Kian Turns 2!!

Kian celebrated his 2nd birthday over the period of several days, with a party including friends and family at The Children's Museum last Saturday, a ride in his new wagon from Nana on Sunday, a visit from Lilly and Chris, who came with the gift of an awesome monkey backpack on Monday, and on his real birthday today, we celebrated by skipping school and taking a trip to the Seattle Aquarium; enjoying a lollipop from the doctor's office; playing with his cool, new bead maze; opening thoughtful cards that arrived in the mail and birthday messages via email; and when Grandma and Grandpa visited, they brought a new kitchenette, complete with a frying pan that sizzles and pot that "boils" with a sensor on the stovetop.

Thanks, everyone, for making Kian's 2nd birthday so fantastic!

Here are some pictures from these great experiences:

Water Fun at Great Wolf Lodge

We just returned from an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge, about 80 miles away from Seattle. The indoor waterpark offered a couple of good spaces for toddlers, but I think the really happy kid was Kian's dad, who enjoyed several runs on the big waterslides! At 30 weeks pregnant, I opted to hang out in the wave pool and little kids' areas. Kian enjoyed telling Ryan and I to get under the "waterfall" (the mushroom-shaped structure in the photo above) or under the bucket that dumps water on your head. He also repeatedly pointed out the two huge ceiling fans, as well as the one fan that was off, so I had to get one photo of those. When we retired for the evening, he was sure to say, "Night night, fans. Night night, agua." Another highlight of the trip for Kian was the elevator and finding our hotel room. He walked down the hallway, saying "Not our room...not our room..." until we showed him where our belongings were. Since returning home, he's mentioned the elevator and room several times. We had a great time and look forward to returning in a couple of years, when he can appreciate even more of the activities.

Train Fever!

While Kian still has a remarkable appreciation for buses, this fascination has taken a back seat to TRAINS! Now that he can communicate a lot more about his wants and needs, we've taken frequent trips to the local toy store called Curious Kidstuff and a nearby Barnes & Noble after school and on weekends in order to play with their train tables on display. "Go toy store, play trains?"

Kian got to open a birthday present a couple weeks early....a wooden train set! (Mostly to cut down on the number of trips we have to take to the toy or book store!) I captured his initial reaction to opening the gift from Gung Gung (Grandpa Andre) on another video with a large file size, but here is one for the blog that shows his enjoyment of his new toy just moments after I set it all up...

Marimba Concert in the Park

We stumbled upon an outdoor marimba concert in a park near Alki Beach one weekday evening and found out that Kian was really into this new type of music. He was also quite curious about a little girl's stuffed horse toy, and she was sweet enough to notice and share. Both videos tell the story....



Part One




Part Two

Dressing Up for the 4th of July

In these photos and a video taken today, Kian delights in putting on a few of dad's things -- shoes, hat, and sunglasses.

Kian Counts to Ten!

Prior to today, Kian has only counted to 2, even when there are more than two objects. He would say, "one-two" while bouncing his pointer finger and then just keep bouncing his finger to count more without verbalizing more numbers. Sometimes he'd repeat "one-two-two". Then, out of the blue today, he counted to ten on his own without prompting or echoing! When he counted the doors upstairs in his typical style "one-two...two doors!" I corrected him saying that there are actually four doors, "one-two-three-four". I coaxed him to count to three, but then he just kept going on his own, while I stared in wide-eyed amazement! He looked a bit surprised, quite delighted, and proud of himself, and then counted to ten again. I rushed him downstairs so that Ryan could hear him, and Kian counted to ten a 3rd time on our way downstairs! Unfortunately, when I turned on the video camera Kian became more interested in the camera, possibly getting a bit shy, too. He got out "one-two" and then stopped. So, he didn't count to ten for the camera or for dad at that moment. Here's the video anyway...




Later that evening, I was able to catch him counting to ten for Nana Joan on the phone, but the recording only started at "three". One of these days, we'll catch the whole series of numbers on one single video! Until then, here is part 2 of the counting to ten series...

The Past 3 Months

Our blog's 3-month hiatus has coincided with the fact that I (Althea) returned to work full-time in March covering the remainder of the school year while my teaching partner is on maternity leave. Between full days with 27 rambunctious 2nd graders, being 23 weeks pregnant, and coming home to actively play with a very active toddler, it's been tough to find the time and energy to process the photos and videos we've had stored on our camera for awhile. Summer break starts in two and a half weeks for Seattle Public Schools, but I didn't want to wait too much longer before posting a few things to highlight what Kian has been doing these days.

In the following series of photos, Kian tries out the big spoon he insisted on taking out of my cereal bowl. We are please to announce that Kian is not allergic to wheat, as was originally reported from his allergy test at 12 months old. This recent finding (through trial and careful observation) opens up a whole new world of foods that we don't have to buy at PCC. His diet remains dairy-free and egg-free, however.


This video shows why it's tough to resist making Kian laugh...



Kian has a blast with the parachute and cool sunglasses from Ava's 3rd birthday party in April...




Kian tries out his new bike (no pedals), given to him by Buh-pa (Matt) and Gramma (Gei)...



Kian loves to ride around the neighborhood up and down small driveway inclines, and he lets us know when he wants to go by saying, "Outside...weee!!?" He always offers neighbors and dogs a friendly, "HI!" when they walk by. Lately, he likes to point out other cars with the Mazda symbol that drive by or are parked in the neighborhood, making the connection by saying, "Mommy car!" since he associates our Mazda5 with me, and our Nissan Cube is called "Daddy car". Kian also remarks, "Buh-pa car!" when seeing other Camry Hybrids like his grandpa drives, even when they are a different color.

Besides riding his bike around outside, one of Kian's favorite activities is rallying Ryan and I to run around the house with him, while pushing one of three toys -- the safari truck, the lawnmower (which he calls a car because I suppose it kind of looks like one...and also, he's never seen us mow the lawn), or the shopping cart from Nana (Joan). Our back pains remind us of how much we love him and don't want to disappoint. We are thinking of ways to create extensions for the handles, but until then, we suffer with a smile.




Taken before Mother's Day brunch...

On our way to REI on Mother's Day, we got video footage of a typical car ride these days, which entails Kian pointing out every truck, bus, or airplane within a quarter mile. On a Sunday, there just weren't as many of them out and about as there are on his way to school, so he seems concerned at times. Nevertheless, he finds something to celebrate and clap for....




This belly photo was taken on May 16th at 20 weeks pregnant. Why do I look big enough to deliver in just a couple months, when I'm really only half way there?! How big IS this baby girl?!! (Yes, if you haven't already heard, Kian is going to have a baby sister in late September!)


Kian still loves school and enjoys naming some of his friends. He has picked up the phrases, "Mommy coming!" and "Daddy coming!" from his peers, who wait by the window for their parents to arrive in the afternoon. Some other new words are apricot, more apple juice, big orange truck, open door, "bye-bye boo boo!" (when he hears a toilet flush), "two buses!" (not sure when he picked up how to use the plural form), "vroom vroom Daddy car" (when he wants to play in the Nissan), and "agua big door hot" (which means REI...for its waterfall, big elevator doors, and indoor fireplace). He's been chatting up a storm, so it's tough to record everything, but these seemed to be a few worth remembering.