Bean Anderson: 01/01/2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Little Kennedy had to come home early from school today; we think she has a virus since she has a bit of a fever and goopy eyes. We should know more tomorrow after a visit to the doctor. Her spirits are still pretty good – so hopefully it’s nothing major.

Tomorrow Grandma Anderson gets to come over to hang out with Kennedy so Sheryl and I can go to work – go Grandma!!

Monday, January 30, 2006

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came over for dinner on Sunday. Kennedy enjoyed showing them how much fun she has with her stuffed dog Fluffy.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Last weekend we lucked out in a visit to our local Fred Meyer. All the winter clothes were half off – so I couldn’t resist this little outfit I’ve had my eye on for the last few months for Kennedy. Her teacher at school says she looks like she’s ready for a job interview!

Kennedy’s favorite game of late is playing chase with Elle. We have this cat toy that is a long string on a stick; Kennedy drags it all over the house with Elle chasing after. They both have a blast!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Susan and Kennedy surprised me today with these beautiful flowers in celebration of my adoption of Kennedy which was one year ago today! Sure love my family...

Thursday, January 26, 2006

I was so happy to spend some time with my friend Jean from Costa Rica today. Here's a blurry picture of us taken at lunch. Jean moved to Costa Rica last year and her stories about life there are both entertaining and wonderful.

Kennedy is having fun with her books still. She can often be found reading or carrying around her cat book, a gift from Mimi.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Here's Kennedy with her security-blanket coat. She won't let it out of her sight. She's also very fond of Susan's childhood teddy bear.

Monday, January 23, 2006

This weekend Kennedy took Star Bear for a ride on her new tricycle. They both had a great time.

In this photo you can see many of Kennedy’s teeth; she has 5 now and we suspect there are more on the heels of this latest tooth.

Kennedy is starting to feel better – a call into her school this afternoon tells us she was really enjoying herself again. What a relief!

Sunday, January 22, 2006

We're all seemingly making our way out of being sick, and that's good. Kennedy continues to enjoy Fluffy her dog (a gift from Granny Kay). There are a number of Kennedy's favorite things in this picture including the electronic piano (from Aunt Peggy and Uncle Eric), the "That's Not My Puppy" book (from Aunt Shelly) about a mouse looking for its puppy, and the book "Ginger" about a cat and a kitten growing to like each other (from Mimi).

C.K. came for a visit this evening. Here's Kennedy helping him open his birthday gift.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Kennedy is finally past her stomach flu – at least we hope! Today she has been much more active and willing to play independently than she has over the last few days. I think this means she’s feeling much more like her old self.

Unfortunately, Sheryl got a big does of the virus and has been down for the last two days. She finally ate a little bit of rice and banana this morning and she’s starting to feel human again. Luckily I haven’t picked up the bug and have been sterilizing and washing like crazy.

Kennedy’s new odd behavior is her recent attachment to her coat. At school she cries when she sees it until they give it to her. She carries it with her all over the house – I suppose it’s some sort of security blanket for her. We have to wait until she’s not looking before we can hang it up in the closet.

I am one week into the South Beach Diet and have big hopes about making a permanent life change in eating habits. I have learned so much about blood sugar, insulin, and the effect that so much of our diet has on internal blood chemistry. The first two weeks are the strict phase where you cut all refined carbs and sugars in order to break your body's addiction to them. So far, so good; I no longer crave chips, cookies, etc.

I’ve been able to eat lean meats, veggies, and most dairy products so it certainly doesn’t feel overly restrictive. For my sweet-tooth I can have sugar free jello and no sugar fudge bars (which are quite good!). After the first phase I’ll add back in whole grains and fruit. Good stuff.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Poor little Kennedy is fighting a new virus - but this one is the stomach variety which is no fun. She's able to keep juice and crackers down - but forget about milk. The upside is that she gets to hang out with her Grandma and Grandpa during the day. We know she's in great hands as Grandma is a pediatric nurse!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Kennedy is feeling better but still not great so we haven't taken many pictures this week. Grandpa picked her up from daycare today and spent the evening with her. He said it went well and that she really liked showing him all of her toys and books. Here's a picture of her with the blocks at OMSI from this past Sunday.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

How fun is OMSI? Oh my gosh, we had a blast there this morning. Kim and Adrienne and their son Jake joined us for a few hours of fun. Here are Kennedy and Jake at one of the air cycle stations.

There were small houses nearby and Kennedy had fun crawling through them.

The water touch tubs are always good fun. Even with the boots and smocks the kids still get wet!

Friday, January 13, 2006

Kennedy stayed home again today. I think her cold is getting better, but it's still frustrating and it's hard for her to breathe through her nose. She also generates a ton of snot. Ick!

Megan came by to cheer K. up and play. Here they are playing with the popcorn popping walker.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Kennedy is still fighting a cold so there are no new pictures from which to draw tonight. Instead – here is a picture of our little music explorer; she just loves the new keyboard from Aunt Peggy and Uncle Eric – despite being under the weather.

I saw the funniest thing the other day in Seattle… It was a woman walking her dog in the rain – and (get this!) the dog had on a rain coat. It was too funny.

Sheryl and I remain very busy with work and projects – but we’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend with friends and family.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Kennedy stayed home from school today – she has gotten a cold, poor little thing. Between fevers, sneezes and a stuffy nose she makes for a sad sight.

This photo is from last weekend. Kennedy loves her new bike from Grandma and Grandpa. Her feet just touch the ground now so she is getting the hang of maneuvering it around the house.

Another new game Kennedy loves involves waving a long string-on-a-stick cat toy for Elle. They love to play this game together.

Monday, January 09, 2006

We spent Sunday afternoon at Granny Kay's with the family celebrating our Oregon Christmas. Granny gave this stuffed dog ("Fluffy") to Kennedy and she had so much fun rolling around with it and playing.

During the gift opening Kennedy sat with Aunt Peggy. That's Uncle Eric in the background.

Aunt Peggy and Uncle Eric gave Kennedy this keyboard. When I brought Kennedy downstairs this morning I sat her down so I could turn on the light. She made her way in the dark straight over to the keyboard to play. She's really good with it!

On the sad news side, Kennedy had her first "incident" at the learning center today. Seems she attempted to do a somersault on the cement on the playground. She doesn't know how to do a somersault! You can see the bump on her forehead and the small scrapes on and under her nose.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

C.K. came by this evening for a visit and dinner. Kennedy and Elle had a blast playing with him and neither of them seemed to notice that C.K. cut off all of his hair! Check it out:

Friday, January 06, 2006

A lot of my family have travelled this weekend to Oklahoma to attend the wedding of my first cousin, Brandi. Susan, Kennedy and I just visited that part of the family over the holidays. Here's a picture taken at Aunt Sharon's and Uncle Jim's (Brandi's parents) home. Kennedy was fascinated by the dancing Santa. Bud, in the cowboy hat, was visiting too. He recently turned 89 years old.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Yippee, our daughter Stacey has joined the blogging world. Go say hello over at River Rocks. The link will also appear under the family member blogs category for future reference. Good stuff.

Aunt Gayle got a lot of kisses from Kennedy. After a while, K did "all done" in sign language to Gayle and when that didn't work, K shook her head back and forth to indicate no. It gave us all a good laugh.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

We've finally returned home and believe it or not it feels good to be back in the cool weather and rain of Portland.

One of Kennedy's favorite places at Mimi's and Papa's was the sun room. Here she is with Mimi.

Cousin Jonas and Kennedy spent a good deal of time in the spare room with lots of the toys and this rocking chair.

When we went to eat breakfast with our niece Robin, Kennedy impressed us all by showing us that she knew how to drink from a straw!

Bean Anderson