Mischief

Since Keri is practically turning 21 overnight, I better update you on what she is up to. In the last month or two we have gone from crib to bed, diapers to underwear, high chair to "real chair", and a vocabulary of "mama" and "dada" to conversing with Chatty Kathy.

This is just the kids getting ready for a bath after I discovered one of them (I don't want to point fingers here, but can you guess who?) had bitten the tips off of all of our Crayola markers. "Makeup, " she said when I caught her. I know it's just a matter of time before she gets into my real makeup and destroys everything to "look pretty"...and I have sensitive skin, so that would be a costly bit of damage :)

As far as her sleep goes, I've already mentioned that she learned ot escape her crib awhile ago. The crib mattress on the floor was working okay temporarily but Keri started rolling off of it often and it started getting really cold and drafty in the house. Our friends were nice enough to let us borrow their toddler bed for the time being. The bed is working much better for her, although she just doesn't sleep as deeply as Braden. So there are still nighttime awakenings and a lot of times she falls asleep after Braden and goes over to him and pokes him and says his name over and over once he is asleep. Poor guy.

Oh, and sometimes we put her to bed for the night and she tries to open the door for a half hour and says, "Mommy, Daddy" over and over. That's fun too. Sometimes by the time she gives up for the night, she just can't make it the three feet from the door to her bed, so we find her like this when we check on her before going to bed ourselves:

But mostly now that a few weeks have passed she is going to bed, in her bed, and staying put.

She has started to enjoy reading books and so her vocabulary is taking off. For both of my kids, they started talking A LOT as soon as they became interested in books. It definitely helps with their verbal skills! Braden was a bit older when he would actually sit through a book, but once they do that is one of my favorite activities to do with them.

The kids recently went to the library and got to pick their own library bag from a stash the library had been given by some volunteers. So they both bring their bag of books to me to read at least once a day. They learn so much from reading books and I love it when we find a book that is about something they are presently focused on. Like once we found a book about monsters hiding under your bed and Braden asked to read it over and over and over. It was something that was worrying him at night and so we read the book and talked about it and you could tell it helped him to process it. Or Keri loves the book, "Blankie" because she is also very attached to her "blankie" so it strikes a chord with her. It's hard to explain but you can just see in their eyes when we read it that certain books help them figure things out.

Well, aside from my ramblings, that's the latest mischief my little girl has gotten into. She is so "grown up" all the sudden. I thought I'd get to pick out her clothes until at least age 2! Now if I get an outfit out that she doesn't approve of, she shakes her finger and says "No, no!" like she is scolding me. But she still snuggles me and imitates me constantly, so I can deal with the drama because she makes me laugh and smile much more often than she makes me kookoo.