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)

A Visit from Santa & Lots of Talking

We took Kyler to sit on Santa's lap for a picture over Thanksgiving weekend. He came to downtown Seneca on Friday night as he always does. Ky seemed to be excited to see him and kept trying to walk over to him but when I set Kyler on Santa's lap, he was not too happy...

On a brighter note, I thought I would add a video of Kyler saying all of his words. He also wanted to show you his "funny eyes" at the beginning. I hope you enjoy it as much as his proud parents do!

Book Worm

Kyler has always been into his books...

1 Week - He loved hearing us read to him

8 Months - Encouraging him to crawl by reading books on his tummy

9 Months - Playing in his room at our house in Lenexa

12 Months - Reading in the car

13 Months - Reading on a hot day at the apartment

14 Months - Looking at books in the book basket at our apartment

14 Months - Reading with Dad again at the apartment

14 Months - Reading with Grandpa at the apartment when they babysat

15 Months - Just Moving in with G-ma and Papa

15 Months - Reading a tractor magazine while camping at the lake

But he has turned into a total book worm lately. He will spend hours entertaining himself by looking at his books. He "reads" in gibberish and loves to have books read to him. It is really nice for me because I can get a lot done when he is home with me. But if he keeps this up we are going to have to take some trips to the library because his same books are going to get old fast!

Reading to Momma

Lining up all of his books

I guess I should have expected this since we had a book baby shower and his first birthday party theme was based on a series of books (Mr. Men).

Shower Invitation

Birthday Party Invitation

No complaints from me - I highly encourage my little reader to keep on reading!

18 Months

Kyler is now 18 months old. We will have to wait a few weeks for his stats since his silly mommy can't remember to schedule an appointment in advance. Here is my long post so I can always look back and hopefully remember what Ky was like at this age.

The little man is a hoot. He has about a zillion facial expressions and is cracking me up several times per day. He's not talking much but says quite a few words (listed below) and seems to have his own language too. When he is reading books, he says "gong gong gong gong..." And started saying that all the time. It sounds like he's speaking a foreign language. He gives high fives and knuckles and thinks he's a pretty big boy doing that.

The other night he popped his head out the door when Papa got home and was yelling gibberish at him. My goodness does he ever love his Papa. Last night Daddy was talking to Papa and Kyler had had enough of that and started yelling something to interrupt the conversation. Whenever Papa comes home, Kyler says "kuck" and runs to the door to make sure his truck made it home too.

Kyler is wearing mostly 18 months clothing and size 4 disposable diapers. We have stopped using cloth temporarily until we get moved into our house. Then I will decide - right now it is pretty stinky so I'm liking the disposables. Kyler needs a hair cut. The front is getting a little uneven and the back is a fuzz ball of curls. He is starting to look like his dad did when he was a preschooler, especially with his blond hair. Kyler has decided that he doesn't really want to take a bath, but usually has fun once I drag him in.

He is very interested in learning how to use the computer, phone, remote, and anything else electronic. He finally will talk on the phone sometimes. He will scribble on paper for a little bit. He likes to get the broom out and sweep and is always putting our shoes away. I wish he would keep that habit into his adult years. Kyler will sit and read books for hours and loves to be read to. He has been putting himself to sleep at nap time by reading a book in bed. He gets really into his tractor show on Netflix (Mighty Machines - On the Farm) and is glued to it as soon as it comes on. His favorite toys are books and semi trucks. He will play with anything that has wheels though and is pretty uninterested in anything else.

Kyler can walk backwards, do side steps, and last night started walking around in a circle until he got dizzy. His face was hilarious when he stopped and realized he was dizzy. His eyes got really big like he was surprised at what was happening. Kyler thinks he can hop/jump but is just bending his knees. It is pretty funny. Sometimes he forgets what he's doing and just starts dancing. He finally learned to throw and has been throwing toys some. He loves to climb, especially on people if we are lying down. And on Frazier too - he really wants a ride from that dog. He gets pretty rough with his momma sometimes when he is wrestling around and climbing. He knows some of his facial features but isn't consistent on which is which just yet. If you ask where his tummy his, sometimes he will pull up his shirt and pat his big tummy. He has started to run and it is hilarious. His little feet go so fast when you tell him "hurry!"

Ky is a burst of energy all the time. I see other kids his age out and about and they are so calm and sit on or stay right next to their mommies. But not Kyler - he has to be running around anywhere we go. Waiting for our food when we are out to eat is the worst. He's pretty disruptive in church if we aren't in the cry room too. Sometimes he will hear people around us singing or saying the responses and it makes him think it is time for him to talk too (but usually after it is over and time for the priest/pastor to talk again).

He likes to hug on his Momma and sometimes other people but generally doesn't like giving or getting hugs and kisses. He does a good job blowing kisses and waving goodbye. His wave is pretty funny. He sort of moves his hand back and forth out to the side as if he were cleaning a glass window with a paper towel. When we read his "Goodnight Cowboy" book at night, he gives the cowboy kisses just the way I do when I put him to sleep. I kiss my hand and then touch it to him. It's so cute how he mimics and picks up on things. He also pats the top of my head when we say goodnight to the cowboy hat. And he has started to notice that Daddy doesn't have hair but he and Mommy do.

When he eats, we constantly have to tell Kyler to keep his feet off the table. He loves meat and eats fruit pretty well but has decided he does not like bread or potatoes (I know, crazy!). I give him a gummy vitamin in the morning and a small piece of candy the rest of the day when I need him to lie still for a diaper change. Now he pats the floor where he wants me to set the candy bag so he can pick his poison or will just lie down for a diaper change.

Some of the identifiable (to me) words he says are:
- Kuck (truck) - probably his most common word used to describe trucks, trains, and sometimes tractors
- Aw Waw (water)
- Aff (giraffe)
- Bubble
- Dada/Dad
- Momma/Mom
- Ma Maw (grandma)
- Boppa (papa)
- Puter (computer)
- Baa Baa - to repeat what a sheep says
- Ta Tew (tractor)
- Boooo - this is what a cow says according to Kyler
- Go Go Go - this is what he says whenever he sees race cars
- Coat
- Coooooold
- Ah (owl)
- Guck (duck)
- Kak (quack)
- Cockoo coo (cock a doodle doo)
- Cup
- zzzmmm - this is what a car says
- mmm mmm mmm - this is what a tractor says
- woo woo woo - this is what a fire truck says
- nu nu (num num) - this means he wants something to eat
- die der (diaper)
- back back back - says this when walking backwards
- Da (bye) - says this while waving
- uff uff (woof woof)
- down - when he wants out of his high chair or to be put down
- bup bup bup (up up up)
- cockow (popcorn)
... and probably many more that I can't think of right now.

My Big Boy

After Halloween, we had the pumpkins out for a couple more days. Kyler found one of his spoons and took it over to scoop them out again.

Thirsty boy!

Happy boy!

Big boy!

Where did my baby go? Heck, where did my toddler go? He looks like he's ready for preschool in this picture. Yikes!