It’s been a while since I’ve given a detailed update on Miss Kenley, so I figured her half birthday would be the perfect opportunity. We officially have a three and a half year old and I still ask myself everyday how in the world that is possible? Wasn’t she just born yesterday?? Seriously though, it’s been six months since we celebrated her turning three? I know I shouldn’t fixate on this, but time is flying!!

I am not even sure where to begin. I really should be letting Kenley tell you about what she is up to because she totally can. She is now at the age where she tells us exactly what happens during her day at school and most of the time, she’s right. School is going so well for her and we love her teachers and her class. Her last report stated that she continues to be a leader in class (which helps since she is one of the oldest) and that he loves to be the first to do things… also adding that she is practicing waiting her turn. They have worked through the entire alphabet at school with help of the weekly “letter bucket” which she loved doing when it was our turn to fill the bucket. She can recognize every letter of the alphabet and will point out all of the letters in words, phrases, book titles, on posters, etc. Sometimes she goes from right to left, but most of the time she starts from left and goes to the right. The other morning on the way to school she counted all the way to 60, with a little help from me on numbers 40 and 50. I hear that she exclaimed “my mommy is 30!!” to her class when they counted to 30 during circle time one day. Thanks girl. She can also count backwards from 10 and it usually ends with “blast off!!”. She really loves school and we know this by her frequently reenacting school activities at home with us, Crosby, her animals, or anyone who will listen.

Kenley’s schedule recently became very full. She just finished up six weeks of class at MyGym and loved it. We are going to be taking advantage of open gym time when we can until she starts another session of classes. She just began her first season of youth soccer through the YMCA. Her team practices on Monday evenings and has games on Saturday mornings. She has had two games so far and has done pretty well. Her attention span can be short lived, but she has actually gone out and chased the ball around, which is great for her first season, let alone her first two games. The Healthy Kids Running Series just started back up again so she is very excited for her “races”! It has been busy, but she has been enjoying all of these fun activities. Once soccer and running are done for the spring, we plan to take it easy this summer and enjoy the sun and the pool.

Here are some other fun tidbits…

Sleep – We have a pretty strict bedtime routine right now which is 100% necessary since we have probably heard every possible excuse to NOT go bed from this one. Our routine includes dinner, bath, pajamas, playtime (preferably quiet play) or one show (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Daniel Tiger), at 7:15pm the phone alarm goes off which means it is time to brush teeth, have a drink of water, go potty, read three books, then lights out. Majority of the time it’s a short “I don’t want to go to bed” whining and then she has to tell us something she forgot to tell us, then it’s bedtime. She is usually in bed, tucked in for the last time, and door shut by 7:45-8pm. She will sometimes sing for a little bit in bed or go right to sleep, other times she rolls around until her covers are all messed up and we got back in to tuck her back in yet again. She also will sometimes get a reward (M&M, jelly bean, Dum-Dum) in the morning for staying in her bed and going to bed nicely the night before. Anything we can do to make the process more smooth, we will. As for naps, she does nap at school for about an hour or an hour and a half. On the weekend, if we are out and about then she probably will not nap or she will take a short nap in the car. She does pretty well without a nap, but it’s always touch and go. She will definitely go to bed earlier on days she does not nap. If we are home, then she still goes down for a nap. There have only been a handful of times where she rested in her room without actually sleeping when we were home.

Food – She is a very good eater but recently has had an opinion about what she likes or doesn’t like. Sometimes we have to persuade her to try something that we know she likes already. She loves all fruits and veggies and will usually eat these things first on her plate. She would do without the meat if she could and likes most carbs. Randomly, she loves olives! Her favorite lunch is a sunbutter and jelly sandwich (which she refers to as peanut butter and jelly, but she goes to a peanut-free school, so sunbutter it is). Her favorite treats are ice cream sandwiches, Annie’s fruit snacks, and Mum Mums (with the sprinkles). She only drinks water and 2% milk unless it is a special occasion where she gets to have a juice box of some sort.

Music – She loves to sing! Every other Tuesday they have a music class at school which she loves. She sings most of the nursery rhymes, but also will tell me if she likes or doesn’t a song that comes on the radio. Of the current hits, she likes Sugar, Uptown Funk, Welcome to New York, Shake it Off, All about the bass, Fancy, and Love me like you do.

Clothes – Shirts, dresses, pajamas are all 4T, shorts and skirts are 3T, undies are 2/3T, shoes are size 8 or 9.

Favorites – Lego Duplo, Lego Juniors, play kitchen/pretend cooking, puzzles, Play-Doh, books, shopping cart, baby dolls, baby doll stroller, Skip Hop Zoo suitcase and backpack, bicycle, car, sticker books, the park, Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, pretend play

Bow-Back Tee // Denim Skirt // Bow

Happy half birthday Kenley Dee! We love you more than you know.