4/15/2011

Morgan ate most of her rice and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her dried apricots, most of her cooked carrots and about half of her meatloaf and her french bread.

When we were at the window waiting to wave at you guys, I was chanting "Mommy, where are you?"and "Daddy, where are you?" several times.  She started saying "Mo-om" and "Daaaa" in the same sing-song voice that I was using.  It was pretty cool!

I wrote down a couple of the CDs we have that she likes:

• Twist and Shout (Move'n'groove) -- This is a rowdy dance one
• 123 favorite kids songs -- This is just a good basic kid's song cd with LOTS of songs
• You are my Sunshine by Elizabeth Mitchell -- Easy music to listen to with songs that are still fun.  

I think Morgan's overal morning mood and cooperation has been better since we have started the new routine.  I has especially noticed it for that first while until breakfast, which sometimes had rough patches in it.

Morgan was bringing me the timer to wind and then make "ding" so many times today.  It sounds like she is saying "up please" when she is saying "help please".  The first time she did it, I misinterpreted and picked her up.  She immediately jumped back down and handed the time to me again saying it.  I figured it out that time.

Morgan and Kenzie were playing peek-a-boo with each other so great in the back room.  Kenzie was around the corner in the little taken out closet area.  She would peak out and Morgan would crack up.  Kenzie would pop back around the corner and repeat the process over and over.  Both of them were really chuckling.

4/14/2011

Morgan ate all of her cinnamon toast and seconds on grapes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her mashed potatoes and dinner roll, several bites of homemade chicken strips and a taste of her canned cherries.

Morgan watched a Cypress was being silly and lifting Gary's leg up off the ground like he was lifting weights.  When Cypress was done and moved away to something else, Morgan went over and tried to do it also.  She strained and strained and did manage to get it up off of the floor (just barely).  It was pretty funny!

I think Morgan is doing pretty good with the morning transitions switch.  How are you guys feeling about it?  I know it is different, but she is not looking forward to watching for you to drive by and likes blowing kisses to you out the window.

Morgan had several stints of 2-4 sneezes in a row.  After each one she always looked at me and chuckled when I said "Bless you!"  I don't know if it was because the sneezes felt funny or because she thought it was funny that I was saying "bless you"!

Morgan was laughing a Bode and Everson when they were building and knocking over block "towers" today.  She was also building and knocking her own over and laughing too, but she seemed to be more entertained by theirs, probably because they were taller.

I finally remembered to get Morgan a toothbrush today and she LOVED sitting on the step and brushing her teeth.  She did it for a long time!

4/13/2011

Morgan ate all of her peaches and seconds on whole wheat bagel at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite of her salad with ranch and seconds on both corn and homemade macaroni and cheese.

Morgan did pretty well with the new routine this morning.  I don't know if you could tell, but she was done cranking at me before you even got the door shut.  She was excited to "help" me put the curtains up and then watch for you guys to drive by.  I am pretty pleased with how well it went for the first day.

Keenan's dad, Brent, always drives by and waves at the kiddos also.  He has a sun roof that moves all the way back and he moves it and then pops up through it with his head.  The kids all love that and today Morgan was really cracking up when he did it.  Keenan always says he "looks like a gopher".

Morgan was determine to get up on the big interlocking block wall like she had today. Well, it was a little harder with her jeans on than her stretchy pants and she lost her balance and toppled right over into the middle of the 'building'.  She was kind of angry and about the cry when she saw me laughing and started laughing too.  I had looked so funny, kind of slow motion that I couldn't help it.  Glad she saw the humor also.

4/12/2011

Morgan ate all of her pears and blueberry muffins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite of mandarin oranges and all of her tuna on crackers and her sweet potatoes.

Just so you know, Morgan didn't fuss for even a full minute after you left today.  If you are game, I would like to try something.  Let's make the morning drop-offs just as short and sweet as possible for a while and see if that helps her transition without the chain yanking and fussing.  I will make sure I am right at the gate when you guys come in the morning to greet her and help her come in.  We'll just start a new routine of having her take off her jacket and hand it to one of you (now that it is nicer out she can just leave on her shoes if that's okay with you), stating that it's time to come in now, giving kisses at the gate and immediately heading to the big window to watch and wave at you.  Does that sound like a plan?  I will facilitate it, so you don't have to be the "bad guys".  : )  If it doesn't help in a week, we can go back to the other way.  I just want to make it as easy on you and her as possible.

Morgan started crawling around and panting like a puppy dog not long after she came this morning.  It was funny because no one else was here yet.  She has done it in the past when Bode or Cypress were pretending to be puppies, but I have never seen her do it all on her own like that.  : )

Morgan is really into using tools to do things or using things as other things.  Today, for example, she kept bringing one or two of the big blocks over to the kitchen set to stand on so she could reach the sink easier.  She was also putting one of the purse/diaper bags on her head like a hat.  It actually looked kind of cute...

Morgan was imitating many of the things that the bigger kiddos were doing while they were 'dancing' to the music CD.  She was also copying how they were balancing and walking around the "walls" of the house that I build with the big blocks.  She has pretty good balance.  She was going very slowly, but also was quite steady.

4/11/2011

Morgan ate a bite of her fruit salad and all of her chex cereal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her roast beef sandwich and all of her tomato soup and apple slices, cut in bits.

When it was time to put each of the younger babies down for their morning naps she had to wave and tell each one either "bye-bye" or "nigh-nigh".  It was very cute.  Baby Emily really liked it and was waving right back at her.

Morgan was spending time stacking up the big blocks again today.  She worked at it herself quite a bit, but was also watching (and doing some helping) when Keenan and Bode were stacking theirs side by side.  Bode was more willing to let her help, so she hung out by him more.  He let her put on the blocks until she could reach no more then she handed them to him and he put them on.  When they tipped it over and it crashed, Morgan was chuckling right along with them.

Morgan has been doing pretty well with the focus on using the positive directions like "find a different mixer" or "take it to the other side for me please" rather than telling her "no" or "don't" do whatever.  The negatives (even when it is the kiddos that say them) just seem to trigger her fury and she is working toward a tantrum before she even seems to know what it going on.  If I can rephrase it quick enough, I can sometimes defuse it before the full blown explosion.

4/8/2011

Morgan ate all of her oatmeal and seconds on plums at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her hashbrown casserole, a couple bites of mandarin oranges and about half of her biscuits.

Morgan figured out how to climb up the medium sized climber yesterday afternoon and thought she was such a big girl.  She would go down the slide, tipping on over onto her hands and head sometimes, others landing on her bottom and once in a while actually landing on her feet.  She was very proud and did it over and over.

We had a platform built with the big interlocking blocks.  Morgan was right there with the big kiddos walking on it and jumping off.  Coral was cheering her on and again she was very proud.

Morgan also did her usual doll play, carrying them, feeding them bringing them to be wrapped up and cuddling them.

4/7/2011

Morgan ate all of her cantaloupe and seconds on home made cinnamon french toast at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her dried mango pieces and all of her squash, crescent roll and turkey.

Morgan was walking around in the big room pretending to eat out of one of the play cups with a fork.  That was before all of the french toast at breakfast, so she might have been pretty hungry.  : )

Morgan is amazingly fearless and daring.  She had three big blocks stacked in a single pile today and then was trying to stand on tip of it.  Of course it tipped over.  I was right there watching and ready to help if necessary, but there was nothing around for her to crash on, so I thought it might be a good and safe consequence.  It didn't even phase her, she sat the blocks right back up and started to do it again.  Goofy girl -- emergency room visits may be in your future!

Speaking of the blocks, she loves those interlocking blocks.  She is more engaged in playing with them for any length of time than anything else.  Today she stacked, knocked them over and re-stacked them for literally 30 minutes straight.  She then took about a 2 minute break to go check out one of the dolls, then went back to it for another 5 minutes or so.  She got them as many as 10 blocks high before she couldn't reach anymore without tipping them over.  Cypress saw her struggling to make it higher and went over to help her for a couple minutes.  She loved it when he could make it even higher and REALLY loved it when it would tip over!