Anyway, all that to say….
On our board, we recently did a little “toddler check” just to see how all the babies were doing. I love when we do these because 1) it’s a chance to hear cute stories about the other kids and 2) it’s a chance to get new ideas for food, activities, etc. I thought I would post McKenna’s update here so that way I can have record of it for myself (and in case anyone reading it is interested in these kind of details).
What are they eating? Drinking?
Breakfast: She will have one of the following – Pancakes (plain), Nutri-Grain bar, waffles w/syrup or blueberry bread (or muffin). With that she will have one of the following fruit: Banana, mango, papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pears, peaches, apples, strawberries or pineapple.
Lunch/Dinner: She will have one of the following – Chicken nuggets, sauceless ravioli (stuffed with either spinach/cheese, plain cheese, chicken/carrot or beef), fish sticks, Dora the Explorer chicken noodle soup, plain pasta spirals. With that she will have 1-2 of the following – green beans, carrots (cooked or raw baby carrots), cucumber, peas, corn, sweet potato, broccoli, asparagus, French fries, Ritz crackers, cheddar chunks, rice (Uncle Ben’s roasted chicken rice), bread sticks (the soft kind like at Olive Garden), or penne pasta with cream sauce (one of the few things she will eat with sauce on it).
Snacks: Raisins, cantaloupe, watermelon, apple slices (peeled), Jell-O, baby pickles, Graham cracker sticks, Circus animal cookies, fruit/veggie puffs, Goldfish crackers, pretzel sticks, potato chips, dry cereal (she likes Trix, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Apple Jacks and Honey Nut Cheerios.
Drinks: She drinks whole milk pretty much all day. She probably drinks about 25-30 oz. She gets a sippy cup of water at nighttime and probably drinks about 4 oz. of that. I don’t offer her juice but she asks for it about once a week so she gets a mixture of 5 oz. juice with 5 oz. water (I drink my juice watered down and prefer it that way so I still water hers down too). If we’re out to eat, she always asks for sips of our soda or tea and we let her have some. If it was all she asked for, I’d cut that out. But she seems content with her milk all the rest of the time so I don’t worry too much.
Bedtime? Awake time? Naptime?
Strangely, she has gone back to two naps a day. It’s a little less convenient when we want to make plans to go out. But it’s very convenient on the days that I want to get stuff done around the apartment. The important thing is, she is in a great mood most of the time since the schedule change.
Bedtime between 7:30 and 8pm
Awake between 6:45 and 7:15am
First nap starts 3 hours after she wakes up and goes for about 1 ½ hours.
Second nap starts 3 hours after first nap ends and goes for about 1 – 1 ½ hours.
Favorite daily activities? Movies/TV? Books?
Her favorite activities: Playing outside, sitting in the window waving at neighbors, hosting tea parties, coloring, dancing to whatever music or video is on, playing with her baby dolls, playing her piano/singing in the microphone, blowing bubbles, dressing up in Mommy’s necklaces & shoes.
Her favorite dvds to watch: Care Bears Journey to Joke-A-Lot, Wiggles Live, Monsters Inc, Praise Baby.
Her favorite tv shows: Wiggles, Barney, Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer
Her favorite books: Counting Kisses, Three Little Pigs, Snuggle Puppy, Touch and Feel Farm Animals
Clothing size? Shoe size?
Clothes: 18 months
Shoes: 4
Note: She can put on her own shoes most of the time. Can't tie them of course but can loop her sandle straps into the buckle. I haven't seen her put them on the wrong feet yet so I don't know if she just realizes that they belong on the proper feet or if its been chance that she always gets it right.
Any new milsetones/interests/other?
Alphabet: She can sing along to the alphabet song and knows most of her letters as she goes. She sings the last part like this “Now I know my C C C’s, ness time you sing with me.”
Colors: She can say and identify blue, green, pink, yellow, red, purple, orange, brown, black and white.
Numbers: She can count to 10 though she frequently likes to leave out 8. Usually, if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you she's 3. But today when we asked her how old she was, she said "One".
Shapes: She can say and identify a circle, square, triangle, heart, star and oval. She works SO hard every day to draw a star. We work on it together and then when she tries to work on it on her own I can hear her repeating my instructions (Up, down, left, right, down).
Animals: She can identify, say and mimick a dog, cat, bird, fish, octopus, dinosaur, horse, cow, chicken, rooster, pig, sheep, duck, bunny, snake, bear, lion, monkey, frog, hippo, bee and alligator.
Manners: She will say (on her own) please, thank you, you’re welcome, bless you and excuse me. She will say “sorry” with prompting.
Body parts: She can say and identify: Nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, cheeks, chin, head, hair, shoulders, hips, belly, belly button, hands, toes, feet, knees, boogers (LOL Gross I know. But we do make sure that she does not PICK her boogers!) and all her little personal areas. She will also identify everyone else’s personal areas as well. LOL! She has been known to inform many people where their boobies are located in case they are unaware.
Utensils: She can use a fork very well. She can use a spoon well but for things like rice, she usually gives up and just puts the rice on the spoon or in her mouth using her fingers. She has little patience for scooping. She can use a (non-sippy) cup very well but we only give her small amounts in a cup because she is too intrigued with the process of pouring it out and listening to the sound it makes as it splatters. But she does drink from it fine.
Songs: She can sing Twinkle Twinkle in its entirety. She can also sing most of Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC’s, Hot Potato, Rock-A-Bye Your Bear, Fruit Salad, Elmo’s World, Rubber Ducky, I Love Trash and C is For Cookie. She can do all the hand motions or dance moves to Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy, Hot Potato, Rock-A-Bye and Fruit Salad. She always asks me to play Reba (which she pronounces Abba) but her favorite country song to dance to is Simple Life by Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Speaking: She speaks pretty clearly for a 21-month old. It’s not just us who can understand her. Cashiers, neighbors, strangers, etc. They all recognize what she says as well.
Potty-Training: To be honest, I'm not pursuing this one like I should be. Its pure laziness on my part. Suddenly, diapers seem like the most convenient thing in the world. But I'm getting better, I promise. She loves to sit on the potty, pretend to wipe with TP and to flush. I just haven't regularly encouraged her to try and haven't set up a reward system yet.
Technology: Frighteningly enough, she can work the tv and dvd player with no problem. She can also take whatever dvd was previously in the player and can find its proper case and put it away. She can work our cd player as well so I keep a little one out for her to use whenever she wants. She'll choose the cd she wants and puts it in and pushes play, no problem. She loves to talk on the phone though if her caller talks to her, she will just sit and listen and won’t talk back. If they want to hear her talk, they have to be quiet. Her favorite things to talk to Auntie about are Luke and cookies. Her favorite thing to tell Daddy is “Love you miss you.” She also knows how to work our microwave (thankfully, she needs someone to lift her up to get to that one), the dishwasher (unfortunately, she does not need someone to lift her up to start that one) and the ceiling fan. She also can turn on the bathtub now. Time to keep the bathroom doors closed at all times.
Friends: McKenna regularly plays with the kids that live in our complex. She has a way of pronouncing all of their names. Audrey (Audee), Stephanie (Teffy), Andrew (Andoo), Dominique (Edique). She also has playdates with her friend Maddy (pronounced correctly) and Matthew (Mashew). And of course her beloved Lukey (pronounced correctly). She can recognize and say the names of a few of the babies on my messageboard as well – Rhett (pronounced correctly) Isaac (pronounced correctly), Madison (Mass-son), and Emily (Emiyee).
Lovies: She is so very, very affectionate. She will randomly come up to hug us. Sometimes if I’m lying near her, she will come over to me and kiss my forehead. She will say (all on her own) that she loves us. She will hug us, pat our backs and say “Awww.” I always laugh when she says “Awww, I’m sweet.” She kisses her babies and pats them and tells us “Shhh, baby sleeping.” She loves to sit in our laps when she watches her videos and she loves to hold hands with us when we walk around. She will regularly come up to us and say “hands?” and we’ll hold hands and she’ll take us to wherever she wants to go. She will wait for me to get home from work in the evening by sitting in our windowsill. When she sees me walk up she will say “I see Mommy!” and gets very excited and presses her nose up to the glass. I’ll come over and press mine up to the glass and then she’ll point to the door and tell me “Door?” which means she wants me to come in. But my FAVORITE thing that she does is “smush face”. She loves to press her face really close into my face, holding on to the back of my head so I can get away, and just laughs and snuggles.
Ok, well that is about as updated as you can possibly be on McKenna! I wish I had some height/weight stats on her but we don’t have a scale and she barely stands still long enough to be measured.
Here are some pictures for you though!
Erick & McKenna, petting sharks at the Aquarium of the Pacific:
This Manta Ray loved Kenna:
Petting the sea anemone:
Blowing a kiss to the Lorikeet that Daddy is feeding:
It started to get rainy after lunch so here she is in Mommy's sweater. She was running around and being silly with it:
After her bath, she jumped right into Daddy's gaming chair (and then peed in it):
Trying a new look:
Opting for the royal look (a crown that Audrey made for her out of pipe cleaners):
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