Catch-chew

The bad thing now that I'm home is that I'm not keeping up with this blog as I did in England. So I end up missing out on writing about all of Makenna's advances in growing.

I realized the other day that she's really understanding concepts and we have two way conversations. Not always the way I want it to go but she's quick to pick up and figure things out. The other day we were eating at a restaurant and she took a napkin and was wiping the table saying, "I sweep up daddy's mess." I told her that was a good idea as daddy makes lots of messes.

She's also still on her chicken nugget kick so I've resorted to buying some healthier ones from Morning Star or any veggie type ones. She doesn't seem to know the difference. She does seem to also think she lives in a jail as she has been asking for bread and catch-chew (Ketchup). I figure, well it's simple and easy and if she will eat it (and it's whole wheat bread) why not?

I've taken her to a gymnastics class the last 3 Saturdays. It's really just at a gymnastics place and she can play and run around on the different equipment. It's just to get them used to the equipment so that when they're around 3.5 - 4 they can be taught and not be afraid of the equipment or be tempted to run off to see all the equipment as they know what's there. Two Saturday's ago, (only her second class) she received a medal and certificate. Chris didn't feel it was "deserved" but Makenna seemed to really enjoy her medal. In fact, I think she was expecting one this past Saturday. We hope to start this again in the Fall as it's done for the Summer.

I'm hoping to hear about swim classes for her for the Summer so that will take up some of her time. Plus I signed her up for a Bee-Boppin-Tots class on Tuesday nights where she can dance and sing and play with different toys. Whatever we can do to keep her active as if we're not going outside or going "bye-bye" she's leaving on her own accord. She can reach the front door lock and turn it and then open the door and leave. She has also now figured out how to open the back sliding glass door. So we're in BIG trouble. She also has now figured out that she can get herself out of bed without our help and even this morning, we woke up to someone poking Chris in the back, saying "Daddy."

She's starting to get more possessive "that's mine!, not yours!" That's a lot of fun. How do you explain that yes the shoe is "hers" but mommy & daddy paid for it, so it's not "fully yours?" She wants to still drive all the time. She actually wore Chris's battery down in his car as we didn't realize a light was on for over 24 hours. We had to go buy a new battery.

She's also unfortunately quite a klutz. I hope this is normal?! She has a bump on her head from tripping and falling into our deck railing. She has a scrape on her elbow from falling off a chair and scrapping it on the way down to the floor on the desk. She has a scrape, make that two scrapes on her one leg from falling in Jessica & Jared's driveway and then we went over to Josh & Autumn's and she fell there! Then today she tripped and fell again on that same leg and cut it open again on a rug. That doesn't even count all the falls and trips she's had without obvious cuts and bruises. I hope she grows out of this soon or she's going to look like a bruise from head to toe. What's worse is that she's mimicking me when she points them out as she says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." I usually tell her that I'm sorry she got hurt. I start to feel guilty with the intonation she uses.

Well, now that I catch-chew up on Makenna, a brief update on us. I'm back to work part-time at Catholic Charities again and Chris is back at his job. Our stuff from England arrived this past Thursday (June 25th) which was just over a month from when we shipped it. It arrived at a good time as we were able to open the boxes and then give them Jess & Jared so that they could use them to pack and move out the next day to their new home.

We still have to organize things and put things back to order from when they moved in and we moved things around but that can happen in time. We're also preparing to have our bathroom remodeled so that will be a lot of noise and mess coming up.

I'll have to get some pictures up soon. I should take some before and after pictures of our bathroom now that i think of it.

Let's Say Hello to Jesus

Tonight we went to the Vestal Parkway where their is a "Reflections of Christ" portrait and movie happening. When you first go in there is a picture of the Christos statue and someone gives a little blurb and then plays a short CD. Well, while we were sitting there, Makenna was saying, "See the picture of Jesus?" I said, "Yes, I see the picture of Jesus." She then said, "Let's go say hello!" I replied, "Let's!" She went up to the picture and was again how it was a picture of Jesus and then we said hello. I though tit was so cute.

We walked around and looked at the pictures that were hanging, of which two, I really wanted for our house. Well, then we went in and watched the DVD which was on how the photographer took the pictures and his inspiration for some of the shots. While we were in this room watching the movie, Makenna saw the part where Christ was on a rock in Gethsemane. When she saw it, she said, "Jesus is sleeping." How do you reply to that? I just said, "well, not quite."

The only downside is that she ended up having a really stinky diaper and with about 10 minutes left to the movie, I didn't want to leave. It stunk up the room and she kept saying, "You stinky? You need nappy changed?" Luckily the only other people in the room were two other girls from my church so they laughed at Makenna's antics.

A Great Safety Message

This link (as I don't know how to embed the video itself from YouTube) is a great safety message - and it happens to be of my Aunt Phyllis and her son Daniel, my cousin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u09HRDNf6M

Houston - We've Pooped in the Potty!

Yes I'm sharing the first poop in the potty story. It's better than taking a picture and posting it too so be grateful I'm not Kate (from John & Kate Plus 8).

I was cleaning the bathroom and figured I'd put Makenna on the potty watching Baby Da Vinci. As I was cleaning our toilet, I heard her say, "Oh, did you go poopy?" I repeated it back to her as this is not a new comment from her so I wasn't expecting much.

I was elated (and a bit grossed out) when I saw that she did actually poop in the potty! I think she was just as surprised. This netted her a monster sticker (which she so very badly wants all the time) and two pieces of candy. The nice thing - the clean up was a lot less than if she had gone in her diaper.

Here's to hoping that we have more success as the days roll along!

Work, Facebook, and "People in England"

Well it was my first week back at work and it wasn't too bad. I loved the feeling of getting things accomplished. Not that I wasn't getting things accomplished in England - but it's noticed and appreciated and I think that's a big difference. It was just like falling of a bike and getting back on as so many told me. Although, I forgot a few things like how to put on the brakes and to turn the pedals but it's coming back. It'll be nice when the agency picnic happens in a few weeks (as long as it's a nice day,) and to be able to see more of my co-workers and show them how big Makenna has grown.

Okay, well, I've finally broke down and joined facebook. I held out as long as possible but I did it so I could stay in better touch with people from England. I was able to show Makenna some pictures of Hannah from facebook and she didn't want to stop looking. At this point, I'm still stumbling around trying to figure it out and I've wasted wayyyyyy to much time on it trying to see pictures on others' pages and finding friends/family. Plus, trying to find other people I may have not thought of by looking at other people's friends. I hope that once I get the hang of this huge time waster that I won't be wasting as much time.

Speaking of England, I do find myself really missing my routine there and missing the time we were able to spend together as a family. Chris is now back into the swing of things at work and I'm back into the swing of complaining that he doesn't come home at a decent hour.

Makenna and I went to visit my grandmother at the nursing home yesterday and she kept saying to people, "Do you want to meet some people from England?" I felt awkward when I didn't come out with an English accent. In fact, I tried to say very minimal so that they didn't think it weird. I finally broke down by the third person and explained that we were just living there for a year, not that we immigrated here from there.

I have to add one cute thing that Makenna said tonight when I woke her up from her nap. I told her that we were having chicken and noodles in the hopes that, that information would persuade her not to be miserable. It worked as she said, "mmm, I like that." Worked until she came down and realized that I wasn't done cooking. Then the "teenager" come out in her and she whined and complained until dinner was ready.

Well, back to facebook to try and see what pictures I can add and who has considered me good enough to call "friend."