Prayers

We have always done pretty good about praying before bedtime but more recently we have started making it a point to pray before dinner. Last night it was one of those crazy dinner nights where Kyler was starving so we started feeding him while I was finishing up the cooking and Brett had taken a phone call. When we finally all made it to the table and started eating, Kyler looked up at Brett and folded his hands together. He was reminding us that we had not said our prayers yet and had the biggest smile when we prayed. "MayMen!" (Amen!)

Chatterbox & Much Needed Update

Kyler has been chatting it up more and more lately it seems. He is constantly saying something, and we usually don't know exactly what it is. He has started repeating EVERYTHING lately, trying to say any and every word possible. He's also starting to put words together to make mini-sentences when I ask him to repeat something. Usually it's when he's asking for a snack. "More cheese please" is a cute phrase - it sounds more like "mo tzz bzz." He will also get confused if he repeats it several times and mix up the order of the words. He loves looking at pictures or our belongings and saying Mama, Dada, or Kyler ("waa waa"). When he says hi or bye it is in a southern accent (hah, bah). He really loves "up, down" and even uses them correctly.

The little man has developed quite the personality. I am constantly laughing at him and proclaiming how much I love him. He can put his hat on by himself which is amusing because it is usually pretty crooked. Today he was trying to show me a truck outside our door. He kept saying "cuck" and pointing and then crouched down and stared at me with these big excited funny eyes. I think it was his way of saying "Mom, seriously. There is a truck out there! Can you believe it?" He gives me that look, putting his face really close to mine once and a while and I can't help but crack up. He's a pretty friendly guy too. When we go eat at the bar he will walk in himself and has to wave at every single booth on the way back to our table. This weekend we were at a restaurant in Kansas City and when the booth next to us got up to leave they had to stop and tell us that this little boy has a lot of personality. They said Kyler was smiling and waving at them and had them laughing. He's really good at giving hugs and kisses now and will wave and say "bah" to pretty much anyone. At home, he has started getting our shoes out and walking around in them. I was trying to figure out what the click click click noise was one day when he came out wearing one of my heels.

He reads books a lot, probably more than playing with all his toys combined. And it's fun to listen from the next room to see what his commentary is. He has also been reading himself to sleep at naptime. I can always tell when he falls asleep because I can't hear his little voice anymore. Sleep has been much better the past couple of days. Kyler had been waking up at least once each night and a few nights were pretty brutal. Around the holidays we were dragging him to our bed in the middle of the night out of exhaustion. The new trick to get him to lay down is for me to tuck him in really tight with his blanket. He thinks it's funny. And his dog (My Pal Scout - Leapfrog) plays some songs for him and his 'affe (stuffed giraffe). Last night he went to bed shortly after 9 and slept until 9 this morning. I was glad to be rested up and couldn't decide if I should make noise and wake him up this morning or not.

Speaking of behaving well, I have to brag about how Ky will pick up all of his toys when asked (and sometimes before being asked) without help. I was shocked the first time he did it. His talking has also slowed down the whining quite a bit and he asks for things rather than crying every time. He will also fetch himself a diaper when asked which is pretty nice. Sometimes he will even go get one if he needs changed and I haven't had the pleasure of smelling him yet. He definitely has his bad moments though. He isn't very good about being quiet in church (see the paragraph on him talking above). He was until recently not sleeping well. And he has a really hard time staying out of things when we tell him it isn't for him. The computer is a great example. I can't even be on the computer while he's around because he wants me to show him pictures or videos of tractors. Last night I had to get some work done and he was having a fit. Finally he came over to it and pushed on my monitor, saying "shut." I had to give in and shut it after he was such a big boy and used his words. Plus, it gave us a little more playtime together before his bedtime.

I would have never thought it was possible the day he was born, but I love that kiddo more and more every day. Brett and I are so proud of his every accomplishment and how well he behaves (most of the time). He brings us so much joy and lots of entertainment. It's so great to have his smiling face around. I just love this boy! I might have to tone down the adoration once he's old enough to realize he could get himself wrapped around my finger. :)

A Funny Moment

While I was changing his diaper before nap time, Kyler was holding the clean diaper. He put it on his head and said "hat" then started saying "ho ho ho." Who knew Santa wore a diaper on his head during the off-season?

K for Kyler

As I've said before, books are probably Kyler's favorite things. Yesterday he went up to his room and read books for about an hour all by himself. I could hear him reading... sometimes things I didn't understand and other times things I could identify like all of the farm animal sounds. One of his favorite books is "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." Last week I realized that he could identify the letter K by himself. I always pointed it out as "K for Kyler" when reading the book. One day he pointed at it and said he name (which sounds like "Wawwa"). So I started asking him on each page to point to K for Kyler. He could identify the letter on pretty much every page even though it was in a different spot and sometimes even upside down. Now we'll have to work on identifying it in other places and also learning some additional letters "M for Mama" and "D for Dada" will probably be next.

Doctor Visit for Eczema

I took Kyler to the doctor today. He has somewhat of a rash on his back. It started out a few months ago when we saw a spot on his leg we thought might be ringworm. We put anti-fungal cream on it and it eventually went away except a little rough patch of skin. Then more recently we started noticing pink bumps and rough spots on his back and arms. Some spots looked like they could be ringworm and other spots definitely did not. Last year, Kyler got a patch of eczema on his side so I was wondering if that might be back. I finally made an appointment and took him in this morning so we know how to treat it. He weighed in at 29 pounds, 4 ounces. And the nurse practitioner was pretty sure he has eczema. She prescribed a steroid cream and told me to put lotion on top of it.

I also had her check Ky's ears as he's been waking up at night a lot. I thought it might be due to his new room but wanted to rule out ear infection. His left ear was a little pink so she said to call back in for an antibiotic if he gets worse over the weekend.

Finally, he's been rubbing his eyes a lot and they are a little pink and puffy underneath so I am also concerned he may be allergic to something. She said that is possible and that most kids with eczema also get allergies. I really hope it's not the dogs though. While at my parents' house, the dogs were in the garage but now they are living with us in the house so it might make sense that he would start having allergy symptoms if that is the case. My brother has dog allergies as well so it wouldn't completely shock me.

Anyway, hopefully we can get rid of the skin problems and the rest of the stuff is just a fluke and goes away as well.

Christmas 2011

We were blessed with another amazing Christmas this year. Here are some photos to prove it...

Kyler loved (understatement) making sugar cookies with me. His favorite part was stamping out the cookies and his favorite shape was the Christmas tree. He was almost jumping out of his chair out of control.

He also liked helping roll out the dough.

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Brack for a few days and even made it to Great Bend one afternoon to have lunch and play cards with Great Grandma and Grandpa Brack.

Kyler had a blast playing with his uncles, Ryan and Brad. It was the first time he had met Uncle Ryan who is currently living in Japan with the navy.

We came back to Seneca late Christmas eve. He was pretty excited about all the presents on Christmas morning.

He pulled the candy canes off his stocking. He loves candy!

There was more candy inside the stocking - tootsie rolls!

Those candy canes were pretty cool though. He would set them down and then go check on them once in a while.

He did pretty good opening gifts.

Oh boy - he got a bunch of cars!

And checked them over carefully.

Then came the big gift - the race track. He loves it and gets pretty excited when the cars crash.

He saw Daddy putting batteries in his firetruck so thought he should do it too.

He also liked the bubble bath that was in his stocking.

For lunch we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's.

Kyler would have rather used his presents to drive his cars on than open them.

But he thought his red truck (just like Papa's) was pretty cool.

He had to drive it over to show the dog (Frazier).

That night we went to Great Grandma and Grandpa Haverkamp's. He loved their Christmas train!

This morning when I peeked out at him, he was looking at all his new toys. Time to play!

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!

My Goofy Boy

Cooking with Grandma

Making "snow" angels with the packing peanuts from Daddy's Christmas present

Helping Papa clean the truck

Helping Papa check the tires

Saying "cheese" with his funny hat on

Falling asleep on Grandma's lap

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.

18 Month Check-up

Here are Kyler's vital stats from his 18 month check-up:

Weight: 27 lbs, 12 oz (50th percentile)
Height: 32 1/4 inches (50th percentile)