KenBear As She Is

Kennedy is in the midst of the twos! I wouldn't necessarily call it the terrible twos, but perhaps the trying of mama's patience twos. The biggest challenge that we have is that she wants to be EXACTLY like Katelyn. It doesn't matter what Katelyn is eating, wearing, or playing with; we are sure to quickly hear, "Me too, me too!" Katelyn can ask for seconds for dinner and Kennedy immediately begins asking for more, even though she has an entire plate full of food. This is a challenge that must be unique to younger siblings since the older child doesn't have anyone to look up to (except for mommy and daddy of course).

Kennedy is also quite a little chatterbox. She seems to talk a lot more at this age than Katelyn did. I recall that Katelyn could says just as many words and was also speaking in sentences at this age, but the overall amount of talking Katelyn did at this age was not nearly as much as Kennedy (although Katelyn talks nonstop now). I have to admit that both of the girls get their talking from me. I come from a family of talkers and my girls have both inherited the genes.

She does get some of her character traits from Kevin. First of all, she is a morning person...most definitely not inherited from me! Secondly, she is such a creature of routine. She has her exact same bedtime routine every night. She has her bath and bedtime snack. Then Kevin brushes her teeth while she lies across the ottoman. Then I go upstairs and crawl into bed with her. We read a couple of books and then do her blessing and prayers. After that, I turn on her closet light, turn off her bedroom light, and kiss her goodnight. As long as her routine is the same, she goes right to sleep without any problems. Her routine in the morning is to wake up, get a cup of milk, and eat one blueberry waffle and one blueberry pancake for breakfast. One would think that she would like a little variety, but no, she is perfectly happy with her little breakfast routine.

Kennedy is also our little organizer...which I love! She finds things that are in the wrong place and immediately puts them where they belong, even if they do not belong to her. She throws away anything that she thinks is trash. She always says, "Uh-oh Mama, mess!" when something is out of place, even at other people's houses. The girl will not take a nap unless all of the toys in her bedroom are put away. Another organized thing she does is that she puts her bib away immediately after each meal, which is not something we have taught her to do. It is terribly funny when she tells Kevin that he has left a cabinet door open, and of course demands that he close it right away. I love that I have a partner to help me keep this house in order...especially since Kevin and Katelyn are both spreader-outers who do not like when things are put away. I think things will be interesting around here with two girls and two parents who think so very differently.

KenBear, I love everything about you and...I love you just the way you are!

FYI...We started calling Kennedy "KenBear" as a nickname last year on Mother's Day. We had taken a family outing to the Cincinnati Zoo and she made a bear sound for every animal that we saw. Once we were back home, she started growling like a bear whenever she was frustrated, angry, or even happy! She just became a little KenBear that weekend and it stuck!