We are in full out toddler mode in the Gilbertson household!

Kenley has spent this last month putting words together,
which is so fun to watch and hear.
She is really into personal possession: “mommy’s coffee”, “daddy’s beer”, “Kenley’s water”, etc.
Last night, she went around the table saying “mommy’s eating, daddy’s eating, Kenley’s eating.”
This started a couple weeks ago when she would all of a sudden say,
“shh…Emmy’s sleeping..or Corbin’s sleeping…or Caleb’s sleeping.”
This is because our darling daughter only naps for one hour each day,
so she often was awake at school while her friends were sleeping.
Some of our other favorites are:
How are you? …Good! (Answering herself)
Baby down!! (When baby falls on the floor)
Come here.
Kenley’s house.
Almost there.
Buckle in.
I love you!

If the girl could be outside all day long, she would.
She loves running around, playing in the sand, pushing her Cozy Coupe,
playing with bubbles, riding in the wagon, and finding rocks.
When we go to the park, her favorite thing is the slide.
She loved the splash pad the first time we went,
but has been luke-warm about it the last two times.

Her favorite song right now is Muffin Man. Hands down.
As soon as we get into the car, she asks for it.
Frankly, I have no idea why. It puts me to sleep!
She also likes Ten in a Bed, the ABCs, and the Wheels on the Bus.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle are still fan favorites too.
She had been singing something that resembled the Barney song for about a month now,
I love you, you love me, we’re a happy….. then it kind of trailed off.
So, I had to ask her old teacher if they listen to that at school because
I could not figure out where it was coming from. Turns out, they had a musical book with the song.
Definitely Barney. I’ve even sang it back to her a few times, against my will.

She is doing well with her ABCs, she can complete her ABC puzzle all by herself,
and can say the ABCs through J… then she picks back up with Q, R, S, then it’s jumbled again.
Her numbers are usually jumbled, and colors are hit or miss.
Everything is blue, then occasionally she’ll get the right color on the second guess.

For summer camp, Kenley just moved up to the toddler room and we love it!
The class has a lot more structure than her last class and she’s already learning new things.
I was worried about the transition since she is well aware of the location of her classroom,
who her teachers are, and constantly talks about her friends (most of which are not in the new class).
After just a few tears on the first day, she has been great.
Her teachers said there was no transition period at all and she just jumped right in.
Hopefully I come back and re-read this when it’s time to transition again, so I don’t worry as much!

Kenley is officially down to one nap a day. We have been teetering in between for months and months now,
and I can safely say that she can take one nap and be fine until bedtime. With that being said,
she really only naps for one hour a day, which is not much for a busy toddler.
We can’t complain though because she is a rockstar sleeper at night.
During the week when school wears her out, she will go down as early as 7pm.
She is to the point where she knows she is tired and will say “night, night”
when she has had enough. We won’t hear a peep from her until right about 6am.
Like clockwork, she will start moving around in her bed anywhere between 6-6:15am,
then she’s up and at ‘em by 6:30am, ready to take on the day.
This works out well during the week when we need to be out the door…
but she doesn’t know that she can sleep in on weekends yet! Darn.
The toddler bed is working out very well.
Only occasionally do we have random visits from her after bedtime.

There you have it. 20 months. I know I say this a lot, but each month gets more fun!

Kenley is 15 months old! This is another milestone that I feel is so much older than last month.
Call me crazy, because I am, but saying 15 months versus 14 months just seems so different.

Her vocabulary is really taking off, but we can also start to see that she is understanding more.
She can respond to simple commands and even answer questions from time to time.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have really tried to make a list of her words:

Mama & dada
Hi, hello & bye (complete with waving)
Yes & no (complete with head shaking)
Wawa
Apple & nana
Cheese (shees) & cracker
Milk (mostly in sign language and makes the “m” sound)
More (with sign language)
Please & thank you
Cat (at) & dog
Tree
Uh-oh
Wagon
Kyler (loooooves talking about her friend)
Fish (sheesh) & turtle (teetle)
Ball (and a variation of football)
Happy

Over Christmas break, she would say no after everything. Everything.
It was more like “nooooooo?” and it really was adorable.
Even more adorable now that it has passed.

If you ask if she wants to go upstairs, she will immediately go to the gate
and start shaking it. Upstairs is where the toys are, so it’s super fun.
If you ask if she wants to go bye bye or in the wagon,
she will go straight to the garage door.
One of the fun things is that she will go to her high chair or to the pantry,
when she is hungry or would like a snack.
Sometimes she’ll say cracker or cheese, but usually it’s just “more”.

She can climb the stairs all the way to the top,
in addition to climbing on and off the furniture:
couch, chairs, ottoman, etc.
She is also running,
and is really in to walking backwards, too.

She loves putting things in drawers and cabinets.
One of her Christmas presents was a little craft table that has two drawers,
and each time we are playing, she will hide puzzle pieces in the drawers.
Downstairs, she will put remotes and toys inside the TV cabinets,
you know, just saving them for later.

She’s also a big fan of peak-a-boo, under the blanket.
She will hide, then it’s your turn. Then it’s “more” several more times.
Greg even caught her sitting up, with a blanket over her head during nap time the other day.

If you ask what a duck or cow says, she will answer correctly,
mostly thanks to one of our favorite books “Moo, Ba, La La La”.
She LOVES her ducky right now. She will quack at any sight of a duck.
The other day in the car she kept saying something that resembled E-I-E-I-O,
so we have been singing Old McDonald a lot lately, especially with her farm animal puzzle.

Kenley got a new potty for Christmas, with the hopes that she will sit on it before bath time.
She is typically so excited for bath time that she doesn’t want anything to do with the potty.
Being so excited for bath time means she can get her leg almost all the way over the tub,
which is very scary for mama. She is very eager to get in there, to say the least.

Thanks to her Grandpa, she learned how to unlock an iPod and an iPhone over Christmas.

Happy 15 months Kenley Dee!

Update from our doctor’s appointment:

22 pounds 8 ounces – 50th percentile
31 3/4 inches – 90th percentile

She’s grown 2 1/2 inches in three months!

14 months really snuck up on us. This past month has been insane.
Aren’t the holidays like that for everyone though?
With that being said, however, we don’t have any 14 month photos,
so you’re stuck with my grainy iPhone photos. Lame, I know.

14 months. Where to begin?
Kenley’s vocabulary has exploded over the past month.
She tries to repeat everything, even if you can’t understand it, she at least will get the right syllables down.
She’s very good at saying “please” and “thank you”, most of the time.
Greg said just the other day how funny it is when you can’t understand what toddlers are saying,
but we totally understand what she is saying 99% of the time.
I’m sure no one else does, but we get it.
She will randomly say words so clear, like apple,
which is her new favorite word. Any fruit other than a “nana” is an “apple”.

Her latest thing is that she puts her lovie on the back of her neck when she sleeps.
We started noticing it randomly and then Greg watched her get comfy before a nap
and she wouldn’t stop moving until her lovie was in the right spot.
We think it’s because she sleeps with a blanket during nap time at school on her little cot,
so the weight of the blanket is right at her neck line.
She still doesn’t sleep with a blanket at home in her crib. Is that normal?
Should we be putting a blanket in there with her?

Speaking of naps, we are still moving towards one nap a day.
She is becoming less cranky when only napping once, which is definitely a step in the right direction,
but there are also days that she needs a second nap.
The one nap during the day is also getting longer, which is also awesome.

Kenley can point to her ear, mouth, nose (usually sticking her finger IN her nose),
and most importantly, her belly button (or bee bo, as in the Belly Button book).
She loves lifting her shirt to show off her big belly and her belly button.
So much so, that her teacher made a comment on how much she’s pulling at her belly button.
We are still working on her eyes, head, and hair.

It has been a little rough in the teething department.
Those back molars are not fun for anyone. We started working on teeth 9, 10, and 11
all at the same time. It seems like she constantly has her fingers shoved back there.
I had no idea how big those teeth were going to be, but dang, they are huge.
No wonder they hurt!

It’s funny to look back on pictures of the little one when she was bald,
because it seems like she’s had a ton of hair forever…which I know is not true,
but it is just growing so quickly! And there are at least some curls, so that’s good.

Obviously, the biggest change over the past month was the move into the new house.
I was worried about her, but she’s been a rockstar.
She had zero issues and actually slept better in the new house than she did
the week leading up to the move in the old house.
Greg worked hard to get her room done before we moved in,
to try to make the transition as easy as possible, so hopefully that helped.
I’ll be sharing her new room, hopefully after the start of the new year.
For the first two weeks, she pushed the laundry basket around nonstop,
I guess that was her way of exploring and the tile helps, too.

I know I say it every month, but this girl keeps getting more fun by the day.
Happy 14 months Kenley girl!

Kenley is thirteen months old!
Now that we are’t doing weekly updates, our monthly ones may be a tad lengthy.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Kenley is becoming more talkative every day.
She is learning new words and new ways of communicating.
There are days that we wish she could communicate a little more,
like when she’s obviously annoyed and we have no idea what is wrong,
but I understand that will come in time.
She can say please “peeees” when prompted, and we are working a lot on “up”,
rather than her pulling on our shirts, whining (to be picked up).
She has a toy that plays “row, row, row your boat” so she sings along by saying “row, row”.
About a week ago, she pulled out her toy banana from her shopping cart,
and looked right at Greg and said “nana”. He about died.
She also says wa-wa (water) and dinner, also when prompted.

She points at everything, even at the most random things.
She can spot airplanes in the sky.
When we ask if she wants a “cookie” (graham cracker), she points at the pantry.
In the mornings, she points at everything in her room, like it’s all brand new to us.
If there is a speck of dirt on the floor, she will find it,
pick it up, and give it to you. Occasionally, she’ll try to put it in her mouth,
just to keep you on your toes, ya know?
She also is very good at turning the “light off” and we’ve made that part of our nightly ritual.

She is continuing to eat very well, and we are still working to keep up.
Recently, she loves ham. LOVES it. She also does a very good job with her veggies.
We usually buy a bag of organic frozen mixed veggies, a bag of organic peas,
and a bag of organic edamame. I mixed the edamame into the mixed veggies,
but usually will feed her peas by themselves because she loves them so much.
I don’t know if it’s because they were her first food, but she will literally eat them by the fistful.
Her favorite fruits are apples and pears which she usually has for breakfast.
We are almost all the way done with spoon feeding, with exception of yogurt.
She also is a HUGE fan of mac & cheese, just like her mama.
We tend to stick with the Annie’s brand in the box or individual pouches,
mainly because I like it the best. Greg and I really only eat that brand now too.

We are lost somewhere in the land between one and two naps a day.
During the week, she can sometimes get by with one nap since they push it until after 11am
while she is at school. She’ll usually sleep around an hour and a half there.
On the weekends though, she almost always needs two naps and we have a hard time making it past 10am.
I am ok with her still taking two naps, but I just wish we were
a little more consistent with them. She has no problem going down for naps though,
whether it be one or two. She also now sleeps on a cot at school. No more crib!
They said she adjusted very well and she is just the second one that now sleeps on a cot in her class.
I say “cot”, but it really is just an inflatable crib mattress that sits on the floor.
I have heard (and am hoping) this will make the transition to a toddler bed at home much smoother.

Bedtime is usually around 7:20-7:30pm and prior to the time change, she was sleeping past 7am.
Now, not so much. It’s usually 6:30am, but she is more than happy playing in her crib
for a little while in the morning before we go in and get her.
We are hoping to keep pushing her wake up time back past 7am, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Bedtime routine is dinner, bath, book(s), “light off” and bed.

Just recently, she seems to be going through a little bit of separation anxiety.
This week, she has cried when I drop her off in the morning.
She is usually distracted easily, but some days are worse than others.
At home, she is also not a fan of us putting her down.
We are obviously not trying to carry her around everywhere,
so we direct her attention to something else, usually to her toys.
She also seems to be more scared of things. Just turning the bath water on is terrifying,
not to mention some of her bath toys. At times, it is quite funny, but not, at the same time.

For a while, Kenley was stuck with seven teeth-ers in her mouth.
Just in the last week her fourth tooth on the bottom has started to come in AND bonus,
I just felt around in there this weekend and she has one coming in on the top right towards the back.
This explains why she has been a little crabby recently and she has been pulling at her mouth a lot this weekend.
While I was poking and prodding around in there, I noticed she had a good bump on the left side,
so I wouldn’t be surprised if another tooth pokes through in the near future.

I think that’s most of the Kenley updates, and I’m sure it’s more than you wanted to know.
We are uber excited for the holiday season and we are very anxious to get into the new house,
hopefully, this week!
I am a little worried about how Kenley will do with the transition, but I think she’ll eventually love it.