Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our "little pumpkin" - I mean Tigger! We laughed when we remembered last year having to prop Kyle up against the pumpkins to get a similar photo, now he could barely sit still long enough for this photo.

We've had a fun October, with a trip
to the pumpkin patch...










...some pumpkin carving...





...and finally trick-or-treating (or more accurately, a walk around the neighborhood in his Halloween costume while looking at all of the decorations)

(Don't forget to click on the small photos to see them enlarged!)

Mr Repairman

Kyle wants to help out with everything these days, or more accurately, do everything himself. This morning, his zebra flashlight didn't have the usual perkiness, so we thought that it might be in need of some new batteries - here's Kyle taking charge of the repairs!

Getting to be a big boy!

Kyle loves exploring what goodies we have in the fridge, and today he found a nectarine on the top shelf, and wandered away munching on it! So far I haven't found any sticky spots on the hardwood floor or carpet, so I am hoping that he was pretty neat with it.

We are amazed daily by how much he understands and can do. Yesterday, we received a new sweatshirt in the mail for him, so we opened up the package, took a look, and then left it in the middle of the living room floor. Later when Dave once Dave was home, Kyle was busy playing with something, and I poked my head in to say "Can you show Daddy your new sweatshirt?" Sure enough, Kyle got up, picked up the sweatshirt, gave it to Dave and then went back to what he was doing! We're looking forward to his first few words, when he can start asking us for things (hopefully this doesn't lead to much talking back!)

Body Art

Kyle loves to scribble with pens lately (if you give him a crayon, he'll just eat it!) and I made the mistake of leaving the room for 5 seconds... I came back to find him laughing and scribbling on his foot. He was very proud to show off his handiwork, and even managed to get a scribble in on my wrist a little later. We're going to have to start watching out for the walls!

First taste of Marmite

This definitely proves that Kyle has British blood in him - here he is, taking his first tastes of Marmite. He had a lick off of my finger, and then signed for more and grabbed the jar! (Click on the photos for gooey close ups of all the Marmite around his mouth!)







We have been very lucky not to have too much of a picky eater. Although it did take him a little while to eat vegetables, now it seems that he'll eat just about anything that we give to him.

15-months old (where does the time go?)

It is funny to have people ask me "How's the baby?" because these days, Kyle doesn't seem to be much of a baby at all. He has such an independent little boy personality, and loves exploring different things, either on his own, or while pulling my hand and sticking my hand in instead of his own!

We went to his 15-month check up yesterday, and he weighed in at 22 pounds 13 ounces, 31" tall. Looking at the growth charts, he has definitely slowed down from his chubby baby days, but that is good news for everyone, otherwise we would be struggling to carry close to 30 pounds. His height to weight ratio is perfectly proportioned, so it doesn't look like we are starving him! During our Saturday visit to the SF Zoo, I noticed that his 13th tooth had broken through (one of his lower canines) which will make his smile even more dazzling. Kyle's doctor was pleased with all of his development, and said that he is right on schedule with everything. We can look forward to an explosion of verbalization over the next few months to supplement his signing.

Everyday, I am amazed by how much he understands. This past week, I have been able to ask him to "please close the fridge" and he will come running back into the kitchen and give the door a big push. Today, we had some food fall onto the ground while he was eating lunch and I said "Uhoh! We'll have to clean that up!" He looked down at it, and then looked over to the garage door where the Swiffer was and he pointed to it. I told him "That's right, we can clean it up with the Swiffer as soon as we are finished with lunch" So sure enough, as soon as I took him out of the highchair, he ran over to the Swiffer and brought it back to clean the floor under his highchair, and then proceeded to walk it all of the way around the dining room table!

Daddy's first trip to the San Francisco Zoo

Kyle and I had already gone up to the SF Zoo on two separate occasions for play-dates without Dave, so on Saturday we decided that it was finally time to make a family trip up there. We tried to time our drive to correspond with Kyle's nap, but of course he didn't fall asleep until we were nearly there, so we drove up the coast a bit further to the Cliff House. As we drove into the zoo parking lot, Kyle woke up and was very excited to realize where we were!

A first for all us was a ride on the "Little Puffer" steam train. We think that Kyle had more fun watching the train go past rather than actually riding it, but he still enjoyed the trip around, past some of the animals and through a tunnel.

We finished the day with a trip to the Family Farm, I couldn't leave without letting Dave see how excited Kyle was to feed the goats. Unfortunately, I missed capturing his expression with the camera, but we were both thrilled to see how excited he was to be with the animals, and he kept asking for more food to give to them.