Little Gym Showcase!

The following post was written my Mackenzy:

"Hi Everyone!  Today was my last class at The Little Gym for the semester and I was able to show my Nana, Daddy, Mommy, Mimi, and Granddad all the skills I learned!  I had a great time and I can't wait to begin classes later in next semester!

I love love to climb on things now at home and I would like to thank Ms. Ellen, my teacher, for giving me lots of fun mats to climb on!  Here I am climbing on the pommel horse!

The balance beam is fun, but I'm still learning on how to walk on it by myself.  Mommy helps me walk so that I don't fall.

I got to class early today so I was able to play before my classmates got there.  I love walking in between the parallel bars.

Here I am climbing again!  I decided to say hi to Ms. Carley who was sitting at the front desk!

We start and end every class with bells and a song.  I love playing with the bells and I've gotten very good at cleaning up.  All Ms. Ellen has to do is sing the song and I know exactly what to do.

Here I am running and jumping during our warm up.  I love to run, but I'm not good at running in the circle like everyone else.  What do you expect?  I'm only 16 months!  Plus it's fun to have Mommy chase me!

Here I go again!  Catch me Mommy!

Catherine is my most favoritest friend in class.  She's a little older than me and will be moving up to the big kids class next semester.  We like to have conversations and give high fives! 

Here's my other friend Samantha.  She was in my bugs class when I was little.

The best part about class is that I get to hide in the barrel and Mommy plays peek-a-boo with me.  I love to play in here and talk to the other babies and big people that walk by.

I also learned to climb down from high objects.  This has really helped me because now I can get down off of the couch at home and I'm getting better and climbing down the stairs.

I just decided to make a silly face at Nana...

I got tired of walking on the beam and decided to sit down.  Then I spotted the balls!



As you can see I'm making another funny face, but this time it's for a good reason.  My darn bottom molars are coming in and they have been hurting me for days.  Mommy has been giving me orajel and Tylenol but chewing on my tongue feels really good!





Finally, since I am a big kid now, I got to stand on the podium and get a ribbon!  I learned a lot of skills at the little gym and I got to play with my friends.  Thanks Mommy and Mimi for letting me go to the Little Gym!"

16 months BIG!!!

I can't believe our little girl is already 16 months old!  I thought I'd take a moment to provide you with an update on her new talents!

Stats: At her 15 month appointment, Mackenzy weighed a whopping 18 lbs and was 30.5 inches tall.  She wears a size 18 month in clothes and a 5.5 in shoes.  I have no clue how this child eats so much and only weighs 18 lbs, but the doctor reassured us that as long as she is eating and gaining steadily then there was nothing to worry about.  He did say that since she is on the go all the time that she may be burning off the calories she eats and if she isn't sitting still long enough to eat a full meal then she may not be consuming enough calories.  So as a result we bought her some Pediasure, which she LOVES, and she now gets to sip on that after dinner.  The thought is that if we give her a high calorie drink at bedtime, during her most inactive time of the day, then she will pack on some pounds.  I think it's working, but I'll know for sure at the next doctors appointment.

Sleep: On average, she sleeps around 11-12 hours at night.  She goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00pm and sleeps until around 6:00-6:30am, sometimes later if she's really tired.  She typically takes 1 good nap a day and it lasts around 2 hours.  On busier days, she may catnap all day when we're not out and about.  She's very easy going and doesn't seem to get bothered when her schedule is changed. 
 
Personality: She is miss independent and wants to do everything by herself, which sometimes creates frustration for her.  She wants to feed herself, but the darn food won't always stick to the utensil and she hates it when Mommy tries to help with difficult food....  She wants to put her clothes, shoes, and coat on by herself, brush her hair and teeth, and close all doors. 

She is talkative, loves to say "hey" and "bye bye" to everyone, loves meeting new people and hates it when people don't pay her any attention,  loves to "talk" on the phone, loves to feed Mommy, Daddy, and Nicholas, loves to put lids on everything, and loves reading books with Mommy.

Words: Snow, snowing/snowy, ha (hat), baw (ball), Mimi, Nana, Pop Pop, Mommy, Daddy, Nick Nick, doggie, car, baby, boy, gir (girl), go, mine, key, one, ly (light), hey, bye bye, nanana (Banana), bear, owl, mow (mouse), ca (cat), boo (book), Digo for Dora the Explorer, Boots from Dora the Explorer, neck (necklace), no no, more, Kenzy, hanga (hanger), mik (milk), tank you (thank you), ba-oon (balloon), bubbles, booger, bird, pabi (paci)

She knows and will point to her belly, ear, nose, head, and eye upon request!

Communication: She signs eat, more, cracker, thank you, book, sometimes please, and we are working on apple.  She's starting to put 2 words/phrases together like "Bye-bye Daddy", "Hey Mommy", "Get doggie" and "No more".  She understands simple directions and requests like "Go get your paci", "Put your coat on", and "Give it to Daddy".  She understands a lot more that she is able to say but usually we can tell what she wants by her gestures and expressions.

Reading:  She recognizes pictures of Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Pop Pop, Nicholas, Mimi, ball, and herself.  When she sees a picture of herself she says "Kenzy", but I don't think that she really knows that that is her in the picture.  We're working on that! 

As you can see, we no longer have a baby!  Mackenzy is a full grown TODDLER and she is starting to give us glimpses of the terrible twos...  She throws tantrums, slaps people when she doesn't want to do something, throws things, climbs on furniture, runs, and squeals at the top of her lungs when she is happy.  She steals things that she's not supposed to have like the toilet plunger, toilet bowl cleaning thing, keys, tooth brushes, and glasses.  Turns the dishwasher on.  We've had to start disciplining her for things she does wrong and she's shed some tears, but she's definitely learning the meaning of "no".

There's never a dull moment with her that's for sure and we're loving every minute of her!

Snow Day!

It's the beginning of January and I'm already tired of snow!  We had snow over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now I am home again for yet another snow day... At least I'm getting some much needed Mackenzy time before basketball season starts at work!

This morning Mackenzy did not feel like sleeping in and woke up around 5:00am... I wasn't happy about that, but she was nice enough to take a nice 3 hour nap so that I could get some laundry done!  She's so considerate!

It's been a great snow day!  We've been in our pajamas all day and played in her new playroom which is still a work in progress.  As you can see below we created quite a mess..  She even decided to stick a name tag on her head...


 She likes riding in the big chair and says "wweeee" as she goes around in circles!

We got a new TV for our bedroom and as a result we had to take the mirror off of our dresser to make room for it.  Mackenzy loved it so we decided to put it in her play room.  She loves to run up to her reflection and give herself a kiss!

Stopping to pose for a picture

Climbing under her art easel