walker

the video speaks for itself!!

kaeltyn's a cutie!

dinosaurs & lizards

are kaetlyn's two favorite things. here's a short video of kaetlyn reading her book to me last night. she got distracted by the camera so we didn't get very far, but you can clearly tell she's got the whole book memorized. we quickly moved on to a photoshoot of her lizards. :)

here are also a few pics from ken's house last weekend - riding '3 wheelers' and hanging out with our friends. kaetlyn got to ride her new bike for the first time and LOVED it. :)

New Baby

as little cj gets more mobile, he is learning to explore. the other morning he was getting a little near to the top of the stairs so i asked kaetlyn to block him as i was finishing up my morning chores. i explained that cj is little and doesn't understand that he will get hurt if he falls down the stairs. she helped in this effort. so, on the way home that day she said, 'mom, we have to make sure cj doesn't fall down the stairs because if he does he will hurt his eye. we don't want him to hurt his eye, so we will have to make sure he doesn't fall down the stairs.... cuz if he gets hurt then we will need to get a new baby.' wow. lol. i told her that we weren't getting a new baby. cj was the only one we got, so we need to make sure he stays ok.

this morning, she found a forgotten pacifier in the car and was very excited. 'mom, santa brought my binky back!!!' she said. i said i think santa just forgot to get that one. she laughed and said, 'santa forgot it?? hehe...can i have it??' i told her no and she seemed ok with it.

kaetlyn thinks tears are called 'drips' and i haven't corrected her yet as i think it's very cute although it did take me a bit to figure out what she was talking about. she likes wiping my 'drips' at night before bed when i am tired and she prefers that hers are wiped away prior to going to sleep. she thinks they keep her awake.... hmm... i wonder if her teachers know this?!?!

WOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0&feature=youtube_gdata
The Gift of an Ordinary Day - just had to post this cuz i'm sitting in my office bawling!!!! tears streaming down my face. excited about going to a work happy hour for a few minutes, but now want to run home to my babies!!

sappy i realize.... but i guess that's just moms for ya. i love my family.

shoe neurosis & dinosaurs!

so, i looked up neurotic and it led me to neurosis:

Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress....

kaetlyn has become this when relating to SHOES and which ones she will and will not wear. ug. 'these shoes hurt me! WAH!' is a recurring theme every morning... so i thought perhaps she needed a bigger size and bought some new tennies (that she tried on at the store before we brought them home)... nope! that didn't do it.... i think she doesn't like shoes. i'm not the biggest fan, but it's a requirement. guess she'll just have to get over it.

grandma bought her a book for christmas that is called 'dinosaur days'. craig has been reading it to her at bedtime for the past couple weeks, and now she has the ENTIRE book memorized word for word. it is SO cute. she can 'read' it with her eyes closed, i think. she can tell you the correct name for all the dinosaurs.... will have to take a video of her reading that book. so so cute!

kaetlyn got a kid-proof digital 'cramera' for christmas. she just loves it and has taken hundreds of pictures. i tried to upload them over the weekend but was unsuccessful. will have to figure it out soon because i can't wait to post her fine photography!!

cj's crawling!!!

so yesterday when i went to pick cj up at school he actually crawled about 10 paces to me! very slow and laborious at this point, but he made it. :) he's pulling up to standing as often as he can as well... it's almost like a switch is flipped and he's ready to be off and running. this video is a little dark, but shows him making a little bit of ground!

slightly different, but related topic... my boy LOVES to eat. no wonder it's been so difficult for him to move around, he's a bigun... 7.5 months and in 12 month clothing! here are a couple pics of him eating dinner last night.

look at how filthy his arm is in the 2nd shot! yuck... broccoli, pasta noodles, applesauce, and crackers... what a fantastic combo. :)

and finally, another attempt at bathing the children simulataneously... cj is not quite ready for it... life will be much easier when he is..

4 teeth at once...

does not make for the happiest of babies. but he will soon have a total of 6 real teeth which will make eating real food much easier. you can see the top 3 coming in here. two existing on the bottom plus one new one! what a busy guy.

he is also trying diligently to crawl and stand. he's perfected the stomach to sitting transition and uses this to get around.... won't be long till he's on his feet and going. things sure do start happening quickly after the 5 - 6 month mark!!

web albums

christmas, new years, etc. pics have been uploaded to our public web albums - see link in right hand navigation bar to Perkins Family Web Album. more posts to follow for funny holiday cheer. :)

Shrek Foot

how to entertain a 3 year old on a cold weekend at home...
and i just couldn't exist...
my cute kiddos...

santa took the binkies; new years took the diapers!

i've got so much to add i'm going to make some attempts at doing it gradually. the binkies were probably more difficult than the diapers. she gave them almost willingly but struggled with her generousity for the following weeks. she asked craig to get them back from santa because she didn't care about the little children anymore and she REALLY missed her binkies. it was a little sad. she's recovered now.

on the other hand, we flipped the switch with the diapers. she's been very proud. funny kid. the thing that finally motivated her to make it was our neighbor kathy. kathy told her if she stayed dry, they would go for icecream. surprisingly it worked! after week 1, they went for chik filet and had a ball.... kathy says they'll go again... kaetlyn did not have a single accident at school or home all week. pull ups are pretty much dry in the mornings too! by george, i think she's' got it. :) this change has diminished her ability to nap somehow... not quite sure of the correlation at this point.