Our Big Boy

Kyle weighed in today at 20 pounds, 4 ounces - he's definitely slowed down from his rapid growth at birth, but yet doesn't look like he has a starved appearance! It's still a struggle to get the recommended 24 ounces of milk in him each day, as he is just always on the move. He is now up to doing about 20 steps on his own, when HE wants to, and can nearly make it across the living room on his own.

We had a get together with Kyle's neighborhood friends this morning, and we managed to get a group shot without too many trying to escape. Left to right, Riley (5 months), Talia (4.5 months), Arlo (7.5 months) and Kyle (in the middle of lunch with yogurt all over his face!)

Growing up quickly

Kyle just can't wait to be a big boy, and help Daddy with all of the yard work. He just loves holding the garden hose and waving it around to water all of the plants (and whoever happens to be nearby as well!) and he is fascinated with the lawnmower. Today he had his first lesson on how to push it around the front yard. I have a feeling that this won't be a very common occurrence, as Dave said that it is a LOT of work holding our big boy with one arm and pushing the mower with the other! With Kyle around 20-pounds now, both of us are definitely increasing the size of the muscles in our arms.

After all of that hard work, Kyle had a little fun time riding around on his car and beeping the horn. ( He hasn't yet learned how to "walk" the car along by himself, although he does rock forward and back to let me know tha tI'm not pushing fast enough! He does also enjoy pushing the car from the back to practice his walking skills. (If you look closely at the photo, you can see all 8 of Kyle's teeth)

Breaking news

Kyle made it across the room this morning while I've been at work, and was reportedly all laughs and smiles. Now that he has figured out the secret that he CAN do it, I am sure that he will be non-stop by the time I get home! Gone are the days of watching him lay quietly on his blanket playing, it is time for me to get into shape so that I can keep up with our little toddler!

The Youngest Walker is Walking

Kyle is just on the verge of walking - on Sunday he began taking his first steps, with only one of two before he grabs on to something else. He's still trying to build up some more confidence, and gets frustrated if I don't give him my hands for support, but every now and then he'll let go and manage a quick step or two to his next grabbing on point. I met another mom on Tuesday who's son is 2-weeks older and is now up to 10-11 steps on his own. She said just wait, this week it is a couple of steps, next week it will be 5, then the week after he'll be up to 10, and before long we will both be chasing after the boys!

In other news, here is the latest and greatest from Wallflower Photography from our visit to WA in March.

Kyle at 9 months

First Family Vacation

Last weekend we took a family trip to Monterey to celebrate my birthday. We stayed just two blocks up from Cannery Row, so it was very convenient to get down to the Aquarium for a few visits. It was probably a little too early to take Kyle to see everything there, he didn't quite understand what we were looking at, and was probably pretty frustrated that he wasn't on the floor crawling and trying to walk!

Still, it was relaxing for us to get away, and to have some real R&R time with nothing around the house to distract us. The weather was beautiful on Sunday, but a little windy and cold on Saturday. It was the start of the salmon season in Monterey, so all of the restaurants were featuring wild salmon as a special. Kyle had some salmon as his first taste of fish and really liked it! He's become quite the social boy lately, and is waving hello and goodbye to people without any prompting now. While we were having lunch on Saturday, there was a 15-month old boy sitting at a table near us who caught Kyle's attention. Before we knew it, Kyle was waving at him and then they were both chattering back and forth.

Home again on Sunday, Kyle was so happy to be back where he could be on the floor and play with all of his toys. It was a fun trip for us to Monterey, but I think the next time Kyle will get a little bit more out of the experience.

Birthdays

It's the time of year when we are celebrating non-stop birthdays! We celebrated Dave's birthday April 3rd, taking Kyle out to dinner with us to Sundance Steakhouse in Palo Alto. The place is decorated with hunting and fishing gear, which turned out to be quite entertaining to everyone around us when Kyle started "talking to" and trying to get the attention of the deer head mounted on the wall opposite us!

Yesterday, we celebrated my 30th birthday, funny, I don't feel "that old"! It was a pretty low-key day, just hanging out with my little guy, and we went to Baby Storytime at one of the Palo Alto libraries (instead of swimming, which is a lot more work for me!) He loved crawling around with all of the other babies, who were much more interesting than the books and rhymes being read by the librarian! Dave managed to escape work early, so we had a little time to relax together as a family at home before we took Kyle out to dinner at The Fish Market.

And next month is the most exciting birthday to come - Kyle's first birthday! At this point, I think that we are probably going to plan a small get-together with family. After all, Kyle is still too young to understand what all of the excitement is about, and we are also going to be involved in several other 1-year celebrations with the other kids from our birth preparation and support groups.