10 months fast

 10 months has gone by SO FAST and Kyler, at 10 months, is SO FAST! I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we are 2 months away from having a one year old. This whole year has been speeding by and I am just trying to keep up. As with his 9th month he has really taken off when it comes to ability and personality. Here are some of the highlights that I don't want to forget.

*4th tooth popped down a few days after he turned 10 months. 2 days after that he fell face first into the coffee table (the hazards of learning to stand). I wasn't too concerned until the gum around that brand new tooth was all puffy and bruised. We took him to the dentist to see if everything was ok, and it was. We'll be taking him back in to check the tooth's growth next month. Not too much we can do if it is damaged but they wanted to check it so we can be watching for any changes or notice any pain. 

*He pulls up on any and everything. He has no fear. He also has no balance. 

*He likes to wave both hands at the same time. It's so cute. 

*He started testing out different proteins including meat and beans. He doesn't seem too interested in the meat but LOVED beans. Turns out they aren't so easy to clean off of skin once they have dried. Bean night now happens on bath night. 

*Starting to out grow the constant spit up stage (which seems so much longer than I recall with Kendall)

*After getting the throw up flu he regressed to major spit up. For about a week at least once a day he would cough and gag and blow chunks. I did a lot of laundry.

*The flu also caused us to regress with the sleep progress we'd made. To reduce the throwing up we went back to smaller and more frequent bottles, and now he seems to think he needs to eat all night long again. BOOOOO.

*We are mastering the art of fast diaper changes. Kyler hates diaper changes and tries to escape them. We can pin him down with our legs or just let him pull up on a near by table and change him while he stands.

*He is a toy dumper! This is a trait I'm learning is very much a boy trait. See a bin of toys and one must empty the bin to investigate all the toys to pick the best one. The testing usually involves hitting the toys together and tasting them. If he has a toy that Kendall wants (or something he's not supposed to have that we have to take away from him) he gets super mad when we grab it. He used to be fine if we replaced it with a different toy, but now he really knows what he wants and lets us all know. 

*He has the sweetest high pitch yell! Fun places to test it out are restaurants, stores, any place that people around us might prefer it to be quieter. Including me in the car while I'm driving. 

*He is such a happy guy, almost always smiling and laughing. He throws his hands in the air with joy. We can't remember what our life was before he was here. He makes me smile and laugh every day. Sometimes he is so happy we forget that he still needs to eat and sleep! He's the best!

Narnia

February 22nd we put an offer on a new house and then I drove off to Narnia (Schweitzer) with Ingrid, Cary and Mandolyn. It was a winter wonderland to snow shoe in, ridiculous views at the spa, and late night laughter that warmed my soul.

February sickies

when you're sick you need your mom to hold you all the time

evening all through the night

and the day

I had just blogged about fearing for Kendall's babies if she ever threw up in the middle of the night. When, maybe a week after that, it became a reality. Luckily only Cinderella needed a little (secret) hair cut to salvage the doll. We all were hit with many different kinds of sickness, but the one that sticks out in my mind is the throwing up. LOTS. All of us. I rarely take sick day but ended up taking 4 in one week! UGH. On to March please.

Valentine's Day Balloons...

are magical

Doubled

Kyler is now 9 months old and officially been part of our (my) life for 18 months (9 in and 9 out). SO CRAZY! I've been jotting down lots of little tidbits to share in this post, but am just now sitting down to blog (and now another week later I'm finishing it up--sorry Kyler!). My day time is spent chasing him all over and my night time is spent catching up on all the things I didn't get to because I was chasing him all over during the day! Anyway, I have to squeeze it in before he turns 10 months next week. Oh my!

trying to escape

This has been a very productive month for our little man. He's reached several huge milestones. The most noticeable one being he CRAWLS. He started out the month with a double knee crawl using mostly his arms to get around. But it increased in speed and agility quickly. He is now able to sprint crawl, especially if he spots an electrical cord unattended, one of our furry friends (who he just discovered!), or a crumb of something unknown on the floor. His core strength is amazing to me as he can go from a laying down position to sitting like it's nothing.

All the drooling finally paid off and Kyler sprouted 3 teeth this past month! And now he can chop down on puffs and rice rusks like a pro. Once those bad boys poked through we started to get (a little) more sleep at night. He is able to sleep from 8pm to 6am, with one wake up, but with a short bum pat we can usually get him back to sleep. But that is just what we know he is capable of, not what he does every night. But it's a treat when he does! He loves to make drooly sounds as he tests out these teeth. As far as his "vocabulary" he mostly just says dada, but occasionally throws in a gaga. He CAN make the 'ma' sound, but if I ever try to encourage it he laughs and goes back to "dada dada" (so he has a sense of humor I guess!).

bottom teeth came in first

then the top one

In addition to his sense of humor, we've noticed more and more of his little personality developing. He is an investigator! The way he examines things and toys it's as if he really wants to know how they were constructed. He loves to spin the wheels on his play car, and carefully take out every piece of doll house furniture and tests each one out in his mouth. Of course, this task has to be completed during Kendall's nap time. He is also very playful and does the most adorable two handed backwards wave and just started initiating peek-a-boo.

He started growing out of certain 9 month clothes and into a few of his 12 month outfits. I think if I wasn't sad about him growing up I might have moved him all the way to 12 month clothes. He is 18lbs and 14oz putting him in the 40th percentile, he is 28.25 inches tall (45th%) and his round noggin measures 18inches (70th%--WHOA!). The kid loves to eat. He hasn't said no to any food we've tried. He can pound a bottle and will do so every 3 or 4 hours. He still spits up a bit, but it seems to be getting better. If we don't get a really good burp we are guaranteed to get an eruption. His eyes remain blue, and his hair seems to be getting darker as it gets longer (in a few spots).

This has been the most fun age thus far, albeit a busy one! I know is just gets better and better and I can't wait to see what the next stages bring. We love you Kyler!

Hanging out with his buddies Carter and Scarlet

Having a blast with double bath nights

last night in his first house

so big!

so wild!

on the home stretch...

to having a 4 year old! (Kendall's 3 1/2 year post)

I mentioned before that the "terrible twos" were not so terrible for us. However, the 3's have REALLY given us a run for our money! And we did get a little head start on them when Kyler came and Kendall amped up her "spirit" even though she was a few months shy of being 3. Although the first half of age 3 has had some major meltdowns, screaming fits, sass beyond belief, and battles of the wills, we are now starting to see more and more glimpses of the sweet, patient, helpful, polite, and obedient little girl we used to know, back when she was 2. I hear that the 4's are golden. Now, I don't want to rush the precious moments that are happening right now, but the thought of outgrowing a few of these behaviors is dreamy. Don't get me wrong, we are NO WHERE NEAR "back to normal" (nor do we believe that Kendall will achieve perfection by age 4---or ever!), so we've got our parental work cut out for us! But we are equipped with parenting books and blogs, marble jars and sticker charts, and are trying to find the strength to be consistent and patient and loving! You guys, parenting is not easy; she BIT her friend (so sorry Finley!). Beyond all the boundary pushing she is such a fun (and funny) little girl and all her three-year-old-ness is more than bearable. Here is our Kendall at 3 and a half years old:

She LOVES to dance and sing! 

Taking dance this year at Creative Movement has been the most entertaining and magical thing we've done! She looks forward to it all week. She adores Miss Jill and we love watching how she responds to another adult giving her direction. 

She LOVES her little brother! Mostly she is very sweet and helpful with Kyler. Sometimes her version of helpful looks different than ours and we worry about his safety. Luckily he is mobile and can escape.

She is creative and crafty! I LOVE spending quality time with her making art. She loves stamping, drippy glue and scissors (ugh!).

Her creativity has come to life in endless stories and imaginative play. She strings together phrases she hears, with her little life experiences, and the fantasy she reads in books and sees in movies. Kendall mostly lives in a state of pretend. It's hilarious and magical.

She likes going out to eat and ordering her own drink and food (and staring at other people in the restaurant and loudly asking us awkward questions about them).

She now has the attention span to watch a full length movie and we've been enjoying Tangled and Cinderella on repeat all fall/winter. Then she reenacts them with us or with her babies. I'm often given the roll of evil witch (but I'm trying to not take it personally). We decided to take her to her first theater movie this January to see Frozen. Not surprising, she is completely obsessed. Our life these days is a perpetual Frozen concert. 

She has her own style. Getting dressed can be a big point of tension with Kendall. But when she decides to do it all on her own we never squash her creative flare.

 She has found a new love of games. This Christmas she received 3 new games and we play one of them almost every night. Sometimes it's really fun, sometimes it's a lesson in patience (for us mostly), and sometimes it's a time to practice social skills.

She loves her kitties. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to hear "Aslan's not playing with me, Mom!" I think she forgets that he's just a cat.

She LOVES her babies. I'm scared of the night she pukes all over them. She changes their diapers, burps them, and kisses their boo boos. Sometimes they are even naughty and we hear her scolding them. Obviously she co sleeps.

She still loves to read. ALL. THE. TIME. She reads to her babies often. We have to set limits to how many books she can have with her at bedtime otherwise she'll easily stay up to read until 11pm!!! She "reads" with great voice inflection and uses "all the right" fairytale words and totally got her 5 year old cousin to believe she was really reading. And as far as Kendall is concerned, that is real reading.

She is getting brave and trying new things (including going to the nursery at church--knock on wood!)

Our big milestone at 3.5 was selling the first and only home she's ever known. Her concept of old house/new house is pretty interesting. When we can't find something she'll tell us we left it at the old house. And all fall as we showed the house she'd check on random items "do you think we'll take _________ to the new house?'

A few other Kendall tidbits:

"Guess what?" is the phrase we hear most often, along with "I'm the boss of you," and "You're my faborite." She still makes a /b/ sound for the letter V and the /d/ sound for TH. She is wearing 3T clothes (pants are sometimes still big on her). She weighs about 27lbs and is 37 inches tall. Her favorite show is Sofia the First. Her favorite food is still bagels, but turkey lunch meat, bananas, and raspberries are often at the top of her menu. She has the worst sweet tooth and begs for snacks and treats constantly. We usually make her earn them with good behavior (is that bribery? gotta rein that in!). She wears PJS more days than I'd like, but when she picks out her clothes she tends to pick out dresses and skirts with tights. She can write the letter K and recognizes her own name, and can count all the way to 20 (can you tell she has teachers for parents?). She draws the sweetest little stick people with arms and legs that come out of their heads. I want to frame them all.

Kendall, you always keep us thinking and are helping us refine our problem solving skills. We adore you. You make our world better and we want to kiss and hug you all day long. We can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead for you. 

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Turns out this 3 year old thing is normal: A friend linked this blog post to facebook tonight. Sounds about right to us!