November 2015

Your comprehension of feelings seems to have advanced in the past month.  You say things like "I'm sad" instead of just crying (well, in addition to just crying) and ask "are you frustrated?" when it's clear that I am.

We got several days of rain at the beginning on the month and we were so excited that I took you outside to let you splash in the puddles.

I have been told a lot lately how beautiful your hair is and that you should be a hair model.  It never really occurred to me until I heard it enough times and started looking around more at the other kids, but it's true.  Yours isn't at all the messy, ratty look that most kids tend to have.

You started telling me, "I like you SO much."  Which is perhaps my favorite thing maybe ever.  The first day you told me we were sitting on the bench outside your classroom after everyone else had cleared out and Miss Grace was standing nearby and heard you and thought it was the sweetest thing.  All the teachers adore you and I can't blame them one bit.

I kept you home from school one Wednesday when you had a cold and since Wednesday is bread day you were extra sad to be missing school.  To make it up to you we baked biscuits that day instead.

We made 5 pounds of sugared pecans to give as gifts for the holidays.  You helped me prep and label and I'm sure you'll help me gift them too.

Mixing things up with a new painting technique.

You've started quoting Lola from your favorite Charlie & Lola books, and not in a good way.  From "But Excuse Me That Is My Book," you have taken to telling me "now, now, now, now, now" when you want something.  As a result, I started skipping that part of the book and you stopped doing it so far.

You also told me one evening "I am not sleepy and I won't go to bed."

You have started adding "I say" to the end of what you are saying to make sure we heard you.  I hear "Mommy I say" lots these days. 

I have explained to you before that when Daddy and I tell you not to do something it is because we don't want you to get hurt and that our job is to keep you safe.  When you play with Daddy sometimes he pretends he's going to eat you and you love it, but when you've had enough you tell him it's time to be a "safe Daddy."

When we started our Friday movie night with you we originally tried sleeping on the living room floor so you could just fall asleep during the movie and we wouldn't have to move you.  We since discovered that none of us sleep well that way so we just move you into your bed or all go to sleep in the big bed if you stay awake for the whole thing.

Around the time we started watching movies you wanted to start watching pretend movies with your animals too.  The first day you did this you needed a little help "setting the stage" so I suggested that the wall in your bedroom was the movie screen and when you weren't sure what kind of movie to watch we decided on a star movie because that wall is covered in glow-in-the-dark stars.  Since then there have been lots of star movies with lots of different animals.

One day Daddy and I were in the living room and you disappeared and were very quiet for an unusually long time.  I eventually peeked in your room to check on you and found you and several animals all laying on the floor, each with its own blanket, watching a star movie of course. 

Also while on the topic:  you love popcorn.

I'm sure I've blogged it before but one of my favorite mispronunciations is how you say restaurant:  "weshnaut."  It's one of those that will make me sad when you start saying it the right way.  Just this week I noticed you pronouncing your name Kinwey instead of Kinney and my heart sank a tiny bit for that one too.

Watching Daddy carve the Thanksgiving turkey.  You didn't like him with that knife and wouldn't go any closer than this.  In fact, when he started you made me hold your hand.

Time to eat, yum!

Decorating for Christmas, by the fire.  ;)

I wanted to let you help with the tree so I got you a big bowl and started putting in all the non-breakable ornaments thinking I could work on the rest at the top of the tree while you were busy with those.  You worked so quickly your bowl was empty before I'd even made a dent in mine.  I love your decorating strategy though.  I find things like 3 ornaments that were obviously part of a set all hung on the same branch because clearly they belong together.

Look at those pigtails!

Time to switch out our wreaths.

You got to try hot chocolate for the first time this month.  It was a hit, of course.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ones.  One day I got out a bowl of buttons and suggested that we try sorting them.  I wasn't sure if it would keep your interest, but to my surprise it kept you entertained for probably a good 2 hours that day.  We sorted by color, shape, and number of holes.  We put them away and got them back out several times.  This was several weeks ago and you still like sorting buttons on a fairly regular basis.

Climbing slope at school.  Showing off your skills.

You love this shirt.  It's from Kauai and has a chicken on it.  Daddy has the same one and you insist that you both wear them on the same days.  Sometimes even on off days when Dad is at work you will ask me out of the blue, "is Daddy wearing his chicken shirt today?"

Parking lot resurfacing meant we got rerouted at the grocery store and had to come in a different entrance.  You discovered the car carts and had the most fun I've ever seen at the grocery store.  It was a monster to maneuver around the aisles, but it happened to be on the day I was getting the bulk of our Thanksgiving supplies so I allowed it just that once to keep you happy.

New slippers I made you.  You won't wear them.

Thanksgiving potluck at school.  Playing on the spinning swing with Josh, Max, and Keoni.

A better view of the climbing slope.

And time to come back down.

Special park visit with Mommy AND Daddy.

You got jammies for all your bunnies and put them to bed.

Another fun visit to the Zimmer Museum.  You had been asking me for weeks to take you to the "museum with the airplane."

On Thanksgiving morning I ran a 5K.  My first race in 6 years.  This is one of those things you might not know about me when you grow up.  I've never been an athlete, but I actually enjoy running and used to run races somewhat regularly before you were born.  I finished this race in 33:09 and was 11th of 35 for females age 30-35.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

You now help me fold wash cloths, pair up socks, and put your own clothes away when I do laundry.  All of these things require some assistance, but it's a step in the right direction.

You like to put things where they belong in general.  We recently moved my cedar chest from the living room into our bedroom and later that evening I found your giant coloring pad in the bedroom behind the chest.  I asked Dad if he had put it there and he said no.  I knew you must have done it because the coloring pad was behind the chest in the living room so obviously that's where it belongs.  I love that you do these kind of things without asking like you just know things need to be put away.  I had no intention of leaving the coloring pad with the cedar chest, but since that's where you like it, that's where it will stay.

Another example of this is that a couple of months ago I got out some picture frames that had been put away when you were younger and put two on my nightstand and one on Daddy's.  The two on mine were just pictures of me and your dad and the one one his was a picture of all three of us.  After awhile it occurred to me that you might like to see the picture with all of us more so I switched it with one of the others so it would be visible when you come in the room.  The next morning I found that you had switched them back to put each back in its original place, because that's where they belong.  And that's where they'll stay.

A couple of months ago our neighbor's assistant, Jena, locked herself out of the apartment and ended up spending the better part of an afternoon with us while she waiting for her boss to get home and let her in.  She played with you and you had a great time.  During that time I got to know her enough to learn that she's from the east coast and doesn't have any family here.

Daddy and I always invite any friends who are not from here to join us for Thanksgiving.  We rarely have many people actually come, but this year Jena and her roommate came.  You were very excited when you found out she was coming and had fun playing with her again.  Here are a couple of selfies she took with you that afternoon.

The last time we played at Charlotte's house the two of you got these sunglasses out and started walking all around the house holding hands.  It was absolutely adorable.

As a first step towards teaching you about Thanksgiving, I cut out paper leaves and each day (well most days) this month we each identified something we were thankful for and hung them on the wall.

At first you didn't exactly get the idea, but as the month went on you actually had some really good answers.  Here they are, in no particular order:
kids
animals
pumpkins
bushes
climbing on the couch
worms
my crayons
buttons
Judah's high school (Judah is Miss Hara's son)
the stroller
my inner tube
my stickers
my socks
wagons
butterflies
orange blossoms
dresses
mittens
tae-tae (which, that day, was a little decorative clay box that your cousins made for you)
balloons
my car
snow days
leaves
strong body (this one was from day 1 when you didn't really understand and just said the same thing I did)

And, to be fair, here is my list:
Kelly's family
sleep
pie
packages in the mail
cupcakes
Sharron
Zimmer museum
meal delivery
picnics
healthy teeth
Kinley
new shoes
sunsets
rain
waking up without an alarm
Under the Oaks
sugared pecans
weekends
warm bed
cool fall mornings
clean home
my family
fluffy clouds
strong body

Finally, Daddy has you using a shoe horn.  This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

You have designated our bathrooms as the "pooping bathroom" and the "peeing bathroom" and like to use them accordingly.

A couple of weeks ago we were headed to Kelly's birthday party, going in the same general direction as the airport.  You asked, "is this the way to vacation?"  Yes Honey, it sure was.