Last weekend we had lots of Christmas fun! On Friday night we went to The Farm in Fort Collins for Santa on the Farm. We went to eat dinner first, so we got there a little late and it was very cold, but we still enjoyed it. Kinsey got to see Santa again and a few of the farm animals (everyone was inside and trying to stay warm). She also decorated a cookie with Mrs. Claus and we listened to some live music.
I love that there's a cow right behind Santa! Kinsey wanted to check her out too:
On Saturday, we went to a farm supply store and guess who was there - Santa! We went over to see him, but weren't going to do pictures again, but Kinsey really wanted to get out of the cart to see him, so we did it. Three Santa visits!
On Sunday night we went down to the Denver Zoo for their special event, Zoo Lights. They do an excellent job with their light display and Kinsey thought it was very interesting. It wasn't quite so cold that night (we chose that night on purpose), but we bundled up anyway, just in case. Santa was there too, but since she'd already seen Santa three times, we decided to skip him this time! I think the best part of the visit was that the giraffes were inside their home - all the animals were in their indoor homes for the night, most of them not visible to the public, but you could see the giraffes. Anyway, with them being inside you can get much closer to them then when they are outside. Kinsey really enjoyed watching them eat their hay and a trainer even came in to give them treats while we were there.
This week has been busy with last minute preparations for Christmas. Kinsey is done with school until the beginning of January. Today they had a Christmas Party that I went to which was really fun. The teachers had put together some cute videos of the kids from Kinsey's class and the other preschool class of activities the kids have been working on and some cute songs. The kids all sat on the floor of the library to watch it with the parents. Then we went to the cafeteria for the kids to sing a couple of songs for us. It's definitely like herding cats to get a bunch of preschoolers to do a performance, especially the kids in Kinsey's class, but it was still cute. Here's a little video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeLPvLaIwyA and a picture:
Kinsey is continuing to crawl often and walk a lot. In fact, the teacher told me yesterday she took 12 steps completely on her own towards her! I think the most she's ever taken before is about 5 steps, so that's huge!
Anyway, we are headed to Gramma's house in Oregon on Monday to spend Christmas with all of Jamie's family (his 2 brothers and their families will be there too) and my dad will be joining us too, of course. We'll do Christmas with them on Christmas day and then do it again with us and my dad (and Santa's presents) when we get home on Saturday. So the blog will probably be late next week, but I'll post lots of pictures from the trip and presents as soon as I can.
Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
Christmas Time Fun
We got our Christmas tree set up last weekend and immediately had to blockade it off with furniture to keep Kinsey from destroying it. Since she started scooting in March (I think), this is the first year she's been able to get to to the tree on her own! She's very interested in it and determined to get to the ornaments and the lights. And this year we have a train going around the base of the tree so that is of course another attraction for her. She tries really hard to get past the furniture blockade or between the pieces of furniture. It's pretty funny to watch her try so hard.
We have moved things out of the way and let her near the tree (with our supervision) to watch the train a few times, which she loves. http://youtu.be/rVpvWJ4xoog We've also let her play with "her ornament" which has a K on it and lights up. She likes that one a lot.
Jamie had to hold her back from grabbing the train!
She was really trying to hang her ornament back on the tree.
Kinsey has also gone to see Santa already and she was very interested in him, as usual.
And here are some more of the pictures that my friend Aliy took for our Christmas card:
This is one of my all time favorite pictures!
Last weekend we took Kinsey to the Butterfly Pavilion near Denver. She really liked the butterflies, but she wanted to grab them all. She doesn't understand how to be gentle though so we couldn't let her near any of them. They had some other creatures there that you could touch and Kinsey was interested in them too. We let her touch the starfish and crab (with our help), but didn't let her touch the tarantula (for the safety of Kinsey and the tarantula)!
http://youtu.be/nwJ-KkUDptI
She really wanted to touch Ruby the Tarantula!
Kinsey continues to get closer to standing up on her own. I caught her efforts on video this week - she got her foot up and flat on the ground while kneeling and holding onto her table so I was hoping she might push/pull herself up, but she didn't do it. http://youtu.be/OIqr65yYOeg But that was the first time I saw her get her foot up while wearing her shoes (she's done it before without her shoes on, but it always seemed like the shoe got in her way before).
She's also doing great learning to feed herself. We've been practicing with cream cheese because it's soft enough for her to scoop up with the spoon and to eat, but solid enough that it will stay on the spoon when she holds it upside down and such (except she did manage to fling some across the room the other day). http://youtu.be/zXZKroEfGQk
And she is crawling more and more every day. I'm surprised that she chooses to do it when she is so proficient at scooting, but she does it several times a day for short distances. I love that she uses a variety of ways to get around.
Finally, here's a cute video. Kinsey was playing with my iPad and I turned on the camera that is on the same side as the screen so she was looking at herself. She found it pretty interesting and kept showing her cow the screen. Too cute! http://youtu.be/ODQl6a6T3Qw
We have moved things out of the way and let her near the tree (with our supervision) to watch the train a few times, which she loves. http://youtu.be/rVpvWJ4xoog We've also let her play with "her ornament" which has a K on it and lights up. She likes that one a lot.
Jamie had to hold her back from grabbing the train!
She was really trying to hang her ornament back on the tree.
Kinsey has also gone to see Santa already and she was very interested in him, as usual.
And here are some more of the pictures that my friend Aliy took for our Christmas card:
This is one of my all time favorite pictures!
Last weekend we took Kinsey to the Butterfly Pavilion near Denver. She really liked the butterflies, but she wanted to grab them all. She doesn't understand how to be gentle though so we couldn't let her near any of them. They had some other creatures there that you could touch and Kinsey was interested in them too. We let her touch the starfish and crab (with our help), but didn't let her touch the tarantula (for the safety of Kinsey and the tarantula)!
http://youtu.be/nwJ-KkUDptI
She really wanted to touch Ruby the Tarantula!
Kinsey continues to get closer to standing up on her own. I caught her efforts on video this week - she got her foot up and flat on the ground while kneeling and holding onto her table so I was hoping she might push/pull herself up, but she didn't do it. http://youtu.be/OIqr65yYOeg But that was the first time I saw her get her foot up while wearing her shoes (she's done it before without her shoes on, but it always seemed like the shoe got in her way before).
She's also doing great learning to feed herself. We've been practicing with cream cheese because it's soft enough for her to scoop up with the spoon and to eat, but solid enough that it will stay on the spoon when she holds it upside down and such (except she did manage to fling some across the room the other day). http://youtu.be/zXZKroEfGQk
And she is crawling more and more every day. I'm surprised that she chooses to do it when she is so proficient at scooting, but she does it several times a day for short distances. I love that she uses a variety of ways to get around.
Finally, here's a cute video. Kinsey was playing with my iPad and I turned on the camera that is on the same side as the screen so she was looking at herself. She found it pretty interesting and kept showing her cow the screen. Too cute! http://youtu.be/ODQl6a6T3Qw
Friday, December 6, 2013
Lots of Fun and Progress
Last week we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a visit from my Aunt Linda, Uncle Jack and cousin Jackie from Upstate NY. They were here (very late) Tuesday night through (very early) Sunday morning. Jamie's Aunt Sandy even came up from Denver for Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a relaxing day at home on Thursday, but true to form, the girls spent Friday and Saturday shopping - all day! Kinsey was a trooper as usual, and she even got in on the action a little. Here she is shopping at the Coach store (she "stole" this purse from Aunt Linda's hands and promptly put it directly on her arm!)
All the girls on the couch together
My little turkey (in the hand me down dress from her friend Lorelei)
Kinsey didn't have school at all last week, but she went back this week and she still loves it. She is really benefiting from being around the other kids. She likes to try to do the things she sees the other kids doing. We took her walker to school so she can use it there (much more room for her to use it there than here). Sometimes she doesn't want to use it and won't hold onto the handles no matter what you try. She did that the first day we took it to school, but then apparently one of the little girls in her class (who knows how to walk) was interested in it and started pushing it around and then Kinsey wanted to do it all of a sudden. Little stinker! This week the teacher had to call me because the kids were having their snack and everyone else was eating a cracker and Kinsey had applesauce, but she wanted a cracker. So the teacher called to be sure it was ok to give one to her. And today when I went to pick her up she and that same little girl were sitting at a table together, but as soon as the other girl got up, Kinsey had to get up and try to follow her!
As I mentioned before, we've been doing a steroid treatment twice a day in an effort to keep Kinsey healthy. We do it with the nebulizer machine, which Kinsey isn't wild about, but Jamie discovered she does better with it if we let her stand up in the crib while doing it. She won't wear the mask (we've never even tried that) so we usually hold it in front of her face, but we've also recently discovered she will chew on the mask! She's so funny with it, but it's nice to not have to stand there and hold it for 5-10 minutes. We just have to make sure it doesn't come apart or get turned upside down or something.
Kinsey's getting better and better about moving around on her own in different ways. This week she's officially crawled for the first time (up until now she's really just stayed still or moved "in place"), but twice this week I've seen her really move and I even got it on video the second time: http://youtu.be/X56eG-M3FXc She's also getting closer to standing up on her own. When she gets up on her knees in front of a piece of furniture, she can get one foot up and if you give her a little push on her butt, she will stand up. She's definitely getting stronger and closer! She's also more stable when she's standing without any shoes or splints on too - while holding onto furniture, she can't stand on her own without her splints and shoes.
She's also getting better about falling without hurting herself. She bends at the waist when falling backwards and tucks her chin so her head doesn't hit the floor before her butt. I've also seen her sort of tuck and roll when falling forward instead of face planting. And the other day I also saw her do a split - her feet got really far apart and she couldn't bring them back together, then all of a sudden they slid and she did a total split. I wasn't sure how she would react to that, but she didn't mind at all. I also discovered how she's going from stand to sit - she bends down like she's trying to pick something up off the ground while holding onto a piece of furniture and then sits when she gets close enough to the ground.
Kinsey has also been making progress with feeding herself. Jamie said she was putting the spoon in her mouth when he gave it to her with food on it the other night. We've also been practicing it at school for snack time. The teacher said she did great with it one day, but hasn't been interested in it since then (she wants crackers every day now like the other kids).
I think I've remembered to include all the updates. Here are some fun pictures and a video:
Kinsey put her cow stuffed animal in the baby swing and was pushing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_q_Rp8loc
She brought Minnie, Pooh and Elmo (not pictured) from her bedroom out into the living room and sat them with her giant dog! so cute!
She loves to cuddle her bears or Minnie when sleeping!
Hmmm - at least she put Mr Potato Head's mouth in the right place.
And here are some sneak peak pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot (my friend Aliy came over to take these for us):
All the girls on the couch together
My little turkey (in the hand me down dress from her friend Lorelei)
Kinsey didn't have school at all last week, but she went back this week and she still loves it. She is really benefiting from being around the other kids. She likes to try to do the things she sees the other kids doing. We took her walker to school so she can use it there (much more room for her to use it there than here). Sometimes she doesn't want to use it and won't hold onto the handles no matter what you try. She did that the first day we took it to school, but then apparently one of the little girls in her class (who knows how to walk) was interested in it and started pushing it around and then Kinsey wanted to do it all of a sudden. Little stinker! This week the teacher had to call me because the kids were having their snack and everyone else was eating a cracker and Kinsey had applesauce, but she wanted a cracker. So the teacher called to be sure it was ok to give one to her. And today when I went to pick her up she and that same little girl were sitting at a table together, but as soon as the other girl got up, Kinsey had to get up and try to follow her!
As I mentioned before, we've been doing a steroid treatment twice a day in an effort to keep Kinsey healthy. We do it with the nebulizer machine, which Kinsey isn't wild about, but Jamie discovered she does better with it if we let her stand up in the crib while doing it. She won't wear the mask (we've never even tried that) so we usually hold it in front of her face, but we've also recently discovered she will chew on the mask! She's so funny with it, but it's nice to not have to stand there and hold it for 5-10 minutes. We just have to make sure it doesn't come apart or get turned upside down or something.
Kinsey's getting better and better about moving around on her own in different ways. This week she's officially crawled for the first time (up until now she's really just stayed still or moved "in place"), but twice this week I've seen her really move and I even got it on video the second time: http://youtu.be/X56eG-M3FXc She's also getting closer to standing up on her own. When she gets up on her knees in front of a piece of furniture, she can get one foot up and if you give her a little push on her butt, she will stand up. She's definitely getting stronger and closer! She's also more stable when she's standing without any shoes or splints on too - while holding onto furniture, she can't stand on her own without her splints and shoes.
She's also getting better about falling without hurting herself. She bends at the waist when falling backwards and tucks her chin so her head doesn't hit the floor before her butt. I've also seen her sort of tuck and roll when falling forward instead of face planting. And the other day I also saw her do a split - her feet got really far apart and she couldn't bring them back together, then all of a sudden they slid and she did a total split. I wasn't sure how she would react to that, but she didn't mind at all. I also discovered how she's going from stand to sit - she bends down like she's trying to pick something up off the ground while holding onto a piece of furniture and then sits when she gets close enough to the ground.
Kinsey has also been making progress with feeding herself. Jamie said she was putting the spoon in her mouth when he gave it to her with food on it the other night. We've also been practicing it at school for snack time. The teacher said she did great with it one day, but hasn't been interested in it since then (she wants crackers every day now like the other kids).
I think I've remembered to include all the updates. Here are some fun pictures and a video:
Kinsey put her cow stuffed animal in the baby swing and was pushing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_q_Rp8loc
She brought Minnie, Pooh and Elmo (not pictured) from her bedroom out into the living room and sat them with her giant dog! so cute!
She loves to cuddle her bears or Minnie when sleeping!
Hmmm - at least she put Mr Potato Head's mouth in the right place.
And here are some sneak peak pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot (my friend Aliy came over to take these for us):
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