660 days

is about how old Kirby is.  I thought I would get creative instead of just saying 22 months.  Looking back on this month, I have had tears of joy and laughter fill my heart.  There have been some unusual challenges with her, but according to my books this is welcoming the wonderful stage that most label "the terrible twos".  I am trying to think of it as the "training twos".  This is such an important time in her life to sit down and teach, mold, and guide; not fight, say no, and put in time out.  Yes, there are times when she gets "in trouble", but for the most part, she didn't know better in the first place so how can I punish her?  Brother Bill Simmons did a really wonderful message on training a child a few years ago.  It was before we were even blessed with a little one, but the message still spoke to me.  We are to show our children the grace of God, while still teaching them right from wrong.  Discipline should start around 18 months; that is when they can understand what you are saying and what is expected (of course small things).  I have seen this very evident in Kirby's life.  When she would first get upset, sit down and through a tantrum I would just completely ignore it and it would only last a few seconds.  Now (if it is a new thing she is upset about) I go over, pick her up and hug her and say, "Kirby, look at mommy (the screaming stops) ... I love you, and the reason I have to say no is ....."  Sometimes she just hugs me/lays her head down and still cries about it, but sometimes I am surprised that is just stops and she can go on about her day.  It isn't that I think she is brilliant, I just think sometimes we don't realize how much they can comprehend at this stage in their life.  It is not easy.  It takes a lot of time.  But if YOU don't do it, who will?  And, if you don't do it now, then when?  When they are 10 ... good luck with that.  They need to respect your authority already.

OK, off my soap box on that ... but that is why I have been MIA lately - it takes a lot more time to be able to fully give your child your attention and guidance, which means the rest of the house/chores wait until she is in bed, which means once she is in bed, I am busy catching up from the rest of the day and my favorite past time gets put on the back burner for the time being.


I am considering putting her in Mother's Day Out this next week.  Get this, I put the deposit down 2 months ago!  It isn't a connection thing that I am going to miss her, it's just that sometimes I feel guilty that I am a stay at home mom and putting her in there.  But I do need the time.  Desperately.  I know it will be great for all of us involved ... it is just taking that first step.  Momma's that do MDO, please leave some feedback for me.

Onto Kirby's latest and greatest (that I can remember right now)
*She is using short sentences instead of just words to communicate.
*She signs and talks at the same time sometimes.
*She has started to be a finicky eater.  She grazes.  Apparently this is true Patrick form.
*Her motor skills crack me up.  She loves to run, jump, skip-hop, dance (she can boogie!) and throw the ball.
*Some of her new favorite words are:
          stuck, Kate (for her cousin Anna Kate), snack, dance, jump, ta-da, wow, yippie, yeehaw (you knew that was coming), again, Sesame Street, Elmo, remote, chair, up, down, wash, mess, trash, tea, Ray Ray, tractor, hay, hey, ouch
*She can count from 1-10.  Sometimes she gets distracted but for the most part can do them all in a row.
*Will tell me the proper colors for orange, green, and white, but no one else.  CR says it is because he spent years making everyone believe he was dumb so she is carrying on the tradition.
*Sometimes when she wakes up I can hear her singing to her bears in her crib.
*Loves to blow on my tummy and make it "toot" - she discovered this all on her own.
*Laughs like crazy when you tickle her.

Kirby shows me God's amazing love, grace, and mercy every single day.  There are already moments I regret for not stopping and embracing the time.  "Less important things can wait" she is teaching me day by day, moment by moment, step by step.

These were all taken by phone, so not the best quality pictures.  See what I mean about taking more time ... I should grab my good camera to freeze these moments.

 Her new way of smiling.  She squints her eyes even more now when we say, "Smile for me!"

 Kyleigh came to visit for VBS for a week - Kirby loved every.single.moment.  

 Our last Cat Baseball game of the season.

She loves water!!!  And yes, we live in the middle of nowhere so when we play outside in the water, she goes diaper less!

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it."  Proverbs 22:6

21 months

Where in the world has time gone?  21 months.  About 630 days.  In the blink of my eyes.  Moments and memories already flash before my eyes as I see our beautiful little girl smile up at me and say, "my momma".  I can see why people call their children "the apple of my eye".  She has her daddy's little smirk and it is to die for.  There are times when I think, "How are we worthy to have this?"  God loves us so much, that is why.  He wants us to have Heaven on Earth.  Hear it from my lips ... read it from my post ... this place, these moments, our home in Bishop, Texas is my Heaven on Earth.  Nothing could be better than this place.  Except Heaven heaven.  That excites me.

Here are some brags and updates on Kirby lately:

1. She used the potty very well for the first 2 weeks.  2 or 3 stickers on everyday.  Then it just stopped.  She decided no more potty and has been defiant about it.  So we put it away for awhile; I'm hoping that when we bring it back she gets excited about it again.  She has still told me every time before she goes.  It's actually quite humorous.  She says, "Poo - poo" (she says that for both) and I say, "Oh ya?"  She says as she points her finger over towards her bathroom, "go ... go .... hurry".  All the things I read say she is ready psychologically, so now we just have to work at it.  This too shall pass.  
2. She speaks in full sentences.  We have full conversations.  We understand each other completely (most of the time).  After a conversation sometimes I just laugh and think, "did I just have a full convo with my daughter?"  and I fast forward in my mind what our conversations will be like in years to come. 
3. We have to pray every night before she goes to bed.  I always have prayed as she would lay her head on my shoulder.  The last month or so we have been folding our hands and bowing our heads together.  Some nights I think she is too tired so I sing and then just start to pray really quietly; she leans up, tilts her head and looks at me and says, "p-raaaay, p-raaay", so we say our prayers.  She giggles after we list off all of our family and friends.  It's the cutest thing to see her endearment.  Already.  
4. She has started to have tantrums.  Again, already.  This I could do with out.  I mainly ignore them because they seem to not last even 10 seconds if I just leave her alone.  When I try to talk to her or take her mind off of it, it goes on and on.  When it is something that definitely has to be addressed, we talk as soon as she is done fitting.  Where did she learn to sit down on the floor and beat her hands?  Sin ... it's born in us.
5. She can count from 1-10.  She skips 1 often, but I am working on that.  I can start anywhere in between and she will correctly say the next number all the way to 10.  I think her Paw Paw helped with this, too.
6. She can do memory games well.  I am hoping this means she has a good photographic memory like her dad and paw paw.  I don't and have often thought that would be really helpful.  
7. When she sees cow and a calf, she says, "Cow ..... baby cow .... momma ...".
8. Some of her most common phrases:

• It's over there.
• Come here.
• My momma.
• The cows are over there.
• I saw a .... (whatever she saw)
• My tractor.
• Where go (as she turns her hands over and shrugs her shoulders).
• There is my daddy.
• More hot dog (not the food ... the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

9.  Last week we got the baby channel for free.  I was excited because I knew they had "Hola bebe" and had heard really good things about it and how it teaches children Spanish.  We watched it one afternoon before nap time.  They were working on the work, "Nina".  This being on the same day that she had gone with her daddy to "see the fields" and fallen asleep for about 30 minutes.  Apparently she was not tired and this was what I was hearing from her room: "neeeennn ya ..... neeeeeeen ya ..... neeeeeeeen ya"  for about 20 minutes.  (She has watched it a few more times and is saying "si" and "no" - no isn't a new word to her unfortunately.

10.  She weighs 27 pounds and wears 18-24 month clothes.  Some of her clothes are 2T that she has just started wearing - a little big, but work well.

11.  Is loved so much by her family.  And her friends.  Could not imagine our life without her.

It has been really, really hot outside already.  Not cool (ha, no pun intended) for us who like to be outside all the time.  So we go in the morning as soon as daddy leaves and then we wait and do some more outside time right before I get dinner going.  Today we lived it up - I wanted to get the garage cleaned out, so I pulled out her water sprinkler pool and she was entertained for an entire hour.  Got the entire garage organized, trash and junk moved out, and swept!  We always end the evening with a wagon ride to the front of our driveway to say good night to the cows.  She gets so excited every single time.  I think it's her favorite time of the day.

"All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children."

Isaiah 54:13