Kids say the darndest things

I had an interesting conversation with Kizzy this morning. It went something like this.
Kizzy (having stripped down to her undies): I'm a rock star!
Me: you're a rock star? Well, rock stars wear clothes.
Kizzy: No, Mom. Rock stars are 'makin' (Kizzy speak for naked).

Where she came up with this I have no idea.

Pre-School Graduation

Today was Kizzy's last day of Pre-School for the school year and she has a little graduation "ceremony".  It was really cute. Her class recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then sang "It's a Grand Ol' Flag" Then sang 2 cute little songs about the days of the week and learning.  Then they were given  little certificates.  We took our little "grad" out to lunch afterwards. She loved pre-school and I know she'll be looking forward to it next year. She learned alot and is well on her way to recognizing all her letters and numbers. She can recited the alphabet and count to 20. She knows all of her shapes and colors and un-preschool related she's starting to grasp gospel concepts. Kizzy is one smart cookie and I'm loving watching her learn and her imagination grow.

Bullies

I hate confrontation. I mean really really detest being involved in it. Therefore, over the last few years as I have had to deal with a person on a regular basis who has a tendancy to be a bully to all those around them, I have just bit my tongue and and then done my best to avoid them. For the most part. I have once or twice spoken up. And this person, in true "I'm entitled to everything" form has ignored my protests and continued with the offensive behavior. Today they went a little too far and I snapped. I called this person a not very nice name in my response. I know I shouldn't have.

However, why should I just endure being bullied? Shouldn't I speak up? And when my original defenses get ignored, should I come on stronger?

What would you do? (Please keep in mind, this person not only treats myself inappropriately, but also my children.)

Preschool

Kizzy started preschool mid february and is loving it! Back at the beginning of the school year I felt that Kizzy wasn't quite ready to start preschool. Around Christmas I thought she'd probably do well, but I figured she'd still have to wait until next school year. And then out of the blue, my friend MariAnne sent me an email. She teaches preschool out of her home and one of her students this year had a conflict with schedules and she suddenly had an open spot in her class. So Kizzy was able to start in the middle of the school year. She loves it! She looks forward to going every week. She can recognize every letter she's learned so far and loves doing her homework. She's starting to really show how creative and imaginative she can be, which is a lot of fun to discover about her.

Kizzy's self done 'do

Kizzy dressed herself for the snow outside

All dressed for preschool!

I sure love my girl!

Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!

Yes, that's right, it's a boy. While Kizzy will be outnumbered, Kendal will get a little buddy. So far the names we are thinking are:
Kyle Joseph Jonathan (aka KJ)
or
Karter Gideon Clarence

Right now Kyle is leaning towards Karter.

What do you think?

Kendal at 19 months

I love my little red-head boy! He has the cutest smile and such a funny personality. Lately his vocabulary has exploded and I thought it would be fun to share what he can say.

Where's Daddy? (asked probably over 200 times in a day)

here doe (here you go)

ess you (bless you)

chess (yes)

no

mine

stop

doe way (go away)

ball

bear

thank you

hello

hi

bye bye

water

cheese

yummy

Mama

I yuv you (I love you)

Sitzy (Kizzy)

awesome

antsome (want some very similar to awesome, but there is a difference)

more

Uh-uh

Ah-Ah (grandpa)

socks

shoes

poopoo

peepee

please

up

down

He also is a neat freak, he picks up after himself and will go as far as try to make Kizzy's bed and picks up her toys and clothes. If he finds anything that is trash he will stop playing in order to go throw it away. He'll even go out of his way if he notices a sleeve from a shirt hanging out of the hamper. He always asks for a paper towel after meals so he can clean his tray and his face. He's an excellent hand washer.

I think Kendal might be mechanically minded. His fine motor skills are very good and he can be entertained for hours by making things fit together.

Kendal was born with music in his soul. As a newborn he would perk up to music in a way that was very noticable. Since then he has shown a love for playing with instruments. He is always "head dancing" (Sometimes he dances with his whole body, but mostly he keeps rhythym with his head, but it can't really be called head banging). He always notices music, even from sources that I don't realize is music at first (such as commercials). The most amazing thing is he can carry a tune. While he can't say most of the words in songs you can tell which song he's singing.

You can recognize the difference between "I am a child of God" the "abc song" , "I love to see the temple" and many more.

He's a MAJOR daddy's boy. If Daddy is home he wants absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. However when Daddy is at work he's very lovable and sweet to his Mama. He gives lots of loves and kisses.

All in all he's a sweet boy. He has a sense of humor and is very funny. He's a good brother and looks out for his sister. He tends to be whiny but doesn't have much of a temper so his tantrums are minimal. He's a great sleeper, and doesnt' do well when he doesn't get his 12 hours at night and his 2-3 hours during the day. He sometimes is naughty on purpose but not to be defiant, he thinks he's funny. He's going through a phase of separation anxiety which makes nursery a work in progress, but I'm confident he'll grow out of it. One major difference I've recently noticed between Kizzy and Kendal is that Kizzy loved everything animal and could identify and make the noises for at least a dozen different animals by the time she was just past 12 months. Whereas Kendal is just starting to take notice of animals and can only identify dogs and bears and his 3 animal noises are barking, growling and mooing.

One of my all time favorite things that he does is fishy lips and I cannot seem to get it on camera, but as soon as I do I promise to share.

I love my baby boy!

How to Avoid Bedtime

I'm sure all children have their phases where they fight bedtime. Some more adamantly than others. Kizzy and Kendal both also have these phases. Kendal will just cry and fuss and stay awake and play. Sometimes he'll throw his sippy of water overboard and yell "uh-oh! uh-oh! uh-oh!" until someone gets it for him. He's also been known to throw his loveys which include his blanket, his pillow pet and some stuffed animals. But over all he's pretty good about bedtime. Kizzy is a little more stubborn and has come up with every excuse to get out of bed in the book. Including the following (and the solutions we've come up with):
- Potty (potty time is now included in the routine, at the very end)
- drink (sippys of water are now permanent fixtures in their beds)
-snack ( story time now includes a small bowl of grapes or a slice of cheese)
- scared (Kizzy is a proud new owner of a Monster Scaring Flashlight)
-not tired (Kizzy gets to tell stories to her Bear)
-too hot (we don't really tuck her in until after she falls asleep)
- needs to say another prayer (Kizzy gets to say prayers for Kendal too)
She has several others that don't come up as often such as wanting to take medicine, too dark, too light, too cold, to quiet, too noisy, needs more stuffed animals, stripping pajamas off and needing help putting them back on, wants to play with Kendal, wants the door to stay open, needs to tuck her dolls in, needs to brush her stuffed monkey's teeth, more stories, etc, etc, etc. But tonight she came up with a new one that I hadn't heard before and wasn't sure how to send her back to bed after this one. She's been crying for a few minutes and talking to herself when she leaves the bedroom and comes to me:

Kizzy: Mommy, I just want to be with my family.
Mommy: You want to be with your family?
K: yes, you and my Daddy and you Mommy. I just want my Mommy. And my family.

Ok, seriously how sweet is that? And how on earth am I supposed to be firm about bedtime when all I want to do is snuggle with her after saying something so sweet? She's a crack up and certainly a smarty pants. But she's also very sweet and I love those moments.