Peter is 9 months / Kendal's doings

At nine months old Peter is getting bigger and looking more and more like his dad. This past month Peter has learned to crawl, climb up and stand at things, and after what seems like forever he finally cut his first tooth last week. We are now officially at beginning of a long road of teething. Pete is doing great at picking up food and eating. He uses his left hand predominantly when he eats, and when he does pick up food with his right transfers it to his left to eat. Pete seems to be weaning himself. It makes me nervous because I worry about nutrition and needs his first year (we'll see what the pedi. says next week).  Pete loves to babble, and it's sweet listening to him sometimes go off on a babble rant. He often sticks his toung out the side of his mouth - silly, but cute. Now that Peter is mobile his curiosity has blossomed. If he can open it, reach it, or find it, he will. He has learned to pry open the bathroom door and crawl in, not fun when I'm trying to shower. Unfortunately our wood stove and propane heater are very prominent and available for Pete to discover and potentially get hurt, so I've had to keep my eye on him all day, and remove him from the areas before he hurts himself. He's adventurous and loves to explore; we'd better keep up with this active little guy. : )

I feel like i post a lot of little things Kendal does in the side bar. I keep a record of what I write and plan on making a post out of them at the end of the year when I make a copy of the blog. I hope I'm able to keep track of what Peter does at this age too like I have Kendal. Kendal definitely fills the role of big sister. She wants to know what's going on at all times, and likes to be in the middle of things. If it involves Pete she's there. She has recently become a human obstacle course for Pete. She finds it amusing to get in his way so he has to crawl over or around her. She also likes to shove chairs and toys around him to watch him climb and play. Helpful in her mind, kind of a nuisance in ours.  She loves to help in the kitchen. Casey and i harbor a lot of patience when she joins us in the kitchen because she constantly grabs things, licks things, asks questions, and wants to be in the middle of the prep zone. Since Pete hasn't had teeth till now Kendal has asked where they come from. We've been explaining to her how we have teeth in our mouths and they come out when we're babies like Pete is; and she'll start to loose teeth in the next few years and new ones will grow in. Kendal said she doesn't want to loose her teeth. We've had to reassure her it'll be fine when the time comes.
(Small medical update on Kendal) She has developed a lump on her eyelid over the past couple of months. Casey and i assumed she hit it, and the lump hasn't bothered her, so we decided to just keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't get worse. We'll when weeks rolled into months and the lump is still there we decided to get it checked out. We took her to the local clinic and Doctor Jannet (sweet lady in our ward) looked at Kendal. Kendal's lump is called Blepheritis. The doctor figures Kendal either hit it or got something in her eye that caused an infection to form on the inside of the eyelid. She assured us we have nothing to worry about and it will go away with time. We only need worry if if opens and leaks into her eye, or get's bigger. But for now it's fine.
Sad but true we haven't been to the local library until just last week. Why haven't we gone to the library before? Well my home is already littered with a plethora of children's books. I love them and we have a lot; plus the library hours are limited and as I've said before our outings have been limited. (I know that's no excuse a library is a wonderful place).  The library in Challis has two small rooms. One room has children - adolescent books; the other holds adult books and a few computers. We spent almost an hour reading books on a mini couch. Kendal loved it (and surprisingly Peter behaved the whole time). Casey took her back the next morning for a kid activity hour that the librarian invited us to. (We think she thought Kendal was older because the program was for preschool age kids, but who cares) Kendal got to listen to stories; and just as she is in primary she was out of her seat a lot looking at the book and asking questions. After they made an Easter craft and had snacks. Kendal loves any time she gets with other kids and books so it was an awesome morning for Her!
 Now that Kendal is three and can sit and listen for at least five minutes we've been having family home evenings. Our topics range from scripture stories, gospel topics, primary topics, etc. Kendal likes family home evening and looks forward to it each week. Our most recent lesson was about seasons, Kendal made pictures that are on the fridge and she likes to look at the pictures and talk about what goes on each season. I love it when Kendal remembers things she learns from church, songs, and lessons at home. She's super smart, and doing well at reading simple words. Love this little Lady.

Bring on the warm weather!

There is a glimmer of spring in the air!! We haven't had much snow on the ground for a while now, and any major storm that has hit east Idaho this past month didn't make it up to Challis. So, we're seeing a lot of grass (dead grass covered in deer scat, but grass none the less). It's also been a bit warmer this past week which is so nice. We ventured out to the local park last Friday. Kendal was over the moon! We don't get out much; between Casey having the car for work / coaching, and freezing winter temperatures we've been stuck at home a lot this winter. Kendal wanted to run around and do everything. She was also so proud of herself because she's learned how to pump on the swing. We weren't there long before another family pulled up to play. Funny enough Kendal's little football buddy Cassy was among the kids. We haven't seen them since the last home football game, but it didn't matter. The girls spent the next little while following each other around and having a ball. We think Peter liked the park. I say think because this dude doesn't always express himself. Going down the slide - no reaction, swinging - no reaction (unless Casey prodded him for one).
Hopefully the warm weather continues for us to get out some more this spring : D

 I thought i would venture down memory lane and try out kinky hair on Kendal. My arthritic hands paid the price for a couple of days but it was sweet to see Kendal all cute and fluffy (just like i remembered). 

Peter is loving to explore. He loves to pull himself up on things lately. We've had to lower his crib mattress twice in the past few weeks because he's learned to get to a sitting position by himself, and now can stand at his crib. Also he has finally started to crawl on all fours the last couple of days. He's loving his new found independence.