Kid-Bits

Time for a little update on what the kiddos are doing these days!

McKenna and I have been reading these Tiara Club books. We've just finished book 6. There are some things that make for good discussions and really applicable to her since she's ALL about being a princess and the books are about these 6 girls who attend the Princess Academy and the trials they go through as they learn how to be Perfect Princesses. So the "villain" in the book is the mean "Princess Perfecta" who is very nasty and competitive. McKenna and I had the following conversation:

McKenna: "Mommy, why is she so mean?"
Mommy: "Well, some people hold on to things that make them mad and it makes their hearts bitter. So they sometimes say or do mean things. But if we don't hold on to the things that make us angry, then we'll have a heart of Gold filled with love and happiness."
McKenna: "And Jesus. We'll have Jesus in our heart."
Mommy: "That's right! When we have Jesus in our heart, He fills our hearts with love and happiness and there's no reason to hold on to the mean things anymore."
So I continue reading aloud and the main character in the books says "I know what being a true princess is - it's being truthful...."
McKenna: "And having a twirly dress....."
Mommy: "And being kind....."
McKenna: "And sparkly shoes....."
Mommy: "And putting others before yourself....."
McKenna: "And kissing."

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McKenna is really into the Harry Potter movies which surprises me. I found them kind of boring but she loves the first two. Whenever she asks to see a movie like Harry Potter or....JAWS (uh yeah, she regularly asks to watch Jaws) we tell her "Well, it's got some scary parts in it." She always replies with "That's ok. I'm very brave." We said yes to Harry Potter. We are standing firm with a "no" for Jaws.

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We went to IHoP for breakfast the other morning and both girls wanted to bring a purse. So they each filled their purse with the necessities (you know...doll shoe, popsicle stick, broken crayon....the important stuff). McKenna says as she's walking out the door, "I have my scissors in case I see a monster, then I can cut off his feathers." Good to know we were well-protected!

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Sometimes when I'm getting ready to put the girls down to sleep, Kyla will hide and McKenna will block her so I can't get to her. Sometimes she'll even grab onto Kyla and protectively and say to me "No! She's my daughter!"

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If you're hanging out with Kyla, you can expect the following:

* She'll mimic you if you yawn. And she thinks she's hilarious when she does it.

* If you have a drink, she'll insist you "cheers" at least a dozen times.

* Any trouble she causes will automatically be followed with a "Ta-Da!" so that you'll think she's performed a great trick instead of broken your sunglasses.

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Both girls love to pile on the bed and push up next to my belly and yell "Hi baby!" Then they try to tickle the baby. And then they usually end up jabbing me in the belly button to see if they can see the baby through there.

They also like to see the weekly pictures in my pregnancy journal of how the baby looks and then I show them with my hand how many inches the baby is. This week I held my thumb and forefinger about 2 inches apart and said "The baby is this big and swimming in my tummy all day long singing la la la la la." Well they thought that was hilarious and have since walked around the house mimicking the baby by dancing in circles and singing "la la la la la!"

McKenna still insists the baby is a boy. We'll find out in another month or so.

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Kyla wakes up much later than McKenna - McKenna wakes around 7:30am-8am. Kyla wakes around 9:30am-10am. So Kyla usually eats a light breakfast well after McKenna is done with hers. Well McKenna ALWAYS asks "Mommy, can Kyla share her cereal with me?" And I respond with "It's up to Kyla. Ask her." Sometimes Kyla says "Sure", sometimes she nods, sometimes she says "NOOOOO!" But the other morning Kyla just ignored her sister. She didn't answer. So McKenna asked again "Kyla, can you share your cereal with me please?" When McKenna still didn't get an answer she looked at me and said "I think I heard Kyla say yes in her heart."

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I'm wondering how serious Kyla's allergies really are. Not that I intend to test them but she has had several exposures and no reactions.

She's allergic to soy yet the other day I gave her some ranch dip before I realized its primary ingredient is soy. No reaction.

She took a bite of a candy that had peanut butter in it. I swept her mouth and got the candy out and then wiped her tongue clean with a wet paper towel. No reaction. Considering her peanut allergy is classified as serious and life-threatening, I'd expect a reaction from having actual peanut butter in her mouth. But now I'm wondering if she actually has to ingest a peanut or peanut butter. Most kids with a serious peanut allergy can't even have products that are manufactured in a plant that has peanuts. And here's Kyla putting peanut butter right in her mouth with no reaction!

Anyway, like I said...it's not something I'm going to test but it does ease my mind a bit that maybe her allergy is not quite as scary as we'd read! We're fervently praying she'll be one of the few who can outgrow the allergy!

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LAST THING!! This JUST happened while I was composing this blog post! KYLA WENT PEE-PEE ON THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME!! Yay!! I'm so proud of her! I had just changed her diaper and decided to let her go diaperless today. McKenna pulled out her potty-seat and Kyla sat right down and went within a few minutes. Didn't take her long to figure that one out! McKenna and I made a big deal about it, cheering and jumping all over which made her laugh and give us this big cheesy grin. We called Daddy at work and Kyla said "I went pee-pee!! I potty!" Her first reward was a lolli-pop. Looks like we'll need to make a trip back to Sweet Factory to pick up our Jelly-Bellies. It was the reward system we worked out for McKenna and it worked like a charm so we'll try it with Kyla too. 1 pink bean for trying, 2 red beans for going pee-pee, 5 blue beans for going poo-poo. I'm so proud of her! Just shy of 22 months, just like her big sis!

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We've got a busy weekend - first thing in the morning I need to take the girls back down to the pool to see if we can get McKenna in for swim lessons. Then my nephew's birthday party at noon. Sunday is church. Somewhere in there I gotta finish the rest of this laundry! That probably wouldn't seem like much but it is when your husband has to work a midnight shift and you need 2 naps a day! Oh, I'm already tired!