Miss Personality

I wish I could capture Kendall in a bottle right now---to save some of this silly sweetness for the upcoming "terrible two's" or to just take in a breath of who she is RIGHT NOW somewhere down the road, when this particular stage is out grown. Obviously we have loved each stage for various reasons, and I know all that lies ahead will be special in it's own way, too. But there is something so magical about all the language development going on right now. Even when she is using her wonderful language skills to be a little twit (we hear "I do it" A LOT! and sometimes "stop it!" ugh!)! To us, she understands insane amounts of information and spits out much of it with alarming accuracy. And her sense of humor is a blast! I sometimes find myself missing her and wanting to wake her up after I put her down to sleep, just because she is so much fun to be around. Now, we know that this is all really typical for most 2 year olds. In fact, I just read that at this age they understand about 10 new words a day, CRAZY! But it's still pretty darn amazing to us every single day! Our developing human minds are ridiculous. I wish I could teach her a second language right now. Keith and I often say to each other "did she really just say what I think she said?"  Maybe it's because we still think of her as our baby (because it really feels like I just had her!) and it just doesn't seem possible that she can be interacting with us and communicating like this. Or maybe it's because we aren't with her all day, every day, so we can look past the more difficult parts of her personality and just see all the fun parts. Whatever it is, Kendall, you delight us! 

Here are some pictures and info for us to remember who Kendall is at 21months old!

She loves to read 

occasionally gets some "tinkle" in the potty

asks to get "I cozy" and watch a Calliou after bath time (Calliou likes Kendall to sit still and get her nails cut, and she is happy to please him)

adores her cousins (ask her about about Quincy and she won't stop talking! and she continues to get better at hide and seek thanks to them.)

happens to enjoy hanging out in just her boots (sorry Kendall, I had to post this too cute buns pic!)

actually plays at play dates now ("chase you" is a favorite)

snuggles, hugs and kisses everyone and everything (all sorts of strangers are getting kisses blown to them at the store these days!---of course, that is if she isn't screaming "I WALK!!!!" while arching her back making it seem like I'm torturing her by buckling her into the cart! But she saves the long lingering hugs for her loved ones.)

is getting pretty adventurous, and incidentally getting lots of interesting injuries (we have a climber folks! and she calls owies "howies")

can feed herself using utensils (but sometimes picks up food with her hands, sets it on the fork, then puts the fork in her mouth!)

teaches Baby everything she knows (sliding is a new love, she even made her own version of a slide out of the ottoman and her rocking chair)

is a "super" helper and is great at identifying garbage and putting it in the garbage can for us (but sometimes gets it back out to play with or eat---oops, guess we better work on that one!), and we've been trying to allow enough time in the night time routine to have her do all her own picking up---it takes quite a while and I know that is totally a quality she inherited from me---sorry Kendall for being easily distracted. The best part is when she starts to sing the clean up song!

and is just OH. SO. SWEET!

• In the past few months Kendall has finally outgrown all her 12 month clothes and is even starting to fit in some 18-24 mo things. She is wearing a size 3 or 4 in shoes. And is a shoe lover---frequently trying to put them on and is pretty opinionated about which ones she wants to wear.
• We were successful at dropping the binky habit, cold turkey in fact! One day she went without it at daycare so we decided it was time. That night when she asked for it (at this point she was requesting to have about 5 in the crib with her at all times) Keith matter of fact-ly said "you are a big girl now, and you don't need the binky" and that was that. I was thankful he put her to bed that night because I know I would have caved. 
• She is still hanging on to the bottle though, she occasionally will take milk from a sippy cut but sipping is about all we can get and I worry she isn't getting enough fat. I promise she won't go to Kindergarten still drinking a bottle!!!
• Her favorite food these days seems to be cheese and she is getting more picky about her veggies. She has developed a sweet tooth and often requests cupcakes (and I never have cupcakes just laying around the house!). 
• She still loves singing and coloring (even did some "art" on our white bench---thank goodness for the Magic Eraser). 
• She sometimes gets shy around new people but as soon as we are away from them she will tell me all sorts of stories (I might understand about every 5th word). 
• I mentioned this in the Easter post, but she really has a fondness for rocks. It's pretty cute. 
• She is slightly obsessed with chap-stick "ship-shap on Mommy, peas?"
• She can walk up and down stairs without much help!
• Has a few phrases that we just can't get enough of: "Daddy, Where are you?"(in a sing-song voice), "here ya go", "Yay, I did it!", and "Spicy Chicken!" (once she got a kiss from Daddy and could smell something spicy, he told her it was chicken and now almost every Daddy kiss is a "spicy chicken").
• And counts like this "One, tree (3), one tree, ONE!"