Words

Kendall is now 16 months. Seems like yesterday we brought her home, and now she is walking... and talking!

Kendall may not have perfect enunciation, or always even bother using words, but she is definitely saying a lot. Car, Cars, Dog, Momma, Daddy, Grover, Elmo, Ernie, Shoes, Apple, Kermit, Duck, Boat, Up, Down, Come On!, Hi'ya!, Grandma, Grandpa, Blocks, Bath, Swimming, Train, Foot, Ear, Eye, Nose, Kaboom!, Ball, Boots, Bears, Bunny, Owl, One, Six, Ten (but no other numbers), Star, Bird, Baby, Hug, Water, Milk, Book, Stuck!, Socks, Truck, Strawberry. I'm sure there are some more, she is surprising us every day using a new word that she has learned.

Besides the words we understand, Kendall is constantly talking. Most of it makes no sense, but she talks all day long. And sings. With or without the pacifier in her mouth (and we are working on quiting that habit). Quite the chatterbox we have, and she is not shy about it. When we take her out, she talks to people at the store, waves and smiles. It's great to see her being so gregarious and tuned into her world!

Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.


Kendall's favorite boots. Just like her favorite book character, Gossie the Gossling.




Songs in the Key of Muppet

We are a Muppet family.

Nate and I find Muppets fascinating. I mean, how can this NOT make you smile.

So, when we needed something to keep Kendall a little busy while we were working on something else, we turned to Sesame Street. Too wonderful results. Kendall too loves those Muppets. Especially Grover.

Grover is Kendall's constant companion. He is on the TV - we actually watch Play with Me Sesame instead of Sesame Street. Less Elmo, more Grover, win, win. Kendall has a plush Grover that she cuddles and sleeps with every night - and he goes with us everywhere. If you ask Kendall where Grover is, she will walk out of the room to retrieve him - she always knows where he is.

She knows the other Muppets as well. Elmo is becoming a bigger draw, but never as much as Grover. She also loves Ernie. Burt is dull (and I agree), but that Ernie, he is funny! Kendall can even identify them and announces when they come on screen - just in case you weren't paying attention.

With the astounding success of Sesame Street Muppets, Nate and I decided to introduce The Muppet Show at Christmas. We picked up the first 3 seasons to watch with Kendall. She totally digs it.

Nate and I are finding how out dated The Muppet Show seems, but at the same time, it is totally awesome. We have no idea who half the guests are, but we giggle like kids when we see those Muppets. And Kendall? If you mention putting Muppets on she immediately gets giddy, then she hums the theme and dances around while all those Muppet's dance with her, points and announces when Kermit comes on screen. Then she looses interest for most of the 25 min of the show (unless Kermit or the Swedish Chef come on), until the credits, where she gets excited to see Rolf the dog playing the piano.

Those Muppets, they really are for all ages. And totally entertaining.

My Big Girl

Something about those pigtails. That and the mischief in her eyes. She is not a baby anymore!

Future Quarterback

A little late, but here is our highlight from the Bears' loss to Green Bay.

The Best Time of Day - Bath Time

I may be raising a neat freak. Kendall loves to stack things, put things into baskets, and organize her little people into people vs animals. A far cry from the child who would seek and destroy if you built a block tower. Although she still gets messy, and we have to scrub her down as she screams after a good meal of mac and cheese, the kid loves being clean.

The uber-messiness that is a 16 month old leads to Kendall's favorite thing. More than Sesame Street, Grover, Mommy, Daddy, swimming, even more than snow, Kendall loves bath time.

She is actually tired in this video - she usually moves to that tub even quicker. That kid loves a good bath! No matter how grumpy or tired she is, she runs in, helps me get the tub ready. She checks water temperature, adds the mat to the bottom of the tub, dumps in the toys - it is as if she is going through a check list. And then she giggles and splashes until I pull her out. Bath time is the best!

SNOW!!!!

Turns out, Kendall LOVES snow.

Can you believe that is the same tree?

Yes, it has snowed earlier this season, and I had invested in an adorable snow suit, but we had yet to make it out into the snow. So today after the 19 inches that fell on our little piece of the world last night, we ventured out into the white stuff. Pictures and video were taken for posterity, not only since this was the first time out in the snow, but that sure was a lot of snow.





The storm raged all night, and we awoke to a winter wonderland outside our windows. Kendall was beyond thrilled, and immediately went to investigate.

This kid likes her snow.

And then she checked it out, again. Just in case all that snow had suddenly disappeared.

Kendall seemed very interested, so we thought we would venture out and take it all in. After all, it was a snow day, and what better way to spend a snow day than playing in the snow!

So, we all got bundled up and headed out to check it out first hand. This is a video of Kendall's first venture into the snow.

We didn't spend a ton of time out there, it was pretty cold, but Kendall sure had a ball. She was running up and down the sidewalks throwing herself into snow piles, grabbing and throwing chunks of snow, and giggling up a storm.

Here Kendall is trying to instigate a snow ball fight.

More snowy video. She is having fun until she kicks snow on her face. COLD! Funny thing is she doesn't know that word yet - everything is HOT!



Kendall had such a wonderful time, she actually cried when we took her in. She wanted to stay out in the snow. Hopefully we'll have another chance to get outside again when it isn't too cold. But then again, Spring brings us into the playground, and the snow will be forgotten.