How it is March 19th already, I don’t know. This month’s post really snuck up on us.
It’s been crazy busy, in a good way, here in the Gilbertson household,
and the rest of March isn’t slowing down.

Kenley is changing every single day. It seems like each day she says 10 new words.
I know that’s not really the case, but she is full out repeating anything and everything,
so be careful what you say around her.
The last word of most of our sentences is repeated (or attempted to be repeated).
She still loves talking about her friends each day and her teachers say that she goes around the room pointing to each of them, saying their names aloud.
Likewise, she points to Mommy, Daddy, and Kenley a lot at home, reminding each of us who we are.
The girl really just loves to talk, I wonder who she gets that from?

You would be able to understand most of her words, but there are still some that we can probably only understand.
She is starting to recite some lines of her favorite books, which may be a clue to us to get some new books.
Her favorite book right now is Goodnight Gorilla.
She woke up this weekend saying “gorilla” and we read it twice before breakfast.
On a typical night, we’ll read 7-10 books before bed, and during the weekend days, add in about 10 more.
She loves to read!

Some of her other favorite things right now are CUPS!
She has stackable cups that she has scattered all over her room and in the bath;
there are cups that go with her play kitchen;
and she loves to pull out all the (clean) cups out of the dishwasher.

I am happy to report that dinner time is getting somewhat easier.
We are still eating dinner together earlier in the evening and it’s going very well,
other than the fact that I haven’t gotten on the ball with running yet.
There was an entire week this month where Kenley scarfed down everything we put in front of her.
From spaghetti to shrimp & grilled peppers, she ate it all without one complaint.
She has since put up a fight about a meal here or there, but she eventually gives in if she’s hungry enough.
There was another night where Greg made her homemade pizza on an English muffin,
but she ate two servings of peas and didn’t take one bite of pizza.
We can’t really complain about that.

Kenley still has those 12 teethers in there, but we have been working on some new ones this weekend.
I wish I could explain the amount of drool happening over here.
We’re practically swimming in it.
Poor girl was not a happy camper the past couple of days.
Let’s hope they come in quickly!

Finally, I’ll leave you with some silliness.

Happy 17 months!

Literally, the day after I posted last month, Kenley mastered how to open and close doors.
It was like overnight she went from barely being able to reach the door handle,
to opening and closing every door in the house. Her favorite being the pantry.
Since then, it’s been a fun game of going into rooms and closing the door…
then opening it again…
and repeat ten times.
We quickly learned to keep the door to the garage locked at all times,
and don’t even think you will have privacy anymore in the bathroom.

This month we made some changes with food and meal time.
We had a great 15 month appointment with our pediatrician that was very informative.
Since then, we have really made a point to eat dinner together
and to feed Kenley whatever we are having for dinner.
Before, Kenley would have her own meal, then Greg and I would eat after she went to bed.
We had a great routine down, and are still adjusting to this one.
I love that we’re eating together as a family,
but it has completely cut out the time we had to go for a run after work.
It has also required us to plan dinners more and we have been doing at least
one meal in the crock pot each week, which has been so helpful.

I’ve been sitting on this gem for a while.
She really likes muffins, but for reasons unbeknownst to us calls them “robbies”.

She can now point to her elbow and knee,
and loves to point to your elbow if you’re changing her diaper.
She will also point to “owies” on herself or someone else.

She has had 12 teeth for a little while now,
the front four on top and bottom, and four molars.

We do a lot of talking and asking questions while she’s in the bath tub,
mostly because she is somewhat focused and can’t run off.
She will point out most of the animals in her bath toys
and we will talk about what sounds the animals make, colors, etc.
She really loves her bath time.

We think that she is really grasping the meaning of who we are.
She’s always said mama or dada, but now she will point to us
and say mommy, then point to the other and say daddy.
She can say her name and seems to understand who she is.
If you say “who’s Kenley?”, she says “ME!”
She also will occasionally answer, “what’s your name?” correctly.
In addition to Kyler, she also will constantly talk about her friends at school,
Caleb (a lot!), Corbin (Co-bin), Emersyn (Emmy), and Andy.
Other new words this month: open (opie), orange (or-ee), cup, table, pizza (dee dup),
Mickey & Minnie (often interchanged), hot dog (as in the song),
snail (bath toy), diapey (diaper), poo poo, and potty (poppy).

Speaking of, we are sitting on the potty every once in a while,
but we’re still holding out for the first time actually going in the potty.
She shows some signs of interest, so that’s all we can ask for now!

This girl loves to dance and sing. We’ve been singing a lot of nursery rhymes lately,
which are very hard to remember ironically… no joke, I googled
“Mary had a little lamb” because for the life of me, I could not remember the words.
…it’s fleece as white as snow, in case you were wondering.
She LOVES the itsy bitsy spider right now and will do the hand motions.
Her version of saying it is adorable and I can’t even think of how I would spell it,
but I know exactly what she wants when she says it.
I’ll try to get it on video.

She also is a big fan of the hot dog song, and will say hot dog over and over again.

Until next time!