Goldfish and Glitter: Kemble at 2-ish

I'm a horrible ~~Mommy~~ Blogger. I have been mentally listing things to put on Kemble's 2-year old blog post, and here I am a month and a half later finding some time to sit down and put it into words, and hopefully, a few pictures too! (And hoping this new Blogger layout makes that job much, much quicker and easier!!!)

Things have been pretty crazy around here... after we finally closed on the house and officially moved in, we had BB's birthday, Kemble's birthday party (which also was sort of the debut of our new house and had me running in circles to get it all done in time!), then months of planning our ten-year high school reunion paid off with a fun, whirlwind weekend with old (and new!) friends, then all of a sudden Halloween was upon us, and now of course, Thanksgiving which will be quickly followed by Christmas!

Oh Kemble! You have grown so much! Your Daddy and I often wonder where our teeny little baby went and where this tall, grown up, independent, smart, beautiful girl came from so suddenly!! We are so proud of you and are having more fun than ever with you these days.

You are loving Mother's Day Out and pretty much always walk in and start playing, and tell me bye with a wave and a kiss. You especially love Mrs. Becky and I think she loves you as much as you love her! They say you won't say a word for them all day, but are great and listen well, and lately are even taking a good nap. You have fun and learn lots and are always excited to go!

You also love Musik, although it's been a little different lately, and you can sometimes be more hesitant, probably because Mrs Conni has had a differently formatted class routine than she did in the summer, plus there are several more kiddos in your class, which brings out your shyness. Again, you are learning a lot and you just love to sing your Musikgarten and your school songs with me, and you do every motion. Right now your favorite songs are If You're Happy and You Know It (with a HUUUUGE amen during that verse), This Little Light of Mine, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Blue Skies and Rainbows, Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes, the Hands-a-washing song, Bounce Along, and during Halloween you loved the Five Little Pumpkins rhyme.

We're in the process of beginning speech therapy. Our pediatrician confirmed that you should be saying quite a few more words than you were (50.... you consistently say about 25-30, plus about 10 signs), and that the ones you did say should be more understandable to the general ear (less than half....). Ms Jill tested you at well above normal for comprehension (she had to go into the 5-year old testing section, because you had to miss 5 questions in a row before she could stop testing! She said she'd never had a 2 year old go that far before!), but below normal for expressive language. We're going to see how therapy goes... however I will say that even since your evaluation, you've started saying several new words consistently... I'm hoping that the combination of time and a couple montsh of therapy to pronounce your sounds more properly will have you talking in no time!

We've been going to church for the past month or so, something we always had good intentions about but just never could find a place we felt good about. You love church and are a very good girl most of the time. You like to watch to see what's going on, participate in prayers, and put your dollar in the collection plate. You will read books or color to keep yourself busy during the sermon, and only occasionally do we have to resort to giving you Daddy's iPod to keep you still and quiet. I'm sure that's against every parenting and religious rule, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes! Last week, you went to Sunday School for the first time and you were ~~less than excited~~ downright HYSTERICAL for us to leave you there, but they said once we were gone that you were fine, although there were some tears of relief when we returned. Hopefully that will continue to go smoothly in future weeks and drop-off will not be so traumatic. Daddy and I are going to our own class and although, for Stephen, that's a whole new thing he's never experienced before, we are looking forward to worshiping, learning and socializing with a new group of people.

We just switched you to your toddler bed over the weekend! I had absolutely zero intention of doing this anytime soon, however, bedtime had become a struggle lately. You constantly stalled, asking for milk, Jessie, Jessie's boot that always falls off (darn that boot, it makes me crazy sometimes!), Jessie's hat (why, oh why, disney, did you not make her hat magnetic or something so it would stay on her freaking head?!?!?), Rapunzel (the tiniest doll you've ever seen who is always lost).... Anyway, after many tearful nights of struggling to go to bed (and then laying there awake for up to 2 hours fairly often), we decided maybe a change in your bed would lighten the bedtime mood. It has helped some, although bedtime still can be stressful for us all. A big part of that is you feel that I am the one who needs to put you to bed every single night and if Daddy even tries to bathe you or read to you, you freak out, crying nonstop until I give in. We are hoping for a change in this soon. REALLY soon!! I have a couple of girls' nights planned this weekend, and maybe being stuck with him, for lack of better a better term, will reset this Mama Mode you're stuck in! We are so proud though that not once have you tried to get out of bed, or come close to falling out of bed, during the night. In fact, you don't even get out in the morning until I come for you.

At your two year checkup, you weighed 25 pounds (30th %) and were 35 3/4" tall (90th %). Your head was 18.5 inches.
The doctor visit was a nightmare. From the minute they called us back, you screamed bloody murder. You wouldn't get on the scale, you fought hard when they checked you out, you had to get a couple of shots (so glad I argued with the nurse until she agreed to check your shot records, they tried to insist you needed a shot I knew you'd already had!) and your finger pricked to test some blood. It was just horrible in every way possible. Plus it was our first visit to your new pediatrician, and Mama loves the doctor but did not care for the nurse, office staff, or lab tech AT ALL, so it may be your last visit there too! I was so disappointed because we'd been practicing for the appointment, read books about going to the doctor, played doctor at home.... you seemed excited and calm, until we got there and it all went out the window! Here's to hoping that your 3-year checkup is better! It's crazy to think you don't have to go back for a whole year!

Let's see, I'm going to list a few things that you are into right now:

You love to clink glasses and say "cheers". After you take your sip you say "ahhhh"
Love to hide behind the dining room curtains, and you often hide other random things back there too.
You love to hide somewhere, then jump out and say "boo!!" (You also know that b-o-o spells Boo!"
You are picky about what blankets, pillows and "friends" are in bed with you, and your favorites shift from time to time.

You also can't stand for blankets to not be straight, you have to unfold or straighten any corners or wrinkles.
You love to run in circles, and request it by making circles with your fingers.
You love to play "ba-ball" (basketball), lately it's specifically "ba-ball ou-side"
You really don't care what the weather is like, you'd play outside all day every day if you could!

You love to choose the color of whatever it is you want at that moment....whether it be your plate, your bath color (thanks Lizzie and Lane!), a sucker (your new favorite treat), blanket, clothes, etc... today it was blue applesauce that you asked for, which proved difficult, but it's still fun for you to pick!
You still love to put on makeup with Mommy, or really help do anything that I do, including baking.

You love to wear socks on your hands like mittens, and frequently dig in your sock drawer to do it yourself. You also have been pulling out some of your legwarmers to wear as armwarmers. I love these little grown up girl things you do all on your own.

Daddy's dirty socks were the mittens this time...

You love the camera you got your birthday and when taking or posing for a picture you say cheese... "eez"
When I ask you something you don't know an answer to initially, like, "Kemble, where is Jessie's boot?" you say "hmmmmmm"
You've learned to put most of your shoes on by yourself, and you almost always get them on the right feet, too!
When we get on the service road heading to our house, you nod and point and start "talking" about how we are almost home. If I ask you which way to go, you'll lead me home by pointing the right directions to turn. Today, for the first time, you said "home". You get super excited each day to pass by Callianne's school and soccer fields, and you love to wave to her from the car :)
You're a pretty good eater, you are willing to try everything, and usually sit down with us to eat a good meal together. We ditched the highchair not long after getting our new dining set, you prefer to just sit on the bench, and dinnertime is much smoother.

You love to cross your hands and say your prayers, always followed by an enthusiastic AMEN!
You love to spend the night with Daddy Butch and BB and always do really well at their house.
You love animals and you love to pet Handy, Brendley, Brandy and Grandma and Grandpa's cat Bob. Anytime you hear a dog barking you get really excited.
While pink, princessy things definitely catch your eye, so do trucks, trains and airplanes.
Your favorite shows & movies to watch are: Toy Story (any variety), Tangled, Little Mermaid, Cat in the Hat, SuperWhy, Cars/Cars2(although you ask for it then want to turn it off usually), Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sid the Science Kid, and Blue's Clues. I have to really watch how much TV I'm letting you watch because you ask for it constantly.

You can identify every letter of the alphabet, and now can say almost all of them too. You learned that
When you wake up you sleepily say "mama" then it quickly turns into rapid-fire "mama...Mama......MAMA......MaaaMaaaa....MMMMAAAAAAMMMMAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" until I come in there.
You can now open doors all by yourself. Scary!

You love to play in our closets and frequently take all your toys in there, tell us "bye" and close yourself in. You often say "bye....eat" and I'll say, oh are you going to eat and you'll say yes. I love this imaginary play phase and I can't wait to see more of it!
Your kitchen is your absolute favorite thing to play with. We put it in your room and you love to cook all the time. You especially like to put things in the microwave and push the pretend buttons and say..."beep, beep........beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep" when it's done!
Your favorite toys these days: shopping cart, baby stroller (although you still don't care much about your baby doll unless we've just been around a baby), cash register, puzzles, Memory (and you're so good at it already!), coloring, anything involving a ball, car races, your v-reader that we call your kindle, your wooden magnetic paper dolls, and your music toys.

You love to do crafts with me during the day, and I have been trying to think of little themey things to do together.

You still aren't potty training, but you do occasionally tell me you need to go potty, and you almost always go right away. When you're talking a little better, hopefully you are familiar enough to be trained over a weekend or so.

You know all of your colors, shapes, letters and many numbers, although you still can't make your hands hold up the right number of fingers.
You love going to the Waxahachie Indian football games! You get into the game, try to catch balls when we score, and play with Callianne!

You also love Aggie football! Game days are always fun, and you love to say Gig em and Go Aggies!!

New-ish words you regularly say as of today (this list can change minute by minute, you stop saying words and add new ones daily...most of the words/names you've been saying you still do). When reading back at my last post, I realize how much you've grown in this department over the past couple of months, and really even this past week. You weren't even saying mama appropriately until right before your second birthday, and now, well, that's all i hear, all day long!! :)

boot, hat, nose, eye, hop, up, eat, book, open, go, hot, bye, outside, balloon, bed
blue (boo), yellow (weh-wo), red (weh), green (nee/neen), pink (deen),
ball, ba-ball, Jessie, Nunny, Kitty (more commonly known as meow), wib-eh (Ribbit, your frog)
bump-bump (every time we go over a bump in the car or shopping cart)
Boo-Boo (what you are calling BB these days...), Nah-nah (Callianne)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-NIM (Amen! always said loudly and enthusiastically!)
ni-ni (night night), wa-wa (water)
iPod - a word you mastered quickly when we told you you had to say it to get to use it!