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...)

Kian is 11 Months Old!

Here are the photos taken with the "teddy bear of comparison" and Boppy pillow on July 10th, 2009, when Kian turned 11 months old. The first one is my favorite, but I've included the second one also because it seems to show Kian's height compared to the bear a bit better.
Within the past month, Kian has honed his crawling skills considerably. One of his favorite daily activities is playing basketball. Well...the Kian version of the game: 1) reaching for the basketball with a huge smile first thing in the morning, 2) after being placed on the floor next to the ball, pushing/rolling it away, 3) watching the ball until it stops, 4) crawling after it, 5) rolling it somewhere else, 6) repeat several times, and lately -- since dad has shown him that a basketball can be dribbled -- 7) sitting up, 8) picking up the basketball, and 9) dropping it so as to make a few dribbling sounds. Kian pretty much enjoys chasing after anything that rolls, but the full-sized basketball is a favorite!

We have no idea how tall Kian is or how much he weighs right now, but we know that he feels heavier every single day! Wherever we go, people always comment on how tall he is for his age. So, perhaps basketball IS in his future, just like his dad!

Kian still loves to be on the swings, often appearing to have some very meditative and serene moments, in between his squeals of glee and sometimes, his rapid kicking of feet (as seen in the video below).

The Liddell boys on swings at Lincoln Park.

We are also excited to have family memberships to the Woodland Park Zoo (thanks, Auntie Jean) and to the Kidsquest Museum! There are plenty of great playgrounds and parks with wading pools in the city to keep this active little boy happy, too!

Putting his feet up during his first family trip to the Woodland Park Zoo.

Checking out the zebra in the savanna exhibit of the zoo.

Kian thoroughly enjoys turning wheels, whether it's a steering wheel, stroller wheel on its side, or this big wheel for the simple machine exhibit at the KidsQuest Museum.

Being "blown away" by the KidsQuest exhibit about air pressure.

Don't let out this crazy caged animal!!

Because of his growing interest in walking around outside (still holding onto our hands), Kian got his first pair of shoes this past month-- brown leather fisherman style sandals by a fabulous local company called See Kai Run. Actually, these were the third pair of shoes purchased for him, but the first pair were velcro tennis shoes from Babies R Us that are still too big for him, and the second pair were 3 dollar Target specials that really aren't good for his feet, so I bit the bullet and bought a pricey pair of quality shoes.
Here are some photos showing the progression of Kian's shoe-wearing experience:

Walking at Alki Beach....notice the bare feet on concrete,

before his parents bought him shoes...poor lil' guy!

At Lincoln Park, taking his first steps wearing shoes...the $3.00 Target special sandals.

The "good pair".

With his eight little teeth, Kian has enjoyed feeding himself blueberries, cubes of soft tofu, Cheerios (still a favorite snack!), avocado pieces, sweet little grape tomatoes, and whole peas, and lately he is less interested in what we have to offer him on a spoon. There are some delicious exceptions, however, such as fresh, chunky mango applesauce.

Here are some photos of Kian with friends and family this past month...

With Ryan on his first Father's Day

Hanging out with Uncle Max

On Alki with Great Auntie Jean

Playing footsies with Lilly at Bakery Nouveau
while moms eat their savory baguette sandwiches

With Althea in the playroom/living room

Next week, we'll be taking our first big road trip as a family to the Washington coast. We will watch dad and Uncle Devin catch some waves in Westport, and then we'll stay in a sweet little cottage in a community called Seabrook, enjoying nearby parks, trails, and the beach. We'll be sure to post pictures and stories after the trip!

We truly can't believe that Kian is just a month shy of being a 1-year-old! The time has flown!