Above is a picture of someone deemed very special in our house. It is the Curious George in the yellow shirt. Though it may appear to be a simple stuffed animal, it is actually the object of much affection--and not necessarily by its owner! You see, Ben is the owner of the George in the yellow shirt, while the one in the red belongs to Kylie. Kylie likes her Curious George just fine, but is very much aware of the fact that the one that belongs to Ben is the one in the yellow shirt. And that single fact alone makes it the item she wants most on just about any given day. Ben has loved Curious George since he was a little toddler, and its quite likely that you saw his Curious George if you saw him ever while he was 3 or 4 since he basically took George everywhere he went (probably even still some while 5 and later). Don't worry, George was always safe, he usually even had his own seatbelt on while riding in the car. Since then, George has still been an active member of our family's comings and goings, but mostly just on overnight trips since he spends most of his time now on Ben's bed (or in Kylie's clutches, but that is another story...).When Kylie was just barely big enough/strong enough to hold Ben's Curious George on her own she tried to...of course this was also a time when she put EVERYTHING in her mouth so there were instances when George's shirt would show up in the laundry basket because Ben was trying to cleanse him of the baby drool! One time (fairly recently) George's shirt showed up as I was folding clothes from the dryer. Ben was at school and Kylie was asleep, so Jonathan and I took the yellow shirt and put it on Kylie's Curious George and then set it on the edge of the couch where she would see it when she came in the room. Sure enough, she zeroed in on it as soon as she came in the room and started pointing at it and laughing and babbling all kinds of baby talk. We're pretty sure she was just letting us know that someone had put Ben's Curious George's shirt on her Curious George and either it looked ridiculous or she loved it, but either way she carried it around with her for the rest of the day!
Here's a picture of a very happy Kylie snuggling Ben's Curious George in his bed while he was at school one day...she does this as often as she can, don't tell Ben! :) Just kidding, he knows but is such an awesome big brother that he doesn't mind. Don't let the red shirt confuse you in this picture. It really is Ben's George, he is just wearing a shirt from another stuffed animal (probably while his yellow shirt was in the wash!).
Kylie has been working puzzles lately and has really amazed us with her skills. She picks up the pieces and puts them where they go without anyone helping her. Here's a video of Kylie working a puzzle, but it starts with a shot of her with Ben's Curious George so I thought I'd include it with this post.One more thought for this post, here's a cool story about something that happened the other night. This is just another example of what a great big brother Ben is, and how lucky Kylie is to have such a brother. It was time for bed and Kylie had Ben's George. We went into Ben's room so she could give him back to Ben since it was time for bed. Well, she didn't really want to give him up. She held him out to Ben but didn't let go of her grip on George at all :). We even got her Curious George and tried to trade but she wasn't having it! Ben told her that it was okay. He took her George and said she could snuggle his Curious George that night and he would snuggle hers, with the added rationale that her George doll didn't get snuggled as much anyway and would love the opportunity! Isn't that a nice big brother?! Well, the story doesn't end there. I took Kylie to her room and put her in her crib with Ben's Curious George. She pulled him up to her neck and peacefully drifted off with a blissful, content smile on her face. What a great way to fall asleep! Thanks Ben for continuing to bless our home and family with your sweet loving spirit!
Kylie was so excited to take her first steps and literally walked around the house for several days with a huge, satisfied, proud, permasmile plastered to her face! We don't actually have a video of her first steps, but I got to be there for the big event and see it firsthand--and I am so grateful! It was just Kylie and me in the family room and I was sitting on the floor a few feet away from her when she decided it was time to walk towards me--on purpose. I say "on purpose" because she had taken a few steps here and there without realizing it several times during the previous weeks--but as soon as she would realize she wasn't holding onto anyone's hand or the couch or some other object, she would drop down to the floor and crawl the rest of the way. But this time she knew exactly what she was doing as she looked right at me, grinned, and took a step, and then another and another! To say that she was obviously very pleased with herself would be an understatement. I don't know where the camera was or else I would have grabbed it, but here are some shots of her early steps anyway:
She is loving the fact that she can go where she wants to, when she wants to...unless of course someone interferes and picks her up or stops her or something--which is entirely a different issue and brings out a side of her (or anyone for that matter) that we don't typically capture on film!
Kylie's favorite animal/object/theme/etc. is ANYTHING to do with dogs! She is absolutely fascinated by every animal she sees (especially since she's never met a mean one!) and literally SHOUTS out her excitement when she sees a dog. We found that out quickly when what seemed like an innocent book to let her look at during church became the source of the loudest noise to happen, naturally right during the quiet, most spiritual part of the meeting! It wasn't even a book about dogs. Ironically enough it was a book about the sacrament, but there just happened to be a picture of a dog on one of the pages...she let EVERYONE know about it! :)
