REMEMBER WHEN...you were so flexible you could put all your toes in your mouth? She actually had all of them in at one time, but I couldn't get the camera in time. I asked her to do it again, but she said, "no."

REMEMBER WHEN...you had so much fun in your little red wagon? Mary has learned that putting down the seats creates a whole new and exciting toy. She loves to lie down in it. She better enjoy it now, cause she's not going to fit much longer.

REMEMBER WHEN...you could spend hours playing in a water puddle? This is Mary's favorite puddle everytime it rains. If she's lucky and it's still raining, water drips on her head at the same time she's in the puddle.

REMEMBER WHEN...you walked in to check on your sleeping daughter and found that she had managed to unzip and remove her 1 piece pajamas...and you were so thankful that she kept on her diaper?

Oh, she's growing up so fast.

help or hinderance?

Mary "helped" me fold the laundry today. Which translates to me folding and her pulling all my panties out and stringing them on her arms. Good thing they were clean. Of course, when I asked for them back, she proceeded to run away saying, "mine!"

At least she helped me put the basket back in my room.

coming soon...

the big girl bed! Yeah, I think Mary is starting to want the twin bed that we have in her room. She loves to crawl up on it with a book. She pulls the blanket up and settles in for some comfy reading. Our new routine is to gather 3 books, snuggle in the bed together and read before going to sleep. Tonight, she decided she wanted to stay there. I got up and said, "ok, it's time to go to bed." She looked at me and said, "bye" and waved. I was able to talk her into the crib with minimal fuss. Grandma and Grandpa Putthoff are coming soon and Grandma is planning on sleeping in that bed. I don't want to transition Mary until after they leave. So I went to check on Mary around 8:40pm. I walked into her room and she was standing at the side, arms draped over and head down resting on the side rail. I almost had a heart attack. She scared me so badly. She looked up and gave me the biggest grin. I guess she had heard me walking down the hallway. I told her to go to sleep and she proceeded to throw herself face down on the mattress. What a silly little girl. Thank goodness she hasn't tried to climb out of the crib. But I think we'll be moving her to the big girl bed soon.

Neo Park

Mary and I had quite the adventure today. We went with some of our play group buddies up north to Neo Park. It's a wild and crazy place with LOTS of birds, flowers, a petting zoo and a train. It was so much fun seeing the kids reactions to everything and to each other. Mary wasn't too sure about all the birds. I think I might have projected a bit of my fear of them on her. She was pretty content sitting in her stroller looking at them. That is, until she saw her friend Jessica showing no fear. The kids ran themselves ragged, the mommies had social time and we had long naps when we got home. Who could ask for better? This is such a great age.



Looks like it's time to cut the bangs again.



Train ride! She had so much fun this time. Wasn't scared at all.

The fun pretend train. She was so excited that she could drive.

The new bath hat

Mary has always hated getting water in her eyes, so hair washing time is quite a challenge. Before, she would just cry, but recently she's started standing up and trying to hold onto me and get out. I'm terrified she's going to slip. She also accompanies this activity with high pitched, wailing screams. I went to a local kids store with a friend and found this cool bath hat. It's designed to keep the water off the face when you wash her hair. Genius! I tried it that night, but she was already in the tub and kept pulling it off. Tonight, I put it on her BEFORE the tub, so she could get used to it. She wasn't so keen on the idea of something on her head, but tolerated it once she got in the tub and started playing with the bubbles. I went to wash her hair and of course, she saw the cup I use to pour water and started crying and stood up. If she would have calmed down, she would have noticed that it actually worked and no water dripped on her face. I was amazed. Yea! So I did a quick rinse and called it quits. Baby steps. Hopefully, she start to realize that no water is getting in her eyes and she can relax...and so can we. P.S. I hear Doug hated water in his eyes too. Like father, like daughter. I bet he didn't have a cute pink hat.

"Hmmm, I'm not so sure about this."

"I want to pull it off and Mommy won't let me."

"Ok, maybe it's not sooo bad."

Is there such a thing as too much Time Out? I wondered that maybe we put Mary there too often when last night, she put her toy vacuum cleaner there.

I was laughing so hard when I saw what she had done. I guess it had been really bad, since she left him there until this afternoon. Normally, she only sits there a few minutes to contemplate her transgressions. The vacuum must have had a LOT of thinking to do. This evening we were cleaning up before bed. We were packing her play doh back into it's bag when she grabbed a tub of dough and went to throw it at Dumas. I said in my fiercest mommy voice, "don't you dare throw that at the cat." She looked at me... then looked at the cat...and threw it. I yelled, "Mary Elizabeth!" and she immediately took off running and sat herself down in Time Out. I didn't even have to tell her. That's when I thought,"Hmmm, maybe she goes there way too often."

My little girl is growing up so fast. I sometimes miss the cute, chubby baby with the wild hair. Of course, I love the sense of wonder and amazement this phase brings. How her face lights up when she learns a new trick or masters a new word. How she laughs when I blow on her neck or tickle her toes. And I love when she gives me hugs and kisses.

"Incognito from the paparazzi"

I love the shades. They look so "Hollywood" to me.

Last night we had fish tacos for dinner. Mary was insistent on having a lime slice, since she saw us squeezing them on our fish. She always wants whatever we have on our plates. We were amused to see her sucking on the lime...and liking it. No scurvy for her.

Ok, initially, it was a bit sour.

But she realized it was pretty good.

Trouble, trouble

When Mary's quiet, you know she's into something...

I bought cute little trinkets for all the kids in playgroup for Easter. One of them is egg shaped sidewalk chalk with little rolly eyes. Well, they USED to have eyes.

Here are some "before" and "after" photos

"Oops, I've been caught"

It's the eye graveyard.

And of course I had to get it on video. The funny thing is that she wasn't alone. Doug was on the computer and she was hiding on the other side of the guest bed. Luckily, she's past the "everything in the mouth" phase. The other funny thing is that I was looking all over the house for that missing pink slipper the other day. Surprise!

It's Friday the 13th

So what could happen? It was one of my worst days.

It started off great. We went to Lapsit at the library. Packed house today with lots of wild toddlers that didn't want to sit still, but at least none of them were screaming or crying. However, it was so crazy that the librarians decided to only read 2 books instead of 3. Oh well. Hey, you gotta know when to quit and today was one of those days.

Mary's friend, Jessica, came over to play while her mom went to a doctor's appointment. It was going well until they both climbed up on Mary's twin bed in her room to torment the cat. Mary fell off the bed and hit her head on the corner of the night stand. She didn't do her typical "pain" cry, so I didn't think it was too bad. I hugged her and put my hand on her head where I thought she hit. I pulled my hand away and saw blood. PANIC!!! Wait, I'm not supposed to panic. Deep breaths. I grabbed her and took her to the front of her room where there is better light. Saw more blood, but couldn't tell how much. Why does she have so much hair? Why does it have to be black? I ran for a paper towel in the hall closet. A mere 10 steps away and when I came back her left shoulder was saturated with blood and I saw it literally dripping off her head. I applied pressure with the paper towel, grabbed her and ran to the living room all the while yelling for Jessica to follow me. Luckily, my neighbor, Beth was home and dropped everything (sacrificing her breakfast to the hungry dog with a huge reach) and rushed over to help. I needed some serious support. My hands were shaking so bad. I knew Doug would never make it home quick enough and if I had to rush her to the hospital or call 911, then he could meet us there. Thank goodness, by the time Beth arrived, the bleeding had almost completely stopped and Mary was no longer crying. I was a wreck and she provided great moral support. So Mary walked away with barely a dent, minimal, if any, swelling (wouldn't let me put an ice pack on it) and no trip to the ER. Tons of blood in her hair which we tried to get out with a wet washcloth, but she screamed bloody murder the whole time. We made an executive decision to let it be tonight, make sure it's well clotted and give her a bath tomorrow morning. I know scalp lacerations bleed a lot, but it's different when it's your baby. Mary's back to her normal self. She was even back on the bed later in the afternoon. I try to let her be independent. I don't want her to be afraid of the bed. But I'll be honest, my heart was pounding the whole time she was up there and I just wanted to pull her off. I see cushioned corner protectors in her future and on my shopping list.

PS. Jessica was just fine during the whole ordeal. Even tried to hug Mary after she stopped bleeding. Thank goodness she didn't get hurt too or I would have gotten "the worst mother" award for the day.

She's blossoming everyday

I guess Mary was a late bloomer...or maybe it was all the ear wax, either way, she's now talking more and more each day. Today, she said her first 2 word sentence, "bye, Daddy". It was so sweet. Of course it was right after the door closed behind him and he missed it. Of course I ran to the door to stop him and see if she would do it again. She didn't. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. The speech therapist came for Mary's first appointment last Monday. He said she's doing great and she'll be his best client. We have weekly appointments, but he doesn't think that will be necessary for too long. Right now, we're doing a lot of repetition and repeating words. I'm so glad the therapist comes to the house. What a nice service. Tonight, she said "bubble" for the first time. She always said "bub", but in the bath tub she surprised me with the second "ble". Yea! So we're seeing progress and our life is getting easier. Ok, maybe easier isn't the correct word. Mary has entered into her stubborn, little miss independent, "mine" (thank goodness she doesn't say it yet) phase and that's definitely testing our patience. But at the end of the day, when she's fresh from the tub, smelling like baby lotion and she grabs her milk, crawls up on the couch, lays back on a pillow and pulls a blanket up, your heart can't help but melt.

update

Ahhh, one week later and Mary's finally back on track. Oops, hope I didn't just jinx it. She slept all night 7:30pm to 6:30 am. Yea! Not a single peep, whine or cry. And to top it off, when she did wake up, she simply said, "Daddy". Who can resist that? She's also back to one nap a day and eating again. We transitioned her out of the highchair and now sits in a booster at the table with us. Oh, she's turning into such a little girl.

Mary and I ran to the local grocery store this afternoon for won ton wrappers. Of course, I couldn't find them on base at the commissary, but it was fun getting out. So we're walking through the store and there's a tempura stand with a cute little man selling all sorts of delicious fried goodies. I guess I looked too long cause he offered me a green bean. Yum. I love tempura beans. Oops, NOT a bean. It was a small skinny fish! It actually tasted pretty good, but when you're in thinking green bean and biting into fish, it's a bit of a shock. Also, the idea of eating the head and tail was kinda gross. I think I hid my expression pretty well. I smiled and waved and made a bee line to the oranges and the free sample there. You can bet I'll take a second look the next time I eat a green bean.

There is just something so adorable about a girl in a pretty dress and pink converse sneakers.

Apparently, the black Mary Jane's weren't cutting it and she wanted something different. She was very insistent on the sneakers and didn't take them off all evening.

I started cooking dinner and Mary decided she wanted to wear her apron too. It kept sliding off her belly. Doug gave her the coffee can and a wooden fork (I didn't want to give up a spoon) so she could be a drummer. She decided to take the lid off and pretend to stir instead. I guess she really wanted to be like Mommy. Do I see a play kitchen in her future?

Finally, drumming like Doug intended.

Jet Lag -part 2

Am I so tired because it's 11:00pm Kansas City time or because it's merely nap time here? Either way, Mary and I are headed to dream land...she got a 15 min. head start. I'll be curious how easily we wake up.

Jet Lag

KENDRA'S DICTIONARY

dread- a 24 hr trip half way around the world with a 20 mo old.

impossible- trying to nap on a 1 1/2 hr flight to Chicago with a squirmy baby on your lap.

irony- when the squirmy baby finally falls asleep, it's when the airplane is taxi-ing to the gate after landing.

awe- the USO in Chicago was wonderful. An hour and a half of relaxation: free food, drinks, comfortable recliners, movies, crayons, even a free diaper, so we could save ours and make sure we had enough for the flight. Way better than sitting at the crowded gate in the uncomfortable chairs.

Exhaustion- 6 hours into the big flight and Mary screams in her car seat, won't sleep and won't eat. She only wants milk...and to be carried all over the plane. Pleeease go to sleep, we beg.

acrobatics- What Mom has to do, since we're stuck in the middle row of the plane. The seating was: Doug, Mary (car seat), Kendra and big man that slept, kept invading Kendra's space and didn't need to pee once for the entire 13 hrs! So, I had to stand in my seat, step over the car seat into Doug's seat and then into the isle. 100 times more fun with a screaming toddler in my arms.

relief- When Mary finally slept the last 4 hours of the flight, including landing. We were waiting for everyone to de-board, since she was sleeping peacefully, when she opened her eyes and said "up!". Quite funny. She was ready to get out of the car seat.

Joy- To finally be home again with no future prospects of getting on a plane. Sigh, what a relief that's over.


Even though it was a sad occasion to go home, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone again and Mary really had fun with all her cousins. We wish we could have stayed longer...or at least live closer. Anyone that wants to brave the long trip here is more than welcome to stay in our guest room.