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.

It's here!

Kyle's 8th tooth finally broke through on Wednesday, only 38 days after tooth #7 (all of the other teeth came in as pairs within a week of each other) We're looking forward to capturing pictures of Kyle's more even smile soon, once the tooth is a little bit further in. He now has 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

In other news, we are all over our colds for the most part, and Kyle has survived so far without getting an ear infection, although he is definitely noticing some pressure in his ears and has a very adorable manner of tilting his head to the side. He's "walking" all over the house now, with the laundry basket, a big foam cube, or his toy walker (with the wheels locked because otherwise it is WAY too fast)

We're looking forward to some family time over the weekend, enjoying some beautiful summer-like weather. Hopefully I'll manage to snap some new pictures during our busy activities.

10-months old today

Weighing in at 19 pounds 12-ounces, our big boy now has 7 teeth (we've been waiting on the 8th for over a month now!) and loves his finger food. He's crawling all over the house now, and definitely managing to get himself into trouble, getting into things that he shouldn't be playing with. Our little cruiser continues to test out walking, but hasn't intentionally taken THE FIRST STEPS yet.

Sorry for the not-so-great photo, it was the best that I managed to get this morning! I'll try to update this with one later that isn't in front of the window!

Almost walking!

Today was a big day for our big boy! I swore to Dave that Kyle took his first steps - as I put him down on his feet and was barely holding onto the scruff of his outfit, he took two baby steps forward before sitting down! Then after that, he was playing with the laundry basket (one of his favorite pastimes) and Dave called me into the room to see him using it as a walker... he was pushing it around the wood floor and doing a very good job of keeping up behind. We didn't get any photos of the excitement, but did manage to get a little video, so hopefully we can get it up on YouTube and put a link on here...

Nearly 10-months old!

No new photos taken this week, Kyle has a cold so, well, they just wouldn't be pretty. For the most part, it doesn't bother him, except when we try to wipe his nose or use the aspirator. We didn't know that he could turn quite that shade of red quite so quickly!

Meanwhile, he is becoming increasingly more independent and active. Yesterday morning he went in search of Dave down the hallway, turned around when I told him "No, he's not in the dining room, wait by the bathroom", and sure enough, he patiently sat in front of the door and was pleased to find Daddy inside! Even more rewarding, when Dave was getting ready to leave for work and had walked out of view, Kyle distinctly said "da-da" with none of his other babble that usually follows. Dave and I both looked at each other and said "I think he just said his first word!"

He's constantly cruising, and now able to stand without any support for close to 30 seconds. Yesterday's amusement was playing with is yellow wiffle ball - he'd throw it away, go and crawl after it and then repeat the process. There was a pause when it rolled under the dining room table, but as soon as I pulled back a couple of chairs so that he could see there was a clear path, he charged right underneath.

We had another swim "lesson" on Tuesday which went well - this time with much less water swallowed in the process! His favorite part is "jumping in", in which he sits on the edge of the pool and leans forward for me to catch him as he splashes into the water. Other than that, we are still working up to splashing and kicking in the water, and we probably have a while to go until he is blowing bubbles. Depending on how both of us are feeling next Tuesday, we will try to make it again.

I can't post without adding a photo, so here is another great one sent from Auntie Laura following our visit up north. You can see that he is definitely in need of a haircut soon!