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.