Grandpa Charlie

I meant to have this up last week for Grandpa Charlie's birthday, but better late than never! Sorry Charlie - it's been a little crazy around here lately!

Over the summer, Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Tammy came to visit and babysit. Kyler kept bringing them books to read. One day shortly after he woke up, Ky climbed onto Grandpa's lap and cuddled up with a book. It made for some very cute pictures!

"Happy {Belated} Birthday, Grandpa Charlie. I love you very much!"

See any resemblance here?!?!

Fun Fun FUN

Kyler has been having a blast here in Seneca. We get to be outside a LOT and that is his favorite thing. One of the first days we were here Brett took him to the park to play.

Here are my goofy boys getting ready for the park. They needed lots of sunscreen.

And here is Ky-man swinging.

Make sure you have your volume up for this screamer of a video.

He has been going for lots of rides in Papa's truck too. They take Frazier out to the country for runs and while they are out there, Kyler gets to drive the truck. They see cows and a horse and get to throw rocks off a bridge. Whenever Papa is home, Ky is pulling him toward the truck and repeating "truck" as many times as he can get in. He even knows which door to go to to get in his car seat. Papa says he knows the route and doesn't complain when they get to the end of the road and he has to get back in the car seat after the load Frazier up.

I don't know what we're going to do when it gets too cold to play outside all the time. Probably throw lots of fits.

Camping

We did some end-of-summer camping with my parents last weekend. Kyler would run all the way down to the water - it was a long way! And he really really wanted to jump in with Frazier (the dog).

Ky had a lot of fun feeding Frazier (who normally doesn't eat much or care about food). When Ky was feeding him, he would eat like crazy.

He also enjoyed the tractor and truck books that Papa brought out from his grocery store.

It was a beautiful weekend and just windy enough to fly a kite.

We fly kites on fishing poles, of course.

We went on the boat and Daddy wakeboarded. He even did a flip for us. Kyler liked blowing the whistle.

A little later, Papa let Ky drive his truck around the lake.

Ky saw a truck with a bunch of hay bales on it.

So they followed it. Surely there was a tractor somewhere!

Sure enough, there was a tractor loading up those bales. Kyler really studied it hard.

And I mean hard. He looked and looked.

Then we went and saw those big bales up close. Ky thought they were a little too pokey and wanted to get out of there!

It was so much fun at the lake!

Go Royals!

We went to a Royals game with Kyler and a group of family and friends a couple weeks ago. We tailgated for a while before.

 Ky had a blast at the game. He sat on the stairs next to me and thought that was great.

We walked around and every time he heard the music playing, he would stop and dance.

The kids area was a lot of fun - they had a playground and some water fountains that he enjoyed.

Another Move

We moved... again! Brett's job in Seneca starts on Tuesday so we moved yesterday. I wasn't too sad to leave Kyler's room this time - it was so boring and white (we didn't paint since it was SO temporary).

He is adjusting well to his new but familiar surroundings. We are staying with my parents. He is able to spend a lot more time outside which is fine by him. It is so hard for him to understand that when it gets dark, we can't play outside anymore.

Brett had this week off between jobs and he and Ky have been having lots of fun together. On Tuesday, we were still in KC and they ran errands, went to lunch with a friend, and stopped by Daddy's office one last time. Ky was so tired that he went to bed around 6:00 without dinner and slept until almost 9:00 the next morning! Today they went to the park and Ky was apparently having a blast. Brett came home with a video of Kyler squealing with delight going down the tube slide.

15 Month Statistics

We had Kyler's 15 month check-up today. He is healthy as can be and the doctor was impressed by the number or words he can say (around 15) and how well he does using his fingers to hold and turn objects in his hand. Kyler is 25 pounds which is the 55th-60th percentile and is 32 inches tall (75-76th percentile). Head circumference is 18.5 (50th percentile).

We did a lot of waiting because silly me made an afternoon appointment (I suggest going in the mornings before they get way behind schedule). But Kyler did well because there was a window right out to the interstate. He loved looking at the trucks and cars. He had to get two shots which he was not fond of. I don't think it is the physical pain for him as much as he doesn't understand why someone is hurting him (and why I would let them give him ouchies). But he thought his Bugs Bunny bandages were pretty neat and kept lifting up his shorts legs to see them. When we were all done and got him dressed, he walked out of the doctor's office like a big boy instead of me carrying him. My little guy is growing up way too fast!

In case you are wondering, here is the list of Kyler's words that I could think of:
Mama or Mom
Dada or Dad
Papa
Baxter
tractor
truck
duck
sock
toe
shoe
shut
sit
dog or doggie
uh oh (now shortened to just "uh")
come on
thank you

Now a lot of these words are very unclear and he won't say all of them when you ask him to, but these are words we hear repeated fairly often.

Fire Truck Jammies

Last night after changing Kyler's diaper for bedtime, I unloaded the dryer. I started sorting clothes near where he was playing and he quickly came over and started pulling clothes out of the basket and making his fire truck noise. He was trying to find his fire truck jammies. When I pulled the shirt out a few seconds later, he shrieked in excitement. Once he was dressed, he couldn't stop looking down and pointing at the firetrucks.

He has been doing really good at going down for naps and bedtime. Sometimes he cries a few minutes, but most of the time he is worn out and just lies down and falls asleep after I tell him "night-night" and give him kisses. I'm not sure how much longer that will last though... the other day I went down to get him from his nap and he was pulling himself up on the side of the crib. I have a feeling he will be climbing out in the next couple of months. I'm not sure how we are going to get him to sleep if we have to move on to the toddler bed!

Happy Baptismal Birthday!

Today is the first anniversary of Kyler's baptism. It almost slipped our minds but we chose a great Godfather for Kyler who gave him a gift this weekend and reminded us. 

We celebrated at dinner tonight by having Kyler's favorite - chicken alfredo. After dinner, we lit his baptismal candle and said a prayer for Kyler. Then we had white cupcakes. Kyler ate really well (as usual) and was pretty happy about his treat.

Next we went and picked out a bible for Kyler. I wanted to give him a bible that he could keep forever. We even had his name embossed on it. He has some childrens bibles already and we will continue to give him age-appropriate bibles as he grows older. We will also be making a charitable donation in his honor to Seneca's upcoming Out of the Darkness walk which is a suicide prevention event. It seemed fitting because my cousin is putting it together and I found out about it today - on Kyler's baptismal birthday.

Here is the prayer that Brett and I read aloud:

Remember this, Kyler. 

You have been washed in the saving waters of baptism and annointed with holy oil. 

Place on your head and in your heart the sign of the cross of salvation. 

(We traced the sign of the cross on his head and heart.) 

Loving God, You created all the people of the world, and You know each of us by name. 

We thank you for Kyler, who celebrates the anniversary of his baptism. 

Bless him with Your love and friendship that he may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. 

May he love his family always and be ever faithful to his friends. 

Grant this through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

We want to keep this tradition alive and let Kyler know that his spiritual life is just as important as celebrating his life here on Earth. Hopefully in the future I will plan a little better so that Kyler's Godparents can attend the celebration.


And here are some pictures from that special day one year ago...

Kyler Jacoby being baptized.

He was so happy right after... he loves water to this day!

He was so interested in the camera and smiled the whole ceremony and dinner.

The baptismal candle.

We are so blessed to have amazing Godparents - Shelly and Andy.

And equally blessed to have awesome, involved, and very supportive grandparents.

Summer Produce

We have been loving the produce this summer. Kyler loves plums but they are a little too sour. It is hilarious to watch him eat them.

He is also a huge fan of the yummy Missouri peaches we have been getting at the farmers market. They are gigantic but he can put quite a dent in one.

You can see on his plate what was left of the peach when he was done. Did you see all of his front teeth in these pictures? He also has four of his molars.

And here he is eating sweet corn right off the cob. We found the best corn at the farmers market and can't get enough of it!

Fun (and Hot) Summer Weekends

We've had a couple of fun family weekends. But Kansas is HOT this summer! Last weekend we went to Great Bend for a couple of family reunions on the Brack side. It was around 110 degrees one of the days we were there. Kyler had a lot of fun playing with the relatives close to his age. We stayed one night at a hotel and Brett and Kyler did a little swimming. We walked around the farm where Brett's parents live and Ky loved seeing the tractors. The next morning he woke up and walked over to the door saying "tra-tor." Of course Grandma took him right out. He's such a lucky boy.

Kyler also just got finished with his first swimming lesson course last week. It was a parent/child course to start getting toddlers and babies used to the water. Kyler did pretty good. He has no problem putting his face in the water and doesn't mind getting put completely under either. He does a good job on his front floats but doesn't really enjoy floating on his back much. (I am holding him up when floating.) He is a nut in the water and has no fear. He doesn't want to hold my hand in the shallow water and constantly goes under water. He also loves slides and tries to walk through the deep water to go again.

This weekend we went to Seneca to look at a house on Saturday morning. It was the county fair weekend so there was a lot going on. Saturday night was cruise night where lots of people with fancy cars - old cars and hotrods - cruise around town. We got back to town right around dark so we missed most of it but Ky was pretty interested in the motorcycles and noisy cars. He calls pretty much everything a tractor.

Sunday morning we went out to the fairgrounds to see the animals - cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, geese, ducks, chickens, and some baby chicks. We checked out the car show for a little bit before it go too hot. (The humidity was 92 percent and the temp was in the high 90s so it felt yucky!) Again, Ky liked the motorcycles best. He also thought he was pretty cool sitting on the army tank (a permanent fixture at the park).

After a morning nap and lunch we headed out to the tractor pull. It was Brett's and Ky's first tractor pull. Ky said tractor about 100 times and even though the noisy lawnmower tractors were a little scary, he wouldn't let me cover his ears. It was hot there so we we hit the pool for a couple hours before heading back to Papa and Grandma's house. He had a blast. Seneca has a new pool and it is great for toddlers. Sunday night was the parade which was lead by the American Legion riders. Great Grandpa Remi was one of the riders. It was a really long parade with lots of tractors, farm equipment, heavy machinery, and semi trucks. We came home with way too much candy. Before we left today, Ky had to get into Frazier's pool and play. They both had lots of fun.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another 110 degree day... probably the hottest day of the year in the Kansas City metro area. Then we get a cool front where it will get down to the lower 90s - that's going to feel like fall compared to what we're used to!

Playing at the Seneca Pool

On Great Grandpa Remi's Harley with Papa

Playing in Frazier's Pool

Fun with Frazier

So Much Fun!

My Little Guy