Happy Halloween!

The cutest fairy on the block is sending lots of love and kisses your way!

We did a bit of trick or treating in our neighborhood, had dinner and put one very tired fairy to bed.

Click here for some cute pics of our darling girl.

Halloween Costume

I made Kendra's costume this year...our little Fall Fairy. It's a tutu and a white onsie, and will be completed with white tights, white shoes and wings (if she'll leave them on).

We are planning a toddler trick-or-treat at the community center on Friday night, and a neighborhood candy grab on Saturday.

A Day at the Beach

We've all been sick here - colds, bronchitis, ear infections (which was caused by her cutting a molar), but we're finally on the mend. Yesterday I was a little stir crazy from being cooped up for so long, so we loaded up dogs and headed out. Our first stop was the dog park in West Seattle. It was raining, but the dogs didn't seem to mind one bit. They had a ball.

Next stop was a coffee shop for some liquid warmth and a cinnamon roll. Since the Alki Bakery and Coffee shop is across the street from the Alki Beach, we wandered down the beach for a while while drinking our coffee. Alki (pronounced with a long i) is the oldest area of Seattle. It's where the Denny party (the first white settlers of the area) landed in 1851. It was originally called New York Alki, and has a small replica of the Stature of Liberty that stands on the beach in rememberance of the founding name of the area. There is also a time capsule that was buried next the statue this year. It is slated to be opened in 2059.

Kendra taste tested several rocks, but the one covered in seaweed cured her of that predilection. :) Her facial expression was priceless. She then decided that sand was much more appropriate, and proceeded to eat handfuls of the stuff everytime we took our eyes off her for even a second. Little stinker. In the picture she is handing me fistfulls of sand to hold. I'm not sure why, but she worked awfully hard at handing them to me!

(I just thought this was a great picture of Dan and wanted to share.) :)








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Family Style Cooking

Kendra has reached the "curious about everything" stage, so we are now working on walking that fine line between encouragement and she's in the way.

We bought a step stool and Kendra promptly claimed it as her own. She wanted to see what we were doing when we cook, and now she can. In fact, she likes to help as much as she can. Helping by Kendra consists of moving things on the counter to the floor, and rearranging everything on the lower shelves of the pantry - usually to the bench along the wall.

It is so much fun to watch her explore and learn her world - and ours.

Family Down

It's been rough a week in our household. I came down with something (flu? nasty cold? bronchitis?) last Sunday, and didn't get out of bed until yesterday. I was miserable - fever, achy, coughing - the works. Dan worked from home and kept Kendra busy.

Yesterday Dan wasn't feeling well and came home from work early. His is more sinus/nasty cold. Kendra has had a runny nose all week, and this morning woke up with a low-grade fever. Her fever is now up to 101.2, and my normally high-spirited kid wants nothing more than to be held. :(

15 Month Well Baby

Today was Kendra's 15 month check-up. She once again received a clean bill of health, although it was a brutal visit.

She received three inoculations, including the seasonal flu shot. I also decided to have her tested for thrombophilia - a genetic mutation that causes blood clots. We know it's in the family, but we're not sure how close. I don't have it, but it's possible mom did. She was never tested because we didn't know to ask, but she died of an embolism so who knows. The test requires a few vials of blood, which turned out to be tough to get from Kendra's tiny veins. Poor little girl. :(

As for her stats: she was 29" long, and weighed in at 20 pounds on the nose. Not a big growth spurt from her last visit, but moving right along. I forgot to ask specifically, but from looking online at growth charts I'm pretty sure she's now in the 10th percentile.

Off to bed for all of us now...

Contemplating Life

Kendra in a very rare quiet moment...

Things We Have Learned

Being the parents of a toddler is an adventure unlike any other. We learn just as much from watching her as she learns from interacting with her environment. This week's lessons include:

1. Our child is fearless. We went to the Magic House in St. Louis (and had a blast!!) on Sunday. In one area there is a twisty slide about 15 feet tall. We were going to try to get Kendra to slide down it to see how she'd react, but she beat us to it. She slid down all by herself, giggling the whole way.

2. Kendra goes woof. Dan is thrilled - probably a little more than he should be :)

3. Kendra is capable of letting the dogs in the house, and herself out - without any help (or knowledge!!) from me.

4. Things go inside things. Specifically, a D cell battery clutched in the fist of a toddler fits very nicely into the cone of a brand-new-out-of-the-box-less-than-2-minutes sub woofer of dad's new surround sound system. And no, we couldn't get the battery back out.

5. Kendra is her own personal cheering squad. She has learned how to clap, and understands that clapping is a positive thing. Whenever we praise her, or she feels like she's done something good, she'll start clapping. It's really cute.

6. Turtle likes papaya. Don't ask.