20 Months!

Nathan and Kenna are 20 months old now! As I type this they are on their way back from an overnight (and all day) with Grammy and Papa. We are so grateful that they have grandparents who love them so much and are close enough and willing to have them for these extended periods...some baby free time is such a nice break. No matter how much you love your kids, time away is soooo freeing. :) I woke up this morning and was like, "Seriously? There aren't two little people who are depending on me to get up right now?"

Here are some updates:

NATHAN

There is absolutely nothing that Nathan loves more than running and being chased. He's such a little boy that way! He is always trying to get someone to chase after him, which makes it a little tricky sometimes when you are genuinely telling him to "come here" and he laughs and runs away - not to be spiteful in those cases, just to try to entice you to play with him! Sometimes he actually runs directly into me and throws himself against me laughing. :) I love his little laugh so much! The only problem is that my big tummy right now makes it a little less pleasant!

Nathan's other favorite thing to do at the moment is open and close doors. He MUST open and close doors everywhere he goes. If you don't let him (for example, the laundry room door must stay open for the cat litter box), he SCREAMS! Our playroom has a huge gate all the way across and I've been trying to give them a little more freedom by leaving it open (so they can learn to stay in an area without being fenced in). But Nathan will have NONE of it - if the gate is not appropriately closed he starts jumping up and down and "lightly" screaming. Kenna doesn't like it either but doesn't quite get so disturbed. I tried to force the issue by just telling him that's how it is, the door stays open, you need to learn to accept things. But after he cried forever and just stood there trying to close it indefinitely my sanity was lost and I gave in. I'll try again another time. :)

On a similar note, Nathan can't go down for a nap or go to sleep for the night if everything in the room is not appropriately placed (baby OCD? lol). I usually remember to tell them we need to clean up the stuffed animals, etc. around the room before they go to sleep. But if I forget, they both promptly run around picking up everything. The other night we said it was time for prayers and Nathan came over to sit in my lap. But he turned around, saw there was a bunny on the floor and HAD to get up and put it away. Then he came back to sit down for prayers again, noticed something in the corner, and insisted on putting it away too (even after I told him it was fine). Finally he was able to relax in my arms for prayers. :) (Bryan is just like this at night - everything around him has to be perfect for him to relax, so it's funny to see a small child doing the same thing!)

Nathan still loves his comfort objects for sleep time. That of course still includes Tortue, his stuffed turtle, but it now also includes a blanket. Each nap and night time he must get on his tummy, hold his tortue, and be covered with his blanket. (Kenna on the other hand gets very upset if ANYTHING is in her crib.)

Nathan continues to be a great eater, loving pretty much everything and always wanting more! This little guy seriously would never admit he is full. It makes it a little difficult to know what type of portions to give because he just wants to keep eating! He's only had a few hot dogs in his life but I would have to say they are his favorite. He just gobbles them down. I don't normally give them hot dogs due to nitrites and ridiculous sodium levels but we've found some that are nitrite free so now he can have them once in a while. Kenna absolutely DESPISES hot dogs though - she literally tries to throw them up!

Nathan is such an independent litle boy. He can play by himself for a very long time - not at the same activity for a long time, but without adult or other child interaction. Even when I'm in the playroom with them, he's content to just move around doing his own thing. Kenna couldn't be more different - she wants a LOT of attention. Sometimes it is hard to believe they are siblings!

Nathan is quite good at sharing, more so than Kenna at this point. If she really wants something he has and she's whining, he usually gives it to her. Other times he says "share, share" and takes her something he's decided she should have. It's very sweet! He gets very peeved though if he is offering something she won't take - and starts getting louder: "SHARE! SHARE!" Both of them will tell the other to share when they want something the other has. So this concept is starting to settle in.

Lastly, Nathan rode his first horse at the fair the other day! It was my "day off" so daddy took them to the fair with some friends. When he got home, he showed me a picture of Nathan proudly riding a horse! I was a little sad this transpired when I wasn't there but I was enjoying my day off so I got over it. lol Kenna emphatically said she did NOT want to ride one. :)


KENNA

Kenna is trying very hard to put together sentences now. She says a whole bunch of stuff that isn't understandable and then one word at the end that you catch. It sounds like this, "ahned shobi pods apple". lol I'm pretty sure she is saying "I need ..." and uses that to construct all kinds of sentences because a lot of times it makes sense in that context. But it's hard to say. I'm trying to encourage her by repeating back what a full sentence sounds like rather than just individual words as it's been up to now. I'm also trying to ask her more questions (what is the baby sleeping on?) rather than just labeling questions (what's this? - pointing to a bed) so she can go to the next step.

Kenna counts to three with me - if I say "one...what comes after one?" she will fill in two and then three. She looks very proud of herself! I think she is starting to get the concept of counting now because she will pick up two of something and say "two (whatevers)" - but then again, if I show her a picture of three or four things she still answers two. :) She also labels things as plural a lot suddenly. Shoe is now shoes, pillow is pillows, etc. So she's definitely trying to figure these things out!

One of the most precious things she does right now is want to pray. I never have to worry about forgetting prayer before a meal because she will remind me. As soon as she is in her high chair she says VERY seriously, "Prayers. Prayers. God." It's SO cute, it's unbearable...she puts her hands together and squints her eyes very tightly. She then starts the prayer, "Dear God" and I do the rest. After we say "in Jesus's name..." both she and Nathan loudly say "AMEN!" The other day she started saying in the car while we were driving, "God. Dear God." We've never prayed with them outside of bed time and meal time so I was a little surprised but then I said, "Sure, we can talk to God any time! Do you want to talk to God?" I looked in the rear view and she had huge eyes and nodded SO seriously, "Yes. Yes." So we said a prayer in the car. It brings tears to my eyes sometimes, it's so sweet!

Kenna has some concept that Alexa is a baby, that she is in my tummy, and that she is a girl. Any time she sees something in the house for a baby that is pink she says, "lexa". She points at my stomach and says baby, and points at Alexa's car seat (already in our car!) and says "lexa". I have no idea who she thinks Alexa actually is, but it's cute to see that she seems to think of her as a real person!

Kenna seems to love looking cute already. In the last month especially she insists on having a barette in her hair in the morning. I will ask her to look at me when I put it in and then I tell her, "oh, that's so cute!" and she smiles hugely and runs off. She pulled a hat out of the drawer this week and put it on, and after I told her how cute it was, she wore it for a long time after...even a month ago she wouldn't keep a hat on for 5 minutes!

Kenna loves to hug various stuffed animals, especially small ones, in the playroom. For some reason lately she has been hugging them with her eyes closed! She has a little elephant in a purse and she takes it out and gives it to me to kiss then puts it back in the purse and says "night night" (at all times of day). At night she insists on hugging her stuffed turtle but absolutely refuses to sleep with anything in the crib. If she is lying down and you give her something she says "done! done!" and is very distressed until you take it from her. So no blankets, no animals, no anything! When she is upset about something she also says "hug, hug" until I give her a hug. Nathan picked up on that and now any time there is a SLIGHT distress over something, they will both cry "HUG! HUG!" and come to me.

She is also very affectionate with her kisses at night. She kisses me over and over on each cheek and thinks it is so funny that she can't catch me on the lips. (I just think it's gross to kiss kids on the lips!) I think she sees Bryan kiss me on the lips and thinks she should do that too. :)