Warm Heart

What a great evening. I came home from work (after finishing my report cards..woohoo!) to go for a jog with my little sister. I come back and ask Kai what he is doing. He says `help daddy'. He is helping daddy cook by putting the potatoes in the pot and the compost in the compost bucket. I love seeing them interacting like that, its just precious. I love how Gary gives him a little extra attention so that Kai feels like such a big boy. I also love that Gary is making steak for dinner:)

19 months!

Pics with (auntie) Trisha...he loves his auntie Trisha. Whenver he sees his hockey stick, he says `hockey. Trisha.'.

I just realized he turned 19 months yesterday. Let's see, I'll list some stats for my little guy:
Weight: 30lbs
Size: Wears 24 month clothes (although his toes have poked through the ends of his 24 month pj's already!)
New Words: wow, everything really. He will attempt any word. Most commonly heard words lately are: toots (shoots), bounce, baseball, basketball, windime (windchime), sky, thyme, regano (oregano), lini (tortellini), money...okay, I think I have to stop listing his words because there are just too many. He has really started saying more than one word together so he will say `eight balls' (he wanted to take 8 to bed, i said one!), `hi daddy' `oh kai' `up please'
New Activities: this month he really started shooting the basketball, `colouring', climbing the stairs to the slide and going down alone, he loves to do the same scooby puzzle over and over (really, i do it all, he gets to put the last piece in). OVERALL, i would say his favourite activity is helping mommy and daddy, especially in the kitchen. He got to make spinach salad with Gary on Sunday which meant Gary gave him the spinach and he put it in the sink and washed it:) He loves to help mommy. That is another thing he will say over and over `help mommy'. He helps put the tupperware away when we do the dishwasher, he gets his own shoes and he helps to clean up.
Mystery word: he says `NooNa' a couple times a day at random times and I have no idea what he is saying. He doesn't point at anything, its like he's thinking of something. The way he says clean up is `NeeNa' so its similar. He thinks its funny that I don't get it, so that's good, as long as he isn't frustrated. ANY IDEAS???
Health: super bad cough the last 4 nights. He has cuddled with me for at least an hour from 11-midnight (I hold him upright to help him breath) and last night he was in our bed til 2am. I am not well rested. He actually does seem rested in the day.
I love this little guy so, so much. If we want to get the best hug from him ever, Gary and I hug and he HAS to be part of it. It is very cute. Love him. Love him. Love him. More and more each day. Wow, does it ever plateau? If not, I have no idea what it will feel like in a few years. Maybe he will get annoying and whiny and have temper tantrums, that will probably help:)

Our weekend

Well, this should really be entitled `Kai's weekend' since all the pics are of him:) This weekend we didn't do much, lotsa just `us' time. Friday we went to the mall and I bought new runners! Usually I buy runners once a year but since I haven't been running a whole lot, I extended my old ones for almost 2 years. It sure feels good to be in new supportive, comfy shoes! I would wear my runners all the time if I could. On Saturday we did a photo shoot that went really well. Today Gary went to church and I stayed home with Kai. Kai developed a croup-ish cough over the last 3 days although there are no other symptoms, just irritability. I've been reading `28 Stories of AIDS in Africa as suggested by Lynn and have been enjoying it, if that's what you can call it. Very informative and insightful and sad. Gary has been cooking up a storm today (woohoo, we like to cook more on Sundays so we have extras for the week) and I've finished all my marking (end of the term this week).

Kai likes to play with the lights. He also likes to `draw' at this table. Really, just lots of scribbles but when I draw a `K', he says `Kai'. Another new thing that he has taken to doing is calling someone's name, grabbing their finger, and leading them to something he needs help with (like a puzzle, opening something); it's quite cute.

Our school had a garage sale and I bought this sturdy grocery cart which Kai uses for his most valuable possessions...his balls. He has 9 balls all together and loves them. He likes us to count them and transport them from one location to the next. He stands at the door and begs us to play basketball outside with him. Whenever he shoots, he says `toots' which makes me giggle everytime. Did i tell you that he requests to take a basketball to bed?

Today he discovered he could reach the ceiling with daddy's help...quite fun. Fortunately for me, I'm too short so I don't have to/get to do this with him:)

Kai looking at daddy getting some fresh oregeno. When Kai is playing bball in the backyard, he takes a break for 3 things: to play with the windchime, point at the birdhouse, or go look at the herbs (he can point out the thyme and oregano).

Not sure what to do with this kiddos hair...it always stands up in the back. I'm trying to grow it longer so it weighs itself down? Talking about hair, I bought a wash out dye called `Spiced Cider' and now i just have to follow through. I don't know why I'm chicken, people dye their hair all the time right?

Buddies

Kai loves to `pass' the ball nice and close and then plow you over.

Loving the books

Ani and Kai playing on the car bed...sort of a toy box/dance floor in his room right now

He likes to `hug' Ani. She doesn't like to be `hugged'.

Standing at the window to see Auntie Trisha

Eyes

Izzy is happy, she knows it, and she's clapping her hands:)
One other thing: Kai's bball net is really low so he can practice just getting it in BUT today he was hitting it off the backboard (50% of the time) which was pretty impressive! Go buddy go!

Engagement

Congratulations to my lil sis Jackie and her man Tyler. He proposed last weekend in Tofino (how romantic..I love Tofino!) and they are getting married in August. We are very excited to welcome Tyler to the family as he fits in perfectly while adding a new dimension. So, this will be a busy summer of weddings with my sis Jan in July and Jackie in August...looking forward to it!

My dad

My dad is a unique guy. Kai calls him Opi Gack (Opa Jack). This is a picture of a gift he bought for Kai. Please note that each pull up has a princess type character on it, I'm sure Kai would love it? It's the thought that counts:) I'm not entirely sure why my dad is encouraging the potty training but he always said that he wanted to take the grandkids up to Green Lake once they were potty trained. Also, my dad refuses to change any diapers as he claims that he did a life times worth when we were kids. Kai is def. taking an interest in the potty (he sits on it whenever we use the bathroom and tells us when he has to go) but we are not going to try to start anything til the summer probably. He is still too scared to sit on it without his diaper on:)

Today he went down for his nap with his basketball. That kid loves pass and catch and basketballs without us encouraging it any more than any other activity.

What else is new with him? He has been doing well at daycare. Phew. At home, we leave his blankies in the crib during the day which he has adjusted to rather well. He is not loving the stroller at all. I give him food and we sing but it is not enough. He is trying to jump out the entire time. I can't let him walk the whole way because he runs in every direction except the one I want him to go in. He also does not stop or come when I say, he just goes, goes, goes.

Today, Ani and Kai talked on the phone:

Ani: Hi Kai!

Kai: Ani!

That's it. But seriously, so cute!

I think I will dye my hair brown. It's a dirty blonde anyways. Once in gr.10 I did a wash out brown/red colour. I would get a wash out one. I'm such a chicken to even do that!!! I think I will wait til Spring Break. I can't wait for summer holidays. We still have 4 months of school...I can do it!

I love this weather!!!!

Today we played in our backyard. Our yard is so small but it was so fun. We threw ice cream bucket lids around like frisbees and Kai practiced his slam dunk. Kai thought my frisbee skills were unbelievable. I love this sun. I went for 4 jogs in one week. I feel so good..so happy. I didn't realize what a difference the sun made until we had it for 4 days in a row!

I feel slightly unbalanced in the sense that I have not read a book in almost a month. I'm not sure why. Any good books to recommend? I need a new one ASAP!!!

Family Picture

When you are using a timer and have a 1 1/2 year old, you get one shot at a picture. Kai looking like a deer in the headlights is as good as we get! The sun this weekend made it seem so much more fun!

Our date(s)!!!

Today Gary and I went on 3 dates (well, does shopping count as a date? To us, it does!). Our photo session this morning was postponed to a later date (due to a sick child) and so Gary and I brought Kai to grandma's right away in the morning.

We then went up to Seymour where we snowshoed for a couple of hours in the beautiful sun. I hadn't snowshoed in 3 years and it was great to be out again. If you are looking for a fun and cheap date idea....go snowshoeing!

We could've gone for a lot longer but I wanted to make sure we could watch a movie this afternoon as we haven't been in...um...a year? We came back to Langley and watched Juno, which I've been told I should see. We both enjoyed it.

Then, we went and bought a new computer tower. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours Gary put into the computer trying to fix it. Well, probably about 25+ hours. We brought it away twice and they said they fixed it. I'm sad that we put money into fixing it when it never worked in the end. I guess that's how people sometimes feel about their cars. Gary is hooking it up right now, let's hope our computer problems are gone!

I'm looking forward to Spring Break...I hope to do some hiking and mountain biking with Gary! Kai had a blast at grandma's so in all, it was a great day for all of us! Cheesy family picture will be taken tomorrow and i will post it:)

(Gary kept getting a little too close to the edge and freaking me out)

Cheese!

Glad it was clear enough last night to get a view of the eclipse.

Kai being like daddy and mommy. He was saying `cheese' while taking the pictures.

Cute conversations...
Me: Kai, we're going to Christine's (daycare) today! What's there?
Kai: Baboons! (ballooons). Baby. Two babies! (she has twin 7 month old babies... so cute)

AND

Me: Kai, what's in your mouth? (after seeing him grab something off the floor and jam it into his mouth)
Kai: Grapes. Two grapes!





He is def. getting wilder and I have no idea where all his energy comes from. It's go, go, go and chatter, chatter, chatter. Apparently he has become a little rough at daycare so we are working more on being gentle. It's tough because I know he has so much energy and needs to get it out and sometimes it comes out in the wrong way, he doesn't mean to hurt anyone.


Today we went for brunch with my sisters for Maria's bday. Afterwards, we went to Toys r Us with the kiddies and they went nuts. I also dropped off our computer at the store to get fixed because I'm tired of Gary trying to fix it. He put in a valiant effort but I think there is a time when you just say, `I need help!'.


Hope you are all excited about `LOST' tonight!