apple orchard and fall cleaning

We took Kaylee to the apple orchard this weekend. She had lots of fun – but I’ll say that it was way harder than last year when she was 6 month old! She wants to walk, run, be independent. The toddlers are hard to keep a hold of and control of when they want their way – she screams and cries, twisting and turning to get away. Totally normal part of development – just makes it harder to go out with her. It was nice to have the family there to help out – everyone took turns holding her since I get tired after a while. Nearly 25 pounds, up a hill, twisting and turning and you get spent easily! Anyways, we got some good photos that I should post here soon! She fell in love with the tractor, just another moving thing to add to her repertoire of words she loves to say! It was so cute, she waited in line to sit on it and loved the steering wheel. We took some photos and there was a long line of other kids waiting to get on, so she cried in protest when we took her off. But from the ground, she was very interested in continuing to watch the other kids try it out. She said many times that day “dar-dar,” or tractor. On the way to daycare today, she pointed to a four-wheeler at a construction site and said “Dar-dar!”

After the outing, I took another risk and took her out to lunch. She was a very good girl and colored in the coloring book for the first half hour. She got fussy when the food came and didn’t want to eat, she wanted to escape and roam the restaurant. I was so happy my Mom brought some cars along that captivated her attention for the rest of the visit. Grandma saved the day!

Yesterday we did some fall cleaning. My Dad installed child safety locks on all the drawers that I had emptied because I’m feeling like I want the storage back. We put everything back in it’s place. Kaylee was very unhappy to have her drawer taken away and is still getting used to it. She doesn’t like not being able to explore so easily so we may have to bring in some new distractions for her to bridge this adjustment. She was very good during the cleaning, not requiring too much attention and not being naughty. Couldn’t have asked for more! Thanks to my parents for helping! Our house has seemed like it’s overflowing with things, so it was good to cull through some things.

She says “grandpa” now. To both Grandpa’s of course. Eric’s Dad is in town and was very happy to be referred to as “grandpa” instead of “grandma” this time! J Kaylee put on such a good show for her Grandparents, running back and forth in the living room taking risky turns and spinning. She showed them how she likes to take her monkey and tuck him in with his “blankie” (a washcloth). She rubs his belly, telling him “shh-shh” “nite-nite” the way we do when we put her to bed. She loves carrying her baby and blanket all around the house. She even asks if she can have a blankie with her at the kitchen table and sometimes we do, because generally after she gets it, she starts to eat. She doesn’t realize that the baby’s head should be out so it can breathe, she coves the whole baby and the whole monkey. “shh-shhh” whap-whap-whap on their bellies. It’s so cute that she’s playing Mom.

She is still calling Eric and I by our first names really regularly. Eric and I are wondering if we need to start calling each other “mom” and “dad” but this seems a real weird thing to start doing with each other. So each time she says our names, we respond but correct with a gentle, “I’m Mom” or “I’m your Dad.”