I think we are up to around 30 words that Kennedy uses spontaneously and often.  Her latest words from this weekend are get (gee- ut) (said to Potter when he hopped in her pool) and no ma’am.  The funny thing about a one year old is they learn from imitation and their environment.  Typically when Kennedy touches something or points at something Jay and I tell her what it is.  I typically say the word three times because that is what we do in my classroom.  It is called echoic trials.  This said Kennedy sometimes messes up on words.  For example, any animal that has fur is a dog to Kennedy and any animal without fur is typically a duck to her.  This said some of her mistakes are pretty funny. 

Kennedy’s dictionary:

uh-oh – verb  to throw food onto the floor

no ma’am – verb   to hit an adult

Another funny story:

We went to the zoo on Saturday morning.  It wasa great time to go.  It wasn’t hot yet, the animals were all awake and playing, and they were feeding several animals.  The were letting people at the zoo feed the giraffes so I had to get in on that.  We took Kennedy up to the giraffes and she was able to feed and pet them.  What we didn’t expect was the giraffe to pull her hairbow out of her hair!  Kennedy at first just said “uh oh, but upon seeing her precious red polka dot hair bow hanging out of the giraffes mouth she started yelling “BOW, BOW, BOW!”  I bravely removed the bow from the giraffes and we quickly walked away before the zoo keeper could fuss at us.

New story:

While I’m blogging Kennedy was nicely playing with her bath toys in the kitchen (they were all in the kitchen because we let her play with them in the pool earlier.)  Kennedy was playing so nicely and Jay was laying on the couch watching TV.  We were having a great night.  Kennedy stopped playing and walked over to the table and around the kitchen.  Finally she made her way over to where Jay was watching TV.  I noticed she had a dot on her mouth.  I asked Jay what it was.  His responce… “was she playing in the bath toys?”  “Yeah she had fun.”  Jay then informed me that her bath crayons were in the bucket.  That dot was blue bath crayon.  All over her mouth.  All under her nails.  All over her hands.  But wait there’s more….. she drew the most beautiful blue artwork all over the kitchen floor.  At least I could easily wipe it up with warm water!

Shoes: not new but now said like 15,000 times a day. Shoes (soos) are her FAVORITE things.) We have shopped high and low looking for cute size 2 shoes that are made for walking. Acually it is the equivalent to a 6-9 month shoe. She loves all shoes.. my shoes, her shoes, shoes in stores, Dadd’s shoes. She was even checking out strangers shoes in the library today. We need to save our pennies now to afford this girls shoe habit.

Bow: She now will say bow when she sees one of her bows, sees bows in the store, wants a bow, feels her bow, or sees a strangers bow that she wants. She actually tried to swap with a little girl at a wedding who had a bigger bow. She took her bow out and followed the other little girl around offering her the tiny bow in exchange for her big bow.

Doll: Kennedy has a sweet doll that was given to her by the Kirkleys. They are a sweet family that is so good to Kennedy. They gave her a soft doll when I was pregnant with her. She now says doll every time she sees her sweet doll.

Amen: Ok it only happened once but it was SO cute. We said our blessing and I ended by saying Amen. Kennedy looked at me and said “Amen” in the most southern voice ever.

People’s names: Dori, DeeDee, Mama, Daddy (Dah), and LaLa

Blow (bow): with her birthday cake toy

Toddler – –noun
a person who toddles, esp. a young child learning to walk.

Ladies and gentleman… my daughter has become a toddler!

It officially happened Wednesday, but I was scared that it was a fluke and didn’t wanna jinx myself!

1. She loves being outside and playing in the water. At the lake she will stand at the glass window and bang on it to go outside. She loves being in the lake, on the boat, or in the kiddie pool. At home she will beg for the chalk to draw on the sidewalk. She brings me my shoes when she wants us to go outside. She does not like playing in the spinkler.

2. She poops the same time in the same place every day. I’ve tried to catch her the last two mornings to get her to do it on the potty, but I wasn’t fast enough. I LOVE potty training. It gives children such a since of independence. As soon as she can walk, I plan on starting to work on it.

3. Kennedy is old enough and I think she weighs enough for her car seat to turn around. This said, I had planned on her being rear facing until she could say “Mom please let me turn around.” I’m having second thought now though because the back of my car gets SO hot. I think she would be cooler if she faced forward. I will ask the pediatrician about this on Monday.

4. She can drink out of a sippy cup if it is something really yummy or if she is really hot. She loves to drink sweet tea from her sippy cup. She would still rather nurse. She doesn’t like whole milk. I’m doing good to get her to drink a few ounces of it a day.

5. She has several words now. Hi, bye, mama, daddy (dah), dog, duck, Dori (Dorwee), DeeDee, lauren (lala), see, wassat, stop, mine, no, one (un), two (oo), three (ee), four (or), uh oh, balloon, night night, Potter, boat, shoes,ball, and I’m sure I’m missing some. She doesn’t use them all the time. She definatly doesn’t use them when we ask her to. But they are there. She now will point at stuff she wants.

6. She won her first reading medal from the library. We read 15 books so she won some cool prizes. She loves to read.

7. She can’t walk. She can pull up, cruise, and crawl like a champ.

8. She loves shoes and jewlery. She really likes to wear my shoes (could be bacause she has very few pairs that fit her of her own) and she LOVES jewlery. Typically she can be found sitting around the house the Mardi Gras beads around her neck. My mom thinks this means she will be a party girl. I hope she’s wrong!

9. She loves to hug and kiss. Sometimes the hugs hurt and sometimes the kisses are slobbery, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. She loves stuffed animals and likes to hug them too.

10. She sleeps on a good night from 8:30-6:30. She naps usually 1 hour per day. That is all she needs. That is all she wants. If she naps in the car she won’t nap again.

11. She loves to give Potter a hard time. She likes to trease him wither his toys, mess with his bed, and threaten his food. She thinks that it is funny when he growls at her. We don’t think it is so funny.

12. She is very social and loves children. She really likes older children.

13. She’s a democrat. We decided perhaps she is liberal. She does like some crazy things! She went with me to vote in the republican primaries. Every time I clicked a name she would yell “No! No No No! Mama No!” Needles to say the people at the polls were cracking up.

The average one year old has 4-6 teeth.

My daughter now has 10.

I think she’s a

I got an interesting email this week from a website that has been sending me updates since pregnancy. It started with your pregancy this week, then your baby this week, and now they send me your toddler this week. I must say that I usually don’t even open these emails. I haven’t for months because Kennedy is no where near other kids her age. It make me big headed to see the areas she is advanced in and sad in the areas she is delayed. I don’t like to see what she should be doing. Today for some reason I opened the email and the header was “things you never thought your would do.” This got me thinking on the things I said I wouldn’t do and would do that I have or have not done.

Things I said I would never do (but did):

“I will never let my baby watch TV.” Yep, she watches Blues Clues every morning while Jay and I are getting ready and she enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba from time to time.

“I will never let my baby sleep in the bed.” Kennedy has spent many a night between Jay and I and every morning of her life she has joined us in bed for a little while before getting our day started

“I will never let a child nurse when they have teeth and especially when they can ask for it.” Kennedy has been seen on several occasions pointed at my boobs and saying “mmmmmm”. Another note she is over one year old and has 10 teeth. And yes I am still nursing and not sure when I am going to stop.

“I will never let my child eat junk food.” Kennedy likes McDonalds, Wendys, Hardees, Sonic, and don’t even get me started about how much she likes cheesepuffs, cupcakes, and ice cream. You may have seen us at the Sonic happy hour a time or two as well.

Not only did this article get me thinking about the things I said I wouldn’t do, but it also got me thinking about the things I said I would do.

“I will not have a baby on a schedule.” I stuck to this one. We don’t have to rush home for nap time. We don’t have to end a dinner with friends by 5. We let Kennedy nap when she is tired and we aim for an 8:30 bed time. She eats when she is hungry and she nurses on demand.

“I will make my own baby food.” I made everything. She never ate any babyfood from a jar.

“I will never let her leave the house in a onsie.” Kennedy never sets foot outside the door without being fully dressed in a beautiful outfit with a matching bow. I try to dress her in her best clothes everyday. I understand she will mess them up, but when you grow so fast you might as well wear your nice clothes daily.

“My family will sit down for dinner every day.” We eat as a family every night We sit at our little table in our little kitchen, we pray our blessing, and we eat as a family. Kennedy always eats what we eat too. No short order chef in this family.

Things I said I would do but haven’t

I said I would vacuum every day… I don’t

I said I would mop every day…. I don’t

I said I would continue to treat Potter like a person… I don’t

I said I would cook dinner every night… I don’t (although I do cook sometimes)

Overall I’ve done and haven’t done some things. One thing I said I would do was make sure that little girl knew I loved her. I want her to know that we prayed for her. That we wanted her. The we dreamed of her. And that she is everything and more than we dreamed of. This I can easily say we have done.

I only have my class for 7.5 more hours. 3 half days. 1 holiday. 1 teacher work day. Then freedom for the rest of the summer. I can’t wait to spend my whole summer with K-bug. Anyone up for play dates?

The teacher nerd in me is so excited about this week at daycare. Sherry is having fun week. Everyday revolves around one of the students and their interest. She had to combine two students tomorrow due to the holiday Monday. Tomorrow is game day for Nicholas and read-a-thon for michael. I am so excited that I packed up 5 of Kennedy’s favorite books (don’t let the pidgeon drive the bus and chicka chicka boom boom are two of her most favorite!) I am also packing up her birthday cake leapfrog toy as her game. The rest of the week is Ava’s water day, Madison’s bubble day, and Kennedy’s music day. Love it!

Hey Guys! It’s me Kennedy! I’ve been super busy learning all kinds of stuff lately. My favorite word it dog. I like to call Daddy “Dog” even though I know his name. His reaction makes me giggle! I love daycare. I have a really good friend there named Ava. She has pretty hair that I like to play with. Sometimes I really wanna pull it, but when I do Ava cries. When Ava cries I cry. I don’t like to see my friend be sad. Mrs. Sherry is really nice too. I always hate to leave her house when Mommie comes to pick me up. Mommie says it hurts her feelings that I cry when it is time to go home. Mrs. Sherry taught me something really fun! She taught me to count! I can count to 6 all by myself! I like to count everything!

There is something going on that doesn’t make me happy. My mommie keeps putting cold white stuff in cups and calling it milk. That isn’t milk. Milk is that sweet yummy stuff that is served at 98.6 degrees whenever I want it. That stuff Mommie is calling milk is NOT MILK. Don’t let her try to fool you by putting that yucky stuff in a cup. Also Mommie and Mrs. Sherry keep saying it is time that I learn to hold my own cup. How silly is that? Why would I hold my own cup or bottle? Seriously that is why you have hands! To hold it for me:) Mommie has spend all her money trying to buy new cups. Some are soft. Some are hard. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are fat. Some ar skinny. Some even have straws. I’m holding firm though. No way am I drinking from that. Yuck! I am not drinking this white stuff you call “milk” Mom! I’m going to nurse forever! Just call me no bottle – no cup Kennedy!

Wanna know something else cool? I woke up polka dotted the other day. They didn’t itch and I got to see Dr. Kyle so that was cool. I also got to take some medicine that tasted like bubblegum. Yummy! I love medicine! Mommie and Daddy don’t know what made me Polkadotted, but they are gone now.

Well I’m going to bed sans lovie. I don’t really miss her that much. I have a really cool HUGE monkey that sleeps with me now.

Love,
Kennedy

This has been one of the best weekends of my whole life. Kennedy turned one on Friday. (pictures will be coming soon.)

Saturday May 8: Jay was out of town. Kennedy grabbed her ears. I knew she was getting a tooth, but does this cause you to pull your ears? Hmm not sure? Off to the pediatrician’s special sick hours. Yep, they pull their ears when they are teething.

Thursday May 13: NOT! Back to the pediatrician. Still pulling ears. Still coughing. Still snotty. Tooth is completely in. Diagnosis, ear infection!

Friday: I took off of work a little early on Friday to throw Kennedy a party at daycare. It was so special. The kids enjoyed pizza, capri sun, and ice cream cone cupcakes. Kennedy ate almost her entire cupcake! Kennedy got some sweet toys from the kids and for the first time in her life she actually stood up for herself. Typically Kennedy is the kind of kid that is called “easy going.” Older kids would take toys from her and she would smile and find another toy. She was always being taken advantage of because she was “easy going”. Well not any more ladies and gentlemen! As of Friday when her friend tried to take her toy she fought back! She grabbed. She pulled. She went to pull hair. She may have even gotten a slap in on the other child! I have never been so proud. I am Proud that she stood up for herself. The “easy going” label was just getting old. Way to go Kennedy! You are now a strong independent woman who Will Not be taken advantage of!

Saturday: 35 of her closest friends and family came together at our family lake house. We had a pink and green celebration which included boat rides, tubing, kiddie pools, swimming in the lake, cake, hot dogs, and so much fun. I was told that people had never seen a one year old have so much fun at her party. She played and she played hard. She went on her first boat ride which she LOVED. She waved and said “wee” the whole time! We decided the lake may be the annual location for the birthday party. She partied so hard that she actally fell asleep at 6:30! (this is VERY early for our little girl.) My friend and photographer of the day, Sarah, just posted pictures on facebook. Check them out there until I can upload my own.

Sunday: Doc, Dori, Blake, Papa Lovett, and Grammy all stayed at the lake with us. We enjoyed an early morning breakfast and Kennedy really enjoyed checking out the sprinkler with papa lovett. It was sad to see out special weekend come to an end.

Monday: Happy birthday Jay! We didn’t forget about you!

Cool 1 year old facts:

Words: Mama, Daddy, La la, uh oh, see, what’s that, mine, go, dog, duck, balloon, night night, potter, hi, bye bye, boat, and no
Motor skills: crawling, pulling up, cruising
Fine motor skills: eating all kinds of food with her fingers, scribbles on paper with a pen
Favorite: monkey stuffed animal that we named Blink, house toy, wagon rides, boat rides
Dislikes: baked beans, cranberries, drinking from a sippy cup
Cool facts: still nursing 4 times a day, sleeps from 8:30-6:30, naps once a day 2 hours for sherry 1 hour for me, only a few more week before school gets out!