honestly kinda quirky

I got tagged recently by a couple of fellow-bloggers to list ten honest things about myself. I also got tagged a while ago to list some of my personality quirks. I thought I'd mix the two together, and I had a lot of fun thinking about it. Here's what I came up with:

1. I balance things on my head. It's just something that I do...

2. I am very easily distracted. I tell Paul it's one of the things he loves most about me, but honestly, it's probably the thing that frustrates him the most! When he says he's going to do something, he means now. When I say I'm going to do something, I might eventually get around to it that day...
Paul: Didn't you say you had to use the restroom an hour ago?
Kali: oh, ya...

3. I care way too much what other people think. Way too much! I'm not sure if I even have my own opinions... And I really admire people who march to their own beat and don't care at all what other people think!

4. I think telling other people important things about myself is hard. I get embarrassed or something. I seriously do not know why! For example, my freshman year I finally got a job, but didn't tell my roommate. After a couple of weeks, I decided to see how long it would take her to notice I even had a job. After a couple more weeks, I knew she would be mad at me for keeping it from her for so long. I decided to wait until she left for the summer and tell her I got the job then. But, one of our other friends ratted me out.

5. I can't drink water after it's been sitting out without supervision. It's infested with Bug Poop!

6. Right after I gave birth to my daughter, I looked over at Paul and said "I can totally do this again!". I'm pretty sure it was the easiest delivery I've heard of. Go ahead, be jealous.

7. I LOVE dancing, but I refuse to do it in front of other people unless it's choreographed. And I love watching TV shows and movies with dancing in them. Sometimes I wish I married a ballroom dancer so he could wisk me around the kitchen everyday. (I love you, Paul. And your two left feet!)

8. I blush ALL THE TIME! I hate it, because people can always take it to mean something it doesn't. I blush when I have to say something in front of more than 5 people. I blush when I meet someone. I blush when I think I said something clever. I blush when I think about blushing. I'm blushing right now! It's awful...

9. I'm not very careful with myself, because nothing really bad has ever happened to me and I don't expect anything to... *knock on wood*

10. One of my big goals in life is to be a cute old couple who kids aren't afraid of and who still walk everywhere holding hands. That warms my heart!

18 Months

Jenna's 18 Month Stats:

32 inches - 22 lbs 2 oz.

62nd percentile for height - 19th percentile for weight
and apparently a big head (90th percentile!)

Our little girl is growing so fast:

-Jenna LOVES shoes! Everyone's shoes. She puts on any shoes she can find, no matter the size. In her car seat, she takes them off and puts them back on over and over - and sometimes even gets them on the right feet!
-She still doesn't like the car. When she was a baby, we thought it was because everytime we got in the car she got her heal pricked (checking billirubin levels). It got a little better when she transitioned to a forward-facing seat, but she just can't be in a car more than 20 minutes without getting restless... Cross country car trip? NOT in our immediate future!
-We go to the library at least once a week. Jenna loves it. She recognizes when we pull up to it now and starts saying "book! book!". She likes to play with the fake computers and just wander around and look at tons of books. She's still a little apprehensive at story time, but I think she'll really like it in a couple months or so.
-She is very proud of her "k" sound. She pronounces it very well, and even adds a couple more in there sometimes! e.g. She'll say "book.. k.. k.."
-Jenna is saying so many words now that I've lost count. But, my favorites are the ones that only we can understand:

"wee wee" - ring around the rosie
"na na" - another
"a'da" - again
"a'ta" - your turn / my turn
"see see" - sandwich
"dop" = jump
"mon" = come on

-Her first sentence was 'here you go', pronounced "eh ya go". I guess that's not really a sentence... a phrase?
-Jenna has entered the "no" and "why" phase!

Kali: Jenna, (insert any yes/no question)... ?
Jenna: No!
*unless she really means yes, then:
Jenna: No! ... Ya,ya,ya!
And when I ask her not to do something, her response is usually: why?

Now, she's not rude about these. You've got to picture a high little voice genuinely asking "why" or saying "no" like she's told you a hundred times before and can't believe you're asking again.
-This is how Jenna counts: "two, free... two, free... two, free". So cute!
-She loves to color. After lunch, before nap, we have quiet time to wind down and she usually will color with her crayons while I read the scriptures/ensign. It's a wonderful time!
-I know children are still pretty ambidextrous at this age, but Jenna ALWAYS uses her left hand to color and eat. I think we might have a lefty!
-She's getting quite skilled at feeding herself and dressing herself! After I finish my cereal in the morning, she likes to pour her cereal into my bowl and eat from the "big bowl". And she likes to find Paul's or my shirts and practice putting them on.
-I love that she likes girly toys, like her little play kitchen and her baby doll and carriage. She often gets out the wipes and 'changes her baby's diaper' and today she pushed her baby in the doll cariage around the coul de sac forever! She also likes to wear neclaces and brush everybody's hair!

I'm loving this little girl more and more every day!


p.s. Sad game, cougs, but we still love you!

Separation Anxiety

Today was Jenna's first day of nursery!
We walked her up to her new classroom this afternoon, fully expecting to need to give her hugs and kisses, promise to see her soon, and then leave behind a sad little girl crying for her mommy and daddy...

NOPE!

We opened the door just a crack (because there actually was a screaming child throwing himself against the door wanting his mom and dad - NOT a good omen, so I thought), Jenna saw Kaden playing with some fun toys, walked right in and slammed the door in our faces. Not so much as a glance back. Paul and I stood there, wondering if we should make sure the leaders knew where we'd be... or even her name, but eventually we sadly whispered "goodbye" through the peephole and walked away (one of the leaders is my VTer, so I figured she would remember).
The drop-off wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it's probably a lot better than a screaming kid every week! Hurray for Jenna!
Afterwards, the nursery leaders said she did wonderfully, minus the fact that she's never used a paper cup before, so when they gave her water at snacktime, she crushed the cup and spilled all over herself. Haha! Hey, if that's the only problem, I'm happy! Way to go, Jenna!

We've actually been looking forward to this for several weeks now; Paul and I teach the CTR 12 Primary class. At first Jenna was a joy to have with us - She loved to watch all the children and listen to the songs. She became something of a pet in the senior Primary - when a volunteer was called for, many kids often shouted for Jenna! But alas, now she is too old to sit still on our laps but not old enough yet to pay attention for 40 minutes, so she usually ended up being a distraction in class. I'm not really sure what to do when we're trying to bear our testimonies of baptisms for the dead, and our students suddenly bust out laughing because Jenna is dumping the trash can on herself... It was fun while it lasted, but we can really teach better without her.

I can't believe how old my little girl is getting! But I'm so proud of her and I'm grateful to have such a happy and friendly little cutey!