We woke up hungry

It seems like every morning there is something funny that comes from Miss Keira, but when I really think about it, ANY time we sit and give her our undivided attention she entertains us. Hmmmm, maybe we should do that even more. Anyway, this morning she was being very silly. I called her a fruit loop (she has never been introduced to a box of fruit loops). Response: "Mama, I'm not a fruit roll-up" (Eats these on occasion and they are a fav). Not that funny, but cute. Not a minute later Dave said she was a human tornado. Response: "Papa, I'm not a tomato!" We all melted into giggles when I told Dave she must be hungry this morning with all the fruit roll-ups and tomatoes on the brain.

Oh! One other little story this morning before I go. We were drawing a day or two ago and Keira kept asking me to "write it." But I was not sure what she was asking me to write. I FINALLY figured out she was saying when she said, "my name! M O H E A D" My child knows how to (mis)spell her last name already. =)

Call us when you have a moment to chatch up. Keira is great at phone conversations.

A Conversation

Yesterday our daycare provider asked if it would okay to bring Keira to her house instead of where we normally take her. While not a problem at all, it tends to add about 15 minutes to our commute home in the evenings. What it really means is a 15 minute commute is now 30. Pshaw you say 30 minutes is nothing, but for anyone of you out there that has a child like mine, the extra 15 minutes can either be incredible or miserable.

I was fortunate to have the former yesterday. It was one of the few times that when in the car Keira didn't ask for her music to be on. So she was talking to me and I was talking to her. It was a very pleasant conversation I must say. We got on the subject of animals and more specifically the names of the dogs and cats of our friends. She threw out Hana and Derby and Gillie, with out too much effort and when we got to Nick and Andi's dog Tango, I casually mentioned that they had cats to.
To which I heard, " Papa, what are their names(the cats)?"
I responded " I don't know their names."
The reply " Maybe Mama knows, I'll ask her."

That was the end of that conversation and we went on to other things she wanted to talk about. But I will say she has been, when one parent doesn't know the answer, going to the other to see if they do. But this isn't the point of this story. Let me continue.

We keep driving and talking about other things. About 20 minutes have passed since the first conversation about N&A's cats when my phone rings. I answer ( this isn't the place to have a lecture about talking on the phone while driving) and it is Amy asking about how Keira's day went. These conversations are usually very short and as I am about to hang up I hear from the back Keira asking to talk to Mama. So I hand her the phone and this is what I hear. ( Mind you I can't hear Amy's responses)

" Mama, what are the names of Nick and Andi's kitty's?"
" No Mama, What are the names of Nick and Andi kitty's"
I look in the rear view mirror at this point cause I have stopped laughing, and see this very frustrated look on my daughters face. She then gives up and I hear.
"Thank you mama. I love you too."
Then she hangs up the phone. I look back at her and she says " Mama didn't know." She then hands me back the phone and we continue on to the house.
It turns out that Amy didn't understand anything she was asking and that was the cause of the frustration.

I can't remember what I did 20 minutes ago, and my daughter is asking my wife about the name of cats she has never met before.
While I am not tyring to keep score, cause I will definitely lose, but Cowlick and Steel Trap are mine. The rest is Amy.

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A snow day! Two bundlebugs, Kate and Keira. And after all that playing in the snow we had a nice warm tea party.

Ice Skating

These are my two favorite pictures from the Holidays. Why you may ask? Well if it isn't obvious to anyone the first one is as Keira tells us all the time " I am not a baby, I am a toddler two step." Plus I can totally see Amy in the picture. I get a very good idea of what it must have been like for Debbie and Marvin, and having this little person doing amazing things when Amy was Keira's age.

Well the second is simple because it contains my two most favorite people in the whole world. The may not ever realize just how proud I am of the two of them and how much I enjoy watching the two of them interact with each other. I spend a lot of my time smiling cause they are both in my world.

So what are they doing, well the first one is waiting for Papa so they could go ice skating and the second is taking a break from ice skating. (Notice the cool skates on Keira's "Hikees")

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do.

Thank You Papa

For those of you that don't know already, Keira has the same routine every night when she goes to bed. We have a small snack, play for "five minutes" and then go upstairs and put on PJ's and brush our teeth. After that we have her crawl into her "big girl" bed and that is when the fun starts.
First of all she is still at that age that when it is time to crawl into bed she does. She may try to negotiate a book reading or two but she will lie down and snuggle in with her blanket and pillow-- lest I forget the 11 animals that now sleep with her to "protect her." We say prayers and then sing her two songs, Jesus loves me and Rock a Bye. She then asks us if we are going to be downstairs where the TV is and that usually has been good enough for her.

But lately, she has upped the ante. She has taken to thanking us for the things she did that day. Things like yesterday, "thank you for going to church with me Papa." Or " thank you for having Ice cream with me at the mall, Papa" I hope Amy isn't jealous of it always being Papa at the end, but I know she too is thankful for going for ice cream at the mall with her family.

All that to say that it makes me smile a lot these days to hear my daugther say "thank you." It is spontaneous, it is for the good things that happen in her life, it is because I think she lives in a home that appreciates each other when we say thank you an please.

One last thing, Keira and I were walking down the stairs on Saturday morning and we got about 2 stairs down when she stopped and said " Please papa, pick me up." To which I turned and lifted her into my arms. We got about 2 more steps down when she looked at me and said " Papa, that was not my whinny voice, but my nice voice." I started to laugh. And she replied, " I made papa laugh." Yes, yes she did. And I am still smiling.

Your choice

In the mornings when Keira wakes we bring her into our bed for some family cuddle time. This morning she wanted Dave to come downstairs with her and he was not quite ready to get out of bed. I told her that she could go downstairs with me or she could stay upstairs with her papa and cuddle in bed. Well, I guess I have told her one too many times "These are your choices you can A or B." Usually when I am trying to get her to do something and she has other ideas (example: "You can wear the blue or pink pants. Those are your choices" when we are trying to get dressed and out the door). Back to this morning...she looked at Dave and said "Downstairs with Papa, that is my choice." She picks up everything and then sends it back to us! Boy are we in for it.

Friday Fun with My Girl

Today is Friday. I don't work on Fridays so Keira and I get to hang out. She amazed me more times than I can count today, so instead of bragging about her dazzling communication and interpersonal skills I will tell you a funny from dinnertime.

Keira had a plate of assorted vegetable matter in front of her. She generally likes her veggies, but today there was also garlicy cheese toast and that was all that was making it down her hatch. She asked for more cheese toast and I told her that she had to eat all the remaining veggies on her plate. My exact words were "your plate has to be empty before you can have more cheese toast". And the girl outsmarted me again. She promptly dumped the contents of said plate onto her placemat and said with all sincerity "Mama, my plate is empty". What is a mom to do!

Happy weekend to friends and family. We love you.

Getting a HairCut

So Keira got her haircut. We are so amazed that she responds so well when we tell her the truth about the "adventure" she is going to have. Amy talked to her about what was going to happen, and then she sat by and watch as Keira got her haircut.
Lorie was so wonderful! Keira and Lorie's daughter Leah get to play together all the time I am sure that Keira helped as she was able to relax.
But the best part, the thing that blew me away about the whole experience was when I got home the first thing my daughter asked me was " Pappa do you like my haircut?" It was amazing that this little girl who isn't even two yet was asking me how she looked. Boy am I in trouble!

A little late but now we start

So my wife and I were talking the other day about the fact that we needed to start to catalog all the things that we had been experiencing with our daughter. I thought about it for a while, and cause she mentioned that we probably need to start a blog, so here it is.
We are proud parents. We want to celebrate the little things that she is and does. We want to give those who can't experience her in person the ability to hear our stories about Keira and allow those who might want to peek into our family as we learn what it truley means to be a family.

I hope that this is a place that someday, that Keira will come and launch her own thoughts and feelings for you to share with her. I say someday, because Amy made the mistake of saying that when she was older (which Keira translated to 5) that she would be able to put the Veggie Tale DVD into the player. We are begining to believe that she thinks 5 is a lot closer than we do. She is already "computing" to find her recipes. I am sure she will have the surround sound figured out by the time she is 2.

And so it begins...