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| Helping Dada plant grass |
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| He looks so innocent and peaceful sleeping |
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| Using the fire hose |
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| Reading with Dada |
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
September/October 2012 Pictures
Monday, October 15, 2012
29 Months Old
My little guy is getting bigger and bigger all the time. I thought it was probably time for a post on what Ky is like at this age since he's probably changed a bit since the last time I did this.
Talking
Kyler's speech seems to be slowly improving. He talks a LOT but is still pretty hard to understand at times. I do think it's getting better little by little and he really tries hard to properly say words that we work with him on. He seems to have a lot of trouble with "F" and "B" sounds. Here are some of his mis-pronunciations:
Kyker Bock = Kyler Brack
knee = me
gook = book
mott-mer = monster
hootgall = football
hoob = food
Ment = Brent
hod = frog
Dat-der = Baxter
cwuck = truck
Imagination
One of the biggest changes lately is Kyler's imagination. He's got a good one. I've shared stories about how we frequently have monsters in the house. He's also pretty imaginative in his play. His cars and trucks now seem to conversate with each other and about where they are going. He also brings us pretend food quite often. Once in a while he's turned into an animal and has to crawl out the door instead of walking.
Laughing
This kid likes to make people laugh. We are amazed at how well he understands sarcasm and humor. One of his favorite things is to tell people he's Bob or call someone else Bob and laugh. He thinks it's funny when we say that an animal makes a different sound than it's supposed to and plays along. Lately he figured out that it makes people laugh when he says that someone is his girlfriends. The other night he told us, "Frankenstein's my girlfriend." Anything to get a couple of people laughing and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff.
Eating
Ky is a pretty good eater. He's pretty picky about his vegetables though. One way we have gotten him to eat some green beans and peas lately is to tell him how we can see his muscles growing each time he eats one. He doesn't like to sit still long enough to finish a meal so we can get him to hurry by telling him his dad or grandpa or whoever is nearby will eat it if he doesn't. He also doesn't like anything to go to waste so he will either eat or get really upset when I threaten to throw his food away once he gets up from the table. He finally started liking mashed potatoes over the summer. His favorite foods are pancakes, macaroni and cheese (or any pasta dish really), fruits other than melons, cheese, popsicles, juice boxes, burritos (he calls them tacos), rice, and corn dogs. Somewhat surprising is that he likes hummus and guacamole.
Sleeping
Ky has gotten slightly better at being put to bed. It's still not an easy task but there isn't quite as much crying and fit-throwing as before and his dad doesn't have to lie in his bed every night. A sippy cup of water seems to keep him there. He goes down sometime between 9 and 10 most nights and sometimes closer to 11 on the weekends depending on what we're doing. He usually wakes up once or maybe twice throughout the night and we have to take him back to his bed and either get him a drink or pat his back or tell him a story or lie with him to get him to sleep. He is only allowed in our bed once the sun has come up. His only other option is to sleep on the floor next to our bed but now that it is getting colder we aren't letting him do that as much. He sleeps with a couple of stuffed animals - his monkey and giraffe - as well as his Cars fleece blanket. They aren't must-have's but he asks for them when he's sleeping in his own bed at home. He likes to sleep in, usually joining me in bed once Brett gets up for work. He usually wakes up between 8 and 9, sometimes a little earlier or later. Napping is hit or miss. He really needs one to be pleasant in the evenings but if it gets too late in the day I try to keep him up so that he goes to bed at a decent time. When he does nap, they are between 1.5 and 3 hours depending on how much he needs to catch up on sleep.
Potty-Training
Ugh. Potty-training is not my fave. We have tried a few different times but never got it mastered to where we didn't have to go back to diapers. Now Kyler is pretty adamant about not even trying to sit on the potty chair. We talk a lot about diapers and underwear and big boys but so far he still wants to wear diapers and avoid going on the potty. I've heard stories about regression after a new sibling comes so I think I'll just lay off until after the baby unless he suddenly seems to want to wear underwear and use the toilet. Hopefully since we will be grounded more at home with a newborn I will actually be able to keep the diapers off for several days in a row and get potty training marked off the list. He will also go back to cloth diapers once the baby gets here so maybe that will help some too. He poops about 4 times each day and the stink factor has turned me away from cloth for a while.
Learning
Kyler can count to 13, but not every time. He gets going in a sequence and then will suddenly start over at a lower number. But generally he knows the order to at least 13 and will sometimes do some higher numbers as well. We are starting to work on identifying some more letters (something we slacked on for a while) and have worked on letter sounds some too. He knows all of his colors now. He's started enjoying to color more and more, especially with markers. He likes to use each color one time when he makes something - it's very orderly. He is starting to understand the concept of staying in the lines a little when coloring in a coloring book. Kyler has also learned to put things together in his head. He remembers things from one place and applies them to something else he might see. I wish I could think of the example from a few days ago - it's so amazing to see him make these connections. He is using new words and phrases all the time and pointing things out that are right and wrong, same and different, etc. Lots of new concepts in the past month or so! He is becoming more and more interested in sports. He's started punting balls in the living room and really likes football (although he would still prefer to watch racing). He throws okay but isn't great at catching yet. He uses his left hand and foot a lot but when we tell him to use his right he seems to be possibly even more coordinated. I think he'll be a lefty but we are holding out that he can use either when it comes to sports (it would sure make things cheaper). One thing Mama and Dada have learned is that reverse psychology is awesome right now. If we want him to do something, all we have to do is tell him not to do it. It's great.
Playing
Kyler's favorite toy right now is matchbox cars/vehicles. He plays with them all the time. He loves using his rug that has a road and little town on it. One of our couch cushions has become his designated race track and we get in big trouble if we sit there or even if we put our feet on that cushion (even when it is not occupied by the race cars). He's really good about keeping himself entertained which is nice. He loves playing with a couple of his friends, Kadence and Kendal. He plays very nicely with each of them. They will go off and play by themselves and only once in a great while will there be a reason for an adult to go in and interfere. Usually we are just going to check and make sure they're okay because of the "scary silence."
Loving
Ky's biggest love right now seems to be Grandma's race cars. Hers are apparently better than ours since most of them have numbers like real race cars do. He plays with them on the bottom couple of stairs at her house and wants them all the time. He is always asking for cookies and cupcakes lately and will never turn down candy. He's been singing a lot and dancing more. He makes up little sing-songs all the time. He really likes pets too. Baxter and Frazier are his good buddies and it's funny to hear him talk to them like they are people. Any time he sees a cat, he laughs and really wants to pet it (but usually they run off too quickly, for good reason). Kyler is pretty content at home but once we venture out, he hates coming back home. He usually cries when I open the garage door and pull in. He loves to go visit people, especially Grandma and Papa. He just can't get enough of their house. He has started getting back into his books. We make frequent trips to the library and he gets a lot of use out of the library books. This week he even memorized a couple of short ones and that's pretty cute to listen to. Mostly, I think he loves his Mama (although I may be a little biased). ;-)
Talking
Kyler's speech seems to be slowly improving. He talks a LOT but is still pretty hard to understand at times. I do think it's getting better little by little and he really tries hard to properly say words that we work with him on. He seems to have a lot of trouble with "F" and "B" sounds. Here are some of his mis-pronunciations:
Kyker Bock = Kyler Brack
knee = me
gook = book
mott-mer = monster
hootgall = football
hoob = food
Ment = Brent
hod = frog
Dat-der = Baxter
cwuck = truck
Imagination
One of the biggest changes lately is Kyler's imagination. He's got a good one. I've shared stories about how we frequently have monsters in the house. He's also pretty imaginative in his play. His cars and trucks now seem to conversate with each other and about where they are going. He also brings us pretend food quite often. Once in a while he's turned into an animal and has to crawl out the door instead of walking.
Laughing
This kid likes to make people laugh. We are amazed at how well he understands sarcasm and humor. One of his favorite things is to tell people he's Bob or call someone else Bob and laugh. He thinks it's funny when we say that an animal makes a different sound than it's supposed to and plays along. Lately he figured out that it makes people laugh when he says that someone is his girlfriends. The other night he told us, "Frankenstein's my girlfriend." Anything to get a couple of people laughing and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff.
Eating
Ky is a pretty good eater. He's pretty picky about his vegetables though. One way we have gotten him to eat some green beans and peas lately is to tell him how we can see his muscles growing each time he eats one. He doesn't like to sit still long enough to finish a meal so we can get him to hurry by telling him his dad or grandpa or whoever is nearby will eat it if he doesn't. He also doesn't like anything to go to waste so he will either eat or get really upset when I threaten to throw his food away once he gets up from the table. He finally started liking mashed potatoes over the summer. His favorite foods are pancakes, macaroni and cheese (or any pasta dish really), fruits other than melons, cheese, popsicles, juice boxes, burritos (he calls them tacos), rice, and corn dogs. Somewhat surprising is that he likes hummus and guacamole.
Sleeping
Ky has gotten slightly better at being put to bed. It's still not an easy task but there isn't quite as much crying and fit-throwing as before and his dad doesn't have to lie in his bed every night. A sippy cup of water seems to keep him there. He goes down sometime between 9 and 10 most nights and sometimes closer to 11 on the weekends depending on what we're doing. He usually wakes up once or maybe twice throughout the night and we have to take him back to his bed and either get him a drink or pat his back or tell him a story or lie with him to get him to sleep. He is only allowed in our bed once the sun has come up. His only other option is to sleep on the floor next to our bed but now that it is getting colder we aren't letting him do that as much. He sleeps with a couple of stuffed animals - his monkey and giraffe - as well as his Cars fleece blanket. They aren't must-have's but he asks for them when he's sleeping in his own bed at home. He likes to sleep in, usually joining me in bed once Brett gets up for work. He usually wakes up between 8 and 9, sometimes a little earlier or later. Napping is hit or miss. He really needs one to be pleasant in the evenings but if it gets too late in the day I try to keep him up so that he goes to bed at a decent time. When he does nap, they are between 1.5 and 3 hours depending on how much he needs to catch up on sleep.
Potty-Training
Ugh. Potty-training is not my fave. We have tried a few different times but never got it mastered to where we didn't have to go back to diapers. Now Kyler is pretty adamant about not even trying to sit on the potty chair. We talk a lot about diapers and underwear and big boys but so far he still wants to wear diapers and avoid going on the potty. I've heard stories about regression after a new sibling comes so I think I'll just lay off until after the baby unless he suddenly seems to want to wear underwear and use the toilet. Hopefully since we will be grounded more at home with a newborn I will actually be able to keep the diapers off for several days in a row and get potty training marked off the list. He will also go back to cloth diapers once the baby gets here so maybe that will help some too. He poops about 4 times each day and the stink factor has turned me away from cloth for a while.
Learning
Kyler can count to 13, but not every time. He gets going in a sequence and then will suddenly start over at a lower number. But generally he knows the order to at least 13 and will sometimes do some higher numbers as well. We are starting to work on identifying some more letters (something we slacked on for a while) and have worked on letter sounds some too. He knows all of his colors now. He's started enjoying to color more and more, especially with markers. He likes to use each color one time when he makes something - it's very orderly. He is starting to understand the concept of staying in the lines a little when coloring in a coloring book. Kyler has also learned to put things together in his head. He remembers things from one place and applies them to something else he might see. I wish I could think of the example from a few days ago - it's so amazing to see him make these connections. He is using new words and phrases all the time and pointing things out that are right and wrong, same and different, etc. Lots of new concepts in the past month or so! He is becoming more and more interested in sports. He's started punting balls in the living room and really likes football (although he would still prefer to watch racing). He throws okay but isn't great at catching yet. He uses his left hand and foot a lot but when we tell him to use his right he seems to be possibly even more coordinated. I think he'll be a lefty but we are holding out that he can use either when it comes to sports (it would sure make things cheaper). One thing Mama and Dada have learned is that reverse psychology is awesome right now. If we want him to do something, all we have to do is tell him not to do it. It's great.
Playing
Kyler's favorite toy right now is matchbox cars/vehicles. He plays with them all the time. He loves using his rug that has a road and little town on it. One of our couch cushions has become his designated race track and we get in big trouble if we sit there or even if we put our feet on that cushion (even when it is not occupied by the race cars). He's really good about keeping himself entertained which is nice. He loves playing with a couple of his friends, Kadence and Kendal. He plays very nicely with each of them. They will go off and play by themselves and only once in a great while will there be a reason for an adult to go in and interfere. Usually we are just going to check and make sure they're okay because of the "scary silence."
Loving
Ky's biggest love right now seems to be Grandma's race cars. Hers are apparently better than ours since most of them have numbers like real race cars do. He plays with them on the bottom couple of stairs at her house and wants them all the time. He is always asking for cookies and cupcakes lately and will never turn down candy. He's been singing a lot and dancing more. He makes up little sing-songs all the time. He really likes pets too. Baxter and Frazier are his good buddies and it's funny to hear him talk to them like they are people. Any time he sees a cat, he laughs and really wants to pet it (but usually they run off too quickly, for good reason). Kyler is pretty content at home but once we venture out, he hates coming back home. He usually cries when I open the garage door and pull in. He loves to go visit people, especially Grandma and Papa. He just can't get enough of their house. He has started getting back into his books. We make frequent trips to the library and he gets a lot of use out of the library books. This week he even memorized a couple of short ones and that's pretty cute to listen to. Mostly, I think he loves his Mama (although I may be a little biased). ;-)
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Grandma's House
Last week marked Kyler's last day at daycare. Grandma sold the daycare and will be taking care of Kyler on the days I work until the baby comes and I quit my job. I think he's going to miss his little friends. He's a fairly social kid and likes to play with other kids, and really looks up to the big boys at daycare (which is good and bad). But today was his second day at Grandma's and he couldn't get out the door fast enough this morning. She even spoiled him with pancakes for breakfast today - his favorite! Hopefully he will adjust well to not going to daycare anymore and we will have plenty of play dates and friends over to keep up the socialization. I'm excited to finally be able to stay home full-time with my babies here in a couple of months, although it will be quite an adjustment for me too.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Kylerisms: Monster
Kyler was telling me all evening that "there's a monster in our house, Mama." (He pronounces monster as "mott-mer" which I think makes the whole thing even more adorable.) I would ask him why the monster keeps coming and what does he want and Kyler would respond that he wants cereal. When I tell him we are out of cereal and to tell the monster to go to the store and get his own or go to Grandma's because she has lots of cereal he says "no" as in "that's so silly." I asked him what color the monster is and he is orange and I asked how many eyes he has and the response was eight. He also told me that the monster drives a monster truck, the monster got Baxter, the monster got Kyler, and when I stood up I was told that the monster was going to get me. Usually when I ask he is a nice monster but once in a while I am told he is scary. When we visited Grandma and Papa's house, they also had a monster but theirs was black and with black eyes. Like ours, he was also there for their cereal. I don't know where any of this has come from but it is pretty entertaining and imaginative.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Stay this Sweet!
Today as I was changing Kyler, I stood him up to pull up his jeans and he wrapped his arms around my neck and said, "I like my mama." Can he stay this sweet forever?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Kylerisms: Who Gave Me That and What'd I Do?
One of the things Kyler has started to ask a lot is, "Who gave me that, Mama?" He wants to know who gave him each of his toys and things. I can remember a lot of them somehow but there are some that I'm not sure on. It's kind of funny that he wants to know all of a sudden. I wonder why.
Another thing he says a lot is, "What'd I do, Mama?" A couple days ago I left him without a diaper so he could practice going on the potty chair. About 5 minutes after I scrubbed the bathroom floor he apparently decided to pee in the hole of the step stool rather than going on the pot. When I walked in he was saying "Oh no!" And when I looked down he asked, "What'd I do, Mama?" He also uses that expression when he bumps into something or does something a little silly that I laugh about.
Monday, August 27, 2012
First Ride on a Jet Ski
We went to the Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend with some friends and Kyler had his first jet ski ride. He liked it up until his dad got a little too crazy. I convinced him to go out one more time under the condition that they go slow! He is a little cautious which is fine by me... he gets really worried when Brett wakeboards. He tells his dad not to go in the water and to get back in the boat.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Colorado Vacation
We took a short trip to Colorado over the weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and got back Monday evening.
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| Dad had to turn around and drive back to this sign since we missed it the first time for road construction. Hopefully Kyler will appreciate it as much as his dada thinks he will. :) |
When we got to the high country Friday afternoon our first stop was at the Georgetown railroad in Silver Plume. We had been promising a train ride to Kyler the entire trip and each time we would stop he would ask if we were at the train.
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| Here is a family self-portrait on the train. Okay, so who does this kid look like? |
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| The train ride was scenic and just the right length (about an hour round trip). Here we are going over a tall bridge. |
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| The train whistle was a little noisy for our tired boy on the trip back up the mountain when we sat right behind the engine, but he still loved every minute. |
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| It was great to be able to spend lots of quality family time together after all the evenings Brett has had to spend away from us working on the houses. |
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| Sitting right behind the engine may not have been the best idea - we got covered in soot from the smokestack on the parts of the ride where there were big climbs. |
We stayed in a condo in Winter Park but spent a lot of time in the Grand Lake area as well. We ventured out there Saturday in the late morning not realizing we would want more time there. We had to head back for the wedding Saturday afternoon.
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| We were in a hurry to grab lunch and get back to Winter Park for the wedding but this little boy wouldn't leave his boat-watching spot on the dock at Grand Lake, even when we bribed him with the candy store. |
Since we cut our time at Grand Lake short, we decided to go back on Sunday morning to take a boat tour around the lake.
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| Breakfast was awesome at the Bear's Den. They had the best pancakes. |
Later on Sunday afternoon we went to the ski resort at Winter Park and rode the scenic lift, let Kyler jump on the trampolines where he was suspended with bungees, and rode the alpine slide with him many times (but not enough in his opinion).
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| Kyler was making me a little nervous since he was not a bit afraid of the lift. He was basically hanging over the side part of the time looking down at everything. He made his dad proud. |
Overall, we had a wonderful trip. I cannot tell you how great it was to have all that time with just the three of us and nothing (like work or housework or television or anything else) to distract us. It was our family "babymoon" - our last big trip as a family of three. Kyler was amazing the whole time, even on our long ride home on Monday. Our only regret was that we didn't make it a day or so longer.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Potty Training - Take 2, and 3
We had tried potty training for about a day back around Easter when Kyler got his potty chair and some underwear. At that point, it became obvious that he didn't understand how to "turn it on." He would sit forever and not go and then be playing and oblivious to the fact that he was peeing.
At the beginning of June after he turned two, and had been showing signs of discomfort when he had a wet or dirty diaper. So I thought we would give it another shot. First I tried a method I read on potty training in a day where one of the things you do is run back and forth 10 times from the spot they had an accident to the potty chair saying "no potty on the floor, potty on the potty chair." This did catch his attention but he thought it was funny and didn't take it as a lesson. In fact, the second accident he has was when he was bare bottomed and he was smiling as he peed right in my kitchen. So I decided enough was enough and ended up scolding him and making him sit in time out. I know you're not really supposed to do that but I was pretty confident he knew exactly what he was doing.
At that point I decided to go back to the method I had originally tried around Easter. I basically tried to pay complete attention to him and look for signs that he needs to go. Once you do this, it's fairly easy to tell but you don't have much reaction time. I showed him his options for using the potty (his little one or a stool to stand on to hit the big toilet). He wanted his shirt off so he could see his equipment. Before I knew it he was running around in the nude... I figured whatever I am getting frustrated and tired at this point. He would stand by the door, then start saying "potty chair potty chair potty chair" while running to the bathroom and sort of pretending to go. He did this probably five times. I thought he was still thinking of me running back and forth with him. I was in the kitchen getting some stuff out for lunch when I looked over and he was standing up on the stool peeing like a big guy on the toilet. I got super excited and praised him like crazy, gave him his two jelly beans, and ran outside to get Brett for some additional praises. I continued to remind him anytime he would stand still for more than five seconds to go potty and poopy in the potty chair. He sat on the potty chair quite often and it would take a while but he would eventually go occasionally. He never did poop on the potty chair though, only once in the dog water bowl. We got busy once again (bought a house and moved) and weren't at home enough to reinforce this so ended up back in diapers.
In July, I took his diaper off one day to see how he would do. First thing that morning he peed in the potty chair on his own twice and then he pooped in it. We were so excited and he was very proud of himself. He kept asking for a diaper on though because he didn't want to be bare bottomed. I put underwear on him but every time I did that he would have an accident because he would forget that it was underwear rather than a diaper while he was playing. Day after day though, he would be accident free if he was bare bottomed. We sent him to daycare one day with underwear and they said he would not even go near the potty chair. Bummer! I also realized that I think he knows what he's doing when he wets his underwear because he would wait until I stepped outside or something like that before he would have an accident, and it would be right after I asked if he needed to go. It may just be a sign that he's not quite ready to make that big boy step yet. I think we'll give it a little more time and see if he's ready again.
At the beginning of June after he turned two, and had been showing signs of discomfort when he had a wet or dirty diaper. So I thought we would give it another shot. First I tried a method I read on potty training in a day where one of the things you do is run back and forth 10 times from the spot they had an accident to the potty chair saying "no potty on the floor, potty on the potty chair." This did catch his attention but he thought it was funny and didn't take it as a lesson. In fact, the second accident he has was when he was bare bottomed and he was smiling as he peed right in my kitchen. So I decided enough was enough and ended up scolding him and making him sit in time out. I know you're not really supposed to do that but I was pretty confident he knew exactly what he was doing.
At that point I decided to go back to the method I had originally tried around Easter. I basically tried to pay complete attention to him and look for signs that he needs to go. Once you do this, it's fairly easy to tell but you don't have much reaction time. I showed him his options for using the potty (his little one or a stool to stand on to hit the big toilet). He wanted his shirt off so he could see his equipment. Before I knew it he was running around in the nude... I figured whatever I am getting frustrated and tired at this point. He would stand by the door, then start saying "potty chair potty chair potty chair" while running to the bathroom and sort of pretending to go. He did this probably five times. I thought he was still thinking of me running back and forth with him. I was in the kitchen getting some stuff out for lunch when I looked over and he was standing up on the stool peeing like a big guy on the toilet. I got super excited and praised him like crazy, gave him his two jelly beans, and ran outside to get Brett for some additional praises. I continued to remind him anytime he would stand still for more than five seconds to go potty and poopy in the potty chair. He sat on the potty chair quite often and it would take a while but he would eventually go occasionally. He never did poop on the potty chair though, only once in the dog water bowl. We got busy once again (bought a house and moved) and weren't at home enough to reinforce this so ended up back in diapers.
In July, I took his diaper off one day to see how he would do. First thing that morning he peed in the potty chair on his own twice and then he pooped in it. We were so excited and he was very proud of himself. He kept asking for a diaper on though because he didn't want to be bare bottomed. I put underwear on him but every time I did that he would have an accident because he would forget that it was underwear rather than a diaper while he was playing. Day after day though, he would be accident free if he was bare bottomed. We sent him to daycare one day with underwear and they said he would not even go near the potty chair. Bummer! I also realized that I think he knows what he's doing when he wets his underwear because he would wait until I stepped outside or something like that before he would have an accident, and it would be right after I asked if he needed to go. It may just be a sign that he's not quite ready to make that big boy step yet. I think we'll give it a little more time and see if he's ready again.
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