Kenzism - Sweet and Beautiful

Kenzie is quite the talker lately. Garrett and I were leaving church today and just dying laughing in the front seat as Kenzie chattered on with question after comment after question after comment. Sometimes I think I know where she is going with her questions, and other times I am quite surprised.

This afternoon I was in the kitchen doing some dishes while the girls sat at their little stool perches at the kitchen counter working their way through their lunch, when the following conversation ensued:

Kenzie: What are you going to do when you are done with those dishes?

Now I thought for sure that this question was inevitably going to lead to her requesting that I play with her as soon as the dishes were complete. She had been asking to play games or do something fun with me several times before I fed them and I felt confident that she was looking for the next opportunity of play time with mom. Well, the conversation went a bit differently than I expected.

Me: Well, I am going to clear off the storage bench, (a little bench that is right there when you come in from our garage and therefore is just a great big invitation for us all to dump coats, bags, or anything else we feel too lazy to put away) and then I am gonna set the table for our dinner guests, and then I am going to get started on our dinner for tonight.

(Awwww, doesn't that make me sound like such a good little housewife? Don't jump to assumptions . . . the sight of me doing dishes and making dinner all in one fell swoop these days is about as rare as an albino alligator.)

Kenzie: (in intonations of absolute shock, yet with a hint of congratulations and gratitude) Wow! Mom! You do a lot of work for this family!

Thoughtful Pause

Kenzie: Mom?

Me: Yeah?

Kenzie: You are sweet AND beautiful AND you do a lot of work for our family.

Me: Just smiling.

When I am in the midst of throwing a real good pity party for myself - complete with party hats and streamers - I can become convinced that NO one noticed how hard I am working or how much I am trying to do for my family. Then, these quick little moments pop up that make me realize otherwise. This little conversation took less than a minute and within the following three I was solving crisis' over snacks, stool positioning, and other such squabblings of childhood. When I am too caught up in the squabbles it is easy to miss the really good stuff in between. :)

Kenzism - The Beluga Whales

The Beluga Whales migrate right up off the Turnigain Arm here in Alaska each September. There is a beautiful place to see the whales from called Beluga Point that is only about thirty minutes from our home here in Anchorage. We have driven by and stopped several times in hopes to see them and we lucked out this last September while we were on our way to the Wildlife Conservation Center for a family outing.

At that time MaKenzie was just staring joy school. She pointed to a sign as we pulled into Beluga Point and asked us what it said. The sign stated that it was against the law to cross the railroad tracks to cross over to the rocks for a better view of the whales. Well, this sign was of little concern to everyone there at the moment because there were a few groups of beluga whales surfacing all over the place. Unfortunately for us Kenzie was learning all about the joy of keeping the rules in her joy school class. When we talked about whether or not we should cross the railroad with everyone else Kenzie shared how even if everyone else is doing it that she learned how it is important to still keep the rules. What could we do? Had I not read the sign out load to her when we pulled in I probably would not have hesitated to join the rest of the crowd for a closer look . . . but all things considered we decided it was best to enjoy the whales from where we stood. And boy did that make a long lasting impression on the child.

About five weeks later we were enjoying one of the last possible park days Alaska had to offer us. We walked to a park close by and there was a bench that had been completely disassembled by some prankster/vandals of some sort. They had unscrewed all the wooden bench planks and rearranged them into a teepee like structure. The girls wanted to go and play and check it out but I had to call them off as the whole thing looked like it could crush them with one good bump. As we walked away from the park that day Kenzie shared the following with me:

"When those mean guys (referring to whoever had taken the bench to pieces) get to heaven maybe they will tell Jesus what they did."

And then she continued as if it was all just one thought . . .

"Remember when we saw the lou-gla (beluga) whales and we followed the sign. It was the rule and when I get to heaven I will tell Jesus how I followed the sign at the lou-gla whales"

I don't know why this little conversation tickled my funny bone, but it just felt like it completely came out of nowhere and yet offered me a whole lot of insight into my four-year-olds brain.

For one, I couldn't recall saying anything that would indicate that whoever had taken the bench apart was "mean" - but that is what it all equated to in her brain. She has simply asked why she couldn't play near the teepee and I had told her that someone had done a "no-no" by taking the bench apart and that it was not very safe. Secondly, the fact that her transition from the "mean guys" to our "lou-gla" whale outing were all one phrase in her mind was equally amusing to me. You probably just had to be there to appreciate it . . . but I got a giggle or two out of our little exchange that day.

Kenzisms - Rhyming Words

Kenzie is on a rhyming kick lately. She loves to ask me if two words rhyme. In all honestly it can sometimes approach obnoxiousness - but being the good moms that we are we tend to smile and praise fifty and sixty times even though inside we are anxiously looking for a way to distract them to a new idea. (And maybe even restraining ourselves from screaming curses and pleas to stop their never ending redundancy?)

Well, it has gotten quite funny to listen to her rhymes as of late. She topped it off at dinner last night when Garrett was sitting down to the table and she licked her spoon and quickly announced a wonderful rhyming word for lick.

Garrett and I just shared that secret laughing exchange of glances and went on with the meal. Nothing like a four year old to mix things up.

Kenzie's Newest Conversation

• "ree-dic-lee-lus" = ridiculous (it is so funny to hear her trying to use the big words that I use in my every day language)
• "anilla" = vanilla
• A few days ago I got around to cleaning the playroom before the girls were up. When Kenzie came in she shrieked "Wow! It is clean in my whole life!"
• Kenzie has developed a fondness for Strawberry Shortcake (the cartoon character). The other night at dinner she randomely turned to me and asked "Mama, you know who makes strawberries?" I was expecting an answer like Heavenly Father, or dirt, or its a plant, but no . . . she quickly announced "Strawberry Shortcake".

Kenzisms - Manners

I don't know what it is about my children starting out a sentence with the words "I want" or "Can I" that bothers me. I truly don't even notice when another child does it, but when my own kids begin their requests with "Mom, I want . . . " or "Mom, can I . . . " I find myself wincing.

So, I often prompt my children to say "May I" before their little requests. I feel that I have to prompt them more often than not to use this small form of good manners.

Sigh.

I wish it weren't so.

I wish they just used the sweet little "May I" phrase without my help.

But practice makes perfect and we practice a lot, so I should be optimistic right?

So, here is where the Kenzism comes into play.

A typical conversation would go as follows:

Kenzie: (often with a whiny or demanding tone) Mom, can I have some milk?

Mom: (Gives Kenzie the half smile and the raised eyebrow which the children know mean they either need to say please, sorry, thank-you or may I. They are often guilty of goes through all four in a rushed fashion in hopes to hurry the process along) How do you ask nicely?

Kenzie: (With a big goofy smile and in a sing-song voice) May I can I have some milk pleeeeease?

I didn't type that incorrectly if you were having to take a second read through there. Kenzie cracks me up by saying May I and Can I all in the same sentence, and I don't know why, it just makes me giggle. Garrett and I were trying to correct her error a few weeks ago when we looked at each other and realized that we didn't WANT to change it because it can make us laugh so hard. She'll figure it out all in good time . . .

Kenzisms - A New Discovery

While eating our lunch today of chicken nuggets and french fries Kenzie took a a big bite of her chicken nugget and then looked at her nugget with great surprise. She then exclaimed:

"Hey Mom!" (with an intonation of great discovery) "There is chicken in my chicken nugget!"

Apparently up 'til now the chicken nugget has just been some mystery food that every kid in America finds satisfying . . . today it actually became a food that has chicken in it. :)

Kenzisms - Baby Come Baby Go

We were on our way to Aunt Heather's house a few nights back to celebrate Uncle Ben's birthday. Aunt Heather just had new baby Bennett about a week ago and MaKenzie and Jordyn have been nothing short of obsessed with him. Jordyn asks to hold him, but never really puts her arms around him when you put him on her lap . . . it's really quite funny to watch. Kenzie would probably sit there all night with him in her lap if we let her.

Anyway, while we were driving to Aunt Heather and Uncle Ben's Kenzie chirped in from the back seat with a very serious question:

"Mommy, is Aunt Heather's baby going to be out of her belly tonight?"

Kenzism - In Her Belly

While at church on Sunday Kenzie and I had the following conversation:

KENZIE: Mom, where is the baby? (She was referring to the fact that there were a circle of men in sacrament meeting on the stage, but no baby . . . she is used to seeing a baby blessing with a circle of men, but this was one of her first experiences seeing someone being confirmed.)

ME: Oh, there is no baby this time, see that lady up there? She is getting the holy ghost.

KENZIE: (with an EXTREMELY confused look on her face) Where do they put the holy ghost?

ME: The Holy Ghost is a gift that you get so that you can feel him inside of you helping you choose the right.

KENZIE: Oh, they put him in your belly.

Looks like I have a good idea of what FHE will entail the next few weeks!

Kenzisms - Daddy Rocked the Cradle

This is a Kenzism from several months ago that I forgot to record.

We were all sitting around the kitchen one evening after dinner when and I asked a question of sorts that led Garrett to excidetly say:

I Do!

Kenzie: Me Too!

Garrett: Me Three!

Kenzie: (without hesiation) No Daddy, I three, Jordyn one, and you forty.

(In case you don't know, it's funny because my husband is currently 29)

The Nice Voice

A few weeks back I was getting ready for the day in my bedroom while Kenzie and Jordyn were entertaining themselves in the nursery. They seemed to be playing well together and then I heard the following:

The sounds of a shuffle/yanking match over a toy of interest.

Kenzie: NO! Jordyn!

Me: (from the other room) Kenzie, Jordyn is still learning how to share, can you use your nice voice to help her understand?

Kenzie: (in the sweetest little voice you've ever heard) Jordyn, please go away.

I Ain't Afraid of No Bug

The posting title is quite deceiving, because my daughter is actually deathly afraid of all things crawling and creeping. If you were to base her feelings for bugs on the following conversation we had yesterday, you wouldn't think that though . . .

Kenzie: Mommy, mommy come in the bathroom.

Me: What is it?

Kenzie: (Pointing at a piece of flint in the bathtub that bears a very strong resemblance to a bug) See that bug in the bathtub?

Me: Yea, I see it, what about it?

Kenzie: He is scared of the bottom of my foot.

The Rocking Cow

On Christmas morning Kenzie woke up to this sight:

When she saw the rocking horse she ran over to him in excitement. When we asked her what is was she didn't waste a second when she responded:

"It's a cow!"

That rocking cow has gotten rocked on non-stop for the past three days.

P-I-E

Garrett and I have gotten into the age-old resource of spelling out items that we don't want Kenzie to hear us talking about.

A few nights back MaKenzie was sitting in the hall in the usual time-out spot by the front door for some reason unknown to me now. Well, Garrett and I were finishing up dinner and I turned to him and asked if he wanted some "P-I-E". Before Garrett had a chance to respond, we heard Kenzie from the hallway excitedly announcing, "ooooooo, I want some P-I-E!"

The best part is that she no longer calls pie by its name, but she always spells it out.

A Little Jingle

Kenzie can say some things that really tickle the funny bone (in the funny way, not the painful way). I am always shocked by the stuff she comes up with!

Garrett spends most mornings eating breakfast with MaKenzie, and that is a time of day when she is just a happy little chatty thing (she definitely gets this from her dad, he is the one eating breakfast with her because I am still in bed trying to separate myself from the pillow). A few mornings back Kenzie was sitting at the breakfast table just being her usual chatty self. She often insists on looking at the back of a cereal box just like we do. This particular cereal box had a picture of a Christmas tree, a dolphin, a pencil, and the state of California. Kenzie just randomly burst out into song about the back of her cereal box, and her song went something like this:

"I have a Christmas tree,

I have a dolphin,

I have a pencil,

and I have a . . . . (long pause as she looks at the state of California) sock."

Clever and funny. I couldn't stop laughing. I wish I could record Garrett's impersonation of her singing . . .

The Taste of a Burp

We had a great Saturday afternoon outing to the park with Garrett. In honor of the chilly weather, hot chocolate was very appropriate when we arrived home. As we sat around the kitchen table sipping the goodness, Kenzie let out a killer burp and then excitedly declared:

"Oh mama, there is hot chocolate in my burp!"

She has now personally experienced the world of tasteful burps.

To add further enlightenment to the evening Kenzie continued to amuse us at the dinner table. I was serving spaghetti and meatballs tonight and served her a plate without any meatballs as I assumed that any attempt to get her to eat a meatball would be unsuccessful. When I walked to the table with my plate of spaghetti with three yummy meatballs on top Kenzie's eyes got real big and she made this amazing request:

"WOW mommy, I want balls on my spaghetti too."

Somehow I am certain that if I had offered the meatballs in the first place that she would have declined the offer.

A Child's Prayer

I don't know about the rest of you, but prayer time can feel like a zoo at times. Our morning prayers are not typically too bad because they precede going out the door. Going out the door is something MaKenzie is looking forward to, and knowing that prayers have to be completed before leaving is reason enough for her to sit down and fold her little arms. Nighttime prayers are a totally different story. These prayers are inevitably followed by going to bed - something that Kenzie will try as craftily as possible to avoid. These evening prayers sometimes require bribery ("Daddy will give you a piggy back ride if you say prayers") and can even come to subtle threats when our patience is waning ("No bedtime book if you don't come and pray with us"). The threats are something we try to avoid because we don't want her associate prayer time with something horrible, but when you're tired and looking forward to get a crazy kid in bed you do whatever works fastest. Once we are gathered, the way the prayer itself goes depends on her mood. If she is feeling silly she will chant Jesus' name through the entire prayer or play peek-a-boo with Jordyn. If she is feeling sassy she will lay on her back and refuse to kneel. If she is feeling sweet then she will actually kneel, bow her head, and close her eyes (only for the first few seconds of coarse - I don't know one two year old who keeps their eyes closed for the entire prayer?) By the end of these encounters we can often wonder why we are going through this process as all? Well, the answer same yesterday in a pretty humorous way . . .

Kenzie is a bit clumsy. She tends to get excited and not watch where she is going, and then when she trips on her way to her destination she can have a total break down. Yesterday we were celebrating a poo-poo in the potty momentous occasion and we were excitedly running into the kitchen for a pez reward. Well, she tripped in transit and fell on her knee. The first words out of her mouth (in that loud, whining, fake cry, two-year-old, tantrum voice) were, "Ooooweeeee, I waaaant to saaaay a p-p-praaaayer to maaaake my kneeeee all bet-t-t-ter." I'm proud to say that we said a little prayer right then and there (even though my typical feeling towards the fake cry is annoyance). As soon as we finished our prayer Kenzie popped up and said, "See, Jesus works, all better."

Lesson learned: Every prayer that ends with you secretly wanting to throw your child out the window is actually a step in the right direction.

Be Careful What You Say . . .

Kenzie is really becoming a regular little parrot lately, and its bringing me to a brutal realization of the need to change some of our vocabulary around here . . . What I never thought was bad now sounds horrible coming out of the mouth of a child. (Or maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing? What do you think?)

Anyway, the highlight of the week came last night when Kenzie walked up from behind me, grabbed my butt, and said "Hey sexy mama." Apparently Garrett's attempts to grab my butt unnoticed have not been successful. Oh man, this kid makes me laugh.

Some More Chit-Chat

This evening presented us with the usual . . . two tired parents trying to put one energized toddler to bed. Garrett's plea made me laugh when he wearily requested:

"Please finish drinking your milk all gone, and please give mommy a kiss good night, and please do not suck the baby's face."

Sure enough when I turned around MaKenzie appeared to be sucking on Jordyn's face. I think this was her attempt to copy Garrett and I when we give the baby several kisses in a row . . . it just didn't quite look right and Jordyn was quite confused by it.

A Little Chit Chat . . . .

While sitting at the computer tonight I overheard this little bit of chit-chat between Kenzie and her Daddy . . .

Kenzie: "Eew! Daddy, wanna hold it?"
Daddy: "No, I don't want to hold your booger"

Kenzisms - Poopy Diapers

Since Jordyn was born MaKenzie has become quite fascinated with poopy diapers. Any time that Jordyn makes her little gassy noises, Kenzie is right there to assess the situation. She promptly places her hands on her hips, bends at the waist, takes a good loud sniff, and announces (more like shrieks at the top of her lungs) "Ew, siser inky, poo-ee" (translation: "ew, sister stinky, pee-oo-ee").

Well, this funny story turns into an embarrassing one when mommy is the one passing the gas and you are in a public place. We'll just leave it at that . . .