Sweep the leg Johnny

Kaylee shows off her mad karate skillz on her Spider-Man punching bag.
Kai! Kai! Kai!

Twirl

When choosing a dress for a wedding, one must make sure it will look good on the dance floor.

Obviously...

The Easter Bunny is significantly more approachable than Santa Claus.

Morning person

I'm not sure when it happened, but Kaylee has stopped being a morning person.

Just a month ago we woke up every morning to the pitter-patter of excited feet running to our room and were greeted with a smiling, giggling belly flop into bed.

Now, we hear grumping in her room, followed by crying and whining until she has woken up. "I no want breakfast. I no want change my diaper. I no want get dressed." This can go on for a few minutes – or up to an hour.

I'm wondering how soon I can start giving her coffee. That seems to work for her parents.

Don't eat the butter!

Kaylee makes the best grilled cheese sammiches ever.

Introducing ...

Kaylee and Hobbes.
(Yes, I helped with the name a bit.)

Christmas, late

So Uncle James lives in India. The crazy guy thought it would be a lot of fun if packed up his few wordly belongings, flew to the other side of the world and taught chemistry. Since he lives in an area that is only accessible by llama (I might be exaggerating a little bit) we don't hold it against him when it takes him an extra three months to get his niece her present.

Kaylee's Christmas present finally arrived yesterday – in a box that has more mileage than Pamela Anderson. This box has traveled from Illinois to India (to Hong Kong?) to Illinois and finally to Arizona. It smelled a little funny, was a little damp and looked like Ike Turner had worked it over. (Yes, I'm aware that I made two bad pop culture references in the same paragraph. I couldn't decide between the two of them – so you get both.)

Kaylee didn't care. She just wanted to open it.
This is her new "cheeeeese" face.

Gift #1: An awesome hand-made tiger. Uncle James has this really cool tradition of making stuffed animals for his nieces. So far Kaylee has a dolphin/shark thing made from a sock, a very cool Larry the Christmas Lobster and now this guy. "Is very special. Uncle James make me for her."

Gift #2: But as cool as the tiger is – Kaylee was more impressed by the cheap knock-off action figures that Uncle James sent. Included are: Almost Batman, Not Quite Spider-Man and Not Recognizable as any one Important Lad. I'm just thankful she is past the "everything goes in my mouth" phase – because who knows what vile toxins these things are made from.

Top-down drivin'

Kaylee wants Uncle Ry to know the weather is awesome.
Of course, it will be 120 by the time he gets here ...

Breakfast conversation

I eat my booberry muffin.

It goes in my neck and in my belly.

I go potty. It goes in my butt.

I flush it. Bye booberry poop!

Potty time

Frustration, thy name is Potty Training.

The kid uses the potty ALL the time at school. Several times a day. The teachers RAVE about how well she's doing.

But when she gets home, she screams and cries if you get her anywhere near the bathroom. "I no need potty! I go next time!"

And then she immediately pees her pants.

What really gets me is that she WAS using the bathroom at home on a regular basis. It's only very recently that it has become a huge problem.

We're trying not to force her - as we don't want to raise a serial killer ("I can stab!") - but this is killing me. Maybe if I only force her a little bit she'll stop with killing small animals.

Hmmmmm. That could solve some if my other urine-related problems. (I'm looking at you, cat.)

Humpty Dumpty*

So Kaylee, tell me about Humpty Dumpty.

He climb up stairs.

And then what?

He fall down.

OK.

He fall over. He get owie on his cheek.

Oh no!

He fall down and almost die.

Then what happened?

Horses, horses, horses horses.

* Compiled from several different conversations because a 2-year-old can only ride one train of thought for so long.