California flashback

In August when we were in California we had a friend of Noelle's come take family photos of all of us.  After all, it was the first time we were ALL together.  Last summer, Dexter remained behind in Kenya, and Vera -- now 10 months -- wasn't born yet.  It was important to seize the moment.  Chances are good there will be more babies in the future (*** this is NOT an announcement; I'm talking to you, Alisa.***) so it is nice that we were able to capture things as they are now.

A few weeks ago we got our cd of 150+ pictures in the mail, and I have loved going through them.  I wanted to share them here, but thought 150 might be a tad excessive.  I've tried to narrow it down while still capturing the fun that we had that day.  Also, the new photo in my header is from that day.

This is such a fabulous picture of my dad, it seems only appropriate to start with it.

Kyalo looks a little spacy in some of his pictures, but still, I'm glad we got them!

Grandkids bring so much joy.

 I love those cheeks!

It is important to have at least one funny face shot!  Poor Vera doesn't look like she's up for it.

 lots of feet!

We pretty much didn't see these three while in CA because they were so engrossed with the iPad.

And here we all are!  Getting this many people to be looking at the camera, smiling and happy is basically impossible.  This is as good as it gets!

This is showing off Adam & Noelle's newly remodeled kitchen.  I love how Caroline and Kyalo are looking at each other.  They're besties.

 Adam & his gorgeous family!

We ended the evening with lobsters and steamers flown in from MA!  Since the lobsters are live until cooked, the kids had a good time playing with them.  I love this picture of Caroline & Campion.  You can really see their personalities shine through!

yum

And that's that!  Hope I didn't overwhelm you.  I wonder what the next family photos will look like!

field trip

Last Friday, my friend Melissa invited me to go to a Baby Sign class at a nearby zoo.  I invited my friend Jenny; she and I planned to make a day of it - pack lunches, etc.  I had thought for some reason we'd be sitting in a class room at the zoo (do zoos have classrooms?) learning sign, so wanted to be sure we got to see the animals!

Turns out, we'd be walking around the zoo, learning the signs for the various animals.  It also turns out that it was sub zero temperatures. . .or maybe just 45. Still, four hours in that felt pretty brisk.  We all had a great time - even if I didn't pay too close attention to the signs. It was a nice activity for everyone.  Plus, the cooler weather made the animals a lot more frisky, which was fun to see!

 Kyalo's bff, Ellen, appropriately bundled against the cold

 checking out the sheep

 and the jaguar

 Ellen had a good time!

Jenny & Ellen

Kyalo's favorite part of the zoo was the rocks, of course

Kyalo wants everyone to love rocks, too.

It is always nice to get out of the house so Jenny & I really maximized on it.  Since it was so cold we had to eat inside the little cafe, but a couple of cups of coffee & tea warmed us right up. 

I hope we'll get to the zoo again soon.

flashback

I have had these photos for a while, and keep meaning to post them, but time seems to get away from me.  The setting for these photos is our side driveway.  I was working on dinner and I had to send the boys outside so I could have some peace - it is harder than you would think to make a meal with a little person climbing on your legs!  But then when I looked out and saw that Dexter had taken the big ball out, it was too cute not to go snap some pictures. Dinner could wait.

 I don't know what's going on with his tongue here...so I asked Dexter about it - should we worry? His response?  "Not everything is a 'thing.'" Thanks, dear, that's helpful.

Dentists!

this is a common sighting in our house. dirt under the fingernails.  

After playing outside for a while, Dexter realized that Kyalo had made a total mess of the driveway and swept the dirt up.  But when we tried to put the broom away?

This happened:

Never get between a boy & his. . . broom?  You just never know what could happen!

It is interesting, though, because Kyalo does love the broom.  Whenever I get it he wants to "help" with the sweeping and gets sad when I put it away.  I look forward to the day when I can put sweeping on his chore chart.  Is tomorrow too soon?

these days

The past couple of weeks have been very, very hard.  But also very good.  It makes me think of Charles Dickens' line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  I can relate.   Ever since Kyalo hit 18 months, we've hit some major bumps in the road.  I can't explain them, but I wonder if some of them have to do with getting a shot at that 18 month appointment.

Soon after getting a shot in the leg, his sleeping went totally haywire.  Granted, Kyalo's not ever been a good sleeper, but still, I felt like things were settling down and we were getting into a groove.  And suddenly, he was up a LOT.  And I just couldn't get him to sleep. He'd wake up, I'd nurse, put him in the crib, and he'd be up and screaming before I left the room.  And repeat.  And again.  This happened a couple of nights in a row, and it just left me utterly exhausted.  His glorious 2 1/2 hour naps (which true, didn't happen much) appear to be a thing of the past, and we're lucky to get a full hour in these days. 

Now, too, we're heading into the more treacherous territory of toddlerhood, and it is rearing its ugly head!  I need some discipline tips, stat!  So - lack of sleep + Kyalo's new (difficult? ugly? I'm not sure exactly what to call it) behavior = one cranky pants* mama! 

I am drained.  I love that I am still nursing Kyalo - and hope (and expect) to continue until he is two.  But I didn't think that it meant waking up multiple times a night for 18 MONTHS.  I have not had a solid 8 hours of sleep in so, so long.  I haven't even been away from Kyalo for more than a few hours in his entire life.  This is both something I'm grateful for (not going to work every day, for example) and longing for a night away. 

But, in the midst of this there are bright spots.  The best example is this.  On a Thursday afternoon, when I just wasn't sure how I was going to make it any more, a box arrived in the mail for us.  Turns out it was filled with children's books with an African (Kenyan, Tanzanian, Swahili) theme.  Many I had had my eye on a long time, one I had literally returned to the library that morning!  Also in the box were recipes and ingredients to make them!  This was additionally good timing because the dinner plan was blank.  I am not ashamed to say that I cried a little bit...I just felt so overwhelmed by my sense of helplessness, and then, a little ray of sunshine came through the mail.  It is another small (or huge) reminder of God's grace for us and that, no matter how hard this time will be, He will take care of us.

Kyalo loves the books.  The pictures are so beautiful he loves looking at them.  I love reading books peppered with Swahili (let's be honest - the simple phrases are about all I can manage, anyway; and the counting and alphabet book should ensure, at the very least, that I know my numbers and letters!).  Here's Kyalo happily reading Lala Salama before bed this week. 

Thanks Aunt Marg for such a beautiful book

{can you tell how the pictures are stunning?}

Something else that has turned out to be a blessing has been this.  One weekend when I was feeling especially down and out, I made the mistake of going into Pinterest, and stumbling into some parenting blogs.  It truly amazes me the kinds of things that parents think about to do with their kids.  I worry that Kyalo's going to get to school and kids are going to talk about the drawing, the obstacle courses, the crafts, etc, that their moms {or dads!} did with them, and Kyalo's going to say, "I played with rocks."  Poor kid, stuck with a non-crafty mom.  I went to be feeling discouraged about that, too.  But upon further reflection, realized I could do some of it!  If it involves kitchen stuff, of course.

So one morning I whipped up a {small} batch of oatmeal play dough -  made with simple ingredients I had on hand (flour + oatmeal + water + food color).  It didn't give us hours and hours of fun, but I'd say a solid 15 or so minutes, which was pretty good - Kyalo's never been good at playing for long stretches by himself, so this felt like a nice little break for me.

{I love that face!}

Another idea I got was to give him a "sensory bowl" filled with various size beans.  I was using dried beans that week, so kept some aside for him.  I gave him a bowl of beans with a whisk and other kitchen implements as well as some other bowls. Oh yes, it made a mess.  But it brought him a lot of joy, and kept him entertained for quite some time.  I could even get him to help me to pick the beans up! 

Fun and cheap.  Win-win.

Things are getting better again, though now Kyalo has a cold, so I don't think the sleep's ever going to get back on track!  :)

I'd welcome tips for things to do in these rockier times.  Activities to keep him busy?  Books/blogs on discipline that you can recommend? (I've picked up a couple from the library, but can imagine I'll need a lot more!)  Ideas to get my non-sleeping child to sleep? 

Ah, I know this is long. That's what happens when I vanish for two weeks.  Thanks for staying with me...

* phrase courtesy of Jenny Hunt :)

18 months

 October 3, 2012

22.9 pounds

30 1/2 inches

 shirt made by Erica!

For some reason, I find these half-year marks a big deal.  I feel like celebrating - we made it another six months! The days have been fun and hard lately because it is clear Kyalo is learning/experiencing/exploring so much, and at the same time he's exerting himself a lot more. And so, we enter the "terrible twos" which actually begin around now. Joy. 

Some examples:

- much more possessive of things (which may or may not actually be his)
- throwing his spoon and/or food on the floor all. the. time.  I fight a losing battle with the kitchen floor every day.  Who wants to come mop for me?
- hitting (me, for the most part)

Still even in the midst of these harder times, he is fun.  He still isn't talking much, but I really do think it is coming soon. . .and in the meantime he's very good at communicating.  He can follow simple directions.  This weekend I asked him to put his shoes away and he promptly scooped them up and put them in our hall closet.  He was quite proud of this and came back clapping.  He'll always have at least one person to cheer him on in life!  And then this morning, he was eating applesauce and it spilled, so I grabbed a rag and cleaned it up saying, "when you spill, you have to clean up."  Not long later he spilled again (without my realizing) and he got the cloth and was cleaning it up on his own.  Good boy!

But, tell him NOT to do something and that's another story. . .

I meant to mention last month that he's a real climber.  We can't leave chairs at the dining table or he'll be on the table in a flash.  He's non-stop activity and motion.  He loves music.  And he still loves rocks. dirt. sticks.  I was realizing a while ago that this is a kid who knows nothing in pop culture (Dora, Winnie the Pooh, Blues Clues, Sesame Street, etc.), but knows a lot about the outside world.  This weekend on one of our walks he was picking up handfuls of dirt and stuffing them down his shirt!  Maybe Winnie the Pooh isn't so bad after all?

See the boo-boo on his nose?  He fell, face first, onto the side walk.  Cried for a few minutes and then carried on.  Tough guy!

After the inside shots, we headed out into the rainy day for pictures and a walk.  Thanks to Grandma {as always} he was well prepared for a cool, wet day.

We started at the slide - where he liked splashing all the water around. Plus, the rain made the slide extra slippery!  After about 2 minutes in the backyard, we headed on walk down the street.  Kyalo can get out of the yard since the front gate doesn't close properly {boo} so we spend a lot of time walking the block.  Kyalo's quite comfortable to make himself at home wherever he is.  Especially if that place includes a yard of rocks!

there is no better birthday gift!

See? He's made himself right at home in one of our neighbor's front yard!  I sure hope no one minds.

please note the leaves in his hair, and the rock appropriately placed behind him.

Is it too soon to get him into The Boy Scouts?

I'm almost to the end here . . . I've started having him "help" me make things in the kitchen. This generally involves him dumping ingredients into a bowl and stirring.  But he loves to do it.  Plus then after I can give him an empty bowl and whisk and he'll play happily with that for a while.  On Sunday, he whipped up his first batch of pancakes.  As one of my aunts said, it is in his blood!

testing the batter

So there you have it.  Kyalo in all his 18 month glory!

We love him so.