July 2011

Wow. I really haven't posted since back to July. I guess that is where I will start this back up again. Let's see...

We took a trip to our favorite zoo - Milwaukee County. The zoo is generally a fun trip for Kendall, Lincon Park and Brookfield are closer, but Milwaukee bosts a train and free range peacocks! Oh, and that evil swan that keeps trying to attack us. Kendall loves birds, and the open aviary in Milwaukee is always a winner with her.

Now, the train was a new experience this trip to the zoo. Kendall loves trains of all forms. Thomas the train on TV, the train that runs past Grandma & Grandpa Gorman's house, the train that crosses the street in downtown Arlington Heights. Trains are pretty cool. Of course, when we had been to the zoo in Milwaukee previously, Kendall had seen the train, and waved at it, but we did not brave the line to ride it. This time we did.

As we waited for our turn on the mini train that circles the zoo, Kendall got more and more excited. She got to see the train up close, and hear that wistle blow. She was just beside herself.

We got onto the train, and all was cool, then, it started moving. Who knew the train would move? Kendall did not dig the moving train as much when she was on it.

The zoo was a fun time for all of us, and we did a few additional zoo trips to the local zoos (Lincon Park and Brookfield) over the rest of the summer. The lions at Lincon Park tend to be another winner - Kendall is quick to tells us what the lion says as soon as we walk into the zoo. RAWR!



Blog-negent

I have been blog-negent. 6 months without a post. For shame!

So much has been going on with us, especially with the Kendall. That kid is always going a mile-a-minute, which is probably why I have been too busy to blog.

Never fear, it is time for me to catch you up with what has been going on around here, and hopefully keep this blog up-to-date in 2012. Look out the rest of this week for catch up posts.

Singing

For your enjoyment, Kendall sings!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

My Baby Can Read

Not really. But she knows her letters.

Kendall loves mail, and she reads all the magazines. Like the flooring tile magazine in the video above. I was trying to capture one of the stories Kendall was telling us as she flipped the pages of the magazine - 'Once upon a time, a boy and a girl..." Not sure what happens after that, but I think they buys some pretty awesome carpet tiles.

Little Swimmer

Kendall has been in swim lessons over a year now - we started her at 6 months. Looking back, it is crazy how much Kendall has changed in the last year, and how awesome it was to take her swimming for the first time. Since that first swim lesson, Kendall's love of the water has only grown. Now when we put her in the tub she floats on her back and sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to us, just like in swim class. And after we clean up all the bath toys, she lays on her belly kicking like she does in the pool and yells "SWIMMING!".

When we get up on Saturday morning, she asks "Swimming?" and on the way over to the YMCA she chants "Swimming, Swimming, Swimming". The kid loves to swim.

And now, she can do almost do it without mommy. (Videos below are on the long side)

Swim instructor told me last week that she will probably be ready for the next swim class in 6 - 8 months. What? I don't think I will be ready to give up my mommy and me swim lessons by then. How can she be getting so big already?

But then again, toddlerhood is fun. Just look at those hugs!

Draft

This is from back in April. Kendall has been missing football, and searches the house to find Daddy's football whenever she can. So when Daddy busted out his Bear's jersey again, Kendall got excited, and Mommy groaned because it meant Daddy would be sitting on the couch watching the football draft for 3 days.

Kendall used the time wisely and practiced her running and passing. With a bit more training over the summer she will be ready when the season starts in the fall.

Working on our letters

Lately Kendall has been very into her letters and numbers. Whenever we are out, she points out all the letters and numbers she sees on signs. In the grocery store, she points to the number above each aisle and announces it for us. Kendall can count to 20, sort of, but she can only identify the numbers up to 10, so when you get to aisle 12, it is 1 and 2!

She has her ABCs down pretty well, although sometimes she likes to free style the song a bit and sing them out of order. We have a set of blocks with letters on them, and inside the blocks are something to represent the letter - like in the in B there is a bunch of bananas, in N there is a nest. Her favorite is the M with a monkey in it. Why? Because of the Monkey? No, because when you turn an M upside down it is a W.

I was admittedly kind of shocked when I first saw her do this for the first time. She was sitting in the living room flipping the block right side up, then upside down, saying "M", "double" (aka "W"). Where did she learn that?