Keira turns 2

I thought I would take a little time out and tell you about Keira's second Birthday. It was supposed to be low key but alas we had a house full of people. I think Keira enjoyed every minute of it.
The highlight of the day for me was when she was sitting in the floor eating her blue cupcake. She was taking her finger and scraping the frosting off. When the frosting was done she looked up at her mom and said " Momma, my cupcake broke." I hope in twenty years she will find a boy that will eat the cake without the frosting like I do for Amy.

Enjoy the picts...



Chris gets the pleasure of reading to Keira. He joins the many that went before him that gave up hours of their time to help her with her vocabulary.


Kate and Keira sitting enjoying their cupcakes.


After a big day like today, all I need is my binkie, my blanket, a comfy chair and Veggie Tales.

Can you blame a girl =)

Praise

Keira and I have been talking a lot lately about the concept of praise. We try and praise her for the good things she does, you know eating all of her green beans, not whining, asking to sit on the potty or remembering that back in October we went to Dave and Michelle's and they took us to the zoo to see the Lions.

She has taken to "praising" dog.

"Your a good dog Smer."

"I'm scratching Smer nice Pappa"

" I kissed him and he liked it Pappa."

This new behavior has started to branch out to other aspects of her life. This morning we were sitting on the edge of the tub( Kiera in my lap), and Amy was helping me clip my nails. ( Not that I can't do it myself but apparently I have a hard time doing it "correctly" so Amy had offered to help. ) When she was done we hear " Pappa, good job in letting Mamma cut your nails." I smiled and said "thank you." And as I put her down so I could stand up, we here " Mamma, you did a good job cutting Pappa's nails."

Is this nurture or nature? Or Both? I hope the latter.

Pappa'a Broke

We were in the mall the other day and it was time to go home. Keira and I were making our way back to Barnes and Nobles since that is where we parked. To get there we have to pass by the Baskin and Robins store. (Which by the way wants me to do a Google search on just who Baskin and Robbins were and why did they choose Ice Cream , but that is not he point of this post) As we pass by Keira looks up at me and asks " Pappa, can we get some Ice Cream?" I will say that in this case it was with her sweet, nice voice and not the whinny voice that makes Papa and Momma get Monster hands, so I looked in my pockets for money. I replied back to her, " I am sorry bug but I am broke, I don't have any money."
I hear back " That's okay Pappa, Momma will have money." And off we walked into B&N to read some books to Momma arrived.
Amy comes in while said reading was taking place and as soon as Keira sees her she pops out of my lap and says, " Momma, you have money?" Amy replies, " Yes, I have some money." But giving me a quizzical look.
Keira replies, " Momma, can we get some Ice Cream?" Amy replies, " Sure." laughing at request. and Keira continues, " Pappa's money broke."
To which both of us start laughing, Keira smiles knowing she made a funny and off we go to the Ice Cream store.
So if any of you out there are interested, Pappa's money is broke and needs fixing, anybody willing to help?

Too Smart!

First of all I would like to announce to any interested party ( you know who you are Grandparents!=) ) that there will be new pictures coming soon.

On Saturday,we sat down to dinner as a family and even though we had been home all day doing gardening and other pieces of house work, it was the first time that Amy and I had a chance to talk to each other. Apparently we hadn't included Keira in then conversation cause we heard " Guys, Stop talking" a couple of times in a row. Amy then turned to Keira and told her, " Keira, dinner time is the time we come together and share stories and talk about our day."
Keira thought about it for a few seconds and then responded " Oh, so how was your day?"

I have a funny feeling that we are only encouraging her to behave this way cause she had a great big grin on her face as she watched Amy and I laugh.

Do I?

Last night after we got home from dinner, Keira wanted to play for a few minutes before bedtime. She had been amazing the whole day so we said sure. We then asked her if she wanted to have a small snack before she went to bed.
This is the response.
" Uhmmm, Do I want some dried cherries?" "Do I?" "Yes I think I do." " Yes papa, that would be a good idea."
Okay so that would be number 3 thing that is me.

What she doing?

Amy and I have been talking a lot lately of how Keira is looking outside her general suroundings to observe and comment about the world. An example:
Saturday she and I were going to the mall. It was mainly an excuse not to watch "Bob and Larry" and since it was still too cold to go to the park, I packed her up and off we went. We are driving and talking, mainly about where mama is and what we are going to do when we get to the mall. You know, the play area, the disney store, B&N so she can play with the trains, all the good stuff you can do at the mall.
We pulled up to a light, and I am waiting for her to start talking about the traffic light. "Red means stop, Yellow means slow down and Green means go!" Instead I got, "What's that all about?" I looked around the car and said " What's that?" I looked back and she was pointing to the car next to us and when I looked over there, a young woman was holding a cigarette. Keira then said, " What's she doing Papa?"
So in my head I am thinking about how do you explain what smoking is to an "almost 2 year old." I initially thought that I could just ignore it, but then I thought that maybe I could tell her and let her decide what to make of it. So I said, " She is smoking a cigarette." I hear from the back, " Hmm, she smoking Papa?" I replied, "Yes bug, but it isn't a good idea to smoke." " It isn't good for your body."
It is silent for a moment and then I hear, " She isn't being very nice to her body." The light turns green, the other car drives off and Keira and I go on our merry way.
Then yesterday we went out to dinner and we are enjoying our meal. Keira looks over to Amy and says " Mama, what was that girl doing out her window?" Totally out of the blue, so Amy was a little lost. I reminded Amy that this story was about going to the mall, and Amy asked" Was the lady smoking?" Keira replied, " Hmm, yes but she wasn't being very nice to her body."
What two year old does that sort of thing?