15 months old...

Kensley Elise is officially 15 months old today.  This little girl is constantly on the move and into everything.  In the past few weeks, we've really noticed that she seems to have unlimited energy.  She is running everywhere and rarely sits still.  We're hoping Spring comes soon as we need to get this little girl outside to run off some energy!

Kensley is starting to enter into the mimicking stage as she attempts to repeat sounds, our motions and occasionally things we say.  It's cute, but makes us even more aware of how impressionable her little mind is.  For a while now, we've been spelling certain things that tend to arise a response from Kensley (bath, snack, banana, etc.).  Kensley understands so much and she seems to catch onto something new everyday.

Kensley does pretty well playing independently as long as she knows we're close and not doing anything too exciting without her.  As soon as we enter the kitchen or head upstairs, she'll quickly follow to make sure she doesn't miss out on the action.  She still loves her blankets, stuffed animals and baby dolls.  She loves to have as much as possible piled onto her lap or in her arms.

Kensley still enjoys music and will often stop what she's doing and dance when she hears a familiar tune.  She loves to watch Sesame Street videos on You Tube and will sign "more" over and over again until we can take no more of big bird and elmo.  Between You Tube and Skype (with Nana and Papa and Cousin Elli), Kensley has a minor obsession with the computer. 

Kensley still experiences stranger anxiety and continues to have a tough time in her class at church.  She moved into the 1's class shortly after Thanksgiving and it's taken some time for her to get used to it.  We've yet to make it through a full service at church without getting paged.  This past Sunday she almost made it the whole time in class and we consider it a small victory (only 5 minutes from the end of the service).  She always cries during the hand off from daddy to the worker, but they were able to calm her down this time.  They always tell us she loves snack and bible story time and is always very interested.  Apparently last week, she didn't want to leave the table and eventually melted down when she realized all the other kids had left her to play...hence us getting paged.  We continue to take her to class as we know she will eventually love it.

Despite the stranger anxiety, Kensley does surprisingly well in large groups of people.  As long as we are there or at least someone familiar, she is completely comfortable and in the center of the action.  She doesn't shy away from attention and is definitely in the stage where she repeats an action over and over again if it elicits a response.

Kensley is such a happy little girl the vast majority of the time.  She loves to laugh and be chased and is still such a daddy's girl.  She tends to save her whining for mommy and daddy as we always hear how great she is for the grandparents.  It's probably better that way, as we don't fall for the fake cries, sour faces or whining.

This little girl has such a fun personality and such a sweet heart.  We are so blessed to be her parents and are so thankful for our little girl. 

Happy 15 month birthday, Kensley Elise!