Church

Today in church my face was bright red and I had tears in my eyes. I was trying my hardest not to laugh as Kyler "mimicked" Father. He would hold his hands out, then fold them together in prayer, then out again, then a little higher. It was hilarious but thank goodness it only went on for a minute or two. And I didn't let him know it was funny or he would have been doing more showing off and bouncing around than he already was.

Smarty-Pants

Kyler is learning his colors. He has black and blue down and sometimes gets red, orange, brown, and green. Our living room rug has a bunch of big colored squares and that's one of the best ways we've found of teaching him colors. He also wants to be told what color things are like his Fruit Loops and little race cars.

He knows nine letters: B, C, D, F, G, K, M, P, and T. He will point to the letter you ask for or will tell you which letter is which by telling you what they stand for (P for Papa, etc.). He loves having the letters written in sidewalk chalk really big on our sidewalk. He jumps to each letter and says what it is.

He is doing really well at jumping now and almost always gets both feet off the floor. It's so funny how he sort of walks/skips/jumps around the house and everywhere he goes. I love it! I think it's my favorite thing he does right now.

Kyler has also developed a little imagination. He is always looking out the windows saying "motorcycle" ("mo-ky-kle"). He also tells me that he's playing with Frazier and Mot. They seem to be imaginary friends that are around once in a while. And when he's eating or finds crumbs anywhere he tells me they are bugs ("bud").

Oh, and one last thing he's started doing is calling himself "Ky-woo" instead of "Waa-waa." But poor Maggie might be "Wong-wong" forever.

Baby Love

We went to visit a newborn baby yesterday. I wasn't sure how Kyler would react since he's never been around a baby that small before. He had just woken from his nap so he was very calm and gentle when we first got there. And he LOVED holding that precious baby.

I would pull her closer to me and he would put his hands under her and pull her right back onto his lap (very gently, of course). He just couldn't get enough of his newest friend.

He thought it was funny when she would reach up and hit him with her flailing newborn arms. And he had to check out her tiny legs and toes but then cover her back up so she wouldn't get cold.

He even gave her some kisses on the forehead. Her daddy said that would have to come to a stop when they get a little older.

By the time we left, Kyler was pretty wound up and full of energy and had much less interest in Baby Eva. But when he did want her he knew just how to handle such a tiny little one.

What a Difference a Year Can Make

These pictures were taken exactly one year apart.

Some things I want to remember about this age (21 months):

Kyler will play by himself and then just come up to me out of the blue with a big smile on his face. I don't know of anything better than this boy's smile! He also makes a face a lot where he smiles with him mouth closed and sort of scrunches up his face where his eyes are a little bit squinty. It's the face he makes when he is feeling all warm and happy - a cross between "I'm so proud of myself" and "I am loved." When he's around Papa, he usually either makes that face or is licking his upper lip just like Papa does.

He pulls me wherever he wants me to go, tells me to get up, and generally just talks a lot more than he used to. There are lots of 2-3 word sentences and lots and lots of repeating. It's getting more and more clear all the time too.

He finally likes to give hugs and kisses. He is always wanting to hug the dogs, "Bak" and "Wong-Wong" (Baxter and Maggie). I get lots of hugs and even more kisses. Even last night Daddy called to say good-night and Ky said night-night and walked over and kissed the phone. What a sweetie!

He also identifies Mama and Dada in pictures and points to what things belong to each of us and to "Wawa" (Kyler). He'll point to Dad's pillow and the place Dad sits on the couch. It's especially all about Dad since he's been gone for the first week in a long time traveling for work.

When he does something he knows is wrong, he will tell himself "no no no." Whenever I hear his little voice saying "no no no" I know that I had better go check because he's about to do something he shouldn't. Yesterday he was messing with the electronics saying "no, dada's." Too bad those no-no's are just so tempting!

Ky recently learned how to play hide and seek with me. Mom was so hard to find. He would say "Mom go?" and look and look. I would talk to give him hints to find me. He would always hide in the same place which was the first place I hid.

He knows how to tease. He tells Papa that it's "Dad's kuck" (truck). Papa says "Noooo" and Ky will laugh. Then "Mama's kuck" and "Noooo." He thinks it's so funny he will even say it to himself at home while he's playing.

February Photos

I finally put my pictures from the past month on the computer. Here's what we were up to:

Playing with Play-Doh in the high chair.

Crazy boy acting goofy.

Yummy Valentine's Day treats for Ky's friends and teachers.

Kyler Brack - 2012 - All you need is LOVE

Pulling a Matchbox-sized semi trailer with a big truck.

Three shots on those little legs! But he got a lion sticker and Mom gave him candy.

Clothes Drama

Okay, that thing I said the other day about how I hoped the dissatisfaction with his shirt would not be a daily occurrence... well it is. Right now he only wants to wear two shirts. One is the shirt my dad brought back from Mexico of a person on a motorcycle except that the head is actually Kyler's head (hopefully you've seen something similar and that makes sense). It is pretty funny but not something I really want him to wear in public all the time. We've been using it as a pajama top since he hates all of his pajamas. But now he wants to wear that baggy shirt all the time. The other shirt he will wear is one that I pulled out of his next size of clothes that has a race car on it. It's actually normal looking but still, he can't just wear two shirts all the time. He won't even wear his tractor shirts (which like the two shirts he wears are short sleeved and slightly baggy on him).

Every morning when I get his shirt out to get him dressed he pushes it away and tells me "no" in a crabby, whiny voice. He does this to every shirt I get out so finally I just have to put one on him while he's throwing a fit. Then for the next 15 minutes or whenever he thinks about it he pulls at the front of the shirt or the tag like it's the most horrible thing ever. Yesterday he even had a fit when I put his jeans on. He kept grabbing at them and whining.

How did this happen to a child that's not even two? I honestly have no idea. It started with his hatred of sleeper pajamas (the kind with the feet that zip up). Then it was shirts with collars, then buttons, then tags. Now it is just that he knows what he wants to wear and everything else is horrible.

21 Months

Kyler is getting old enough now that we are going to have to start referring to his age not in weeks or months, but years. Right now "he'll be two in May" is what I say when people ask how old he is.

Kyler's speech has been improving. He has been putting lots of short sentences together on his own like "shoes off" or "okay mama." It is still really unclear and it's hard to understand what he's trying to say, even for his Mama who is around him every day. But he will repeat pretty much everything and has really been trying to tell us what he wants instead of whining. Unfortunately there are a lot of times when we have no idea what he's saying which gets frustrating for the little guy. It's pretty cute when he repeats though because he will attempt some pretty big words or phrases. The other day it was "animal crackers" which sounded more like "mama caca."

Kyler's latest accomplishments is jumping. For a while he was leaving one foot on the floor but now he has started actually getting both feet off the floor. He can also tip toe. When Ky is proud of something he does he will swing one arm back and forth while he walks around standing tall. Once in a while he gets a little shy and will put his head down to one side and keep that arm straight down with his hand slightly behind him. He loves to make people laugh and will try to get a smile out of you. Turning someone's frown upside down is one trait I hope he will keep as he grows older.

He has also been doing a good job of learning his letters. He can identify the letters K, M, P, T, and usually D. We are working on G now. Rather than saying the letter, he usually just tells us whose name that letter is for (K for Kyler, M for Mama, P for Papa, D for Dada, T for Tractor, and G for Grandma). I have tried to get him to count but he just says "two" for every number. He's starting to understand colors and usually tries to tell me things are orange ("owng") or blue ("boo").

Books are still Kyler's main source of entertainment. He loves going to the library and we got a library card last week. He kept wanting to take more books after I had checked out. I am trying to decide what theme to have for his birthday party. Right now I am deciding between Clifford the Big Red Dog and Little Golden Books. Either way, I know I am requesting no more toys. Our house is so full of Kyler's stuff already. There isn't even enough space in his room to fit all of his toys properly. The main things he plays with right now (besides books of course) are Fisher Price Little People, all of his tractors/trucks/trailers, and toy farm animals. I finally got the chalkboard paint on his closet doors and he has also been enjoying writing and drawing.

Ky has gotten back to sleeping well at night. He's been going to bed around 9:30 and getting up around 8:00. He usually takes a two hour nap during the day as well. His bedtime routine is to get jammies on, have a small snack and a cup of water, go upstairs and pick out one book to read (he always tries to get more than one), shut out the light and say our prayers, sometimes sing a song or two, and then get tucked in. At naptime I usually let him take a small board book to bed and he reads that until he falls asleep (this can take up to an hour sometimes). Occasionally he has to take a toy to bed (usually a tractor or race car).

Overall, Kyler is a really good boy who listens and behaves well. The main things that get him into trouble is playing in the dog or toilet water or purposely making a mess when he's finishing eating. We have mostly been using time-out when he misbehaves or doesn't listen. I'm not sure how effective it is though. When I tell him to go to time out he sits right down and doesn't seem to mind. He's not an overly sensitive child so just me getting firm with him or something like that doesn't hurt his feelings. So he's a little difficult to discipline. Hopefully soon he will start understanding getting a privilege taken away for misbehaving but right now I don't think his attention span is long enough for that.

Ky has been eating really well lately. His favorite food is any kind of noodle with any kind of sauce. His least favorite food is potatoes. He actually gagged when I tried to feed him mashed potatoes and gravy one day. He's even afraid to eat ice cream because he thinks it is potatoes. He loves pretty much any fruit and has been doing better at eating veggies. He likes green beans and carrots (because he likes to crunch them) the best. He will also try green pepper and doesn't mind corn. Once in a while we can get him to eat some lettuce or peas. He's developed a sweet tooth too and loves cookies "cooka" and candy.

Picking a Shirt

Somehow Kyler decided that he has an opinion when it comes to what he wears. We went through three shirts today before I got one on him that he liked. First I tried just a white shirt with a couple of buttons but he didn't want the buttons. Then he wanted his tractor shirt but once we got it on he decided the tag was too itchy. So I got some pants on him "these are like the ones Uncle Brent wears" convinced him that they were cool. And I tried to get  him to wear a "shirt like Papa's" which sort of worked for a while but after lunch he had had enough of that one too. Apparently it was because it had a couple of buttons on it. I finally found an old hand me down shirt with no buttons and he was fine with that one. He kept saying "no but-um." I hope this isn't a daily ritual or we will be putting the same shirt on him every day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

January 2012 in Photos

Kyler has started experimenting with high heels. 

He realized flats are much easier to walk in. This pair even matches his shirt. :)

He might wear Mama's shoes once in a while but he is still all boy.

Looking so grown up riding in the dune buggy on his own with Papa.

King of the Rock Mountain!

Story time with Dada before bed.