This is my 3.66 year old, Keeley. Obviously, that means she’s older than 3.5, but not quite 3 3/4. She so looks forward to being 4. She will be a ‘big big girl’ then and can have bubble gum. It’s something she told me the other day while I was attempting to make a birthday list** for her. (She HAS had gum before, she just swallows it.) She added other very unhelpful things, as well. Obviously, she’s gorgeous. I have no idea where she gets it. Unfortunately, she has an attitude to match. My friends here have taken to calling her ‘Kween’ online as in, Queen Keeley. I’m not really in love with it, but I try to take it in good humor. She fights everything I do. Often I come here and blurt out my frustration. However, she is so much more than bad behavior. She is sunshine and light, and excitement and thrill all in one little package. She’s mud puddle splashing, and playing princess and with worms and a little reader, too. She’s taken to reading road signs, stuff in the store, and I find myself saying ‘WHY did we teach her to read again?’When she’s happy, I want to just sit and hold her and love on her forever. She’s definitely daddy’s girl, though.
Right now she’s spending a couple of days with my folks. I REALLY wish I could say that I’m going to get a ton done with her away, because her behavior seems to be why I never get anything done while she’s here, but apparently this has thrown the baby (see below) off and so she’s hardly napped and needs constant holding and attention. Blah! Anyway, it’s so QUIET with her gone, which leads me to believe that she makes most of the noise in the house. She loves to sing songs to herself, talk to the TV, dance (which means running in circles and jumping, and then CLAIMING that’s what everyone does!) and talk a mile a minute. I do find myself saying ‘be quiet’ and ‘shut up’ WAY too much. I mean, the fifteenth time you say the same thing, it gets OLD! You know!?! So I’m trying to enjoy the quiet and recorded a whole bunch of movies for when she gets back. I don’t like using the TV as a baby sitter, and I try and only let her watch PBS or rarely age-appropriate stuff on Nick Jr or whatever, but the stuff repeats the same stuff over and over again, so even with as little as she watches, I already know most of the words to the songs and skits she hears. She likes puzzles and blocks, but seems to mostly play with the ‘little people’ stuff, unloading and reloading people onto her bus, plane, SUV, and rarely the dump truck and tractor, as well as putting everything into and out of the house and barn that she has. Mostly she wants to play with the baby’s toys. She’s getting bored and needs some new toys, but it’s not her birthday or a holiday and we try and only buy a couple of times a year. She likes to color and do workbooks, too, she thinks it’s a lot of fun, but she really wants to be heavily supervised during this time and I can’t heavily supervise everything she does (as in sit on top of her and comment on everything), mind the little one, and still keep the house from going on “Hoarders: The kids buried me” edition.** Yes I’m already making a birthday list. It might take me 4 months just to buy one or two toys. Suggestions? PLEASE COMMENT!!!!
This little stinker is Brennan. She will be a year old in about 2 months! Eek! She adores everyone, pretty much always has a smile on her face, and has started giggling at random things, like putting her toes in her mouth in the car seat. I love her. I mean LOVE her. I want to squish her until her eyes bug out, but that wouldn’t be nice. It’s not just me, either, EVERYONE, young and old says ‘she is a REALLY happy baby’!!! This does not lessen my love for my older child, and I’m certain in about 2 years I’ll be saying ‘B is driving me CRAZY!!!’, because it’s just the age, you know? Anyway, other than being a ball of sunshine that EVERYONE loves. Really, our friends/church people FIGHT over who gets to hold her. It’s hilarious…. She’s still a nursing baby and wants to nurse ALL.THE.TIME. Like once an hour. I love it, but it’s very tiring, especially since she rarely wants to be put down in between. Like I said before, hard for a mama to stay ‘above chaos’ during those times. Since she’s been teething, she’s getting up several times a night to nurse. I’ve been exhausted since I was pregnant, pretty much. It’s her happy smile that pulls me out of my exhausted/cranky mood. She’s got a great sense of humor and is crawling her little army crawl. She can REALLY get around, and pulling up is only a few weeks away seems like. Like her big sister, she dances in the form of bopping up and down, whenever there is music on. It could be the little ditty from a toy, or real live stuff, but she just bops, bops, bops!
Without them I’d just be at a dead-end job, or unemployed and playing online all day. Wait, that is what I am.. Hmm.. I’ll have to think about that some more. What I mean to say is, they make me who I am today. Crazy, happy, thoughtful, loving, and sassy. I guess that could apply to them, too. No wonder I love them so much… Happy Monday everyone! Hope yours is fun!
Mindy
What an awesome tribute to your sweethearts! Parenting: simultaneously making you the craziest and the happiest you’ve ever been!
Karmyn R
It’s hard to imagine them being anything other than as sweet as their photos!
Whenever one of my children is gone the house always seems so much quieter. (especially when my daughter leaves because I’ve realized she is the jabberbox).
And 4 year old toys? We bought my son a scooter – designed for younger kids. It has 4 wheel and is a little wider at the base for him to stand on (more stable). This way he feels like he can keep up with his brother and sister.