I wonder if he's growing?

While it's so frustrating on a day to day basis having Kai thwart all my attempts at getting him to eat, I've finally started to see some fruits from all my labor (pun intended)! We've had to retire clothes, shoes (yes, I finally retired the red monkey shoes!), and sweaters like mad in the last few weeks. I think we'll even need to retire some of his "baby" towels because he's so long now we can't put them over both his head and cover his legs after a bath! On more than one occasion RJ's gotten him dressed and said "Where's the flood, Kai?" Woo hoo! It means he's getting taller! (Thank you to Michelle and Tom and Sue and Larry who've given us lots of hand-me-downs, making it easier for us to move from one size to the next.)

The other part of him that's growing is his hair! He's gotten so much of it (except on the sides - see pictures), that there are actually CURLS in the back. It's SOOO cute after a bath.

To Haircut or Not

RJ thinks it's time for a haircut and I disagree. I mean, who doesn't love curls? So, you decide! Tell us what you think. Is it time for Kai's first haircut? See the box to the right and cast your vote now.

Creating order in a CRAZY world!

Kai has been very busy learning new things this week. So busy, in fact, that he's even started to actually eat (or at least drink, which is half the battle!) and has had two days in a row where he's drank more than 10 ounces! I know you must think it crazy that I think it's incredible my 14 month old son is now drinking 10 ounces per day when our neighbor's son is 1.5 months old and is consuming close to 36 ounces a day! But, you've got to celebrate your victories when you can.

Crazy World in Order

Part of all the learning Kai's had this week has been starting to make some sense of the world around him. You can really see him start to understand the way things are. For instance, he REALLY understands what to do with a hammer when you pick it up. I'm not quite sure how or where he could have learned it, but he knows (as the video only proves!)

He also knows what you're supposed to do with a stuffed animal....carry it around in your mouth like Cosmo does, of course! He's increasingly carrying things with just his mouth. It's amazing to see Cosmo and Kai play together. I expect I might see Kai starting to be on all fours again soon, just to be like Cosmo!

He is beginning to understand what you say and can follow along. He started to play peekaboo with RJ and every time RJ said "do it again," Kai obeyed. He'll clap when you tell him to, I just haven't been able to actually get it on video yet (it appears you need both hands to clap and then what do you do with the camera??).

He also knows what it means to march. He was fascinated one morning when RJ came down and started marching around the house. Kai thought it so interesting he of course had to copy RJ. And his laugh says it all about how he feels about putting this crazy world into some sort of order in his head. He's starting to get it and you can tell it makes him feel good!

A week without Daddy...

....is like a week without sunshine. We just had to muddle through somehow. Daddy left for school on Thursday night. He got home on Saturday night to give me a bath and tuck me in. But then he left again on Sunday to go to Mexico for a week! It's so unfair that just because I don't have a passport yet we couldn't go with him. Mommy said it takes about 3 months to get one, so I told her she better get a move on it already! I mean, the next time Daddy gets called away unexpectedly for work, we'll just have to go with him. Mexico sounds like so much more fun than CT!

A week without Daddy

So while Daddy was away, Mommy and I had to figure out how to keep ourselves busy. Here are some of the things we did:

• Dance to Prince in my "Ado(red)" shirt (isn't it great?)
• Wave around a Pringles can in my new sweater from Sally
• Celebrate my 14 month birthday holding Rafi (he usually has to stay in my crib)
• Learn how to play tug-of-war from Cosmo
• Read the "hot sheets" while Mommy sneaks in food
• Eat what Daddy's eating: frijoles con queso!
• Smile at the camera because it reminds me of Daddy and how much I love him!
• Teach Cosmo a thing or two about tug-of-war
• And proudly wear my new Eagles shirt for Daddy. They're the best!

So, that's about it. It was a tough week, not seeing Daddy. But, I think Mommy and I hung in there ok. We get to see him later today (Friday). And then the next time he even thinks about leaving the country, me and Mommy will be prepared! We'll either go with him or have a journey of our own!

They come and they go...

We had several visitors all visit us within the same week. We haven't seen this many people in the house in the same week since Kai was born!

My Visitors

On Wednesday Chuck, Jess, Sam and Ben came to see us as they were driving through CT on their way home from a friend's bris. Kai got an afternoon of following Sam around and Sam got to say "Kai" all the way to our house.

On Saturday Aniq and his brother, Amir, came over to have dinner and visit (mostly to see Kai!). RJ and I got to get dinner ready while the brothers watched Kai. Mostly Kai was showing them how to make a kleenex fly. But at least he kept them busy so they weren't in our way while we got dinner on the table.

On Sunday (Superbowl Sunday) Deborah and Kim came over to watch the game. Kai loved all the attention he got from them both and taught them a thing or two about how to really use a shape sorter. After the kid went to bed, Kim made us chili. It was such a nice treat having her cook for us after all the work Aniq and Amir put us through on Saturday night!

And then the next Thursday, RJ forgot his wallet at home (what's new) so he didn't have any money for lunch. So Kai and I met him at a restaurant for lunch and to return his wallet. Kai really liked the humus and mango juice.

If this week taught us anything, it's that we love to have people over to visit! So when you're nearby, come and visit!

My Magical Things

Magic

Daddy gave me a magic spoon once when I didn't want to be in my high chair (when does he want to be in it?), and it worked like magic to make me not want to cry anymore. I like to think that more of my things are magical. For instance, the ball in the bathtub splashes by itself! The legos in my playroom lead me to my favorite car! And my baseball bat (sorry, Aunt Vickie!), doesn't even need me to hold onto it! It really is magic! :)

Now if only I could magically gain weight! Ahh, that would be grand.

Blogging, logging

Apparently I'm not very good at this whole "update regularly" thing! I thought I'd be better at it if I had incentive (not having to make chocolate chip cookies for the first person who "reported" my oversight), but that isn't working, as I've already made cookies for three people. I really don't know how I managed to fit everything in when I was working full time. My days are "free" for the most part and yet they go by so quickly I can hardly even catch my breath! And to top it all off, I've decided to finally start (using my new sewing machine) my scrap quilt. That was just one more thing to get in the way of updates.

The good news is I'm committing to doing a better job of posting so y'all won't have to chastise me for no blog updates. And with Kai walking everywhere, I think we'll have some good ones in the coming weeks. Today was such nice weather (not as nice as yesterday, but still good), that Kai and I went to "play" outside. By play, I mean I was raking while he followed close behind me trying to grab the rake or pick up the grass, leaves and mostly dirt the rake picked up. It was very cute! Even though he's walking, he still managed to get so dirty we had to change his outfit as soon as we got in the house! I can't wait for spring to get here so we can spend some time outside together more often. It feels like it's just around the corner with the kind of warm weather we're having.

Waving all over

Christopher is so entertaining. When he's here, I have a hard time looking at anything else. I wouldn't look at Mommy for anything (until she'd put the camera down that is). And then Christopher made Mommy take more pictures until she got at least one with me looking. I mean, really, it's not like she doesn't know what I look like!

The Waves

Well, here you can see us together. In the video, Christopher's waving to me and I'm waving back at him (really, I had food on my hand and I wanted to get it off, but it was enough to fool 'em)!