Independence Day

Today started out with bacon, waffles, fresh fruit and OJ...not bad.  K ate as much as C did...not unusual.  We used to take for granted how healthy an appetite he has, until he became so sick last week.  As he turned down bite after bite, we suddenly felt what it must be like to have a kid that doesn't eat.  Scary!  Now that he's back to his ravenous self, we are much more appreciative of his ability to snarf it down.  I think this is a gene passed down from my dad and brother...both, normal-size, healthy men able to eat their weight in food.  Bottomless pits, as we like to say.

This photo is from a couple of days ago when K ate his entire bowl of mush/cereal all by 

himself (first time).  As you can see, he was quite proud.

Anyway, after breakfast I took K and Oski (the dog) for a run around the lake.  It was perfectly cool and refreshing, with plenty of clouds.  We had plans to take a ferry to Bainbridge Is. to join our friends in a huge barbecue party, followed by fireworks.  Well those plans were scrapped at the last minute, because K decided to take a 3.5 hour nap, putting us well into the late afternoon and far to late to catch a ferry on a holiday weekend.  Too bad, I had already made 2 dozen deviled eggs, and 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies.  Bummer.  We'll have to make an appearance tomorrow (it's actually a 3 day extravaganza).  

So instead, we wandered over to another friends house and crashed their little gathering.  It was fun.  Their baby Sophie was quite fond of K.  Unfortunately, K didn't feel the same and started crying the crocodile tears when she yanked on his bib.  But then her dad came rushing to the rescue with small transformer toys for K to play with.  Phew!  The day was saved!

To wrap it all up, we came home, sat on the couch and debated going to see fireworks tonight.  We debated for about an hour, until we were too tired to do anything about it.  See, we're still not sure how K will react to a bunch of loud pops, booms and bright sparks falling toward his face.  Something tells me it will traumatize him.  And we just didn't feel like fighting the hoards of people, walking for a mile to find a place to sit, and being stuck in traffic for two hours to drive 3 miles back to our house, just to see K scream in sheer terror at the fireworks show.  So we're going to watch a movie instead!  :)

Happy 4th!

Love/Hate relationship

The Seattle Mariner's (our favorite baseball team...and favorite summer past time) really suck this year.  And I'm not just saying that.  They are in last place for the entire league...dead last.  Sweet.  We went to a game anyway.  We gave C tickets for Father's Day.  They played the Toronto Blue Jays, and you know the home team sucks when nearly the entire stadium cheers against them.  I guess the stadium wasn't that full to begin with, and there were quite a few Toronto fans there.  At least I hope they were the Toronto fans booing at the Mariner's.  If not, the Mariner's have big problems.

It was fun nonetheless.  The outing began with a shared popsicle, melting at the speed of light in my kitchen.  Yes, it was yet another scorcher.  K was already having a really good day, so this made it even better.  Then we headed off to the ball field, picked some seats way up and out of the way of anyone who might be annoyed by a busy 1 year old.  And he was busy.  I'm not sure how much of the game C and I got to watch.  We spent most of our time managing the boy. 

"Don't stand on your seat"

"Be care not to trip over the aisle"

"Don't eat the peanut shells off the ground"

and on and on...

K had most fun point out all the airplanes that flew over head (I liked that a lot too).  For a while, we'd try to draw his attention to the ball as it was pitched.  But from that high up, you're lucky to see the players running the bases, let alone the tiny ball flying at 95 mph.  Oh well.  We'll keep coming, because we love it!

Hot weather + humidity = more curls

Check out these curls!  Ringlet style! 

It is unbearably hot here, and we have busted out the fans for official use.  Now I just have to keep K from sticking any objects into the blades, most importantly fingers!  Last night, I went into K's room to check on him only to find that he was drenched in sweat!  Poor little dude.  He looked as if he'd been swimming...literally that wet!  Our windows are open with little relief.  If it doesn't get better soon, we'll have to

 invest in a portable A/C unit (and then we can just huddle in one room with the door closed all summer).

I must admit, it was pretty darn cute watching K run around in just a diaper all day.  It's eerily reminiscent of our first days/months at our Salt Lake house...no air conditioning ...temperatures pushing 100 deg!  At least then it was dry, hot air.  Here it's not only hot, but it's muggy.  You just have to deal with your skin being moist and your clothes sticking to you all day.

By the way, K has started to count to 10.  He needs a little help when he gets to the number four, but he pretty much plows through the rest (he likes us to say each number after he does, however).  It presents a challenge when I'm attempting to discipline him by telling him I'm going to "count to three."  He just gets a big smile on his face, and bounces up and down as he counts to three with me.  Hmmm....

Same thing goes for "time outs."  I used to hold him tightly on my lap when he was really naughty (hitting, or throwing things) and count to ten...then ask him to apologize.  Now that counting to ten is a fun activity for him, we've progressed our "time outs" to the high chair, facing the wall, with a 90 second timer.  He doesn't like this much, so it works beautifully!  

Not Rotavirus, but Roseola?

Well, as it turns out, those bright little creatures I discussed a few days ago have not actually invaded us.  As K's symptoms have changed and developed, he now has a bit of a rash on his torso and face.   Wouldn't you know these are textbook signs of Roseola...yet another common childhood illness.  And boy he has/had it all; high fever, lack of appetite, rash, irritability, the rarely occurring diarrhea and vomiting, and did I mention irritability.  He's been a super grouch for days!  Quite unnerving.

Please go away soon, you horrible Roseola thing.  You've invaded a peaceful little boy who loves (and I mean loves) to eat.  We want our breakfast and our good night's sleep back! (K was 

awake nearly 50% of last night...and therefore so was I).  I rocked him in the darkness of the room, desperate for him to fall back asleep.  But he just wanted to play.  He'd get close to my face and wait for me to open my eyes...then he'd giggle.  If I didn't open my eyes, he'd lift my eyelids for me.  Then he began to wave to his teddy bear across the room, and in his sweet, hoarse voice kept saying "hi, bee" (hi, bear). Good times.

Never mind my rant.  On a lighter note, we spent the afternoon with the mom's group.  The kids ran through sprinklers (all but K) and ate popsicles.  We arrived late due to K's extra long nap, but even if we had been on time, I doubt K would've jumped in to the watery chaos.  He's more of an observer, and that's just what he did while his popsicle melted down his arm. 

Rotavirus?

Take a good look at the beautiful image to the right. Is this strange colony of creatures one that lives out of light and sight at the bottom of the ocean?  Nope!  Meet Rotavirus, our latest enemy (and the reason for my lack of blog posts).  

Now, I'm no doctor...but after an hour of on-line research and conversations with my mom-friends, I've decided this is the nemesis that has invaded my poor son.  K's been through all of the symptoms, of which I will spare you the details (available on-line if you must).  How is it contracted, you ask?  By contact with feces of other infected children. GROSS!!  It's bad enough seeing poor K go through this mess, but to ponder how he got it in the first place?  Eeew!

So we've been very busy minding his fevers (103 F) and cleaning up after various incidents.  In the space of 48 hours, K had 6 baths, and 3 full bedding changes.  Ok. That's enough, you get the point. 

I hope he gets better soon, because we're in for a beautiful week/weekend here in the Pacific Northwest.  He was thankfully well enough today to venture out a bit. He and I rode the bus downtown for a kiddie music concert at the library..."The ABC's of Jazz".  K must be feeling better, because he even danced to the music a little bit.  :)

Summer's Late yet On-time Arrival

Happy First Day of Summer!!!

Finally, it's here, and the day couldn't have been more beautiful.  To celebrate, K and I met some friends at the zoo (yep, twice in one week).  I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer.  Everything was perfect.  We wandered around seeing what we saw, without an agenda.  We loved the fact that we could stay or go whenever we pleased, not needing to get our money's worth (the beauty of an annual membership).  The kids wanted to get out of the stroller to climb on a rock?....that's what we did.  

We stopped at the "little kids" play area, and K and his friend Izzy went up and down the slide for 30 minutes.  Poor K, though.  He hasn't quite figured out that he goes faster when he lifts his heels off the slide.  So, instead, he putt-putts all the way down the slide, stalling several times along the way.  Oh, but he still smiles and giggles, and says "a-ghee" (again) at the bottom.

When we got hungry, we headed over to our FAVORITE hamburger joint, Red Mill Burgers.  Now I'm not the only one that loves Red Mill, they are consistently voted "Best Burgers in Seattle" and one of their burgers made the GQ "Top 20 Burgers to Eat Before You Die" list!  Mmmm, mmmm!  I washed mine down with a Boysenberry Shake (another favorite).  K unfortunately got stuck with the PB & J I brought from home.  But Izzy was sweet enough to share her whole wheat grilled cheese with him.  I think he dug it, and finally gave her a smile.

Lovely, lovely day.

Bad haircut

I gave K another haircut, but this was a bad haircut, and C made sure to smirk and shake his head at me.  He says it looks like I wrapped tape around his head and cut along the line?  He said K looks like he should be a member of the King's court in some English castle far away?  

I don't know.  I'm not exactly sure how to change my technique for next time.  Maybe that's the problem, I didn't really have a technique this time.  Hmmm...oh well.  I couldn't go back and fix it either.  It's short enough in front as it is, and frighteningly close to mullet-hood.  Yikes!  Unfortunately, this picture doesn't quite tell the whole story.  K rarely holds still for photos these days.  I have to be very sneaky with the camera.

Wheels on the Bus

Today, K took his very first bus ride (well, except for the stuffy, crowded and slightly scary bus ride we took in San Juan, Puerto Rico...but he was too young to remember).  He and I took a quick trip down to the 2nd hand toy store to see what they had.  I thought he would enjoy the ride, but as it turns out, it was just as frightening as the swing set.  He cried in terror, buried his little face in my chest, and clung to me like a baby gorilla (kind-of sweet, actually). He didn't want to look out the window, and hated every bump we went over.  The only way I could calm him was by singing the "Wheels on the Bus" song into his ear.  He stopped crying so that he could make the mental correlation to what we were doing.  Perfect!

After the toy store, and a brief chat with an old friend we ran into on the sidewalk, we went back to the bus stop to take our chances again.  Really, we had no choice.  We were too far from home to walk.  This trip was loads better.  I actually got him to release his Kung Fu grip on me long enough for a semi-decent photo.  

I hope he can get used to riding the old B-U-S, 'cause we'll be doing quite a bit of it from now on!  (FYI...the local gas station is up to $4.51/gal regular).  Yep!  We love the bus!

Birds and Bees at the Zoo

To celebrate Father's Day with C and Papa, we served brunch at our house (steel cut oatmeal, spinach & ham quiche, OJ, and fresh fruit).  Uncle Collin and Aunt Shandy came over as well. After nap time (for everyone), we went to the Woodland Park Zoo!  Yay!  We saw gorillas, elephants, hippos, flamingos, lions (you know...the zoo).  Anyway, thank goodness K is only 19 months!  We were treated to quite a show at the lions lair.  As we stood, admiring the "king" laying just 15 yards from the glass, a lioness came bouncing over and threw herself down on the ground in front of him.  Well, to our amazement/horror/surprise he hopped up and had his way with her!  The viewing area was already packed before this happened, so you can imagine the gasps and giggles...and the questions asked by the innocent little ones standing around.  "Daddy, why is that lion trying to piggyback the other one?"  Yeah, it was like they say...it's hard to watch a train wreck, yet hard to look away (or something like that).  Every last one of us was busted. Like I said, I'm glad K can't ask questions yet!  

So after the X-rated show, we moved the party over to the east side where Collin & Shandy fed us grilled, marinated flank steak, stir fried veggies, artichokes and other yummies.  K spent a good portion of the evening learning how to rub his hands together to brush off the dirt.  He was so pleased at his new discovery, he kept going over to the flower bed to put his hands in the dirt so he could do it all over again.  It brought a huge smile to his face each time.  Maybe we are overcoming the dirty-hands phobia?  Hope so.  By the way, the weather couldn't have been more perfect for the entire day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

OCD

 

Papa is here to visit!  He kindly drove our old Montero up to Seattle for us, risking his life in a blinding June snowstorm, with cars sliding off the road all around him!  We are very thankful, and now he's gets to spend a few days here, recuperating from the ordeal.  

K's words (continued):

octopus (one of his stuffed animals)="ahh-poo"

Elmo (another stuffed friend)="ehh-mow"

again="ghee"

crow (as in, the flying rats that tear apart our garbage each week)="kah! kah!"

The latter discovery came as K watched his dad chase the birds away from the garbage can one morning, yelling "kah! kah! kah!"  Now that's what K says every time he sees one.  He's paying very close attention.

In closing, I'd like to share my recent observation of my son.  From their parents, some kids inherit good looks, intelligence, athletic ability...my son has inherited my OCD.  :)  I'm not saying K doesn't possess the other qualities as well, he just has this one, too.  Yesterday, at the park, every time he fell down in the sand, he would immediately pull up his hands and inspect his palms for dirt.  Upon seeing that they were covered in sand, he sat and whined for me to come clean them off.  He doesn't even attempt to get up either, because that would require that he gets his hands dirty again.  I have to lift him.  This also goes for food as well.  He'll eat with

 his hands, but as soon as a little chunk of something sticks to his fingers, he makes a face and motions for me to get it off.  The kid hates to get his hands dirty.

Another funny thing he's been obsessed about is the safety buckle on his high-chair/seat.  He always has to have it fastened, even when he's not there! As soon as I lift him down after a meal (and I mean when his feet hit the ground), he turns around and clicks the belt together. And when he does, he says "kee!" (click!)...so cute! But, yes, this has been going on for weeks now. 

Buckethead

 

What's there not to love about bath time?  K can't find anything...except maybe the end of bath time. Daddy usually gives him his bath, and it's always a good time.  Tonight's bath was none too soon, either, after K rubbed avocado in his eyebrows during dinner.  Which brings me to another addition to K's vocabulary:

eyebrow="ahh-boo"

And this morning he ate half of his oatmeal all by himself with a spoon!  Big milestone!  The cutest thing about it is that with each spoonful, he says "coop" (scoop!) as he scoops the spoon through the mush.  We taught him this after he continuously tried to stab at the oatmeal with the spoon, as if it was a fork.  Very frustrating.  So:

scoop="coop"

We love PEPS!

K has a new/old desk that used to be his daddy's when he was a little guy. He loves to just sit there with a book (or magazine like Papa taught him) and flip the pages.  Sweet.  His new bedroom is much bigger than any other he's had, so there's plenty of room for desks, donkeys and motorcycles.  I think he really likes his new space.

This morning we spent a couple of hours with the PEPS moms & babies group.  We had a blast sharing stories (moms) and Cheerios (babies).  All the kids are running, climbing all over, and starting to talk!  So different from the days when we first met on a weekly basis...a bunch of confused and overtired moms, nursing a bunch of demanding newborns.  I feel like we have come a long way, yet have so much further to go! I'm so glad we've all kept in touch.  I think K's set to have a great group of kids to grow up with.  Every city needs a PEPS organization!  

See all 12 kids below as they pose (and cry) for their first Valentine's Day photo shoot (Feb. 2007).  K is chubby and "LOVED" on the left.  Probably the baldest of the bunch!

...the old man is snoring

In light of the non-stop rain we've had since we moved back, I've been singing "It's raining, it's pouring...the old man is snoring...(you know the rest)" to K almost 2-3 times a day.  Well I might stop all together because I truly think the song is disturbing to him.  When we get to the part where the old man bumps his head, I pause and rub K's forehead (or mine) and say "ohhhh, ouch" (just like we learned in Gymboree class).  Well, each time, K looks to the floor and gets a very long face, as if his lip is about to start quivering.  

He is truly one of the most sensitive kids I've ever seen.  He doesn't like to hear about a bumped head, even if it does belong to some old man in a song.  So tender.

There is one good thing about this wet city (well one of many), K's hair is super curly!  Who knew?  The dry Utah climate suppressed the curls we never knew he had.  They just sprung to life as we walked through the SeaTac airport upon our arrival, literally!  And I'm also happy to report that this humidity has wiped away his eczema...no joke, hardly a trace remains!

My Gasoline Boycott

While driving by our neighborhood gas station, I noticed the price of REGULAR gasoline (are you sitting down?)...$4.27.  I KNOW!  I almost drove off the road.  Right then and there, on the way home from the grocery store, a mere 4 blocks from our house, I made a pledge to drive as little as absolutely possible!  Seriously, I live in one of the most accessible cities in the country, what am I waiting for?  And as if I needed a sign to drop out of the sky, C came home last night with the free annual bus pass (a benefit offered by his new employer)...it's worth about $1000!  O.k. now I have no excuse, nor did I want one.

So we started off today by walking to library story time in the rain.  Yep,

it started to rain (not sprinkle), 2 minutes before we were about to walk out the door.  For a half-second I thought..."ehhh, I'll start my gas-free pledge tomorrow" but then quickly checked myself.  My dear, you live in SEATTLE!  It rains 80% of the year....buck up and walk!  So we donned the rain gear and headed out.  It turned out to be a fun adventure, and when we got there and parked the stroller in a room with about 25 other wet strollers, I realized I'm in good company here.

My friend from college met us there with his 2 year old.  Afterward, we walked across the street to this great indoor play area for little kids.  The little boys had a good time playing and socializing with about 100 other little kids with the same idea.  It was our first play date, and turned out to be super fun.  I look forward to many more fun days like this one!

   

Boogers, Balloons & Cocktails

I don't know, the title simply indicates the highlights of the day, not necessarily in order of importance.

K learned how to pick his nose today.  As I sat reading my email, he came up to me with his little pointer finger stretch up to my face.  I looked down to see a booger on the tip of it.  His eyes were wide with intrigue, and he said "noe!" (Nose!).  Then he put his finger back in his nose and continued to say "noe."  I followed him out of the room so that I could wipe it off.  He scurried off, finger firmly in place, saying "noe...noe...mama...noe."  Hard not to laugh.  

So when I relayed the story to C, he asked if K was smiling or laughing when he showed me his prize.  Now here's a good argument for Nature vs. Nurture.  See, K didn't know that nose picking might be funny, gross, inappropriate or anything else.  To him, it was new and interesting.  And that's my case for all bodily functions.  C insists that he didn't teach him to laugh when he toots and burps.  I beg to differ.

Today, C brought home a huge sunflower shaped balloon from work (even the 2 foot stem was inflated)...a "Welcome-to-the-team" gift?  Anyway, K was all smiles because "boons" are one of his favorite things of all time.  We had to pry it from his tiny hands just to get him to eat dinner.

 

And lastly, our 94 year old neighbor came over to invite us to cocktail hour at her house.  She said she and the other neighbors like to do it regularly to keep up with things on the street.  So C and I took K over and mingled with our neighbors (first time ever).  Everyone was really nice.  Of course they all paid way too much attention to K when we first arrived, and that brought on the crocodile tears.  But after a handful of grapes and a couple crackers, he was doing his new trick for the crowd.  This involves putting the top of his head on the floor in front of his feet (similar to yoga's Downward Facing Dog), but then the real kicker is when he pulls his hands back to his hips.  He even showed his muscles, and had everyone laughing.   (see the following demonstration)  As soon as he started jumping around by the cabinet of glass collectibles, that's when we made our exit.  We had fun, and look forward to next time.

Even more words from K:

help="hep"

zip (sound a zipper makes)= "zup"

ear="eee"

Adventures in Eating

Today we had a new experience.  While eating his breakfast, K took a huge sip of water and somehow it went up and out his nose rather than down his esophagus.  The look of sheer terror on his face was heart wrenching.  He reached out for me as he sputtered and coughed...then proceeded to sneeze uncontrollably.  With his nose as runny as it has been, one can imagine the mess.  :(  Once the whole ordeal was over, and I cleaned him up, he sat in his big boy chair (not a high chair) holding his fork in one hand and spoon in the other, and cried.  I think it scared him pretty good.  Poor little guy.  I just hugged him and rubbed his back until he felt better.

By the way, he has really taken to eating his food with a fork.  He loves to do it every meal now, and he's getting better at it every day.  We're still working on the spoon.  It's hard to eat hot mush when every spoonful falls into your lap because you rotate the spoon upside down just at the last minute.  I help with this.

And since it rained non-stop today (no joke...not one moment of clear since we woke up), we did indoor activities like vacuuming, mopping and coloring with crayons. K and I both enjoyed the latter most of all.  He really got into it today, sitting in the bright kitchen nook with all twelve colors to choose from.  Eventually, he grew bored of the drawing thing, and discovered it was much more fun to roll crayons across the table until they were all on the floor.  Oh the giggles this inspired!

RSV

This morning as we prepared to leave for our second "reunion" with the PEPS group (Moms & Babes), K began sneezing and coughing...then came the river o' snot.  Yep, once again this RSV thing has halted our social plans.  I swear, he is the sickest kid around!  I don't get it either, he eats so well...oodles of fruit, veggies, grains, beans, even tofu and flax seeds.  He drinks water like a horse, too.

So you can imagine my frustration when I research RSV online, and I'm told that the best way to prevent RSV is by feeding your child a healthy diet, and breastfeeding as long as you can.  @##$%@!  What's a girl got to do?  Seriously, I've done all that and then some!

K is 19 months old (yesterday) and he's had RSV five times now!  Watery eyes, runny (and I mean whole-box-of-Kleenex-a-day runny), coughing, sneezing, and all the rest.  I really feel for the guy.  Especially since each time he gets it, it lingers for almost 2 weeks!  

And to make matters worse, he's protesting bedtime this week, goofing around in his crib for about an hour and half before falling asleep.  In fact, as I type this, he's in his crib talking to himself.  And I'll bet his blankets are strewn (Clay loves when I say strewn) about the floor around his crib...typical.

       

Love that kid, but he sure is testing my nerves tonight.  :)

Vocabulary

Moving day outfit...no comment.

A few things special K likes to say:

ball="bah"

dog="dah"

Oski (our dog)="Ah"

shoe="siew"

Zeus (Nana & Papa's dog)="zoo"

eat="eee"

hello (while holding a phone, or other object to ear)="hee-low"

water (my favorite)="oo-wah"

pee-pee="pee-pee" (with much emphasis on the "p" sound)

hat="hah"

juice="ziu"

car="cah"

balloon="boo"

food="foo"

spoon="poo"

yep="yep"

Collin="kah-yee"

teeth="tee"

elbow="bow"

head="hee"

nose="no"

kitty="kee"

choo-choo train="choo-choo"

more="mo" (plus the sign for more)

snap="nnnap"

baby="beebee"

spin (the ball)="pihhh" (and it lingers as the ball spins)

He also says the following with complete clarity:

Dada

Mama

nope

yep

Nana

Papa

eye

key

no, no, no

And by his own discovery, a dog has never barked...it says "hah, hah, hah, hah."  That was Oscar's contribution to K's education.

What did I tell ya?

Like I said...I'm not so good at this keeping up to date thing.  My last/first post was mmm, 9 months ago?  So I'm just going to start here...today.  And, yes, I am keeping this record as more of a journal for K.  He does so many new things everyday, I can't keep up in my journal.  Plus, this will never get burned up in a fire, or drown in a flood, right?  Forever memories.

So here's to a second beginning.  I've posted a photo of K on the slide at Forest Green Park in Ogden, UT.  We have now moved back to Seattle, but we were able to spend about four weeks with Nana & Papa (C's parents) before we left.  We had a great time watching their TV, eating their food, breaking their things, and letting our dog dig up their yard.  Then as we left, we accidentally forwarded their mail with ours!  I'm sure their glad to see us go!  :)   But seriously, we couldn't have done it without them.  They helped us move up here, too.  I tell ya, the airport experience alone would have killed me if I didn't have Nana there to help!

Thanks you guys!  We owe ya!

Anyway, below is a little video of the slide...so cute.  And here's to many frequent future posts.