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.

Smile for the camera!

Kyle is growing up so quickly into a little boy, and is rapidly outgrowing his baby ways. It is amazing how much he understands these days, and how much he tries to communicate with us too. His signing repertoire is growing, and despite dropping "milk" he now knows "more", "hear", "where", "on", "one" (how old are you?), and "touchdown!" He can also be very persistent when he wants to show you something, or needs help, and is constantly pushing or pulling me along with him.

It's been a busy month, but no real excuses for not having posted recently. Since our last post, we have gone to the Oakland Zoo with Daddy (Labor Day) and also went to the SF Zoo again yesterday for another Moms-n-Boys Day-Out. When we were leaving the zoo yesterday, Kyle kept signing "more" and was very reluctant to leave. Needless to say, he was sound asleep in the car within 5 minutes of us being on the road home. I promised him that we would be back again soon with Daddy.

We also went to Palo Alto Airport Day last weekend, and Kyle loved to see airplanes, helicopters and firetrucks up close, as well as to see the planes taking off and landing. Next year he should be big enough that we can get a photo of him sitting in a cockpit!

There are no big upcoming plans for us, just enjoying every day that we can with our ever changing boy. I am still trying to take him to weekly swim classes (nap permitting) and trying to get him together for play dates - he is such a social boy, and loves giving hugs to his friends! There are plenty of happenings in our house, so I promise it won't be another month before another update and photo!

Here's a parting image of Kyle signing "touchdown!"

San Francisco Zoo

Kyle and I had our first trip to the zoo yesterday, unfortunately without Dad, as it was a weekday and we were meeting up with a couple of my college friends and their little ones. It was a very exciting experience for Kyle, with watching the big gorillas eat lunch or climb into a tub, turtles swimming under the water, and monkeys scaling fences. The most exciting part was the petting zoo, where he pulled on some goats horns, and finally rode on a little toy tractor, which I had to drag him off of, with promises that we will come again. Shown with Kyle is Maddie (age 3, her baby sister Julia is missing from the photo) and Ava (just a few weeks younger than Kyle).

We had a quick trip to the doctor's office today, for a weight check and some blood work. Kyle weighed in at 22 pounds, so he has gained a pound in the past 5 weeks, not bad! He was also a very brave boy during the blood draw and didn't even flinch. I was so proud of him!

Summer Vacation

We're back from "The Lake" (Lake Almanor, for those who aren't in the know) and our week away went far too quickly. Kyle had a blast playing in the sand, but wasn't too interested in getting wet, following us in the water to get his feet wet only a couple of times. He was even less thrilled with boat rides, mainly because he had to wear his life vest, which was uncomfortable as it pushed up under his chin.

He did surprisingly well on the 5+ hour drive there and back, with two naps each way, and with me sitting in the back seat with him to give him snacks and keep him amused with toys or a narrative of our drive. Nap time for him was a great relief from the non-stop action of each day, with 4 other kids running around. Kyle loved having some big kids to look up to, and I'm sure he will enjoy interacting with them a bit more once he is a little older and he can keep up.

We saw lots of wildlife up there, mostly deer and a couple of osprey, and unfortunately not many fish. Dave didn't have a chance to go fishing this year, as he was around as much as possible to spend time with Kyle. Kyle was enthralled with the fishing poles, so maybe next year he'll be up for catching a fish! I'll post some more photos of our trip as soon as I have a chance to go through some more of them.