And I know it's not what you want to hear, but it is what it is."  Wow.  Great response, huh?  Then he mentioned that we should get her plastic frames.  His words were, "They aren't cute or stylish.  But she's two. She doesn't need to be either."  He continued to tell me that he would give me a prescription of the drops used to dilate her eyes.  And that I should dilate her eyes 2-3 times a day to make her vision blurry, which would trick her into wearing the glasses.  EXCUSE ME?????

And that was pretty much when I left.  I have no intentions of going back.  I've made an appointment with our physician in Florida, and we'll be seeing her next month.  If Kennedy does need glasses, then we'll deal with it, and do our best to get her to wear them, with out using eye drops, which could have harmful effects, to trick her into wearing them.  And if she doesn't wear them, well, then so be it.  Some day she will get used to them.  It is beyond me how some of these physicians can work with children.  Or adults, for that matter.  

And here are some of the many many many photos from the past month.

It melted my heart, watching her walk next to daddy and Caleb, while pointing and quacking at the ducks.

Diva Fabulous!

Here ducky, have some old stale bread.

Where's more bread mama?

Talk about backing him into a corner...

At least she snuggled him after he got rescued.

Mama, I'll help you cook.

It's finally warm!!!

It gives a whole new meaning to, "stay out of the cabinets." 

Big girl - loving the slide!  It may soon replace swinging.

The two of them together brings me so much joy.

 Warm weather is the only thing that could make this better.

Look mom!!!  They are wearing a hat!

I'm a beach girl!

Keep walking Grandma.

 This wagon is the best!

Caleb, it's just a bubble!

Seriously? How are they old enough to be doing this?

Summer = Ice Pops.