Happenings

A year ago I began to intensely work with Kendra to help her SPD. I took her to new places with new people to try to pull her out. This was very difficult for her. One place I took her is called Hoots. It has inflatable jumpers and slides. It took about an hour to finally get her to even want to get on them. At first she got right off. Eventually we jumped and slid together.

Kendra had a birthday party at one of these jumpy places. I told Mark to be prepared because she would probably have a hard time. As we entered the party it was loud and filled with people. Kendra didn't seem to notice, she wanted to jump! She got right on a jumpy with unfamiliar people, without mom or dad, and had a great time! She did ask for her daddy to join her, but not out of fear, just for play. Isn't that amazing? Seeing these strides in Kendra makes me happy.

Transitions and new routines are still hard for her. A new year means a new nursery class and teachers. Kendra loved nursery last year so I thought she would be okay. I was wrong! Kendra cried and gagged until they found us. She kept saying, "I want to go home." Mark was able to get her to go back to nursery as long as he stayed. I'm in the process of making a visual schedule for her so she can understand the change. Hopefully in about a month or two she'll love nursery again.

Today was Kendra's first day of Pre-school! I can't believe my little girl is going to school already! It's actually a friend from our ward that is teaching her along with four other students. I thought Kendra would have a difficult time with the transition, but she went right on in and I came home!!! We have talked all week about school and how fun it would be. This morning when she woke up she said, "I go to school today!" She was ready to go the minute she was up. In fact, 20 minutes before it starts she was at the door waiting for mommy to finish getting ready.

Soap Box

Mark and I are both pro-life. I have read the FOCA (freedom of choice act) which would legalize partial birth abortions. I also read statements from nurses who worked at a hospital in Illinois where abortions failed and babies were left to die in utility closets. This sickens me. I can't imagine aborting a child after learning it was going to have a defect, (down syndrome, chromosome disorders, etc.). If we are willing to do this, when will the time come that we will euthanize severely disabled individuals who are zapping the federal funds? Or would it become legal to euthanize your child when you find they have autism or some other disorder? If we view babies with disabilities as having no worth do they ever gain their value? Did my daughter lose her value when she was diagnosed with her disorder? Not in my eyes. I don't understand how these women can have good consciouses after performing such an act.

Christmas

This year we were on our own for Christmas. We decided last night that it is more fun to be with family during the holidays. We were able to spend part of yesterday with old family friends, (they knew my parents when they were first married and lived in Vale, OR - now they live in Edgewood, NM) it was great to see them and their family again.

We stayed home this year partly due to money - now that Kendra is two we have to pay for her airplane ticket, and partly because we are really behind with everything because I was so sick. Mark has six days off of work so we get him all of next week too! This is great! Sometime between now and then I hope he'll fix our kitchen faucet which broke a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Notice the proud father in the background.

The things Disney teaches children...

Christmas Eve

This is our first year that we did not travel to be with family at Christmas time. Although we miss our families we've had a good time staying here. On Christmas Eve we made a gingerbread castle. Kendra spent about an hour making it just perfect. She said, "I'm doing a good job!"

She was very excited to do it herself!

This is the finished castle.

And this is what it is suppose to look like!

Kendra is usually shy and reserved when people are over at our house. This time Kendra was hyper and aching for attention! She kept making up songs.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!! To recap our year, we have a test. And since we haven’t seen many of you over the year, you’ll be at a slight disadvantage. Good luck!

1. How many miles did we travel this last year?
a. 1,596 b. 7,312 c. 4,294 d. we never leave ABQ

2. What did Kendra do that made us laugh the hardest?
a. Cross her eyes
b. Says “go-ee-oh” instead of “here you go”
c. Tried to teach a toy fly to pray
d. Telling us she’s going to call pizza on her toy phone, then picking up the phone and saying “hi pizza”
e. Telling Mommy not to fall into the toilet after she had

3. What was Kristi’s favorite book?
a. Treatment of Childhood Disorders by Eric J. Mash
b. Get Rich Quick by Mike Jukes Onyou
c. Dude, Where’s My Country by Michael Moore
d. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

4. What was Mark’s favorite book?
a. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
b. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton
c. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
d. Birds of North America, by C. Robbins

5. What song does Kendra make us listen to over and over every time we drive somewhere?
a. “I'll Make a Man Out of You”, from Mulan
b. “How Does She Know”, from Enchanted
c. “I Know You”, from Sleeping Beauty
d. Theme song from Veggie Tales

6. What makes Kendra laugh the hardest?
a. Butterfly kisses
b. Peek-a-boo from behind her bathroom towel
c. Tickle torture from Mommy

7. What was Kendra’s best excuse to call Daddy back into her bedroom after she’s been tucked in for bed?
a. Needs to go to the bathroom (and then doesn’t go)
b. Needs to look out the window
c. Needs to be tucked in again
d. Needs to blow her nose
e. Needs a drink
f. Has no good reason

8. What was a year low point?
a. Mark backing Kristi’s new Rav4 into a pole (a plastic pole)
b. Kristi seeing, for the first time, Kendra behaving quite differently from other kids in a group setting (signs of what turned out to be a sensory processing disorder)
c. Mark’s car getting smashed while it sat in the bus parking lot

9. What was our year highlight?
a. Kristi’s 10 year high school reunion
b. Attending the BYU vs New Mexico Football game
c. A wonderful visit to St. George to see both parents and Shoni’s (Kristi’s sister) masters graduation
d. Kendra dancing on a table in front of a class of 2nd graders while her Aunt Shoni sang “How Do You Know He Loves You?”
e. Kendra making great strides in development after therapy for her sensory processing disorder

10. True or False, Kristi is pregnant.


Answers:
1. 4,294
2. A, but all made us laugh
3. D, none of the others were considered
4. C, A and B were not considered, but D made it to the list
5. A, and over, and over…
6. C, but the others are close
7. Take your pick, they all work every time
8. B, but, yes…the others did actually happen
9. 5-way tie
10. True!!! And we’re so excited. The due date is July 5th.

Snow Day

It snowed a couple of inches yesterday so today Kendra and I had a snow day! After we scraped our driveway and sidewalk we made a snowman. Now, back in Oregon when I made snowmen the snow balls always had grass and leaves in them. Well, down here in New Mexico we do not have grass. I thought this would finally be the time I could make a snowman without anything sticking to the snow. Instead of grass we have rocks and rocks still stick to the snow. I have learned that it is better to roll a snowball on the pavement than on our "yard." Kendra and I had a great time putting him together.

Then I noticed we had icicles! This day just keeps getting better and better. I jumped up to get an icicle for Kendra. I love it when Kendra mimics me. She then jumped to grab the icicles, but of course they were way too high. It's too bad it only snows a few days out of the year down here.

Disneyland

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. I told Kendra on the way that we were going to see Santa. She said, "I don't want to see Santa, I want to see Cinderella." The whole night she said that until I told her that Santa was gone. She really didn't want to see him!

Now all Kendra talks about is going to Disneyland to see Cinderella. She even asks me, "mommy you want to see Mater and McQueen at Disneyland?" She goes through the whole list of Disney characters. We probably won't get to Disneyland for years so she's in for one great disappointment. My only hope is that the Disney Store in town has their employees dress up like characters once in awhile.

This Time Around

We will be having our second child in early July. We are excited to expand our family. Being pregnant with Kendra was so much easier than this time around! I have been miserable!! The month of November was the worst. It's a good thing that Kendra is easy, (for the most part). I would lay on the couch all day while we watched cartoons in the morning (Sid the Science Kid and Super Why are my favorites) and Disney movies in the afternoon. Poor Mark had to do everything. After work he would make dinner for himself and Kendra, do the dishes, and clean up the floor. During the day I put crackers and snacks on the floor with water for Kendra. I know, it sounds like feeding a dog. It's called survival. On the weekends Mark would do laundry, go grocery shopping, and run all the errands.

Some funny things occurred when Mark did the grocery shopping. I would make a list and on that I wrote the brand and the cost so he would get the exact thing I wanted. What would take me 20 minutes to buy Mark spent an hour and a half! He claimed it was due to the fact that he wasn't familiar with the store layout. He also bought the wrong items - things that weren't on sale or weren't on the list. So he ended up spending more money each week than I do. It was funny because sometimes he thought he got a better deal than what I wrote down, but he was always wrong. I still get a good laugh from this.

Kendra had the flu Wednesday night. This was the best vomit session we've had with her. She was so cute. Kendra woke up in the middle of the night screaming and threw-up just as Mark made his way in her room. Then she's crying from being upset over throwing up, and seeing that her bed, stuffed animals, and princess jammies are dirty. We have a bucket in her room but we've never been able to get her to throw-up in it. When she's sick we put her in our room with one of us sleeping next to her. She would wake up and say, "I need the bucket." And sure enough she did. Then she said, "I don't want to throw-up anymore." It was so cute. The poor thing. Getting a kid to puke in a bucket is so easy to clean! Hopefully we'll be spared the rest of the flu season.

Don't Make Fun of Me

I put a crib mattress on our living room floor that Kendra loves to jump on. Mark and I were trying to get her to jump on one foot. She did great holding onto Mark's hands and jumping on her right foot. Then we told her to jump on her left foot. She can't do it! It's hilarious to watch so I kept saying, "jump on your left foot Kendra" while laughing. Kendra stopped and said, "don't make fun of me!" What!?! How does she know about making fun of people already? I guess she's more aware than I thought.





We put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. Kendra helped put it together and put on the ornaments. Notice how the ornaments are all on the bottom. Her favorite thing to do is sit and watch the Christmas tree. She gets upset if I turn off the lights.

Funny Kid

Kendra has not crossed her eyes for a couple of weeks. Then, last night at dinner she crossed her eyes, looked at me and said, "I have two mommies." Then she turned to Mark and said, "I have two daddies." We were laughing so hard. She loved the attention and so continued to do it over and over while we just died with laughter. Later on she was still in a funny mood. She put on her headband and looked up at it with her eyes crossed. What a funny kid.

Kendra loves to jump. Because we don't have a trampoline I put her old crib mattress on the floor. She loves to jump on it and it's become an enjoyable game for both of us.

Kendra and I sat down to eat our lunch today. Her plastic fly joined us. We were about to say the prayer when Kendra decided to help the fly say it. She said, "close your eyes," "close your eyes," "fold your arms," and "say, in the name...say, in the name." Then she turned to me and said, "fly won't say the prayer." It's nice to know that she is learning some things from us.

Laughs

The other day Kendra called me from across the living room. She said, "Hi mommy." It totally tripped me out when I saw her eyes! She's only two and she can cross her eyes! It turns out Mark does that to her all the time so somehow she learned how to do it. I got a picture of her and every time I look at it I just crack up!



Kendra mimicks us all the time. She was playing with her bear and a plastic cow. She said, "Bear, there's cow, wanna say hi to cow?" "Wanna say hi cow?" Then she held her bear and swayed back and forth, "Oh you shy, you shy." This is usually the dialogue Mark and I use when Kendra meets someone for the first time. "Kendra, do you want to say hi to (name)?" Then she buries her face in our shoulder and we say, "Are you shy?" Kids are great.

Halloween and Other Events

Kendra is old enough now to make Halloween fun! On the 25th we had our ward trunk-or-treat. Kendra was our cow and Mark and I were the farmers. Kendra went around with a friend to each car. At first she didn't understand. She put out her hand for the candy. After two pieces her hands were full - she didn't know quite what to do when the third piece of candy was offered. When she was done Kendra excitedly came to us and said, "look at my tick or tweat!" She was in heaven with all that candy.

On Halloween we thought it would be fun for Kendra to trick-or-treat with her friend who dressed up as Snow White because Kendra has a Snow White costume too. I had so much fun watching Kendra walk without fear to each door anticipating her wonderful treat!

I haven't written for awhile so I need to backtrack a little. Kendra was re-evaluated two weeks ago. She is average to above average in each developmental area. Her lowest score is in socialization - but honestly, do we really want our kids to be socialized? Reviving Ophelia and Real Boys are two books that talk about the impact of socialization.

About a week ago at 4:30 a.m. I awoke to a loud bang, bang, bang, on our door. I jumped up and grabbed Mark. I thought for sure it was the cops. Who else would bang on our door and wake us up in the middle of the night?!?! I peered out the window - now cop cars. We could hear two voices. It sounded like our neighbor was fighting with someone (maybe his ex) and wanted us to intervene or something. He kept knocking as Mark and I sat and listened. We were not going to open the door and let an angry man in! Word to the wise - do not wake me up and more than that, don't wake my daughter!