Kelsey - 2 yr 4 mo

Well.. today is the last day of November. And, on the last day of everymonth, I'll do Kelsey's update. An entry all about my first born. (Or at least this is what I'll attempt to do)
However, first, let me say.. the mouse is dead. 4 days in my house (that I knew about), but it is finally dead. We discoverd it was living/hiding under the new dishwasher. So, we set the trap there, and upon arriving home from church, it was dead. Thankfully, Marco was with me.. so he did the big brave thing and disposed of it while telling me not to look. Thank-you dear.

Anyway.. onto Kelsey. Kelsey is 2. K is also my firstborn, so I'm still learning how to deal with a 2 year old. I don't always liek it. She can be very disagreeable, and then seconds later, the sweetest most agreeable child ever. I think the world from her viewpoint must be quite interesting. She honestly thinks that she runs the show. We're desperately trying to teach her this isn't so, but she's just not grasping it. Mostly, I see this in how she relates and talks to Morgan. She's such a copycat - a mimic. We are currently trying to teach her that she's not to boss Morgan around - this is a lot of, "Kelsey, no telling Morgan what to do". So, yesterday, I was sitting at the lunch table with them. Morgan was doing something naughty (I don't remember what) and I (being her mother) told her not to do that, and what she should do. Kelsey turns to me and says, "Mom.. no telling Morgan what to do." While trying not to laugh, I explained that I was the mommy and it was my job to tell her and Morgan what to do. It was her job to listen & obey mommy. I doubt my words had any effect.

We're also struggling a bit finding enough stuff to keep Kelsey busy.. occupied.. not bored etc. Marco is really great at just getting down on the floor and playing with her.. I.. am.. not.  So.. I took a look at my goals for Kelsey. What is important for her to learn? What things should I/could I be teaching her? How do I want to see her behaviours change? With this list of answers, I decided that Kelsey and I could do a little home preschool. It would give her and I time to do something together. It would teach her a few thingsneeded for school. It woudl teach her listening, sitting, and communication skills. So.. about 2 weeks ago, I started gathering up some supplies and found an online preschool program with free downloadable stuff and we got going. I'm still not very good at keeping at it and doing it every day - but we manage to do it most days. And, the bonus, that I didn't see before, is that it gives us something to talk about.  That might sound really horrible but 2 year olds (well, at least Kelsey) can talk ALL day long. And about really stupid stuff. But teach them something, and they'll talk about THAT. For example, the first week our "theme" was cows. Suddenly we coudl talk about cows all day long. We knew what cows ate. We knew how many tummy's cows have. We knew what baby cows were called.So.. each week we have a theme and learn a new word that has to do with that theme. We also learn a new number, a new letter and a new Bible verse. Iw as so amazed after the frist week how quickly she learned a Bible verse. Our verse for the first week" Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" She can still say it over and over again.

Kelsey favorite food a tthe moment is spaghetti. Any time you ask her what we shoudl ahve for dinner, her reply is "Sgetti". EVERY SINGLE TIME. Without fail. She's also quite into chili. And, of course, french fries. On the day that she came down with the chicken pox I bought some french fries and she refused them. I KNEW then that she was sick.
Anyway.. I do loe watching Kelsey grow up. Every day is unique, different and a bit of a challenge for me. But , just the other day, I sat back and I just couldnt' believe how big she was. Her sentences are coming along so well (although, usually she sounds just like me - scary). She remembers every time tos ay thankyou and most of the time remembers to say please. She's somewhat obedient - but the strangest things are not problems for her at all (whereas for most 2 year olds are). Such as, Its time to go to bed, supper time, time to brush your teeth, etc. These requests are always met with a very happy "OK!" and off she runs to do it. That's my favorite.. when she really does just have a happy willing to please attitude about her. Then again, maybe that's when we're all most likeable...