Kelsey is 2. But I've seen remarkable changes in her - especially in the last month (or so) - and since I failed to talk about her last month.. I figured I should do so now.
Firstly.. the most exciting news. I/We checked out a preschool last week - and she starts next Friday!! Woot woot!! They only had one morning space available but it happened to be on fridays which is the same day one of her friends form church goes too. So.. hopefully that'll help. my goals for preschool - develop some social skills and leaern how to interact around adults and children alike (who aren't family - ones who actually expect you to act reasonable!) Academically, she's way beyond what I noticed the other kids are (I don't know them all, but just what I noticed in theri play). But socially.. she's way behind. She just watched dumbstruck as they sang a song with actions (even if she knew the song), she kept trying to talk to me as the teacher was telling a story. Perhaps it was because I was there, but she kept asking me permission instead of simply listening to the teacher's instructions. For example, after story time the teacher excuses each child individually from the sitting mat. Each of the other kids knew to get up and run off to play.. Kelsey truned to me to ask if she could get up. I'm assumign however that it was simply because I was there. No doubt she'll be best friends with all of them within the month and inviting herself around to their houses.
Kelsey's "happy" face
Some days the things that come out of her mouth, just crack me up. Lately at the supper table, she's started this thing (copying me, of course) where she asks everyone, individually, if its yummy. "Mommy, yummy potatoes?" And she says it with a completely serious expression - like she really cares what the answer is! The other night we had a friend over for dinner, and she kept asking him (like 5 or 6 times), "is it yummy?" poor guy.. I hope he didn't feel the need to lie.
She's thouroughly enjoying the fact that her sister moves around now. She's discovered that going into a room and calling "Morgan come here!!" doesn't work nearly as well as getting down on the floor and crawling into the room while calling for Morgan. So.. this is what she does now. Unfortunately, its usually followed by slamming the bedroom door right before Morgan gets there. But alas.. we'll focus on the positives today.
I was just reminded of something weird she's been doing over the last couple months. Between 10 and 11 pm suddenly we'll hear kelsey crying - this isn't every night, maybe once a week on average - we'll rush in (she doesn't cry very often anymore) and she'll be sitting up almost disoriented - once or twice she's been standing in the middle of her room. We'll simply lie her back down and she'll pop her thumb in her mouth and go back to sleep. Its so bizarre.
Oh.. and I think we've tackled the eating supper issue. Well, for now anyway. In a what I believe to be fairly typical 2 year old manner, she would often decide before dinner that she wasn't hungry, or that she didn't like something, or that she just didn't want to eat stuff. We are NOT the type of parents to make stuff to suit our child's whims and desires but you still want your child to develop well and eat the right foods. So.. for a while (probably a month or so) I was just not making a big deal out of anything food related at the dinner table. I only put a small amount on her plate. If you eat that you get more, if you don't want to eat it, that's ok, but that's all there is and you wait till we're all done before being excused. No arguments, no bribes.. just that. Happy conversations ensued around her. I was also watching when she did like a meal, how much she could eat - if its spaghetti, she can eat almost as much as me. One day, I talked it over with Marco, and we knew that he'd be home for dinner for a full week (he was working mornings), so we started part 2 of the plan. "Kelsey, you're a big girl, and big girls eat everything on their plates." (this won't be our rule forever, but with her, its necessary for now) "So, tonight, you're going to eat everything on your plate" It was a fairly normal meal - a meal that she likes everything, but often decides that she doesn't. Then we proceeded to eat. If Marco or I saw her playing around and not eating, we'd tell her to eat. If she threw a fuss at all (basically did anything except put food in her mouth), we gave her a 2 minute timeout. When she came back, she had to eat immediately. The first night she got maybe 4 timeouts. In fact, we even finished the meal (did devotions and everything) and left her at the table to finish her plate. She knew we were serious. It was finished by 6:30 (we had started at 5:30). The next night she had 2 timeouts. and for the rest of the week she tested us every single night with 1 timeout. Now we've had 3 meals in a row with NO timeouts. she jsut buckles down and eats. Even stuff that I know she's not too keen on (salad, rice). I'm SO excited. I know she'll test us again and I know I have to use my mommy wisdom to determine if she really can't stomach something - but its not like I'm serving up spinach - and even that.. its just a mindset.
Anyway.. its late now. I'm working on a video of kelsey being cute.. (its hard to get many clips of it tee hee!) I'll post it soon.
Oh.. just thought of a cute (love my little 2 year old) story. a coupel weeks ago, I was sick. REALLY sick. Pounding headache. Sinus infection. I was lying downon the couch feeling incredibly sorry for myself, blanket pulled up high around my chin, eyes closed (I'm sure Marco was watching the kids). A tear slipped from my eye. I didn't realise that Kelsey was watching me. I feel a hand on my shoulder, "Don't cry mommy. Its ok. You OK mommy?" Aww.. why can't she be like that ALL the time...
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