What is with the blocks?

Apparently we are a family obsessed with blocks. When I was working earlier this week, I wandered out to check on grandma and Kendall, and I found grandma trying to line up all the alphabet blocks. This was a fruitless effort as Kendall, as always, would come by and knock them away as Grandma lined them up.

I thought Grandma was joking, but when Kendall went down for a nap, she lined them all up on the coffee table. Organized in alphabetical order. I think we all play with the blocks just to annoy Kendall.

And then Kendall got up.

Only took 2 minutes to destroy. Big destruction comes in small packages. You should see my living room at the end of a day. Looks like a tornado touched down, and there is bright plastic toy carniage everywhere.

Note Kendall shows off her skills in this video. Crawling, walking holding on with only one hand, standing without holding on, clapping. Long way from the days of us getting excited about tummy time.

No explaination needed

The Gears on the Block Go Round and Round

Not sure why, but this one blew me away. Nate took this video on a morning that he let me sleep in. Kendall has a set of blocks that have items inside for each letter of the alphabet. Some shake, some squeak, and some have gears you can turn to move the items inside. For a long time Kendall would just chew on these blocks, or as you have seen in other posts, knock them over. This particular morning, she figured out how to turn the gears. What a cool trick to wake up to.

Laundry Day

Lately, Kendall has been enjoying playing in her room. Not many toys in there, we keep those in the living room for now, but there are books, and her favorite, the laundry.

Kendall really likes clothes, and shoes. Given, she likes to chew on shoes (teething bites), but still, clothes and shoes? Such a girl!

So, I tend to set her free in her room since there is not too much in there to hurt her. After she takes all the books out from the shelves, she heads over to the closet, and sorts through her clothes. Mostly she gets into the dirty laundry, but she pulls herself up and takes stock of the clothes hanging in the closet as well. Usually I will turn to find her with the laundry basket flipped over, and her sitting in there throwing clothes.

Amazing what will keep a kid happy. Now all I need is for her to learn how to sort the lights from the darks and we are in business!

Destruction tactics

Kendall has upped the ante in her destruction. We picked up a shopping cart walker for her as she learns to be mobile. She has turned it into a tool of destruction. No more need to crawl  to destroy the block towers, now she can push her cart there in style.

Oh, and did I mention that Nate and I enjoy setting up block tower obstacle courses for Kendall to destroy. Maybe we need to get out of the house more.

Kendall has come a long way with her mobility. She is definitely on the way to walking. She pulls herself up using anything she can get a grip on, sturdy or not. Every day we are seeing her do a little bit more, from pushing the cart across the room without falling over, making it around the corners of the coffee table as she hangs onto it and walks around to get the remote we don't let her play with, and even standing on her own for several seconds with objects clasped in both her hands. She has even started catching herself before falling on her face.

Before long she will master this walking thing, and she will be off running. Probably in the opposite direction from me.

9 Months

Again, I am late with the monthly post. Life is getting in the way of my blogging - life, trying to give my daughter a mohawk, and streaming Netflix videos. Did you know you can watch entire seasons of old shows? So, needless to say, my blogging has been put on the back burner so I can watch awful old TV shows Nate dislikes.

Kendall has a lot going on these days, but I will try to go back to 2 weeks ago to give a picture of Kendall at 9 months. We can save the new developments for future posts (that I need to get around to writing).

Nate and I can't believe it has already been 9 months. Seriously? At this pace she will be in college next week. Better start saving those pennies. We have tons of pictures and video - this kid has a very well documented existence.

Kendall at 8 Months
Weight - 19.2 lbs (75th percentile)
Height - 28 inches (75 percentile)
Sounds Like - a Beach Boy's record. Ba-ba-ba ba-ba-barbaran. She is quite the talker, but she only says one consonant, so we don't get much information.
Likes - Jumping, still. Sammy the Snail - mom and dad are not so fond of Sammy. Destroying block towers. Swimming - swim lessons are so much fun! The Hokey-poky, especially if you do the dance for her.
Dislikes - Plain yogurt. With all the foods she has eaten, we have not gotten such a reaction (video below - and that was mild, she won't perform on camera). We have since moved to flavored yogurt, and that is delicious. Naps - still for sucks.
Things she can do - She is learning to use her sippy cup and feed herself puffs - and she is really excited about it. She can crawl, pull herself up, fall back down, sit, turn around. She is a mover and shaker, and she is now able to start actually getting somewhere. Everyday she is moving faster and farther. Pretty soon she will want the keys to the car.

Kendall at 9 Months
Weight - 20 pounds (this is a guess - haven't weighed her lately)
Height - 28 inches (this is again an estimate - she sure looks taller, the tape measure says she is the same)
Sounds Like - From time to time it sounds like she is calling for mommy and daddy. When we leave the room, the 'ba-ba-ba' becomes 'MA-MA-MAAAA' or 'DA-DA-DAAA'. Sometimes I am convinced she is asking me where daddy is, and I answer, at work.

Likes - The word 'No'. Isn't it funny when mom or dad say 'No'? Giving a big smile and then continuing to try eat mom's flip flops is definitely funny. Kendall likes her cookie jar. Most likes to take the shapes out and watch us put them back in. And mom's teeth. She likes to examine my teeth. Maybe she will be a dentist.

Dislikes - Teething. Naps. Being stopped from doing what she wants. The typical. Oh, and she is in a fussy eating phase, one day she loves squash, next day EWWWW SQUASH. If only she could tell us what she wants to eat for lunch, I could avoid having peas spit at me.

Things she can do - Getting pretty good with the sippy cup. Crawling is a breeze, she follows us from room-to-room, right on our heels. And Kendall is even working on walking - still early stages, but she makes great strides in this daily.

Giada

Some children like fairies

Some children like princesses

And some children like trains

Or furry happy monsters

Or, if you are Kendall, Giada De Laurentis. Of Food Network fame.

Kendall just loves Giada. She is on Food Network and the new Cooking Channel multiple times a day, and every time, Kendall's face lights up and she watches intently. I don't know if it is the Italian cuisine, or Giada herself.

I am currently leaning toward Giada herself. Kendall and I were recently perusing the Target, as we do every Friday, and came across a display for the new line of cooking implements. With a giant picture of Giada, big as life. Kendall got super excited, started bouncing up and down in the cart, and would not take her eyes off the poster. If she could have, she would have spun her head around backwards to keep staring at the picture. Quite a reaction for an 8 month old.

Only thing that makes the show better for Kendall is when Giada has her daughter Jade on

Excited does not start to describe it. Kendall loves other kids, and add in Giada with it - whoa!

I would blame this on my obsessive Food Network viewing while pregnant (and after). Problem with this is that I have a job, and I do not watch Food Network during the day, I am more of a cake challenge at night kind of girl. So I have no idea where she gets this from.

Maybe we have a tiny chef in the making.