Life with Kenna is ...

never a dull moment! Kenna will turn two on April 4, and boy has she done a good job of reminding us what it is like to have two year old around. Kenna has no fear: no fear of the dark, no fear of being along, no fear of wandering out of the house; you name it, she is not really afraid. She is our little escape artist. It all started when Ashlee was only a few weeks old. I had been at work for about five hours or so and was in desperate need of pumping off some milk. The four older kids were downstairs watching cartoons, and I had Ashlee up in her room with me. I heard the doorbell ring, so I was scrambling to make myself decent. By the time I got out of the room, Aidan had already answered the door and whoever was there was gone. All I heard was, "You need to make sure you keep this door locked." When I asked Aidan who it was, he calmly replied, "Oh, just some guy bringing Kenna home." WHAT??!! The front door was apparently not locked, and Kenna had escaped outside. She has gone outside before, but she never goes anywhere other than right in our yard, so I had my doubts that she was really anywhere but in our yard. Obviously whoever it was knew where she belonged, but they didn't ask for a parent when they brought her home. This made me a little suspicious. I texted my mom and a friend to say that I was probably going to get turned into DFS. Both texted back saying that if they knew where she belonged, they obviously knew that that was not the norm and that things just happen with little kids. I tried to believe them, but sure enough, about 30 - 45 minutes later my doorbell rang. There stood a very kind police officer who was there to tell me that this "neighbor" called them about my little girl being outside by herself and that a young kid answered the door and they didn't see a parent. Heaven forbid should the "neighbor" have asked for me! Anyway, he understood that things happen, told me how cute the kids were, took down a little info, and left on his way. Needless to say, every since,all the doors in the house stay locked all the time. Aaron is very good about keeping track of Kenna and panics easily if he hasn't seen her for 30 seconds.

Kenna's antics did not end there. My mom came over to watch Kenna and Megan for me while I took Ashlee to the doctor. My mom was cleaning the floors upstairs for me (what a lifesaver she is) and the girls were downstairs watching cartoons. She had had Megan check on Kenna and tell her what she was doing. "Just watching cartoons, Grandma." When she was done with the floors, she came downstairs to find Kenna and called for her. Kenna's normal response to most questions is "what?". But Kenna did not respond. Instead my mom saw the basement door open a crack. Yes, it was locked, but you can still open it from the inside. She has never been able to get this door open, so we hadn't thought twice about it. After searching the house, my mom began making some phone calls to grandparents, my dad, my little sister, my aunt: all the people that live close. They all came to help look and my mom started driving the neighborhood. We live across the street from the school and one of the teachers happened to be going to lunch and asked if someone was missing and she started to help look. Panic began to set in as no one could find her, so my mom called 911. After being routed to the Powell dispatch (she was on her cell phone) and giving them a description of Kenna, my mom was very relieved to see my little sister waving at her to tell her they had found Kenna. Darcee had come downstairs and happened to catch a glimpse of a little head poking out of a blanket on the couch. Sweet little Kenna had covered herself up with a blanket and gone to sleep! She was never really lost! The dispatcher was glad to hear it was a happy ending. But until we can get a deadbolt into our metal door downstairs, the baby gate is in front of it so she can't go out.

We only thought we had her all figured out. My sweet grandma was watching the kids while Andy and I went to the adult meeting for stake conference. It was a beautiful day, and all the kids had been playing outside. The three older kids came in, but Kenna wanted to stay outside. My grandma checked on her a minute later and found an empty backyard. As she hollered for Kenna, she heard, "What?" Except it was coming from the front of the house. Sure enough, Kenna was standing at my grandparent's truck. When my grandma got to her, she said, "I anna go bye-bye!" The side gate had gotten unlocked, and leave it to Kenna to know when to take advantage of things. So, now we always make sure the side gate is locked too. We hope we have run out of lessons to learn. We have been lucky so far!!

Kenna is also into taking her clothes off constantly, putting on different clothes (and it doesn't matter who they belong to), stealing Ashlee's pacifier and sucking on it even though she hasn't had a pacifier for a long time, swiping the other kids' toys and running with them so they will chase her, and climbing on the counters to play in the water from the sink. But she can also be so sweet and say some of the cutest things. wanted to journal a few for my own memory. When we were living with my parents after my surgery, she and my dad started calling each other "stinkerbugs." It is so cute to hear her say, "Grandpa Stinkerbug, tickle me." She is also a very observant girl, and she quickly caught on to the fact that my dad likes to take Doritos to work for during breaks. While at Walmart with my mom and me one day, she said to my mom as she was getting more Doritos, "Grandpa Stinkerbug chips!" So now she calls my dad Grandpa Stinkerbug chips and that is how she also refers to Doritos.

My Grandpa Don was bringing Kenna home one day and said, "Kenna wenna." Kenna's response: "What Grandpa wampa?"

I know I wanted to add more, but my mind is blank for now. I will journal them when I remember (which is usually at 3:30 am when I am feeding Ashlee).