Updates

Kendall LOVES music. We put on a music channel on the TV and her whole face lights up. She crawls over to the TV stand, pulls herself up and bobs up and down. Then when I can’t resist it anymore I scoop her up and we dance in the living room. She is all giggles. And she also tries to snap her fingers. She watches her fingers so intently moving her fingers around.
 She is also getting pretty good at sorting shapes. We have a toy that you have to organize shapes into (triangle, circle, square, star, etc). I have to tell her which hole to put it in, but she does a good job of shifting the shape around until it fits through. She always clapps for herself when she gets the job done!

She is discovering she can get what she wants if she pouts long enough or yells at us. For example, she isn't liking her baby food right now. All she wants to eat is whatever I'm eating. So when I try to give her a bite of her food, she growls at me and points at my food. If I hold out of her she starts to yell at me demanding a bite of whatever I'm eating. She is going to be a stubborn little girl!



She loves to point and she is so darn cute when he does it. She dips her head by her shoulder and sticks her finger out. How can you say no to that?



Her favorite toy right now is a couple of Parker’s nerf bullets. She LOVES to chew on them. It looks like she is chewing on a cigar. Silly girl!
 Parker’s summer has involved A LOT of talking. I don’t think he ever stops. He would be a great commentator when he gets older – he commentates when he is playing wii, when he is racing his race cars, when he is playing on the Kindle book, ALL THE TIME!


Parker has his numbers DOWN, so we have been working on letters. He is getting better at recognizing letters; we do a lot of that when we are driving. He has NO interest in picking up a pen or pencil and writing (or coloring for that matter). He can type his name or anything electronic for that matter, but he is not a fan of the “old fashion” method. Hopefully that will get better the more time he spends in school. We do mark off each day on the calendar with an X which he looks forward to every night. Here lately we have been writing the letters of his name instead of the X. I have to take advantage of any moment he likes to write! I hope by the end of summer he will be able to write his name.


I try to go running a regular basis, but it has been tricky this summer with 2 kiddos. I can stick Kendall in the jogging stroller, but then Parker has no way to keep up with us. So I have tried to run in the evenings by myself after Kevin is home. Parker is always begging to go. I try to tell him I go way to far for him, but he KNOWS he can keep up with me. Of course, at 4 years old, he has no idea what it means to run 3 miles. So last night I caved in and in my mind I was thinking it would be a “see, you can’t go with me. It is too far.” A see-I-was-right moment. I took him on a ½ mile jog. He kept up with me pretty good for the first part of the run and then we stopped at a bridge to check out the water underneath. Then we started back. Again, he surprised me and did a pretty good job, but he fell behind pretty quick, but he didn’t stop. He told me “whew, I’m really starting to get sweaty!” And when we were almost back “my breath can’t breathe.” He cracks me up! No worries, he was just fine. I can’t wait for the day when he can go running with me for the full 3 miles. Maybe I have a cross country runner on my hands!

We were at the zoo and Kendall was very intrigued by the hippos. Parker was running for his life!

There is a brief example of her "finger point" in this video. She was loving chasing the bubbles!

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June

Kendall got a new swing so now she can swing with her big brother!

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Parker finally got a bike. He has been pretty dependent on his Power Wheels, but some of the boys down the street have bikes and are faster than his truck. His interest has perked up.

Kendall LOVES her daddy!

Parker has been really enjoying tee ball so he was been practicing a lot in the back yard.

Parker got the chance to drive his little sister around. I was a nervous wreck; I hated to see her try to crawl out and fall, but she had a blast with Parker. (There is a little seat belt with velcro, but not the most secure) She kept clapping her hands and laughing. She also had total control of the radio.

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Kendall finally went to the doctor for her 9 month check up (we were a little behind, she was almost 10 months old). She weighed in at 23 lbs (93rd percentile), 29 1/4 inches long (86th percentile) and  18 inch head (85th percentile). So Kendall is very proportionate, but also a big girl! She is the average size of a 15-18 month old. After a quick survey of Kendall's can's and cannot's, Dr. Tsang decided she was developmentally about the same as a 12-15 month old. We have a smart, strong girl on our hands!

Skills Day

Parker got a great invitation from The Chadwick family. Joanna Chadwick covers the Wichita area sports for the Wichita Eagle and has covered tthe Maize Softball team on a number of occasions. They also have a little boy about the same age as Parker so we had a great time over at their house for what they call Skills Day. Joanna plans a bunch of activities (sports related) and invites a bunch of kiddos over that are about the same age so they can "compete" and learn some new things to do at home. Us moms that were there decided it was really what kids USED to do before their was Wii, computers, and other things that kids do by staring at a screen and pushing buttons. It was a pretty warm day so they spent a lot of time playing in the water too.

Parker did throw the football the furthest!

Summer is off and rolling!

Summer is HERE and we got to go enjoy the water fountains today. I think Parker could play in those thing all day long! It was a first for Kendall. She wasn't shy at all and would scoot right into the water. The Smith kiddos met up with us there too!

Kendall

I'm so happy it is summer time and I am able to spend some quality time with my kiddos! Kendall has been so much to get to know as her personality as it pops out.

Kendall has been crawling for about a month now and can get from point A to point B real quick! I'm not sure how long she will be crawling. Every chance she gets she is pulling herself up and attempting to stand. With a little help from myself or Dad, she is taking a couple of steps. She loves watching her brother and when he sees him race by, I can see those wheels turning in her mind..."how can I do that? How can I keep up with him?" Kendall still has just 2 teeth; both on the bottom. We are so ready for her to get some more teeth so she can chow down on real food. She is VERY interested in whatever we eat, but I'm hesitant to give it to her without any chompers. And Kendall LOVES to eat!!! Right now Kendall wakes up at about 8:00 and has a 7 oz bottle. Sometimes she has some cheerios or puffs as a snack to get her through until lunch. Around 10:00 she goes back down for a two hour nap. When she gets up, she is ready for lunch which consists of cereal, 3 cubes of fruit and 3 cubes of veggies. Usually she has some cheese, lunch meat, cheese puffs or something like that to finish up her lunch. Then at 2:00 she goes down again for another 2 hour nap. At 5:00 is dinner with the same as what she had for lunch and by 6:30/7:00 she is lights out and done for the night. So, yeah...she is awake for like 6 hours a day. JEALOUS!

She really doesn't have a favorite toy right now. She just likes to be around Parker and play with whatever he is playing with - usually cars or dinosaurs.

Last night we enjoyed some sprinkler time; she wasn't quite sure about that.

Memorial Day

First, I have to share my first morning of summer vacation. How else could a mom want to start her day?

Now Memorial Day...we had a nice relaxing day and then had some family join us for a cookout that night.

What did kids do before smart phones?