Some Pictures...

Here is Kyler just chillin' in his crib. He loves his bed and usually wakes up happy. Brett and I love lying in bed listening to him jabber away for sometimes around 30 minutes. Usually we can't resist going in to see our happy boy though.

He is always on the move now. He crawls super fast and pulls up to anything and everything. Such a big guy!

He was all ready to cheer on the Cats in the tournament this year but he was in his jammies before the game even started. I guess it would have been better luck to let him sleep in his purple. Do you see a couple of his bottom teeth? Now he as 4 on top and 3 on the bottom, with at least one more on its way.

We had such a nice day last week that Kyler and Mommy just had to find something to do outside. We tried to go see some cows at the farmstead but it doesn't open until April. So we went to the park instead. Ky-Man likes to swing and watch the other kids play.

He wanted to run around like the big kids but he had to resort to crawling. He went down the slide a couple times but mostly tried to get Mama to tell him "don't put it in your mouth" about 60 times. He thought it was a fun game. Too bad it snowed yesterday, we were enjoying wearing our shorts outside!

"Kyler, where are you going?"

"Here I come, Mama!"

It's tough work playing tractors...

Kyler got his very own ice cream cone for dessert tonight. After a while he would just spit out the cone because he really just wanted the ice cream. But both the cone and the cold ice cream felt good on that tooth coming in.

Poor Kyler got one of his first little boo boos at daycare today. He was playing with one of his friends by the door and fell down as a mom was coming in the door. The edge of the door hit him pretty hard but luckily didn't crack the skin. He had what looked like a pretty sore line down his forehead for a while but it was looking better as the evening went on. They made a pretty big deal of it, recording the incident and having us sign a sheet of paper. But we know there are many more of those to come - this kid is crazy!

10 Months

I am a day late on this one. I don't know where the time goes!

Kyler is crawling FAST at 10 months. Just last night we were all in the basement playing with some toy cars and watching basketball. Brett and I were in a conversation and both turned to check on Kyler, who was right beside me on the floor a second ago. He was on the second stair. Yikes! I rarely leave the room he is in unless he is in the high chair or his bed because he could be going up or down stairs in seconds.

He is still a good eater. We finally figured out the trick to get him to eat veggies. When he is good and hungry we feed him the veggies first, before even getting any other food out... even our own food. When we do this you would think green beans were his favorite food by the way he shoves them in his mouth. This is crazy but the last two nights he and I had fettucini alfredo and he ate the same portion as I did, if not more. I think that is his new favorite. Not a drop hits the floor!

New this weekend - he is terrified of the vacuum. He had gotten spooked of it before when I was vacuuming and we had it sitting in the living room waiting to be put away. I mentioned that Kyler was afraid so Brett turned it on. He started screaming. So then I thought I could "fix" this problem if I warned him that it would be noisy and I would be there to hold him and bring him close to it to show him that it isn't scary. Well that backfired. When we got home tonight he would start screaming and grab onto me just looking at it. So now the vacuum stays in the closet unless Kyler is not around. Now I have a good excuse when my house isn't vacuumed! :)

Kyler also has 6 teeth now. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. The 4th one up top just came in so he looks a little lopsided (a friend had a good analogy - like a jack-o-lantern) because the rest of his teeth are pretty big and noticeable. The bad thing is that he grinds them sometimes. It sounds like he is going to crack his new little teeth. But apparently it is pretty normal in toddlers. It makes me queasy!

Probably his best new skill is mastering turning pages in his board books. He can now independently look at books and sometimes it keeps him entertained for quite a while. It sure did in the car today. He really studies the pictures now and you can tell that he knows what a lot of the pictures are or can relate them to things he's seen that are alike. I love being able to witness him learning these new things that you take for granted.

Can you believe it is only 2 months until his birthday? I am pretty excited for that and the summer. He is a water lover so we will probably spend a lot of time at the pool. It was so warm out today that he was barefoot and just wearing a onesie and his little chubby legs and round toes are just too adorable!

100th Post - Pulling Up

This is the 100th post on this blog. I sure have a lot to say about my little man, don't I? And here I thought I was slacking. In reality, you are all probably getting tired of hearing me brag on Kyler (a.k.a. the best baby in the whole world).

Look what Kyler figured out how to do.

(Excuse the pacifier, we pretty much only allow it at bed time. Hopefully even that will come to an end soon - probably after April 15th.)

This was taken probably about a week ago. Now he throws the paci on the floor once he stands up. He thinks it's pretty funny (and so do I).

He even pulled up to the door to see what his dad was working on outside. I see lots of falling and crying in our near future. But he sure is getting big... and he knows it, too!

Farmer Ky

You might remember back before Christmas, I bought Kyler a Little People Nativity Set to play with. And he loved it. But I had to put it up after Christmas so that each year when we get it out it is a new and exciting thing and I can use it as a learning tool to teach him about what Christmas is all about. Anyway, fast forward a couple months and I found a great deal on a ton of Little People toys. I got 4 sets (barn, school bus, garage, and city) plus a bunch of extra cars and people plus some John Deere tractors and animals for $30 on Craigslist. It was a deal I couldn't pass up. And we got our money's worth that weekend!

Kyler absolutely loves playing with the farm stuff.

He is fascinated by tractors even though he probably hasn't ever seen a real one.

"Great Grandpa Remi, can I please have a ride in your tractor this summer? Pleeeeease?"

Sometimes he even tries to make tractor sounds. But he is really just spitting. Goofy boy!

He put the sheep in (kind of) and is taking it for a ride. I can't believe the stuff he picks up on.

Sometimes he gets so tired playing farm that he has to lie down for a minute.

Lately he has been doing something new. It took us a few days to figure out why he was dropping little toys down his back.

Especially these little wooden puzzle pieces.

There are usually a couple in his shirt every time I change his diaper.

"What, Mom? I don't know why you think this is so strange."

So here's the story: One night I was playing with some of his little cars and driving them up his arms, on his back, across his legs. It was so funny when I would drive them on his back because it was really tickling him. He would laugh and squirm. Well, apparently he is trying to recreate that with other toys. But he can't quite reach. Again, sometimes I can't believe the things this little brain picks up and tries to repeat.

Vital Statistics - 9 Month Check-up

The big guy weighs in at 20 pounds, 9 ounces. Surprisingly, that is the 50th percentile. We thought he was going to be way higher than that with that big ol' belly of his.

Just as shocking, Kyler is in the 75th percentile for height at 28.75 inches. With such a short mommy and daddy, he better enjoy that while it lasts. ;)

And lastly his head circumference was 17.75 which is the 45th percentile. Not too big of a noggin.

Today Kyler has been busy farming. More on that in our next post.

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.

All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet

This little piggy went to market...

This little piggy loves egg rolls...

This little piggy also loves the sugary donut things...

This little piggy can't make up his mind...

So this little piggy just alternates...

And makes his Mom and Dad smile! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Last week was nuts with Kyler being sick and me being extremely busy with work so these didn't go into the mail in time for Valentine's Day but here's a preview...

I am proud to say that I did this by myself just by using a template and layering the photos in a free photo editing software I found.

Happy Valentines Day from Brett, Cindy, & Kyler (and Maggie & Baxter too)!

Sick of Being Sick

Kyler is sick once again. He has been battling his ongoing cold for months now. It gets better and then worse. But overall he's usually been pretty good and just had a little bit of a runny nose. Yesterday he started running a fever again though and his cold has gotten worse in the past week. So we had to keep him home from daycare today. Brett stayed home with him until 3:00 so I could go in for some meetings and to work on a return that is due next week. Hopefully this is the last time that happens for a while. I'm hoping when the weather warms up Ky's cold goes away... now if the weather would just warm up!

Update: It turns out Kyler had roseola. We figured it out after he started getting a rash on Thursday evening and it was gone by Saturday morning. This is something that almost all babies get once. It starts out as a fever and ends with a rash. The good thing is he is slightly less irritable now (although still not his happy, content self) and his appetite is back - we learned on Saturday that he is a big fan of Chinese food, especially egg rolls. Now if he could just kick this cold I think we would be in good shape.

Our Happy Boy

I have totally been slacking at taking pictures and posting on the blog. So here are some of the more recent pictures of our little big boy.

One day we caught him playing in the crate that his toys are in.

Then he noticed I had a camera and had to give me a little smile. :)

While I am working away in the kitchen (recently tearing down old wallpaper), Kyler will play and play for hours at a time.

He's our happy boy.

And he loves it when his daddy gets him. He will scream and laugh.

Look at those wheels turning while he looks at books with Dad. Books are his favorite. They are always the first toys to be pulled out of the crate.

Tonight we bought some new shoes so that Kyler can't pull his socks off. They make him look so much older!

He's not sure what to think of them. They wouldn't come off his feet like his socks do. He even tried to pull them off with his mouth. But eventually he got used to them.

Did you notice his chubby cheeks? He is such a big eater and is really starting to fill out. I wouldn't say he is a fat baby but he's definitely solid. We'll find out what he weighs here in a few weeks at his 9 month check-up but I'm sure he will be over 20 pounds based on the weigh-in the last time we took him to the doctor for his cold and fever.