Kian Turns One and a Half!

Above photo taken on Feb. 10th: Kian with the Bear of Comparison, a teddy bear he's posed with on the 10th of every month for the first year of his life.

Compare this to the following photo taken 6 months ago on his first birthday:

Fun with firetrucks...




Dancin' dancin' dancin'.....Dancin' Machine!

Kian has been trying out some of his new dance moves to the beats of his Sesame Street "CD player". He has some favorite dance songs, and knows which buttons to push to get to them. Enjoy the show. His only request is that you clap when it's over.




His 18-month well-baby check-up isn't until Feb. 23rd, so we'll report his weight and height stats then, but we can update some other developments. Last month, some of Kian's favorite activities were: sorting and fitting 12 different shape blocks in a wooden cube and pointing to the animals on his placemat when we asked him where certain animals were (he knows kangaroo, toucan, elephant, rhino, panda, tiger, bear, hippo, zebra, llama, peacock, among others...). In more recent weeks, he's enjoyed rolling various balls down the steps, and pointing to the letters of the alphabet on his placemat so that we can name them. His favorite letters are: O, R, S, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z...perhaps because those are the ones that he can reach and point to the easiest! He can identify and point to most of these letters when we ask him, for example, "Where is the 'U'?"hat

Kian babbles constantly! He points around while he's talking, as if he is explaining different things to us. We once watched him in his video baby monitor pointing around his bedroom and explaining things to his stuffed animals, from his crib. We can't wait until he can really communicate what's on his mind. Here are the words that he can say and use properly: light, dada/daddy, mama/mommy, hi, more, up, all done, bubble, uh-oh, ball, hat, hot, nana (banana), Nana (for grandma), Buh-pa (for grandpa) and his first Spanish word, agua (water).

He loves going to school, where some of his favorite activities are doing puzzles, working on art projects, and jumping on a little trampoline. He no longer runs to us with relief when we pick him up; he seems so comfortable there. The staff and classmates are so caring and loving toward Kian.

More updates to follow, after his next allergist appointment on Feb. 18th.

Kian's First Haircut

We actually did adore the long little curls that Kian has grown over the past 17 months, but something had to be done about the mullet. Kian did very well at his first haircut appointment today at a neighborhood salon that I go to called Salon 08. My hair stylist, Nita, worked quickly, while Ryan held Kian in his lap and I distracted him with a new toy, and we emerged from this milestone event relatively unscathed. Kian even let Nita use clippers around his ears, not without a bit of a frown, though. We saved the little locks, of course.

Here are the before and after pictures of Kian's first haircut!


BEFORE...
AFTER...

More Photos from the End of 2009

Kian has enjoyed putting on the blue Mardi Gras beads that I got at a friend's bridal shower. He also likes putting them in a cup and pouring them back out again. This picture brings us much joy and could be the source of much embarrassment for Kian when he's older! :)

Kian loves to "read" books by himself. He also has strong opinions about which books he wants us to read to him at bedtime, emphatically pushing away or closing the cover of a book he's not interested in at the moment.

One of his recent favorite breakfast foods is gluten-free mini-waffles, either with dairy-free butter or with peanut butter and blueberry jelly. He is still allergic to wheat, dairy, and eggs, but we're glad that he can eat peanut butter.



Kian has enjoyed attending Gymboree classes, thanks to Grandma Gei and Grandpa Matt. Here he is in the "Play and Learn 4" class, which is for 16-22 month olds. That girl is much too old for the class and makes Kian look shrimpy! He's actually in the 90th percentile for height (as of his 15 mo. check up)!


Mr. Independent loves walking around on his own, usually refusing to hold anybody's hand. In this picture, Kian leads the way at the Woodland Park Zoo with Ryan and Nana. (Photo by Althea)

Kian paid no attention to the LIVE Western Lowland Gorillas, but is quite interested in these sculptures, even trying to get this baby gorilla to take his arm off his head.

Kian pets one of the gorilla statues.

Another attempt to get this guy to move his arm! Finally, Kian has met his stubborn match!

Kian "helps" pick out a Christmas tree at the Holy Rosary tree lot.

The perfect Noble Fir that we brought home and decorated with unbreakable ornaments for the lower half.


Notice the panda ornament casualty near Kian's foot. He is holding the orange and blue plastic coins from the piggy bank toy that has been a favorite for the past few months. It's getting less playtime these days (now with so many new Christmas toys!), but he loved it in November and most of December and especially enjoys walking around with two coins in his hands.

Ryan, Kian, and Grandma at Fuji Sushi for lunch on Christmas Eve.

The three of us at sushi. Kian is slightly blurry in this shot because he won't stop moving!

Nana Joan, Althea, Ryan, Kian, Grandma Gei, and Grandpa Matt in the tatami room.

Nana, Kian (with a yam chip), and Althea at Fuji Sushi.

One of Kian's cool new toys: "Click Clack Track"
from Rob, Marti, Rachel & Clare

Thank you, all, for giving Kian so many fabulous, fun, and educational gifts!

We have yet to try out the Baby Sleigh from Grandpa Andre, but we will post photos as soon as we get some snow!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Kian at School

Kian's first piece of artwork, painted at school in November.

Kian has been at La Escuelita Bilingual School for about a month and a half, and we are so happy with it. After a couple weeks, the crying during drop-offs stopped. Now, as we walk toward the building he smiles at his little friends, who are looking out from the window with beaming faces. The other day, one kid walked over and gave Kian a little orange and blue basketball, probably knowing that it's one of Kian's favorite things to play with at school. A few kids are 4-5 months older than Kian and are even saying his name when they see him.

Here's a photo of Kian clamoring up to greet me in the afternoon. It's a bit of an odd angle because I didn't want to get other children's faces in the shot and have to deal with parent signature release forms for posting their images on the web. :)



Kian's fleece "Panda Book" is his form of a security blanket. We have several of them between school, home, and grandparents' house. The original was given to him by Uncle Rob, Aunt Marti, and their daughters, Clare and Rachel. Kian sleeps with it, and it helped during the transition period morning drop offs, when he'd clutch it tightly.

Here's a series of photos of Kian putting it back into his storage drawer at school.

Happy Halloween! ROAR!!!

For Kian's 2nd Halloween, he dressed up as a lion...perfect for our little leo. We're not sure how he felt about being in the costume, but he was able to keep it on for a few hours, as compared to last year, when he only tolerated his jack-o-lantern costume for a few minutes.





Grandpa Matt and Grandma Gei joined us on our walk along California Ave. for the West Seattle merchants' trick-or-treating. After stopping to fill up his basket at a dozen or so shops, Kian made the sign for "all done," which was well-timed because all of us were feeling pretty "done" with the crowds, too. So, we headed home to put him down for a nap. Later, the costume went right back on as we joined Kian's cousins and friends for a little pumpkin soup party.

There are so many pictures, stories, and updates from the past three months of our blog hiatus..... The big ones are that Kian can walk all over the place, and practically runs! He can say, "light" (ight), "that" (dat, as in "who's that?"), "truck" (kuck), "dada", and "mama". He can do the sign language for "milk", "all done", and "more" (which he uses not only for more of something he's eating, but also if he wants to keep watching a DVD, for you to keep singing, for the taiko drummers to play another song, for you to keep playing hide-and-seek/peek-a-boo, and more!). His current favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus", and he'll move his head from side to side rhythmically to get you to start singing it! He loves spotting airplanes in the sky, calling out all the trucks on the road, seeing pictures of fire engines, putting plastic coins in the slot of a toy piggy bank, screwing caps and lids on bottles and containers, and he STILL loves basketballs.

Kian started a bilingual preschool this past week and is in the "waddler room" for ages 13 mo. - 24 mo. So far, he has only been there for 3 hours each day, but we will transition him to stay for lunch and nap this week. The separation is tough for both him and us, but each day gets better. We're happy to give him the opportunity to interact with other kids more, learn to share, learn to sit at a table to eat without being strapped to the chair, and play with a variety of toys. The infusion of Spanish in his everyday life is just icing on the cake.

Kian's Fall shoes...in Bronco colors, of course!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kian!

We chose Baby Einstein as the theme of Kian's 1st birthday party because we figured he might recognize the characters from the many DVDs he's watched since he was 5 months old. The small celebration was held at our home with family and friends. Party favors for the kids also served as party decorations.

The chocolate cupcakes were gluten-free and dairy-free, but certainly not sugar-free!

My quick hand just barely stopped Kian from bringing down the cupcake platter!

Kian is a little freaked out by the fact that everyone is staring at him and singing loudly in unison.

"What is this gooey, green thing you are putting in front of my face?"

Kian's first ever bite of cupcake (or anything with added sugar, for that matter)

Notice him pushing my hand away to let me know that he's not interested in another bite.

Cousin Finn eagerly accepts the first blue cupcake, as Loch points out the one he wants.

...also blue!

Lilly clearly enjoyed her blue cupcake!

Gotta love battery-operated, continuous streaming bubble guns!

Kian is curious about this new bubble gadget, as grandpa Matt operates it.

Ava points and shoots at Finn. "Stick 'em up!"

The Fun Flow play sink is enjoyed by kids of all ages! I think that Nate may have convinced his parents that it would be great to have their own play sink at home.

Enjoying Mighty-Mini popsicles in the backyard.

Happy Birthday, Kian!
We love you so much and are so grateful for the joy you've brought into our lives!

Special thanks to all of Kian's grandparents (Nana Joan not pictured here, but we'll add it after her visit next month!)...for all the love and support you've given us over the past year (well, our whole lives, of course....but particularly this year that we've tried to figure out how to become good parents). We are so grateful for the love that surrounds this little boy of ours. We've been fortunate to have Auntie Teresa and Uncle Devin so close by, as well. You have all helped him to become the lively, expressive, curious, confident, and cuddly boy that he is today by embracing his personality traits and letting him know that he is adored!

Also, thank you to all family and friends who have been there for us to turn to for advice, play dates, and so much more! Love to all!


(More photos and videos from the past month will be added soon...)