On February 8th Miss Kassidy started moving forward with purpose a little at a time.
She also had a rough couple of days and when I got desperate and threw a binky at her one day, she spontaneously decided to become a binky baby. She was in love with them from this point on.
Lots of Kassidy developments came that weekend as the 8th also saw us beginning to mix formula and the milk we had left to slowly wean her and get her to take formula in her bottles. (Seriously miss our fantastic pediatrician who helped us through that transition.)
Here she is taking a bottle while I heat my shoulder because my shoulder kept mysteriously seizing up on me all month. I never did figure out why, but eventually it worked itself out.
Some of my favorite Kassidy developments (I know, but they change so much at this age!) were that she would clap and say "Hi!" and "Yay!"
A few days later Mckayla hit a big mile stone as she went to the dentist for the first time. She did so much better than Ellie at her appointment it wasn't even funny! MG is hilarious though, because whenever she's unsure of a situation she just gets very serious and takes everything in.
That same night we began quite the adventure as a man came and knocked on the door fairly late at night holding a duck and asking if it was mine. Come again? Yes, he had found a hurt duck nearby in the road and decided for whatever reason it might be ours or we might know who it belonged to. Given the fact that some people down the road had roaming chickens I guess it wasn't THAT weird. But it was. And the duck got away from him. Into our window well. Under a huge pile of leaves. Yeah....
So, we left the duck there to see if it would get out. It didn't. So I called animal control - who told me to call bird and game or whatever it's called - who told me to call state patrol because they often pick up animals after hours - who told me to find a vet to take the bird to. Did you know that our county had some limited bird flu, so you can't transfer that duck across county lines? And that most vets won't touch a wind animal even to put it down because you have to have special permission to deal in wild animals? MANY phone calls, the next morning I found one vet in the county who would take the bird - in Prosser. So, the next morning, when the bird was still alive, I trapped it in a towel so I wouldn't get bit, put the bird in an empty cage we had, and packed up the girls after Ellie got done with preschool so we could take the bird to the vet in Prosser.
The vet took the bird in (it had a broken wing) to see what they could do, and we left. I never did hear from them if they had to put the bird down or if it healed, and I honestly kind of prefer it that way. When the girls asked what happened to the bird I just told them we hoped he had gotten better, and could honestly just leave things at that. Yes, Steve knows he is married to a bleeding heart...
After the vet, it was lunch time so we stopped at the McDonald's there in Prosser to get the girls food and make the drive worth it for them. They called it "Old McDonalds" which I like because it means we obviously don't eat there very often...
The big girls loved playing and Kassidy enjoyed taking her first whack at french fries.
In the beginning of the month we seemed to be making progress with MG's potty training again and after Ellie was purposely using her pull-up as a bathroom at night, we decided it was time to change things up. We eventually learned that an incontinence pad was not the same as a pull-up to her and motivated her to try and not have accidents at night! On the 20th Ellie was dry the whole night with us taking her potty once or twice in the night, and we continued that pattern while she earned daily small prizes for being dry. We had a few small accidents, but something obviously clicked where her body was finally ready to go all night without having accidents, and Ellie picked a prize to work towards when she could be dry for a whole week in a row. Here are pictures where she made a princess shrinky-dink bracelet and a foam sticker picture.
Other fun things from that month: include the weather getting warm enough for Mckayla and I to start venturing out to parks during Ellie's preschool. She was so adventurous and would amaze me at the ladders and things she would climb at just 2 years old.
This also meant that Kassidy went on a swing for the first time on the 20th. She loved it, if only because she enjoyed playing with the chain.
The girls also provided us some awesome entertainment with their "dinosaur hunts". Daddy would hide their toy dinosaurs and they would make tinker toy guns to go hunt them down. Daddy was proud. This day Mckayla cracked me up as she dressed up as a princess and then used her princess wand as the barrel of her gun. She assured me "I only shoot t-rexes, Mommy. If you see a t-rex, Mommy, you shoot it!" Ok sweet girl, I will.
While MG's dress up tends to be fairly princess-like, Ellie's can be quite eclectic.
I also had the pleasure of watching my friend, Holly J's kids one day, so that meant I had 6 kids 4 and under for a few hours. It was an adventure, but a fun one as all of our kids pair up fairly closely and had buddies to play with. The biggest issue was Kassidy trying to maul poor Cort constantly...
I also had an experience where I was extremely grateful for my lifeguard training when Kassidy choked on a yogurt drop at stake conference and I gave her back blows till she threw up in my hand and was fine, all with no one the wiser. Mom level - expert. HA!
We also celebrated Steve's birthday, which the girls and I get much more excited about than he does. And then on the 14th we continued one of my favorite family traditions, our Family Valentine's Dinner at home. As usual, we all got dressed up and Steve and I cooked a fancy meal and the girls were big enough to help choose some of the sides. They are always running wild, even in dresses, so it can be quite difficult to get decent pictures, but we always document the day, so here was what I got.
Our dinner this year included crescent rolls, steak, crab legs, asparagus, and strawberries.
The best family shot we got for the night.
Yeah, I have to admit, Steve may fear February each year as he thinks he's getting old and decrepit, but this tradition gives us something to look forward to every time Valentine's Day rolls around.
A few last fun things that happened in February...
Kassidy had a well check on the 19th and her stats were 21 lbs 1 oz and 29.25 inches tall. She officially had the big Bennett head, and was wearing 18 month clothes. She now had 5 teeth through and was crawling and working on eating table foods.
Ellie told me one day, "Mommy, thank you for giving me DNA to do taco tongue!" (rolling your tongue) Yeah, she's not your average child.... lol
Speaking of DNA, Steve and I learned through a family finder application through the church we attend, that we are 13th cousins once removed. Nothing like being able to pull that into conversations and see if people get uneasy or not!
Lastly, poor MG was having some nightmares about bugs and spiders. Daddy - ever the scientist - had the solution. He told her about how one of her stuffed animals - a bushbaby - eats insects. So, bushbaby would come sleep with her and keep any insects or spiders away and eat them. That bushbaby had renewed importance and increased love, and she still has him sleep on her bed. So cute, and such a funny, loving Daddy!
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