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If you need a novel to read on the toilet tonight, here it is, folks! IT’S KENSINGTON’S HALF BIRTHDAY!!! Somehow, a year and a half has already flown by. 

First things first: people, including Chris, have been asking me why I keep posting photos of Kensie on our tables. 😂 Well, she won’t stand still on the ground. She will on the table. Work smarter, not harder. 

Kensie is well beyond her years and wants anything and everything that is NOT for her. You can’t even trick her. Most people say the first one is easy to trick you into a second. K figures she’d throw a wrench in that and throw any and every challenge my way to guarantee the next one will be a breeze. HA! 

I’m learning that this age is all about balance in the parenting world. That “how far do I let this go until I intervene” balance. Oh. And the “choose your battles” strategy. That’s also in place these days. 

As all moms say: I LOVE seeing her little personality come out as she grows. But really, I do. She’s slightly demanding (I can’t tell if it’s a toddler thing or a personality thing yet, or both) particular and independent. She’s also so very sweet and loves to give hugs and kisses and tell people “hi”, especially babies. She’s got such a big heart for such a tiny nugget. I hope she never loses one ounce of her sweetness!  

KB is copying EVERY sound and even tunes! She can hum/sing songs from Baby Einstein and copies the noises the animals and puppets make. She has “twinkle twinkle little star” perfected and she tries to sing the ABC’s when she walks her leap frog Dog around the house and it plays it. 

Speaking of Baby Einstein’s…K’s obsession has graduated to a whole new level. She will seek you out, hand you the remote, grab your hand and walk you to the TV to turn it on for her. 🤦🏼‍♀️ When you do, she gets a huge smile and starts a dance party. 

I’ve been trying to teach her “nose”, but somehow she learned “eyes” instead and randomly says “eeeyyyyyeeeeesss” and touches both of my eyes. By touches, I mean lightly gouges them out. 😂 

Kensie’s absolute favorite food is oatmeal. She asks for it at every. Single. Meal. Including snacks. It’s unreal. Eating has been very off and on with her. One day she’ll eat what you give her the next day she won’t eat anything. Except oatmeal. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Her new favorite sign is “bird”. She points them alllllll out to you and she even points to the penguin in the bottom of her oatmeal bowl and tells you there’s a bird. (That one took me a minute. I was like no, that’s oatmeal. She kept telling me bird and pointing. Then I looked in her bowl and realized she was right…)

“Dada” has started to evolve into “Daddy” (I’m bitter).  She still says “this” a lot. We get tons of “yes”, Spanish finger shakes for “no no no”, and “dog”. My favorite by far, that I recently posted about, is Balloon “lalooloon”. I need to get her on video with that one before she out grows it because she tries SO hard to say it. 😂 The newest addition is “peese” and “uh oh”. Except uh oh usually means I’m about to forcefully throw this on the ground. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Sometimes she just ignores me when I try to get her to say words, but if I catch her in the right mood she focuses really hard on copying me! 

She’s finally starting to have an attachment to something other than her pacifier. K won’t leave her crib now without grabbing her giraffe receiving blanket to come with her. She also likes carrying blankets around the house like Linus. Kens then proceeds to find random spots on the floor to lay down.

Kens isn’t any less obsessed with her binky though; she created her own sign for it and now asks for it specifically and will even show you where it is if she can’t get to it. 

Kensie loves shoes, bags, hats and sunglasses. She loves her water table and the pool and basically anything I’ll let her do if she gets to hang out on the back patio.

She has been loving daycare, and I’ve gotten much better at it too. 😉 This week, I feel like she became a big girl out of no where; I dropped her off and said can I have a hug? She walked over, gave me a hug, and then went to play! 🙀 The next day I got a hug, a bye bye and she blew me a kiss. Today, her teacher said she spent 30 minutes looking out the door saying “mama” when the other kids were starting to get picked up. 😭❤️ When she sees me in the afternoon i get a huge smile and a running hug and it is the best part of my day! I guess I’ll take these trophies and be a little less salty about the whole “daddy” situation. 😜 

Kensie’s got a solid “bye” with a wave (sometimes attitude is included for no extra fee) and she gives every one knuckles (fist bumps). She’s a pro at saying cheese for photos…and cheesing…but lately we’ve been struggling with her looking at the camera while doing those things. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Kensie’s new favorite activity is begging to go out back every second of the day and play in her water table or splash on the step in the pool. Thank God for swim lessons! Of course I’m out there right next to her and watching, but it saves me from several heart attacks when she runs away super fast and she’s too close to the pool for comfort! 

And for the Grand Finale…if anyone is actually still reading…kensie says “love you” after I tuck her in at night. Did your heart just melt or is it only mine that it does that to?

Happy half birthday, Kensie Brooke! I love you to the moon!

Oh, hey guys! We’re still here!! It’s been fun seeing K’s old blog posts show up on my time hop and remind me of all the things that happened in her first year. So, I felt the need to continue updating when something notable happens. Today, that notable thing was Kensie’s first successful temper tantrum. 😂

KB has been working on her “mean mug” face and pout the last week or so. Today she put it all together with a scream, clenched fists and even stormed away. She threw her head back for some extra drama. It. Was. Gold. 🏆

It lasted a solid 15 seconds and then she got her head off the bench (it was at the gym and she walked to the bench and put her head down for a second) and walked away like nothing just happened. Glad you got that out of your system, girlfriend.

Kensie was also a word master today!!! I got a “peeze” (please), “yard”, and my absolute FAVORITE: “lalooloon” …balloon, with an extra syllable. 🎈🤣

I cant even begin to describe to you her obsession with Baby Einstein’s right now, but when I let her watch it she is in heaven and I put on “baby Wordsworth” and she copies it! That’s where she learned “yard” and she’s been signing “teddy bear” and “bird” nonstop.

I felt like a Gold Medal was in order for the “peeze”. I mention in a recent post that Kensie calls everything “this” because she points at stuff and I say “this?” 🤦🏼‍♀️ I’ve been trying to name everything or when she asks, at the very least I try to get her to say “please?” My hard work finally paid off! (Plus it’s super cute)

Now, if I could just get her to stop saying “dada” all the daggone time we’d be GREAT. 😜

KB has been so back and forth with eating. We had a solid week of her eating anything and everything, (it was one of those super notable things I was so excited about that we actually did a post, haha!) now we are back to being picky mcpickerson and all she will eat is oatmeal. This child is going to turn into an oat!!!

We ARE 100% on that sippy cup life now, though! We are also still about that pacifier life. 🤷🏼‍♀️ The day will come…eventually.

And last but not least, K has been LOVING that her Aunt Shell is home from Afghanistan!!! She’s been stealing all the snuggs!

BREAKING NEWS: Kensie drank her milk from a sippy cup yesterday!!!

MORE BREAKING NEWS: She’s been eating all of her food, and even asking for more!!! It’s a miracle, y’all.

(And mamas – I need your help again!!! Keep reading…)

Disclaimer: the above news was written for a blog yesterday and I didn’t get around to posting. As of this update, she grabbed the top of her milk this morning after a sip of it, handed it back to me and told me “no”. 😂 Alrighty then, kid. That’s okay. Progress is happening. Ha! She did drink (most of) her milk this afternoon from it so we’re getting there.

If anyone has a picky child like me, or trouble transitioning from a bottle to a sippy cup, the Nuby transition seems to be working for us!! I mentioned our “situation” a few weeks back (in my post about the rude doctor) and had a few friends recommend this cup. You can change out the nipple from a bottle top to a sippy cup top. We had her drink from the “bottle” one for 3ish weeks and i just changed it to a sippy cup this week.

I feel like I’ve missed one too many updates to squeeze them all in here so I’ll aim for the cliff notes.

We’ve been CRAZY busy the last few weeks and K has gotten in some serious QT with both of her Grandmas! I’ve definitely missed this little babe so her daycare days have been few and far between. 🙈 When she does go, she LOVES it (and no more tears at drop off!), she even got invited to her first birthday party! Well, first one for her friend instead of my friends’ kids. Lol!

KB has also been crushing the Español game thanks to her daycare teacher. One of the girls at the gym asked if she wanted more water in Spanish and Kensie responded. 😳 I am already behind on understanding this kids advanced sign language, now I’m not going to know what she’s asking me for half the time. 😂

My favorite part of it all is the huge smile, run to me and never ending hug I get when I pick her up. Ah. What mom dreams are made of. 😆

As a mom – I’m learning a lot of things. One being that solutions are MORE than different for each kid and I’m open to any and all of them!!! Here’s where I need ya, mamas! Our next mission: bye bye binky. 😳 I think this one will be easier for her than for me. Lol!!

I know cold turkey is an option, but I’m not interested in that at the moment (and I won’t sit here and defend my reasoning for it). A friend suggested 2 things that I think might help wean her:

⁃ Poking a hole in/cutting the pacifier so she can’t suck on it anymore

⁃ Cutting the pacifier completely off of the stuffed animal and just give her the animal

She only uses the wubanubs and we have gotten it down to keeping it in her crib while she’s home. I do let her take it in the car as well. And sometimes the gym when she’s tired/cranky. Ok so really more than her crib. LOL If you have a solution that worked for you, let me hear it!!!

I am also learning that I will quickly find out what phrases and words I clearly say too often. Kensie calls all food “this”. When she says she wants to eat, or points, I hand her things and ask “do you want this?” So, now everything is “this”. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Lesson learned. Hahaha!!! I’ve really been focusing on using everything’s individual name since I made this discovery. I’m a work in progress. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’ve posted a few videos on my Instagram and FB, but K is back in swim lessons and doing amazing!! She has a week or 2 left so I’ll but sure to post a “final” video once she masters her swim-float-swim skill!

Kensie’s other new skills include putting on any and all shoes, stealing keys and walking to the car to try to unlock it, stealing keys and walking to the front door like she’s going somewhere, and pretty much anything that you’d expect from a 16 year old girl. So, pray for me. Thanks.

Get ready for the KB photo/video overload!!! My favorite little goof is 17 months old today! This month has been the month of Daddy. Their bond has grown so much over the last few weeks and I’m not even (too) jealous because it’s the sweetest thing to watch.

They’ve been going on Daddy/Daughter dates and I’m not sure who looks forward to them more!

When daddy’s home, she wants all his attention. She likes to tell him ALL the things, steal his food and sit on his lap while he’s working. He is also the magic diaper changer. When I change her, I get fussed at and basically have to hold her down to keep her from flipping over or sitting up. When daddy does it, complete silence and she stays still. 🙄 That part I am jealous about. She still loves her mama, though. 😉

Kensie is becoming the best little swimmer and loves swim lessons now! Well, I should clarify. She loves to swim, but doesn’t love that she has to take a break from it to roll onto her back and breathe. We’ll get there. 😂 (For those that keep asking, she goes to Mrs. Heidi with SwimSprout LLC! They are AMAZING and she has instructors all over Orlando!)

If you watch my Instagram stories you have also seen KB’s obsession with her swim diapers. She will find a pack of them and brings them to me or Chris and bounces up and down begging until you put one on her.

KB has become quite the chatter box and whatever language she is speaking is pretty entertaining to listen to. We’ve got LOTS of “go”, “dog” and “go dog”, mama”, “eat eat eat”, “love you” (Chris even got a love you dada on FaceTime🙄), “moe” aka more, “ah don” aka all done, and tons of words in her language that I have yet to learn.

The absolute best is her Spanish “no”. She’s got the finger wave and all. Perks of a Spanish nanny. 🤣

Kensie can brush her teeth and tries to use her Q-tips on her own…until I take them away and she gets mad at me.

Of course, some things never change. She is STILL the balloon lady, LOVES her puppies and babies and gives them all hugs and kisses and welcomes them with a sweet wave and “hi baby”.

Her favorite game is “pick up” and it cracks her up every time she tricks someone into doing exactly what she wants.

She’s made quite the gains at the gym this month. I haven’t caught a video of it yet, but she can hang on the bar all by herself!! 😯 She loves to “deadlift”, help coach and learn how to do everything the “big kids” are doing.

She REALLY likes to be a part of mom and dads workouts…

Daycare has been the BEST. She is so happy and it’s like a welcome party when I drop her off. All the “older” girls love her and help take care of her. And now, when I pick her up she gets a huge smile and runs and hugs me. It’s my absolute favorite part of the day. 😍

Eating still hasn’t been our strong suit. Some days are better than others, but she’s extremely picky and really likes to make sure it’s a challenge for me. She does great eating at daycare and for Gramma. 🙄 Even sans appetite, we finally had a small growth spurt because her 9 month pants are starting to creep up!

K is growing up so quickly but we are taking in every second of it and love watching her little personality bloom!

Whew! Life with KB has been one dramatic scene after another this past weekend. 😰 As soon as you feel like you’ve got the whole “momming” thing down, they grow up and throw a whole new challenge your way!

This weekend, Kensie would ask to eat and then as I’m getting her food ready, she’d have a COMPLETE meltdown. I would give her exactly what she asked for, and she didn’t ask for anything else, she’d just have a breakdown before she’d eat it. Every meal. Without fail.

Fun fact: I wasn’t allowed to touch the yellow bowl of oatmeal or she’d go ballistic. 😧

It is the strangest thing and I’m still not sure why it was happening. We went to a friends for dinner and I thought the distraction would help avoid a meltdown…nope. Still happened. My theories involve possible teething and/or her stomach was bothering her. (I’ll spare you details 💩).

They weren’t even “I want my way” temper tantrums. It was real, sad, sobbing and nothing I did made it better. Just had to let her ride it out…she’d stop, eat for a second, cry again for a second, repeat that once or twice, then settle down and eat. 🤷🏼‍♀️

She DID have lunch and dinner today without complete meltdowns, so I hope this is a thing of the past.

We are definitely in the battle for control stage and I’m trying my best to let her be independent, learn, grow and push limits while trying to balance the whole you can’t/won’t always get your way lesson. I’m sure I screw up 9 times out of 10, but she’s alive and happy so I’m sure we will all be okay. 😝

I pray for patience daily and I think that prayer is being answered in the form of raising a toddler. 😂 K tries SO hard to communicate with us. She has a decent amount of signs down and she’s pretty good and finding non-verbal (or at least minimally verbal) ways to tell us what she’s trying to, but there are definitely times it takes us longer than others to figure out. The day-to-day stuff is fine and then she throws in a new one and we’re lost. Ha!!! …Which turns into a tantrum on her end because she gets so frustrated. Poor Kens!

There was a post on Facebook the other day about 2 year olds and control and it’s a little sad but it was very sweet and a great reminder to have patience while our babes are in this learning stage and still can’t completely communicate their wants, needs and emotions. I’ll post it below for those that want to read it!

If only her communication skills were as on point as her mimicking skills…K has been on a ROLL with that lately. I don’t think there’s a thing at the gym that she doesn’t copy, and the photo below just speaks for itself. 😂

On to brighter topics: Kensie’s newest entertaining habit is wanting to wear her swim diapers…all. the. time. She takes the pack out of the closet and brings me (or Chris) one then stares at you and does a little shake/dance like “come on!” which we finally figured out meant “put it on me!” 🤣 So, we do. And she rocks it.

She also kept asking to go outside and both times sat and played in the dirt. I’m not a fan of dirt; but I’m sure the days of finding happiness in something as simple as dirt will fade all too soon. So, if that’s what floats your boat right now KB, you play with that dirt, boo.

Well, our good news of the weekend is the Nuby transition bottle my friend recommended seems to be working for us! It’s a “sippy cup” that as a normal bottle nipple as well as a sippy cup “nipple” (is it called that?) so once she’s used to her milk being in that cup, we switch out the mouth piece to the sippy cup and TA-DA! It’s supposed to work. We haven’t tried that part yet, but Kens has had her milk out of it since Saturday. She doesn’t drink it as quickly as usual, but she drinks it none the less! I’ll keep you posted – and thank you all for the support and suggestions!!! You’re much more helpful than that doctor was. 😉

Here’s the post I was referring to:

“*****I am 2. I am not terrible…I am frustrated. I am nervous, stressed out, overwhelmed, and confused. I need a hug.*****

Diary of a 2 year old:

Today I woke up and wanted to get dressed by myself but was told “No, we don’t have time, let me do it.”

This made me sad. I wanted to feed myself for breakfast but was told “No, you’re too messy, let me do it for you.” This made me feel frustrated.

I wanted to walk to the car and get in on my own but was told, “No, we need to get going, we don’t have time. Let me do it.” This made me cry.

I wanted to get out of the car on my own but was told “No, we don’t have time, let me do it.” This made me want to run away.

Later I wanted to play with blocks but was told “no, not like that, like this…” I decided I didn’t want to play with blocks any more. I wanted to play with a doll that someone else had, so I took it, I was told “no, don’t do that, you have to share.”

I’m not sure what I did, but it made me sad. So I cried. I wanted a hug but was told “no, you’re fine, go play”.

I’m being told it’s time to pick up, I know this because someone keeps saying, “Go pick up your toys.” I am not sure what to do, I am waiting for someone to show me….”What are you doing, why are you just standing there, pick up your toys…Now.” I was not allowed to dress myself or move my own body to get to where I needed to go, but now I am being asked to pick things up.

I’m not sure what to do. Is someone supposed to show me how to do this? Where do I start? Where do these things go? I am hearing a lot of words but I do not understand what is being asked of me. I am scared and do not move. I lay down on the floor and cry.

When it was time to eat I wanted to get my own food but was told “no, you’re too little, let me do it.” This made me feel small. I tried to eat the food in front of me but I did not put it there and someone keeps saying “here, try this, eat this…” and putting things in my face. I didn’t want to eat anymore. This made me want to throw things and cry.

I can’t get down from the table because no one will let me…because I’m too small and I can’t. They keep saying I have to take a bite. This makes me cry more. I’m hungry and frustrated and sad. I’m tired and I need someone to hold me. I do not feel safe or in control. This makes me scared. I cry even more.

I am 2. No one will let me dress myself, no one will let me move my own body where it needs to go, no one will let me attend to my own needs.

However, I am expected to know how to share, “listen”, or “wait a minute”. I am expected to know what to say and how to act or handle my emotions. I am expected to sit still or know that if I throw something it might break….But, I do NOT know these things.

I am not allowed to practice my skills of walking, pushing, pulling, zipping, buttoning, pouring, serving, climbing, running, throwing or doing things that I know I can do. Things that interest me and make me curious, these are the things I am NOT allowed to do.

I am 2. I am not terrible…I am frustrated. I am nervous, stressed out, overwhelmed, and confused. I need a hug.

-Author unknown

What a week! Since it would have been frowned upon to cuss out the doctor for sharing her opinion, I’ll vent my frustrations here instead.

Quick back story: Kensie woke up with a goopy eye on Sunday morning and Chris and I were pretty sure it was pink eye. She’d had a runny nose recently so I wasn’t sure if it was just sinus back up or a full on infection. Fast forward to Monday morning, both eyes have the grossness. We head to doctor…

Kensie’s doctor wasn’t in until the afternoon so we said we’d take the appointment with the other doctor. Mistake.

First of all, waiting 40 minutes with a toddler in a room with nothing to do is the freaking worst. AFTER the 40+ minutes, I walked out of the room to the hall to check if they’d forgotten about us right as the doctor was walking up. Instead of apologizing for the wait, I got a smart ass “well aren’t you a same day appointment?” Umm, does it matter if I made the appointment 1 month ago or 1 minute ago? No. The fact that you booked it AS AN APPOINTMENT tells me you had time on your schedule for said appointment. I get that shit happens, but don’t bring us back into the room until you’re ready. Kensie was just fine coloring out front. 🙄

That wasn’t the actual part that pissed me off, though. The doctor asked if Kensie was still breastfed. I said no, she just takes bottles now.

Dr. : “Oh. She’s still drinking out of a bottle? She really should be drinking out of sippy cups.”

Me: “She drinks water out of a sippy cup but refuses to drink milk out of one. I’ve tried several different kinds. If I put milk in anything but a bottle, she won’t drink it. Why does it matter?”

Dr.: “Well after 15 months old she shouldn’t be drinking out of a bottle.”

Me: “Okay, why?”

Dr.: “So she does drink water from a cup but not milk? That’s…unique.”

…thanks??? Sooo she can still be on my boob? But bottles 2x a day is a no go? Gtfo.

She gave me zero REASONING, just her opinion. And writing it doesn’t convey her expressions and condescending tone. Y’all. I was pissed.

If you’re going to give me grief about it, offer a true reason and I don’t know…maybe a solution?!

I already have a hell of a time trying to get Kensie to eat. In all of her clothes, a wet diaper and her shoes, she was only 20lb on Monday. She’s gained no weight, possibly lost some, in the last month. Not that it’s anything to be concerned about, she’s isn’t starved, but I tell Chris all the time how much her not eating stresses me out.

Some days she’s great. At daycare when other kids eat, no problem. For me? Battle of the century. I already stress over it, so I’m not going to do the whole “well just take away her bottle she won’t have a choice”. Yeah, no. Doesn’t work like that. I need her to consume SOME calories. Yesterday she ate 1/4th of a Larabar, 1/2 a pouch and like 5 goldfish. She refused dinner, lunch, multiple snacks…she just wouldn’t eat. But she’d drink a bottle. So, suck it, Dr. Smartass. Bottle it is.

ANYWAY, to make the story even greater, Kensie saw her bottles on the counter when we got home and pointed and said “bottle”! 🤣 THAT’S 👏🏼 MY 👏🏼 GIRL 👏🏼

Trust me, if l could get her to drink milk out of a sippy cup I would; however, if I give her a sippy cup of milk she chucks it to the floor and if she’s actually hungry, she follows that chucking with sobbing. Maybe I’ll bless you guys with video proof on my Instagram story this week. 😂

Oh! And the outcome of the world’s worst doctor appointment was that Kensie did have pink eye. She got it from rubbing her snot into her eye when her nose was runny from the pollen. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Cute, I know.

Aside from our Doctor drama, we had a great family weekend and Kensie has been in a great mood so far this week! She stayed home with me Monday and Tuesday and we got in extra naps and lots of snuggs.

This morning she drug this mat into my room and laid on it…maybe she is unique. Thanks for that insight there, doc.

I felt the need to update KBs blog today because 1) I started a post 3x this week and never finished them 😴 and 2) this is the longest I’ve gone without posting and 3) I am so proud of this little fishy’s swimming progress this week!!

She usually cries during lessons (they all do) but this week she’s slowly gotten happier and happier and the last 2 days, she kept dunking her own head and cracking up in between swims!

Pretty sure my 16 month old swims better than I do!!!

Kensie has gone to day 2…and 3 and 4 and 5 of daycare and guess what? I didn’t cry. I’m so proud of me. 😜 I actually only took her today because she was being a cranky butt this morning. That probably makes me sound like a really bad mom…but honesty is the best policy right? 🤷🏼‍♀️

When I picked her up today, K was in more random clothes that I have never seen and rocking a Spanish ponytail again. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 Hey, she’s happy, I’m happy!

How she leaves for daycare…

How I pick her up from daycare:

She does still cry every time I drop her off but the second she can’t see me, she stops. It’s all for show.

K has been chatting up a storm lately!!! We’ve got LOTS of “mama” (which basically gets her anything she wants since I waited so long for her to say it), eat eat eat”, “love you” (Chris even got a love you dada on FT 🙄), “more” aka moe and plenty of words in a language I have yet to learn.

Speaking of eat eat eat…and daycare…I think the Spanish food has helped her appetite. 😆 I’ve posted before about how hard it is to get this kid to sit still and eat and the last week she’s been all about some food! Except dinner after daycare days, since too tired to eat. Ha!

KB’s imitations get better and better every day. The gym might be my favorite place for them. She spends the whole time putting clips on the bars, attempting to lift them, squatting, “cleaning” every thing and today she did some deadlifts with a mobility roller and worked on her pull ups. She sees it? She does it!

Kensie is still a lover and LOVES her some babies!! Tonight she did her very best to soothe sweet Charlie girl and it was the sweetest scene!

Last but not least, kid has perfected her “cheese” and it’s game ON when she sees a camera. 🤣 Whether it’s sweetness or drama, KB never fails to entertain!!!

Such a big day in KB’s life! She’s 16 months old and it’s her last day staying home full time with mama!!! 😯

I’ve honestly gone back and forth between excitement and guilt but I know she’s going to have a BLAST spending part of her days playing with other kiddos instead of just me! I’m also pretty sure I’m going to miss my little sidekick way more than I imagined I would; but, we’re easing into it with part time. I’ll let you guys know if I have the balls to actually drop her off tomorrow or if I end up putting it off again. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

And now, on to being a big 16 month old! According to Baby Center – they like to send me emails every week of KB’s life (for some reason I actually read it today), 16 months is the “looking for reaction” and “imitation” stage. I feel like she started those things a while ago…the imitation is REAL strong with this one; see video…

My one year old cleans up better than some of our 30 year old children at the gym. 😂

The email also suggested we are careful with our words and actions because of the imitation. That’s the real reason she’s starting daycare tomorrow. (I’m kidding).

While I’m sharing videos – here’s Day 1 of SWIM LESSONS! This time she’s actually learning to swim, not just survival! 🤗

Anyway, the life of KB nowadays:

Her favorite song is the Alphabet Song. This girl straight jams to it every time. Body bounce, head bob, the whole nine yards.  She can squeeze the rest of the food out of her pouches on her own (hence imitation…), dance, run and touch her nose on demand (when she feels like listening).

K is still obsessed with baby Einstein. It is all she will watch –  she hates movies and other shows and fusses if I try to change it up.

Her newest LEAST favorite skill is that she now shoves me until I face her and asks for “up”.  Like full body weight, sled push style, walks into me until my legs are forced to move and I look down  🙄😂

My favorite is the running catapult to hug my legs randomly, or if she’s being shy, and the sweet unprompted kisses she’ll give me when I get her out of bed in the morning and let her come lay with me!

She says “dog”, “ack (jack)” and “cap (clap)” and “baby”. Kens is still obsessed with sign language and signs “more” and “all done” about 80 times an hour. If you ignore “more” she smacks her hands together really hard to make it LOUD sign language. 😂 If she’s eating she’ll also say “ah done!” Depending on her mood, she will say “ayter” if you tell her see ya later! K has a little Spanish flair for water and says “agua”. She recently started signing bird and dinosaur….because that’s useful. (Thanks Baby Einstein). Kens is FINALLY saying mama and starting to use it purposefully!

She’s still a tiny little nugget but her smarts and mad color, stacking and problem solving skills remind me that she’s growing way too quickly even if it’s not out of her clothes!

I’m losing count of these days…but the last few have been very fun and a little sad all in one!

I’ll start with the good, since we can all use a little more of that! KB had a sweet daddy daughter date on Friday night and he even bought her a new dress for the occasion. 😭💕

They went to the UCF Baseball game and K lasted until about 8 tryin’ to hang with dad. (Usually she’s in bed asleep by 7).

This afternoon Kensie got to skip her nap to go to the Orlando Chili Cookoff! She didn’t want to partake in the chili, but she partook in the partying!

Backing it on up to Thursday…the bittersweet day…we had our last “in town” play date with Riley and Harper. 😭 Their mama, Casey, has been my best friend for years. We used to work together and watching her raise Riley (thank God she went first and could show me the ropes!) and having little girls 2 months apart was such an exciting time. Life took them on a new journey to NC and they left this morning to officially move. We will visit, of course, but it’s hard to not be able to drive around the corner and see them!

Our final update from the last few days – KB has started saying “later” and it’s the best.

“See ya later!”

K: “ayter!” 😂

So, we hope you have a great rest of your weekend! “ayter” guys!!!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Last week I made my bravest mom move yet and KB FINGER PAINTED some special Valentines! ❤️

It was actually less of a pain to clean up than I imagined. K was also less into it than I thought she’d be. She loved rubbing her hands back and forth and smacking the hearts but about 5 min in she was over it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

KB was spoiled with lots of love today! She got her first Starbucks card so she can have a steamer (warm milk. Seriously. Thanks Gramma 😂), some adorable Llama Llama books, cards and treats! ❤️

We had some matching sweaters to rock for the occasion, but, we live in Florida; so K went gangster style instead. 😂

It was a busy day on the go from meetings to appointments to coaching, but Kensie was a champ as usual and spent the day spreading some love!

Happy Valentine’s Day from DJ KB!