First Day of (Pre) School!

Kyler started preschool this week. He was assigned to bring snacks for the first week so on Monday we went shopping and he helped pick some things out. That night we packed his backpack, got his snacks ready, and picked out his outfit. I helped him make a list of all the things he had to do in the morning to get ready for school and drew pictures for illustration. Tuesday morning he got all ready to go and even let me snap a couple of pictures. (I had to convince him by telling him I needed a picture to look at when I missed him.) He refused to wear his backpack on the way to school.

When we got there, he was a little freaked out by a little girl who was crying pretty hard after her mom left but once we explained that she just missed her mom he was fine. When I picked him up he was wearing his backpack, which looked gigantic on him. The teacher said he did fine but did not want his hand painted to do a little art project. I thought maybe it was because he doesn't like to get messy but it may have just been him being defiant. In the car he told me it was because he wanted purple (which I don't think was even an option). We took him to lunch at his favorite place - Spanky's, the local bar. He did not want to tell us anything about school.

Today he did even better. He thought he was pretty big walking into the school with the big kids. Many of them know who he is and say hi to him which he also loves. He knew just what to do when we got to his classroom. His teacher had warned me that they were finger painting today so I did my best to convince Kyler to try it. When I got home he did tell me that he painted with his fingers and with a paintbrush. Later on he told me that they read books, sang a song about an alligator, played dress-up (he was a mailman), and that his friend at school is Adrienne (although he was not able to pronounce it well at first). It's a lot of fun watching him get to experience something new and exciting. I think (and hope) that it will be a great school year for him.

Riding a Bike

Kyler can now ride his bike without training wheels! He started last week and is doing great. We have been working with him since around his birthday. He really preferred his Strider (balance bike) and we would have to bribe him to get on the pedal bike. Brett got him to the point that he would ride down the sidewalk in front of our house and then I took him for a longer ride and walked behind him. He did great and the next time on his bike was a long ride with Mama, Dada, Myelle, Papa, and Grandma. He got a little tired at first and struggled a little going uphill the first half of the ride. But then we got to the school parking lot and he was off! He was going around in circles pretending to be a race car. It was pretty cute watching his little pedals turning so quickly. We are very proud of him being able to ride a bike without training wheels at such a young age. We are excited to go on real rides with Ky instead of pulling him in the trailer.

Swim Lessons - Day 1

I am kicking myself for not bringing my camera. I honestly thought that this would be a huge failure and we would not be going back the rest of the week. Mainly because that water is COLD! It has been in the 50s and 60s at night lately and we had a ton of rain the past couple weeks. It was only in the 70s outside this morning when we walked to the pool. Plus, I had Myelle so between making sure Kyler was following directions and taking care of her, how was I going to take pictures?

Kyler did okay at the beginning. He kept wanting to explore the bridge that goes over our pool so I had to remind him several times to stay with his class. He participated in the activities (blowing bubbles, kicking, walking in the water) and some required the lifeguard to pretty much force him (going underwater, front float, and back float). He kept lying down on the concrete. I think it was to try to stay warm. When they walked the kids over to the deep end, I wrapped him in his towel. I felt a little sorry for the kid.

They had the kids jump off the side into the deep water where a lifeguard caught them. I convinced Kyler to do it by telling him I would wait for him right by the side with his towel and that we could walk over the bridge when swimming lessons were over. He did it. Then they walked the kids over to the diving board. Kyler followed. He actually wanted to go off the board. I held his towel while they took him up and lowered him in. I wrapped him back up and he walked back over to get in line again. This time he needed less help walking to the edge and they dropped him in the water. I don't think he was prepared to go all the way under so he came up a little shocked.

I was so proud of him for going off the board twice. And like I said, I was kicking myself for not bringing the camera as he went off the diving board for the first time. He said he was going to do it again tomorrow when his dad is there. Hopefully he does better and better this week and we will have a little fish in the water this summer!

Dying Easter Eggs

Kyler colored Easter eggs for the first time this year. He had a lot of fun doing it but he wasn't a big fan of eating the yolk when we tried one.

Snow!

Last year I think we got a real snow only once and I missed my opportunity to take Kyler out to play in it. I don't think he even remembered ever seeing snow before. But yesterday morning we woke up to a few inches of snow so I had to be sure to get him outside while Myelle was napping.

Getting ready to head outside. He had a lot of layers on - I was having flashbacks from "A Christmas Story."

Hiding behind a drift and kicking his way out.

His mittens didn't fit quite right but he was warm and having a blast!

Running through the snow.

Oops - stuck in a drift.

We attempted to make a snowman yesterday but the snow was too dry from being blown around so much. Today it was a little warmer and the snow was starting to get more wet so we quickly went out to make a little snowman. It was Kyler's first snowman. He was SO excited to make Frosty. He kept saying, "he might talk and he might walk" as we were making the snowman.

Checking out our creation.

Our finished product - Kyler couldn't open his eyes for the picture though because it was so bright.

Brett said it looked like Baby Frosty. We did borrow Myelle's hat for our tiny snowman.

Shaking his hand.

Update: Uncle Ment (Brent) came over the next day to make a real snowman. It was bigger than Brent and will be around for most of the winter unless we get some high temps.

First Ride on a Jet Ski

We went to the Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend with some friends and Kyler had his first jet ski ride. He liked it up until his dad got a little too crazy. I convinced him to go out one more time under the condition that they go slow! He is a little cautious which is fine by me... he gets really worried when Brett wakeboards. He tells his dad not to go in the water and to get back in the boat.

Table Rock Lake Weekend

This past weekend we went on a little road trip to spend some time with a group of friends at Table Rock Lake. It was relaxing, the weather was beautiful, and it was so nice to be able to spend a couple of days with some close friends. Kyler had fun in the water and definitely wore himself out.

Kyler going on a quiet ride with Dada.

Baby Eva snoozed in the shade on the dock.

Kyler took his first tube ride nice and slow with Dada.

Mama and Kyler rode on the tube a little faster with Tiernan and his mama.

19 Months

The little guy is now 19 months old. Time is flying once again. I can't believe how big he is and that before long, he won't want to cuddle in the rocking chair with me. Kyler has been a little crabby the past few afternoons/evenings. I think he might be getting his 2-year molars judging by the amount of time he spends with his fingers in his mouth.

It doesn't help that his new favorite word is a very whiny and bossy sounding "no." He really draws it out... nnnnnnO! I guess the good thing is that he doesn't really know what he saying most of the time so he's not a total brat yet. Other times, he definitely has it figured out. If the dogs are trying to give him kisses while he's reading a book: no! If I move his cars from the bath tub to the toy box: no! But other times he just walks around saying "no, no, no" for no apparent reason.

He also has a very cute and fun side right now. Yesterday we were tip-toeing around the house trying to get ready without waking him up. (We just moved into our house except for his bedroom is not set up so he is sleeping in a pack-and-play in the living room.) He spotted me leaving the bathroom and starting talking gibberish to me and smiling. When he does that, he is irresistible. He's also pretty good at laughing when everyone else does and showing off to people, especially his uncles. He met his Uncle Ryan for the first time last week and had a blast chasing him around the house. Now Uncle Brent is home from college and Ky just loves to show off to him and follow him around to see what he's up to next. You never know when Brent is going to go out to his truck to clean some ducks. That's one thing Kyler doesn't like to miss out on!

We are really excited to spend Christmas with this little guy. He has been playing with his nativity scene. Yesterday Baby Jesus was in the angel's spot above the stable and he was just laughing away. Whenever he sees a picture of Santa, he says "ho ho ho." And he loves looking at Christmas lights when we are driving around. Hopefully we will get some time (and good driving weather) to go look at some more lights. We haven't put a Christmas tree up and I'm not sure that we will at this point so Christmas might look a little different this year because of the move. But we'll be sure to celebrate with lots of family time either way. The weather has gotten very Christmas-y today so I think Ky's first hot cocoa might be in order for tonight!

Kyler's 1st Haircut

Kyler got his hair cut for the first time when he was 18 months old. He was such a big boy sitting up in the chair. Of course, it helped that I had some Skittles for him to chew on.

They didn't cut off a lot, but it makes his hair much less crazy, especially the fuzzy part in back.

Trick or Treat

We learned this Halloween that Kyler is more of a giver than a taker. He didn't mind trick-or-treating but he definitely preferred helping Grandma hand out treats. He hung out on the porch with the pumpkins and ghost and even sat down for a bit. When the kids would leave he would stand at the door and talk and talk to them in his gurgling gibberish. Finally I would tell him to shut the door so more kids could come and he would. His talking was hilarious!

He did pretty well for his first time trick-or-treating. He dressed up in his lion costume and got his treat bag and would walk right up to the doors and attempt to knock. When the candy came, he got pretty excited and tried to take as much as he could. He would then want us to open it right then and there. Sometimes we would hold his treat bag until we got to a door but as soon as we gave it to him he would sit down and pick something out of it. It was a confusing night for our little lion! After we hit about 10 houses, he was done. He looked like he would fall asleep in the car and just stared off while we were visiting with people.

When we got back home and dumped out his candy, he was pretty happy with himself and picked out quite a few to eat. He had plenty of sugar and was bouncing around pretty good until he finally crashed and went to bed. It was a fun night and we enjoyed Ky's first "real" Halloween (last year he was too small to really do anything - we didn't even dress him up until a couple days after, and just for a picture). Next year should be even more fun when he actually understands that he doesn't need to eat each piece of candy as it is given to him.

Pumpkin Carving

This Halloween Eve, we carved Kyler's pumpkin.

Ky's lion face was on because we went and got his picture taken earlier. He didn't know what to think of that slimy stuff in the pumpkin!

Grandma got a spoon and Ky scooped and scooped the seeds out. Then they would go flying everywhere. It was very entertaining.

You can't tell because of the flash, but this picture is in the dark when we lit up the pumpkin to see its face. Aren't these expressions priceless?

Kyler thought it was so much fun to have the lights off.

And he likes to take off the lid and look inside occasionally.

Of course, he has to put the lid back on. Everything has to be in its place for this little guy.

Here is Kyler with his first carved pumpkin. Yay!

We can't wait to take him trick-or-treating tonight!!!

Taking Steps and Using Utensils

Although I can't yet say that Kyler is "walking," he can take quite a few steps now. Last night he took a bunch of steps for Brett and luckily I was also there to see the last several. My parents came into town to visit for a couple hours so he showed off for them as well. It is pretty funny because he looks like he's been doing it for a week or two. In reality, he has been very able but just too cautious to actually do it.

Ky has also figured out how to use a fork and it is so cute/funny to see him pierce a piece of food and get it to his mouth. I have caught it on video a few times now. He still hasn't mastered the spoon or scooping food up but I think we need some better spoons for him to practice with. I think what has really helped is that after the move we have been eating in and all together a lot more so he watches and mimics what we do. I guess we better try to improve our table manners.

A Fun Weekend

Kyler sure had a fun weekend. We had a wedding to attend in Manhattan and spent most of the weekend in Seneca. It started off with Kyler staying with some friends in Manhattan while I was at the bachelorette party. While I was gone, Amanda taught Kyler his first coherent word (other than Dada and Mama). It was "stop." Sometimes he says it really clear but other times it just sounds like jabber. They were spinning a stool and would stop it and say "stop." He even told Grandma and Papa his new word over the weekend.

Then on the way to Seneca, we made a stop at Papa's store. Kyler got to play with goldfish and minnows, watch Papa juggle bobbers, and then he tried to eat a wiggly worm. After lunch it was on to Great Grandma and Grandpa's where Kyler got his first tractor ride. We went with Great Grandpa to plant some soybeans. Ky was way past due for a nap by that time so all of his reactions were pretty calm. But he wasn't a bit scared of that big, noisy tractor. We climbed in and he studied everything very carefully. His favorite part was the big tire going around and around. He gave Great Grandpa a couple of happy smiles and sat in the driver's seat while gramps was getting the planter ready. That got him pretty excited. By the end of the ride Ky's eyes were closed - farming is hard work! He wasn't as happy with riding on the car back to the house. Hopefully we were good luck and the soybeans have a good harvest this year.

The rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of eating, playing, and wagon rides. Daddy was even able to come Friday night straight from the airport and spend the weekend with us before heading back to the airport on Sunday afternoon. We had a mother's day barbecue at Great Aunt Sherry's house with a lot of the family. Kyler had fun playing out in the garage and needed washed up before we headed home.

When we got home, Kyler could not resist the doggie water bowl so I filled up a big bowl of water and we headed outside to play. He had so much fun splashing water all over himself. Then at bedtime, he chose a photo album to look at rather than a book. He spotted his daddy and stared for a while before pointing at him and looking up at me. I think he wanted to know where Dad was - traveling for the 2nd week straight. But we have some good family time planned when he gets back!  Then we flipped a couple of pages and spotted Papa. Kyler kept pointing and laughing. Then he gave goodnight kisses to Daddy's and Papa's pictures before heading to bed. He is such a fun, sweet boy!

9 Months

Kyler and his Valentine's balloon from Mommy.

Kyler has changed more in this month than he has his whole life so far. It's crazy! I have no idea where that tiny helpless baby went. Here's what he does now:

• He can crawl!!! He just started in the last week and today got much better at it. Soon he'll be pretty fast and we're going to have to keep an eye on him every second.
• He can clap his hands. Lately it has been more of rubbing his hands together. We're not entirely sure why.
• He can wave "bye bye." (Tonight we were telling him that a sheep says "baa baa" and asking him to say it and he started waving bye-bye. Poor guy is a little confused.)
• He can go from his tummy to a sitting position and does it all the time.
• He's got two new teeth on top (for a grand total of 4 teeth so far). This means the tongue stays in his mouth a lot more. And he really likes to take bites of food and other objects that make it into his mouth.
• He no longer takes a bottle. He is on the sippy cup now.
• He eats big person food and drinks whole milk instead of baby food and formula. And he is getting huge from eating so much. His belly sticks out really really far!
• We have had to pack lots of little baby things away like the infant car seats, baby toys, and bottles.

This little man is getting smarter and learning new things everyday. It is amazing the things he will copy and the things he understands. (For example, he understands "no" and understands that the worst punishment he can get isn't all that bad. We've shouted and even lightly slapped his hands and he will just give a little grin. I think we're in for it.)

Ky was playing in his room and when I checked on him, he had found his books and taken them all off the shelf.

Tomorrow is his 9 month check-up so we'll see what this huge baby weighs.

Kyler's 1st Christmas

We started the celebration at home the Sunday before Christmas. Since we were planning on leaving town as soon as I got off work on Wednesday, we thought Sunday evening was the best time to open gifts. Ky couldn't wait to get started.

Kyler had plenty of gifts to open before we even left the house. He got some "Engrish" shirts from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jessica in Japan. They have English writing that doesn't always make sense so they are pretty funny. They also sent over some boxing shorts from Thailand.

From Santa and Mom and Dad, Kyler got a baby basketball hoop, a stuffed dog called My Pal Scout that knows his name, a toy cell phone, a Yo Gabba Gabba book, and his favorite book from the library: "And the Cow Said Moo." He was starting to get the hang of unwrapping gifts by the time we were done.

A couple days later while Mommy was making Christmas goodies, he made a big mess with his cookie. But at least it was yummy and he enjoyed it.

Kyler was at Grandma and Grandpa Brack's from Wednesday night through Christmas day. He got a box full of books - one of his favorite things. He also got a bunch of things to play with in the bathtub. We can't wait to get home and try them out. He also received another stuffed doggie that plays music from Great Grandma and Grandpa Weber.

On Christmas day we headed to Seneca to Great Grandma and Grandpa Haverkamp's house. Kyler had a lot of fun playing with all the younger kids there and he got a little toy train. Then on Sunday we opened more gifts at Grandpa Tig and Grandma Debbie's house. By this time Kyler had it down. We are getting a bike to ride this spring and Kyler also got some pop up toys, a bike helmet, and a recordable book with Grandma and Grandpa reading to him. It was pretty funny when he listened to it the first time - he kept looking at them as he heard their voices.

We have one more Christmas to go on New Years Day. Our car is already packed as full as it can go so hopefully we don't end up with too much more!

A Tooth!

Kyler cut his first tooth today. It is his bottom left one. The other should be coming through any time now. Thankfully, Ky hasn't been all that fussy while teething (so far).

Sick Baby

When I picked Kyler up from daycare today they told me he was sick. He had woken up from a nap a couple of hours before and just vomited all over. Then he was a little lethargic the rest of the afternoon. When I picked him up and held him in my arms he turned to me and very lightly gave me an open mouth kiss. It was so sweet but I would much rather have seen his usual big smile.

This is the first time Kyler has vomited. He has had a cold and runny stools before but this time he is really not feeling too hot. He wouldn't even take his bottle of formula - and that is very uncharacteristic of my little eater. I got him to drink a little water after we got home but within 20 minutes that came right back up. But he's such a sport. He doesn't even cry. He just gives me a sad look and sort of yells to let me know he's not all that happy. And then other times he will sit there and play or talk to his toys and you wouldn't even know he was sick.

He's such a trouper, even tougher than his Mama and WAY tougher than his Dad. We are more of babies when we're sick than he is at 5 months old. Hopefully he feels better by Sunday for his first Chiefs game!

Giggles

What a treat... tonight I was playing around with Kyler and he started giggling at me. Not the fake cough laugh he usually does but a back of the throat giggle. He has been kind of a crabby baby over the last week and that's just what mama needed. Hopefully we can get it on camera one of these days.

Back to Front

Apparently our little guy can now roll from his back to his front. I knew he was getting close. He has been rolling all the way to one side and then kicking his legs up really hard and landing on his back again. Last night in the bathtub I think he would have went all the way over if I hadn't caught him to stop him from going face first in the water. This morning he woke up before I left for work. I fed him, changed him, and put him back to bed. We always put him on his "back to sleep." Brett called me a few hours later and said that while he was showering and getting ready for work he put the monitor in Kyler's room so he could hear as soon as he got upset. He could hear him making noises. He usually lies in his bed talking to himself or his mobile and then starts fussing when he is ready to get out of bed. When he started getting upset, Brett hurried up to go get Kyler out of bed. But when he got there Kyler was on his tummy way over toward the side of his crib, almost hitting the rails. He had rolled over to his tummy for the first time and he did not enjoy the predicament he found himself in!

First Football Game

Saturday was Kyler's very first ever football game. The first of many I should add. His dad and mama are football fanatics so he will surely be toted around many football stadiums. We have season tickets to K-State games with a group of our friends so he will see at least a few more this season. The game we went to was K-State vs. UCLA. It was a packed house and it was also Harley day so there was a lot of noise. Kyler wasn't too thrilled with that.

Happy baby tailgating!

The day started for Kyler when we had to wake him up around 9:00 to get ready to go. He loves to sleep in! We got him changed and fed and buckled him in the car to head to Manhattan. He slept pretty much the entire two hours we were on the road. So by the time we got to the tailgate he was in a really good mood. Plus he loves being outside and it was a pretty nice day, although a little hotter than expected. After lunch and tailgating for a couple of hours it was time to head into the game. As we strolled to the stadium, Kyler fell asleep. It was a little noisy waiting to get into the stadium (we were right next to the line-up of Harleys) so Kyler was back up just in time for the game.

At the game.

We got to our seats right as the crowd was getting pumped up and loud. Some of our friends that don't get to see Kyler very often were saying hello. It was pretty hot with the sun beating right on us. Kyler was tired since his afternoon nap was only 15 minutes rather than an hour or two. The Harleys started around the stadium. Oh, and he was probably getting a little hungry by this time. Needless to say, he was not happy! He screamed for a while but eventually we got him to calm down. We took him out to feed him and that seemed to help quite a bit. Brett and I just had to help him realize that all the screaming fans were fun and excited, not scary. So he did well for maybe half of the game and then got really tired toward the end.

End of the game.

So we learned a couple of lessons. (1) Do better nap planning (i.e. have an hour or more nap right before the game). (2) Bring earplugs (we didn't think it was that loud but I guess we just never paid attention, becuase it was that loud!). We are planning on trying again this next game. The team we're playing isn't as exciting and there won't be Harleys so it shouldn't be quite as loud. And it is at night so it won't be as hot and we will have more time tailgating so hopefully Kyler will be able to nap for a while. If it is unsuccessful, we will be taking you all up on those babysitting offers we've been getting for the past year... beware!