Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Giraffes

We have four recent additions to our family.  Four giraffes to be specific.  Buckles, Boo Boo, Pinky and Frog are their names.  We take these baby giraffes wherever we go.  I have to open the hatch to let them jump into the car and remembering to let them out once we have arrived has turned into a new chore.  The other day while at the library for storytime Kenzie suddenly remembered that the giraffes were in the car.  I assured her that they were taking a nice nap and would be happy to see us when we were all done playing.  Then I explained to my fellow storytime moms that I am not, in fact, keeping strange zoo animals prisoner in my station wagon. 

The other day McKenzie asked me something about them, I can't remember what exactly.  Something like, "Mommy are the giraffes sleeping."  I responded with, "I don't know, honey, you're the one who can see them."  She got a real kick out of this.  She stopped short of laughing in my face when informing me, "Mommy, they're just pretend."

Monday, March 5, 2012

5 Reasons Why Kaia is Amazing

1 She's talking.  Crazy.  Last weekend she was saying "hi" a lot.  She is really good at imitating us, though, so we didn't really think she was saying it as a word, just a sound.  By the end of the weekend everyone was telling us that they were convinced she was using the word properly in context.  It took us a while, but Dustin and I now proudly agree that she is, in fact, saying hello to people she sees.  She will extend her arm, turn her palm up and say "hi" as clear as day.  She expects a response, too, and will say it again if the person she's talking to doesn't acknowledge her.  In the past couple days she's convinced us that she also says Kona's name.  I take her outside with me to play fetch with Kona and I say, "Go, Kona, go!"  Now, before I say it, she does.  It sounds more like, "go, go, go. Goa, Goa," but she is definitely saying both "go" and "Kona."  She'll also say "Goa" when Kona comes into the room. (Still trying to catch these on video.  She does NOT speak on demand.)

2 She's walking....with assistance.  For the past month or so she perfected standing up without holding onto anything.  She didn't have any real desire to move, just to stand and balance in one place.  That changed a couple of days ago.  She will grab onto her push car and walk her way around the kitchen with Kenzie steering her in the right direction.  She wants to move fast, too.

Please pardon the baggy shirt and over-sized sweats.  We don't get dressed up on weekends.  
(Okay, we never get dressed. up.)

3 She climbs. This one is a parenting bummer. Kenzie was never a climber and that made things easy for me. Kaia is into everything and wants to climb on everything from the dishwasher door, to boxes and stairs. The other day I caught her happily perched on the first step. She turned and smiled, so proud. Yikes.
This is her getting down from the stairs.  She was standing up on that first step!
4 She shares.  She'll gladly hand over whatever is in her hand or her mouth if we just hold out our hand and say "thank you."  It's really helped alleviate the stress involved with playing the What-Did-Kaia-Just-Sneak-Into-Her-Mouth game.

5 In just two months she will be a year old!  Wow.  That is the most amazing thing of all.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

I am one of Pavlov's dogs

Many times each night  I find myself coming to consciousness about ten steps from my bedroom door, in the hallway to the girls' room.  It takes a moment to realize what I am doing, then I'll hear Kaia's cry or Kenzie's, "cover me please, Mommy, cover me" and I'll snap to reality.  Apparently, in my sleep, I jump at the sound of distress from my daughters.  Letting them cry it out or find their own covers might be the better choice if I ever want the cycle to end, but that's not how I've been trained.  Instead, I jump from my bed as if it's on fire and rush down the hallway.  Sometimes I wake in the hallway and don't hear any noise at all coming from the girls.  What's that about?

We use sleep training for Kaia to get her sleeping through the night.  Our method is to have Dustin go to her instead of me.  After a few nights she realizes that she isn't going to get what she wants (me) and will just start sleeping longer.  This works until the next cold hits or her next tooth pops through, then more sleepless nights and more sleep training. 

If it's possible to retrain a baby, how do you retrain her mommy?  

Man, I'm tired.