So, Daddy picked her up and put her in the middle of the yard... still not a frolic or a hint of playfulness...
Here I am watching from inside my toasty warm kitchen...
Kensie and Daddy pose before coming inside...
When she came inside she screamed when we tried to take off her hat. So, we left it on!
Kensie is big into bringing you a book and sitting in your lap to hear it. (This makes Daddy feel very special!!)
Kensie also likes to listen to her Elmo talk to her. She can't quite figure out how to squeeze his nose or push his buttons to make him talk, but she tries. She also likes those pull apart toys she is holding... again, she tries to make them go together and apart, but only gets it once in a while. The rest of the time we spend doing it for her... over... and over... and over again.
And finally, the thing she seems to love doing the most lately (other than play chase with Daddy) is peek-a-boo! All you have to do is say "where's Kensie??" to get a game going. The Christmas tree is an ideal hiding spot, as you can imagine. PS: Yes she is wearing mittens in the house. No, I am not that cheap that we don't have the heat on... she just likes wearing them!
Last night we decorated the Christmas Tree. Which was about time, since the tree has actually been in the house for weeks now! The good news is we had enough non-breakable ornaments to hang at Kensie-level, that the tree doesn't look too weird or bare on the lower branches. She hasn't tried to take any ornaments off, but sure does like to touch and look at what she can get her hands on! Her favorites seem to be the Hallmark Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer characters.
The whole process of getting Kensie to "sit" for professional pictures has gotten exponentially harder now that she can walk. For Easter, she basically just sat there and let us do what we wanted. Now, you have to make her want to be in the picture! And her attention span is so short, that you have to get the shot almost immediately after introducing something new... like a piano, a chair, or tree. At the end, they had to bring in a professional tickler (another associate at the store), because Chris and I just couldn't get her attention or make her smile, even with all our funny voices and jumping around. 
What better present is there than Kensie?
These last three were possible thanks to the professional tickler!!
They can do such cool things with pictures now... like turning them black and white, but then bringing back the color on just one portion. I love this last one!!
Yesterday before we went out to run errands I thought I would take a picture of Kensie. She just looked so cute with her pig tails, you know? Anyway, I couldn't for the life of me get her to look at the camera. She is definitely getting more stubborn as time goes on. Anne, her daycare person, actually called me the other day to ask if Kensie was throwing food off her tray at home, too. The answer is yes. And what do I do when she does that, aside from looking exasperated and telling her "no?" I offer her something else. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find something she will consume. Fruit is usually a winner. Eggs have been off her list for a while now. Pasta, it can go either way!
She didn't actually eat the candy, I just threw it in the air... which she thought was hilarious!
After candy-photo time, went to Wicker Park and met up with Jon, Carrie, Charlie, and some of their friends. Lots of babies... all little boys. Kensie was without her coat in the beginning, because we wanted people to see her cute costume, but after about 20 minutes she was so cold. Bad parents! Even after she had her coat on, she was still cold and shaking and refused to walk around... live and learn. Next year she will be something that involves a warm fuzzy body suit.
Kensie is continuing to walk all over the place. She definitely walks more than she crawls now. With Pumpkin back at the house, she has even more of a reason to be mobile... chasing kitty is so much fun! She still squeals at the sight of Pumpkin, which usually prompts Pumpkin to exit the room...
Kensie also has many new Parisian clothes to choose from this fall. Gigi picked up many things for her during their last trip to France... thank you, Gigi! 
Last pic is of me and the bean... even though she is sick, she still seems to perk up when I come home from work and hold her. Nothing like mama's love, right?
Here is Dave trying to get Drew to do the "open mouth" smile!! Kensie used to do this... I think it is just so cute!!
After the game we decided to venture out to the city and see Millenium Park. Here is Vaughn looking like he is big enough to stomp on those skyscrapers in the background!
We had to see "the bean" while we were there, which is this giant metal sculpture in the shape of a bean. Our bean loved the bean!
Our trip ended at Buckingham fountain... which is the fountain you see at the start of "Married with Children." The trip ended because it started to pour down raining!! We had umbrellas but it was still a long wet walk back to the care... which was an adventure in itself. Seems though we parked in the only structure you can only access from one place --- on the complete other side of the park from which we were. But the night ended well with warm stuffed pizza at Giordano's. MMMM mmmm good....
