Lots of Blocks

Whenever Kendall comes home, she makes a beeline for her toys, and immediately pulls out her blocks. We have 2 big backs of blocks - locked up tight with zippered tops. She will pick up the bag of blocks and lug it over to us, grunting the whole way, and then asks us PLEASE (both signing and saying "please"). How can you resist that? We unzip the blocks and hand them back to her, then she promptly turns the bag over, dumping the blocks on the floor, then wades through them, kicking them all over. Repeat with second bag. 

After this ritual, Kendall gets down to business building her towers of blocks. For a kid who used to be dead set against block organization, she is sure focused on building these days.

Blocks seem to be an ever present part of our living room decor these days. Nate and I just walk around them, and occasionally on them. When Nate comes home from work, the blocks start a new. Daddy is Kendall's favorite construction partner (although Grandma has been seen getting in on construction during the day lately).

As soon as Daddy gets home, the ritual starts again. Or, if the blocks are already out, whatever toy Kendall was playing with is forgotten, and the blocks return to focus. She continues with the blocks until dinner, and then returns to them after until bedtime. When bedtime comes, Kendall reluctantly helps pick up her blocks, placing them back into the bags, waiting for them to be zipped back up, and then placing them back onto the bookshelf. Until tomorrow when we do it all over again.

Shoes!

Kendall loves shoes. Loves them to the point that we have to hide all the shoes in the house, both hers and ours. Kendall is a shoe girl, and nothing makes her happier than a new pair. She gets positively giddy when you take her shoe shopping. The favorites are a pair of pink Wellie boots and a pair of pink Crocs, both of which she has mastered the art of putting on herself. Even if they do end up on the wrong feet from time to time. (Mom's favorites are a pair of Converse All-Stars - pink, naturally.)

Kendall seeks out shoes throughout the house, and already having a pair of shoes on does not deter her from putting on another pair over them. Nate and my shoes are generally best for the double shoe look - they fit nicely over a pair of crocks.

More often than not, Nate and I leave our shoes out when we walk in the door - and they end up on Kendall's feet walking around the house. More recently, Kendall has started putting our shoes away for us in the closet. Very helpful.

The morning from the pictures above, and the video below, Nate, Kendall, and I were all making Sunday breakfast. Kendall snuck off and put on the shoes - and continued to entertain us, as always.

Cute - even if picking up shoes from all over the house is getting old.

Catching up

Where does the time go! Been busy with a number of things around here, mostly revolving around the energy eminating from the Kendall at all times. That and all my "stories" on TV - can't miss those season finales! Thus, the blog has suffered. You would think with Kendall getting bigger we would have more downtime to blog, but somehow things don't work out that way. But never fear! I'm here to catch up on the past few months in a series of posts hitting the highlights.

To start us off, here are some miscellaneous pictures from the past few months that I don't have stories for. Just a little something to keep you busy while I work on my multimedia presentation. I'm all about the wow factor.

Reading with Daddy.



Kendall is very serious about her Sesame Street. I am clearly interrupting her.



Yes, that is a Smurfette shirt.

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.