Week Forty-Seven

I've been procrastinating on writing this week since there was just so much going on and I wasn't sure how I would ever cover it all, so here I am a week late.  There are about a bazillion pictures I'd love to post and equally as many words, so much editing is necessary.

I feel like recently I've only been writing about what we've been doing as a family, and not so much about all of the little and big things that have been happening in Kai's life.  So, today I will update you on Kai and all of his latest "things" (it's mid-afternoon and my vocabulary has apparently flown out the window), and then follow with some pictures from this week's happenings.

Favorite Activities: 

- Climbing up and down stairs

- Playing peek-a-boo (just recently he's decided that it's even more fun doing peek-a-boo to us, rather than us to him)

- Playing hide and go seek (either with people or objects)

- Pushing his cart/tractor/chairs/stools/pretty much anything around.

- Swimming in the lake...sadly, due to the early onset of winter I think we're going to have to transfer our swimming to the pool from now on.

- Reading books, either with us or by himself.  Often he'll just pick a book off of his shelf, sit down, flip through it and babble words to himself.  He also loves to just sit on our laps and be read to.
- etc.  Really, I could go on and on with things that Kai loves to do.  I am constantly amazed by his energy and enthusiasm, and I said to Bryon that other day, "Our child is crazy!", to which Bryon replied, "No Christy, he's just busy."  I guess he's right, as usual :)

Least Favorite Activities:
- Having his diaper changed.
- Being told "no".  Oh, the joys!

Favorite Foods:

- Blueberries are by far his favorite food at the moment.  If I didn't stop feeding them to him, I don't think he'd ever stop on his own!

- Plums from the tree in our backyard.

- Grandma's brown bread.

Least Favorite Foods:

- Hands down, cottage cheese.

Idiosyncrasies:

- Kai has a strange aversion to Cheerios that are not a complete circle.  He loves Cheerios, but will throw any "reject" Cheerio on the floor.  We're working on that one!
- He adores fuzz....anything that is fuzzy he will stick in his mouth, whether it's a dust bunny, piece of lint, fuzz off of his blankets, stuffed animals, carpet etc.  I've recently had to take away one of his afghans since he was ingesting way too much of it.  I just don't get how yarn can taste better than cottage cheese??

Words:

- "Dada" is my favorite word to hear Kai say.  Whenever he sees Bryon he whispers "dada" and then keeps saying it in a gradually increasing volume.  So cute.

- "More" is the only real sign language we've taught Kai, and he uses it often.  I think it's come to mean not only "more", but also just plain old "give me what I want"!  We're working on that one too :)

- He can wave "hello" and "bye-bye" and clap his hands when we say "yay!".

- I've also just noticed in the past few weeks that Kai understands a lot more than I previously thought. 

He can respond appropriately to questions and comments such as, "Where is your ball?", "Where is daddy?", "Where are your fishies?",(in reference to his fish mobile) "Pass mommy your ball please.", "Can mommy have a piece of cheese please?", "No!" (sometimes!), "Can you give mommy a kiss?" etc.  It's really fun to see his comprehension developing like this.

Mobility:
- Crawling...usually on his hands and feet (monkey style), but every now and then he goes on his hands and knees.  Since it's gotten chillier here I've been putting him in warmer clothes like footy pajamas which confused him to no end for a bit when his feet were constantly slipping out from under him as he tried to crawl. :)
- Walking when he has something to hold onto.

Apple-picking in our backyard.

We were so excited when Kai first learned how to walk while holding onto his cart this week.  In fact, I was so excited that I started videotaping him, and he pushed it all the way across his room and down the first 2 stairs before I came out of my video-taping frenzy and caught him!

Such determination!

Our first hike with the new backpack.  Kai loved it!

Biking on the Trail of the Coeur D'Alene with friends.

Kai had quite the cushy ride.

We don't have a dog, but thankfully lots of neighbour dogs come over to play with Kai.

Hanging out in the swing that Grandpa made for him.

Riley Creek park with Grandpa and Grandma....probably our last swim of the summer.

Grandma was brave and went swimming with Kai.

Early birthday celebration with Grandpa and Grandma G.  Grandma made Kai pudding with blueberries and he got so excited that he grabbed the spoon right out of Bryon's hands!

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and he made this face the whole time we sang.  He'd better develop a better face before his real birthday party!

Loving the blueberries!

Opening gifts from Grandpa and Grandma.  Thankfully Kai can't read or the bag might have spoiled the surprise inside!

Reading his new book with daddy.

Helping daddy open some more souvenirs from Grandpa and Grandma's train trip to Maine.

Okay, so I still posted about a bazillion photos.  I really did try to edit, but sometimes it's just too hard!