Conversations with Kaia

I went to get her when she woke up from her nap.
Me: Hi, honey.  Did you have a good nap?
Kaia: I'm poopin'.
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Kaia (holding Christmas ornament): Here you go, Mommy.  I did it, Mommy.
Me: Thanks, honey.  Can you please put this back on the tree?
Kaia: Yeah, yeah.
2 minutes later...
Kaia (with a different ornament): Here you go Mommy.  I did it.
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Since Halloween Kaia has been a candy fiend.  We have this conversation nearly every morning before we even have breakfast. 

Kaia: Candy, Mommy?  Candy?
Me: No, we are not having candy right now.
Kaia: Later.  Later.
Me: Maybe later.
Kaia (nodding profusely): Yeah.  Dinner.  After dinner.
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Conversations with Kenzie (and Kaia)

Kaia was crying after I had put the girls to bed the other night.  I waited a while to see if she would eventually lie down, but she didn't, so I headed upstairs.  On my way there I overheard this conversation: (the girls share a room) 

McKenzie: Kaia, do you want mommy?
Kaia: Yeah.
McKenzie: You have to say "mommy"
Kaia: Mommy
McKenzie: No you have to say it like this (yelling) "MOMMY!"
Kaia: MOMMY!
McKenzie: Good honey.  You have to say mommy again.
Kaia: MOMMY!
McKenzie: I think mommy will come now.
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Candy!

Another testament to how different the girls' personalities are...

We were making a gingerbread house the other night.  I remember doing this two years ago, when Kenzie was the same age that Kaia is now.  I remember Kenzie carefully placing the candies on the roof so that they made a nice, straight pattern.  I remember her laser focus and the fact that she worked until the job was done.  Of course, I also remember the colored drool dripping out of her mouth because she was sneaking candies while she worked, but this was nothing compared to our Kaia Boo.  Kaia was so excited to see the bags of candy that she couldn't contain herself.  She did help to put some candies on the house, but only seconds later that same candy would be in her mouth.  She watched as her sister carefully placed each round candy, then pulled it off the house and popped it in her mouth.  Surprisingly, Kenzie remained calm, even though Kaia was disrupting her masterpiece.  They each ate more candy than they would normally eat in a whole month, so I think everyone was happy.

If you aren't fluent in toddlerspeak, when Kenzie asks for the candy Kaia says, "Nooooo, I hold it."  But then she says yes and hands it over.  

Kenzie Sings

1.583333 years

 At Kaia's 18-month well-baby visit the interim pediatrician entered the room and said, "here is the little wunderkind."  He was referring to the report he'd just been given by the P.A. student who performed Kaia's exam.  Apparently he was impressed by the fact that she's blowing every toddler milestone out of the water. She is pretty amazing.  She continues to entertain the entire family with her antics and is learning new concepts and words every day.  Here are a few things she's learned to do since my last Kaia post:

• Buckle things.  A favorite activity now.  She has to buckle her booster seat when she's done eating and gets mad when I won't let her buckle and re buckle her car seat when we're trying to go somewhere.
• Say even more.  She talks pretty clearly and uses full sentences often.  She'll hand me something and say, "here you go Mommy," or, when Kenzie is getting some veg-out time watching Dora Kaia, hoping to join her, will say, "want to sit on couch. on couch."  She sings verses of No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and Ring Around the Rosie.  
• Ask questions.  She is always inquiring, "Mommy doin'? doin' Mommy?"  And her new favorite request since Halloween, "candy, mommy? candy?"
• Be overtly defiant.  Up until now we could write off Kaia's lack of obedience as immaturity. Now it is clear that when we tell her "no, we do not throw food.  Do not throw your food, eat your food," and she looks me in the eyes and throws another spoonful of noodles, she is making a choice.
• Count to six, or ten, or three.  Depends on how she's feeling.  This is a product of many, many games of hide-and-seek with Sister.  The first time we heard her count to six Dustin and couldn't believe it.
• Snuggle.  She is a little cuddle bug, and not just with me.  I catch her and Kenzie snuggled under a blanket on the couch all the time.  Kaia copies her big sister and puts "babies" to bed (stuffed animals and the like) and will lie with them and cuddle.  When Kaia gives a hug she gives it with love.  Every time.
• Pretend.  She's been pretend eating for a while, but she's beginning to create pretend situations now.  The other day she pretended to cry then looked at her teddy bear and said, "baby cry, baby sad."  She pretended to cry again and picked up her bear and told it, "okay, baby, okay baby."  
• Fall for her first crush.  The girl is in LOVE with her cousin Josh.  She lights up when ever he is around and talks about him all the time.  Randomly she'll smile and say, "Joshy tickle me."  She's gaga for him!

We love our Kaia boo.  She is the silliest of us all, and we're a pretty silly bunch.

Meeting Great Grandpa

My sweet, inquisitive McKenzie and I were driving in the car a few weeks ago when we passed a cemetery. She wanted to know what it was and I explained it in the simplest possible way.  She seemed to understand and asked many questions.

A week or so later she saw a picture on the computer of Great Grandma Ricci dancing at our wedding.  She wanted to know who she was dancing with and I told her that it was Great Grandpa Ricci, who died before she was born.  She wanted to know if he was in a cemetery.  When I told her he was, she wanted to know if we could go visit him.

I took McKenzie to meet him last week. On the way there Kenzie asked, "when we talk to the stone, can grandpa hear us?"  She listened intently as I answered. Kaia was napping in the car while Kenzie and I talked to grandpa's headstone.  We told him about Dustin's girls, who he never had the pleasure to meet.  We talked about how much we love visiting Great Grandma and how we miss him so much.

McKenzie was pretty quiet on the way home, mostly because she was tired, I think, but perhaps also because she was deep in thought.  When Kaia woke up before we were home I heard Kenzie whisper to her, "Kaia, honey, we met great grandpa."  Be still my heart.

Conversations with Kenzie

The night before Kenzie's outing to a local farm with Grampa, Grammie and Auntie Jenni she talked about feeding the sheep at the petting zoo:

McKenzie: Last time I didn't want to feed them because I was afraid that they would bite my little hand.  But I'm bigger now and my hands are bigger so I'm going to feed them this time.

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We drove by a cemetery and Kenzie asked if it was a field for running in.  I explained what a cemetery is and was greeted by many questions, and this gem:

McKenzie: But I don't die, mommy. (pause) Unless I get hit by a car. 

This exchange was followed by many questions about Kenzie's cousin's dog, Shylah who was hit by a car last year.  She wanted to know firstly where Shylah was buried, and also exactly how she got there.  I tried my best to answer her questions without providing too grim of a visual.

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The girls and I were at TJ Maxx to make a quick return and they were walking with me.  Kenzie started to hide under a rack of clothes when this conversation ensued: 

Me: Honey, please stay right where mommy can see you I don't want you hiding here.
McKenzie: Why mommy?
Me: Well, there are some bad people and I just like to know where you are all the time. So please no hiding here.
McKenzie: What kind of bad people?
Me: Just bad people.
McKenzie: Like Daddy?
Me: No! (laughter) Not like Daddy.  Just stay where I can see you okay?

Where that came from I have no idea, but I hope the worst bad person she ever comes in contact with is like daddy. 

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I overheard this conversation the morning after Lily slept over.

Lily: I missed my mommy last night.
McKenzie: Lily, when you have a sleepover you don't have your mommy. You have someone else's mommy and daddy, but you don't have your mommy.  That's what a sleepover is, Lily, you have someone else's mommy but not your mommy. 

I couldn't see them, but I suspect that Lily, who is older than Kenzie knows what a sleepover is, probably had that deer-in-headlights look on her face because she couldn't believe that Kenzie would go to such great lengths to explain something so obvious.