Cute things the kids are doing

Keeley - She is very focused on her family right now and frequently writes everyone's names.  It is really cute because she always writes them in age order and always includes Kendrick - Kerri, Kelly, Keeley, Kayden, Kendrick, Killian. 

Kayden - She has been very, very busy at school with her math and country work.  For the math works they use a graphite pencil to write the names (in contrast to a colored pencil they use on some of the works).  Each day she explains work to me she always tells me that she used a "giraffe-ite" pencil to write the numbers.  I love it!

Killian - He is in to absolutely everything and trying hard to communicate.  Unfortunately, for the most part he just waves his right hand and we are left to figure out what that means - "bye", "hi", "all done", "milk".  At least he is trying to communicate, right?

Wings

Keeley was wearing her Tinkerbell wings today and decided Killian needed wings too.  I think they look like little angel wings!

Trouble!!

Oh my.  Killian is into EVERYTHING.  Here are just a few of the trouble spots we've found him lately....

Love the look on his face here and that Kayden is keeping the lid down!

Trying to get in the oven.

On the girls' step stool.  We couldn't find him for a minute or two after dinner and then discovered him in the bathroom...

throwing all the girls brushes on the ground...

He also likes to try to climb the pantry shelves, climb into the bathtub, get everything off the girls' work table.  Busy little guy....I definitely think that the pediatrician was wrong when she suggested he might be "cautious" as the reason he was not rolling over at 4 months.

Tortillas!

I found a recipe for homemade tortillas in a great new cookbook I have and decided to give it a try.  Shortly after I started putting flour on the counter, the girls decided they needed to help!

So fun and so yummy!!  I love how focused both the girls are.

Killian is 9 months!

You can see a few teeth in his nine month picture.

"I'm over this picture taking, Mom." 

NINE months!  Oh my how the time is flying.  This has been a big month for him developmentally.  His pediatrician appointment went well and she said he was the "text book" baby.  Everything checked out great and she remarked how exactly "average" he is on all his measurements.  She tested his iron levels and was pleased because he is not anemic and most breastfed babies.  He still wakes up too much for my liking at night and takes short naps but he is really quite happy most of the time. His only fussy period is dinner time for the most part.  Sad for Kelly but at least I have reinforcements by that point! Nursing is becoming more of a challenge because he is so easily distracted so I was pleased to get some guidance on how much he actually needs to nurse and what table foods he can have now. Below are the stats from the doctor and some of the things he's been up to this month.

Height - 28.5 inches (54%)

Weight - 19.85lbs (53%)

Head - 17.75 inches (52%) 

1/16 - signed "milk" when he was ready to eat and take a nap. Unfortunately, I was not around to feed him.

1/17 - started pushing a tub down the hall so that he could "walk".  He's pushed chairs a little bit but no where near as far as he pushed the tub.

 1/18 - figured out how to open the cabinets that are not baby proofed in the kitchen and promptly went to see how many he could get open.  He was not pleased to discover that most of them have the child proofing on them!  I guess we are back in the stage of Kelly arriving home to an obstacle course in the kitchen.  Letting the kids play in the cabinets really is the best distraction during dinner prep at Killian's age.
 
1/19 - figured out how to "walk" up the walls so he doesn't need a ledge to pull up and also started holding on and bending down to pick up toys instead of sitting all the way down


1/24 - He's started growling (too funny)

2/1 - took a full step holding on to my hands, stood there a little bit and then sat down

2/5 - Oma came over to play and we all walked outside to say goodbye.  I was holding Killian and he was silent and snuggling with me.  As Oma walked to her car, I turned my head to Killian and said, "Say 'bye-bye' to Oma."  He made a sound while looking at her.  I called to Mom and said that he had said good bye and then he WAVED!  So very, very cute to hear him trying to say good-bye and see that chubby little hand waving good-bye.

He loves to clap, eat blueberries and be everywhere his sisters are! He is also just more social in general.  Every morning he cries on the way to school and when the girls get out of the van.  He is so very happy to see them after their school time.  On the weekends, his morning nap is quite a challenge because he knows his big sisters are here and awake.  He makes this funny snorting face and loves to make it with Kayden. He has 6 teeth and the two on top are super big!  I love how much more a part of the family he is becoming!!

Loves chasing colored ice cubes in the bath.  He caught and ate a red one the other day and it freaked me out because it looked like blood running out of his mouth!

He LOVES bath time.  Regardless of how grumpy he is after dinner and before bath, as soon as you say it is time for a bath he crawls to the tub, stands up, and starts banging on it with a huge smile on his face.

He loves to be close to Mom and Dad.

Such a sweet face.  Kayden's nickname for him is "chubber" but those chubs are fading away!

Playing at the doctor's office.

What is so fascinating about the dishwasher?

Playtime with the sisters.

The girls got him up here.  Not ready for my baby to seem this big!

Outlook on life

She is fearless and constantly causing me to worry.  I think this conversation sums up her outlook on life well.  As she was standing on a kitchen chair reaching across the table with one leg lifted:

Me: Kayden, please sit down.  That's not safe.  You could get hurt and I would be really sad if you got hurt.
Kayden: (with a small shrug) Well, it would heal.

The Spiders

Some kids have imaginary friends.  My girls have a family of imaginary spiders.  These spiders have been a part of our lives for about a month now.  They live under the rocking chair in the living room, eat real food the girls set out for them on the table, and always go with us when we leave the house.  Kayden is in charge of the spiders and she has informed me that there are 20 of them.  Yesterday at lunch the girls told me the spiders would not be going to Disney World with us but that they would be staying home to protect the house while we were gone.  The girls are apparently afraid our house will catch on fire and the spiders will be able to help with that somehow.  Today, as we were loading up the cars, Kayden told me that the spiders now have their own car and it attaches to the back of our car.

I'll make sure to keep you updated as the spiders continue to be a part of our family.

2/5 Update: This morning Keeley cried at breakfast and on the way to school because she cannot see the spiders.  Kayden told her that if she couldn't see the spiders, they wouldn't listen to her and wouldn't ride in her car seat.  Prior to becoming a mother I had no idea the drama that imaginary things could create!

My little buddy

 

Do I have the cutest little guy or what?  We are few days short of 9 months but I wanted to update on some of his latest "achievements"

He loves the dishwasher and will cry when you make close it.  If he hears you open it he will come crawling as fast as he can to try to get into it.  Here he is helping me unload.

Taking the basket out

Getting it back on the door

Trying to put it where it goes

"Hi, Mom!"

He also really, really loves to be wherever his sisters are and doing whatever they are doing.  Kayden was the same way with Keeley.  The problem right now is that the girls are really interested in paper (drawing/painting/cutting/reading) and he is interested in mouthing everything or tearing it.  I keep telling the girls to move to their rooms or the kitchen table (he can reach their blue table) and they continue to be resistant to that idea.  Here they are working on the kitchen chairs, which he can reach, and trying to protect their work.

He is also really interested in cause and effect and controlling his environment.

Pulling all the toys off the shelf at the dentist.

I don't have a picture of this, but this morning I woke up to a weird sound on the monitor.  Normally Killian wakes up after the girls.  If he wakes up earlier than they do I just let him play in his crib.  He rarely cries and I don't want to encourage wake up time earlier than 6:30.  This morning, however, the noise was odd so I peaked at the monitor.  He had some how managed to reach his arm all the way through the slats to my little "night stand" where I have his noisemaker, books, and the necklace I wear while I nurse him.  He grabbed the necklace and was banging it around on the slats of his crib.


And, finally, he doesn't like to nap. I know this should not be a shock to me but I really had hope that he would be a better napper than the girls.  He is better, I guess, but he still doesn't take those long two hour naps that everyone else seems to have!  In the afternoon he is particularly resistant I think because he knows that he can play with his sisters.  He really loves them and cries every morning on the way to take them to school.  Anyway, the last few days he has played in his crib for an hour or so even though he is really tired.  He'll play and then get mad.  As soon as he gets really worked up I go put him on his stomach and pat his back a minute and he'll settle to sleep.  Today he'd been playing for about 30 minutes and I looked at the monitor to discover he had taken off his pants.  No big deal.  About 20 minutes later he was talking and seemed very excited so I looked again to see the monitor picture.  This time the image I saw on the screen was shaking and he was gleefully pulling the cord that goes to the monitor's camera above his head.  He'd pull really hard and then look up toward the monitor.  I went in there, reattached the cord from where it had fallen (it was out of his reach before it fell), changed his diaper, put his pants back on, and laid him down.  I patted his back for a minute and then left.  He instantly became very angry.  I sat down and heard another weird noise.  When I looked at the monitor I discovered he had thrown his little board book out of his crib.  That is a temper I have yet to see in him!  Life just keeps getting more interesting.