My, have you grown!

The photo above shows Kian on his 2nd birthday with the bear of comparison, and the photos below show Kian on his 1st birthday and at just 1 month old.

We can't put to words the joy that Kian has brought to our lives over the past two years. He has such a joyful and distinct personality, and we just love watching him learn and grow. We'd like to remember some of the things that Kian did prior to his 2nd birthday, since this blog is also our online baby book:

• first complete sentence: "It's sunny outside." (22 months old)
• example of a longer sentence: "Put it away in the refrigerator." (23 months)
• 9-word sentence: "The other kids are all done with the shovels." (23 1/2 months)

Over the past two months, his vocabulary has grown tremendously. He loves commenting on just about everything! Kian has good spatial sense and is familiar with his neighborhood: He'll notice when Ryan doesn't turn left off of California Ave. at the usual street on the way to school and understands that means that he is heading another block to Red Cup for the drive-thru coffee stand: "Dada coffee". He'll comment when we exit the West Seattle bridge a certain way (to the viaduct) that we'll go through a tunnel, even when it's still another couple miles until we reach it. He'll also add, "No school today...the weekend!" if we deviate from the school route to Columbian Way. He'll sometimes suggest a different route: "Go that way?" He'll often request a trip to the toy store "go toy store, play trains?", the playground, or to a "different park" after school.

Kian also loves to request certain songs by saying simplified titles in the car, and often insists on listening to some over and over again. If he wants us to skip a track, he'll say a quick, "no?" He enjoys singing along to the Caspar Babypants song, "I'm a nut!" and others.

Kian has improved his counting to ten and has wowed us with singing the ABC song, nearly correctly. He skips a few letters (F-G-H) and blurs a few, but he's pretty close!

He requests certain clips from Baby Einstein DVDs or from the TV show Super Why, recent favorites including, "see girl with the red shirt?" and the musical scene from a Super Why episode where the Super Readers fly around in their "Why Fliers"(he likes singing along when they sing the phrase, "working together").

He is pretty good about ending his play time downstairs when we give him a one minute warning and then let him know when it's time to go upstairs to go to sleep (or to transition someplace else). He says, "one minute all done," and he prefers to walk up the stairs (or wherever the intended destination is) by himself instead of being carried. Once upstairs however, Kian is a master of stall tactics at bedtime. He'll walk in every other room except his own bedroom...he'll want to pick out a book at the book shelf and take forever pulling some out and then changing his mind...he'll request additional lullaby songs...ask for a kiss....ask for a hug...until before we know it, it's 9 pm! He's been sleeping in until about 8, which is lovely, but it means that his napping at home is from about 2-4 (or later!), which doesn't coordinate with his school's naptime.

At school, his teachers report that he talks a lot. He even speaks a bit of Spanish: "Vamanos!" (let's go!), adios (good bye), hola (hello), como estas (how are you?), a dormir (go to sleep), manos (hands), in addition to his first Spanish word that we've written about before, "agua." He learned to sing "Happy Birthday to You" at school, but only in English so far. He comments about friends by name, including the ones who have moved up to the toddler room because of their earlier 2nd birthdays: "Jordan go to da udder room!" He also joyfully tells us about when he gets to play in the "other room" on days when we pick him up after 5 pm. The toddler room teacher loves him already, so we are excited for September when Kian moves up. He's been a nice friend to other kids who are new to the waddler room, where he is now one of the big kids. Last week he told us after school that he gave Julie a hug (because she was crying). He even recognizes the cars of his friends' parents on the road: "Vivi's daddy car!"

Kian is a very active, rough and tumble boy, but we love that he also gives snuggles, hugs, and kisses. We try to deal with the tantrums that come along with his age as best we can, but he is quite the insistent little guy and wants his way! Fortunately, Kian is typically cooperative, reasonable, loving, and happy! He will make a wonderful big brother in just under two months.