Bab(ies) Shower

Our PEPS group had a baby shower for all of us that are currently pregnant. There are a total of eight expecting moms (due between late March and mid August) and one baby that has already arrived. We had a really nice time. The four moms in the group who are NOT expecting threw us the shower. They did such a fabulous job! We ate scrumptious food, opened gifts, and did a few low key baby shower activities....all of us were 'toddler free' for the afternoon! It was very nice, indeed.

The baby cupcakes that our hosts made for the event.



Look at all of those bellies! We stood in order of due date (from August to March, left to right). I'm right in the middle, basically.

Gymnaskits

Today, we met friends at the Seattle Gymnastics Academy (Koen says we're going to 'Gymnaskits'). It's such a great late morning activity. We've all grown to love it, because the kids run themselves ragged in the space of an hour and 15 minutes....then we all race home for nap time. And usually we can count on a good long nap on gymnastics day!

Koen's favorite activity is jumping into the 'foam pit'. He used to wait for me to throw him in, and then pull him out. But he now does it all by himself. Sometimes it's a little scary though. He's still learning that one should jump 'out', away from the platform, so as not to land on the platform itself! And he hasn't quite mastered the art of jumping feet first. He's been doing a swan dive, many times smacking the opposing wall with his face. Luckily, the entire facility is padded. I can let him run, jump, trip, roll...whatever! It's all covered!

I was also painfully aware of the staring problem that Koen inherited from his dad. Every time there was an activity that required 'waiting for your turn', Koen would hold up the entire line because he was too busy staring at another kid, watching their every move. I couldn't get his attention for anything. By the time he'd finally get going (with his turn), we had half the line up of kids shouting "Go! It's your turn! Go!" Oy! Bless his little observant heart.








Koen's girlfriends, Hannah (top) and Nina (bottom).

Prose on Koen

I just have to share the lovely prose my dad wrote for Koen recently. It really says it all about this kid.

Quiet Eyes

Sandy curls, careful, shy,
He won’t give it up for strangers,
But notice if you will,
The movement of the mind,
Turning, turning, watching, learning,
Behind those quiet eyes.

Very touching and sweet. Thanks Grandpa! We love you!

Girl Time

I had the lovely opportunity of spending time with some of my best girlfriends this past weekend. Barbs and Margaret (and baby Lucy) came all the way up to Seattle to visit. We only had a short time together, but we managed to pack it full of some much needed girl time, memories, eating, laughing, shopping, and green M & M's. :) We walked the Olympic Sculpture Park and Greenlake, ate Mexican, Thai, and authentic Italian, and ransacked the local H & M store (notice our matching hats below). I had a blast and wish it could've lasted longer. Here are a few pictures to document the event. Love you girls!





On Saturday, Clay took Koen for the whole day so that I could fully enjoy the girls. But they had their own fun, too. They hit both the pet store and the swimming pool. Clay relayed a sweet story to me from that afternoon. As the two of them walked out the front door, heading to the pool, Koen looked up at him and said, "Daddy, you are the best daddy ever." Ummmm....o.k. How incredibly sweet is that! He has never told either of us anything like that before, at least not without being prompted. So he truly meant it and said it on his own, and it warmed Clay's heart.

One other funny thing to report...we have gotten into the habit of 'kissing it better' whenever Koen bonks his head, or gets a little owie. Usually, these are minor injuries in which there is no visual evidence and the pain subsides in minutes. So kisses really work. At least in Koen's mind they do. And I never realized how fully he believed in kiss therapy until he began getting paper cuts from his library books (unfortunately, he's consistent at a rate of one per day). So with the first one, he came to me, finger extended, saying "kiss it better, Mommy". So I did the deed and carried on my way. Koen proceeded to inspect his finger. Upon his discovery that the cut was still there, and still stung, he approached me again, "kiss it better, Mommy". Again, I kissed his finger, and again he inspected. This continued for about six cycles until I finally was able to distract his attention elsewhere. It was funny seeing the scowl on his face each time he found the cut. But I also felt so bad as I watched him realize that Mommy's kisses aren't in fact magic. :( I really wish they were, especially for his sake. Who likes a paper cut! Boo.

Dr. Koen

The nurturing care continues....

I mentioned Scruffy's diaper change the other day?  Well, today, as I was cleaning the house, I came in to the hallway to find Koen providing his gorilla with the best medical care a 2 year is capable of.  Gorilla was having his nails trimmed, hair brushed, ears and mouth swabbed, diaper changed, and temperature checked.  By the way, he refers to the ear scan thermometer as a 'temperature-er'. All of this 'equipment' is kept in a drawer in Koen's bedroom.  He managed to get each of these items out (mind you, he can't even see the top of the drawer, let alone what's inside it!).  And when he was finished with the exam, he carefully put them all back where they belong....beautiful!  I simply grabbed the camera and tried to capture the tender moment.

O.k. Once again, my link doesn't work...you'll have to copy and paste into your browser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnffAK1pVaw&layer_token=c011e0555af03f97

Some other things to report:

A phrase of Koen's that I love is, "Where's it goings?"  He asks this when talking to himself, mostly...for example when a ball rolls away from him.  I just love that he pluralizes (if you can call it that) the word 'going'.  So funny.  He also calls his facial washcloths 'wipe-its'.  This must come from the fact that I'm always saying "Mommy needs to 'wipe it' first before Koen takes a turn".  He loves to wipe up his tray after he eats.

Clay gave him his first, substantial hair cut the other night.  I believe several more hairs were trimmed than Clay had planned.  Apparently, Koen would not hold still (can you believe that?). So the more snips Clay made, the more he had to make...you get the picture.  Anyway, after about 20 curiously quiet minutes in the bathroom, Clay hollered out for me....it didn't sound confident.  So I entered to find Clay, scissors in hand, with a look of concern on his face and a large handful of curls in the waste bin.  "This isn't easy!" he said.  We're afraid most of the curls might be long gone, but at least he won't be mistaken for a girl for a few months anyway.  (You might have noticed the new do in the video)

Finally,  I have another picture to add to my collection of 'favorite views of my son'.  This one is harder to capture, but I was finally willing to accept the consequences the other night.  Luckily, the flash had no effect on sleeping beauty.  I go into Koen's room every single night, it's the very last thing I do each day.  I announce that I'm going to 'check in on him', but really I just go in there to marvel at the sight of his peaceful slumber.  He's usually breathing heavily, and his hair is mostly wet with sweat (boy, the curls really come back then!).  And ever so often, I happen upon this sight...

Whenever his soft, dimpled hand is dangling through the posts, I can't help but kneel down next to his bed and hold it for a little while.  I'm pretty sure I could sit there all night, gently rubbing his hand on my cheek or kissing his tiny fingers...but eventually my legs start to go numb, and then the party ends.  But I love this moment like no other and I know it won't last forever. Cherish these precious moments...that's what I try to do.

I wear my sunglasses at night....

Koen is very fond of his sunglasses this week.  He wants to wear them anywhere and everywhere, upside down, right side up....it's all good.  It's funny when he wears them inside the house, because it definitely slows him down.  He walks cautiously through doorways, and spends a great deal of time watching where his feet step.  The other night he wanted to wear them during dinner in combination with his Mariner's sweatband (completely his idea).  This morning he chose to wear them with Clay's new hat (which he also loves lately). You know he thinks he looks cool when he's agreeable about posing for a picture...this is not usually his style. Take a look.

He even wore them upside down to his new Spanish class this morning. We've started a 6 week long class for toddlers at the community center. Some friends of ours, Andrea and her daughter Izzy, talked us into it. It's already a hit after just one day. We learned colors, numbers, some animals and how to say our names in Spanish. There were even a few songs to sing. Senora Ida is extremely animated and ever so loud. Andrea warned me that she might scare Koen. But he did surprisingly well and really got into it. We look forward to next week!

Some recent Koen-isms to share:

You really learn about your own lazy pronunciation and verbal "short cuts" when you have a toddler following you around all day. Koen says "yer" instead of "your", "ya" instead of "you", and my favorite is how he thinks that "haft" is a word. When he says that we "have to" do something, he says "haft to". The "t" sounds are both very distinct, he really makes sure to get it in there. Pretty cute. 

He has combined the words "hug" and "love" (we sometimes tell him to give 'loves'), and the gesture has now become a "lug" around our house. Lugs are given freely. Oh, and he also loves to give kisses....directly on the mouth. It's quite humorous because his aim is quite intentional...kisses are planted on the lips and only the lips. So when he comes at you with a slobbery, wet mouth...and you try to politely turn a cheek...he grabs your face with both his hands, straightens you out, and slowly and deliberately comes in for the kill. :)

And lastly, he always tells us "be right back" as he runs out of a room. Even if it's just for half a second to grab something, he makes sure to tell us he'll "be right back". 

One more photo I just have to share....today, Koen wanted to "change Scruffy's diaper" (even though he wasn't wearing one). He put him up on the changing table and everything. It was terribly sweet and I figured this is a good opportunity to start teaching him to care for the new baby. So I helped him put a diaper on Scruffy. When we were finished, he insisted that we put socks on him as well, so that his feet weren't cold. He's a very nurturing little boy. The other day, in his school class, he spent the morning pushing a little wooden buggy around with a baby doll in it. He even covered her up with a tiny blanket to keep her warm.

Anyway, here's is a photo of Scruffy's outfit today. Believe it or not, Koen actually said, "Should Mommy take a picture of Koen and Scruffy?" So this was not my photo op idea...it was Koen's. Maybe he's losing his camera shyness a little? We can only hope!

Splash!

What an awesome Valentine's Day we have had...totally low key, and just us! We had a yummy breakfast this morning (french toast, bacon, OJ, melons). Once again, Koen ate more than his dad did. Impressive, or scary...I'm not sure. Later, I got the chance to squeeze in a prenatal yoga class, which felt heavenly! When I came home, we all threw on our swim suits and headed down to the community pool. As I mentioned, this is Koen's new favorite activity. He was very excited to have mommy there this time so that he could show me all of the tricks he'd been working on with Dad. There were plenty of splashes, giggles, and blue lips to go around. Super fun afternoon!

He loves to go up and down the stairs, feeling the water creep up around his body until it touches his chin.





An attempt at floating on his back...




A few jumps from the side (who doesn't love that?)...





and one from the strange stop sign shaped floaty thing?




Best buds...




Here's a little action to watch.



After cleaning up, we headed out for a night on the town. We ended up at Varlamos for dinner, a little family owned Italian/Greek place well like by neighborhood locals. Not much ambiance, but the food was decent, and kids were quite welcome. Then we wrapped up the day with our favorite...a trip to Molly Moon's Ice Cream shop for a hot, fresh waffle cone full of Salted Caramel ice cream! Some other interesting flavors that they offer (in case you've never been there):

Honey Lavender
Maple Bacon (real bits of candied bacon)
Balsamic Strawberry
Rosemary Meyer Lemon
Blood Orange Sherbet
Vivace Coffee (actual beans in the mix!)
Honey Rose Sorbet
and tonight's special...Chili Chocolate (it was spicy...hot spicy!)

Mmmmmmm, Happy Valentine's Day to us! And to you!

Love, ECKO (Erin, Clay, Koen, Oski...we'll have to come up with a fifth letter now!)

Happy Valentine's Day! (almost)

Koen and his little friends had a Valentine's party today...at our house. I was hosting the Friday morning get together, and we decided to make it a festive event. All of the kids made and exchanged Valentine's with each other. For Koen's, he colored a bunch of construction paper. Then we cut hearts out of it and stuck them to cards with stickers and some glitter glue for the finishing touch. Each card had a pack of Smarties attached. We waited until the end to do this part, because, as I suspected, it made Koen crazy that he could not eat them all!



We also made Valentine's cookies and had more than enough snacks (let's just say, none of the kids were going be hungry for lunch after they left our house). I'm pretty sure Koen ate four cookies when I wasn't looking. My fault for sitting him up to the table in front of the cookie plate! Duh.



We did our best to recreate the first group photo we ever took of the kids (Valentine's 2007), but as you can see, only half of the group was able to attend today. Notice how Koen refuses to sit next to the other kids. This is so typical. Every time we try any sort of staged photo with other kids, he wants nothing to do with it. I'm surprised we finally got him to STAND next to the couch they were sitting on!

Two years ago....


Today...


We also took the opportunity to capture some pregnant bellies since four of the eight pregnant moms were present.



It was a fun morning. The kids got a little crazy toward the end (notice Ben's & Hannah's static hair), and my house was a complete disaster (we're talking war zone) afterward, but it was great. I must say that I have never wished, like I did today, that Oscar was the kind of dog that goes around eating crumbs off the floor. He sure could have helped me clean up!













A few other things to mention:

Clay has been taking Koen swimming lately, just the two of them. And if you could see Koen's face when they return from the pool, you'd think he'd just had the greatest time a 2 year old can possibly experience. Last night, he came running in talking a mile a minute trying to tell me everything that they did. He got so tongue tied trying to get it all out, that I had to have Clay translate. His favorite thing is when daddy jumps off the "dining board" (of course, while Koen is under the watchful eye of the lifeguard...I know, I wondered the same thing). But the whole thing just makes me smile. This little boy loves his daddy, and when they go off and have special time together it means so much to him...just warms my heart. I might join them tomorrow on their next pool outing.

Oh, and tonight, Koen and I sat at the dinner table discussing possible names for the new baby. After going through many of his friends' names, he settled on "Bacon".     ??? 

Hmmm, I'll have to give that one some more thought.

The shot.

Today was a big day (for me anyway). We officially stepped onto the rickety and uncertain vaccination train (like that?). It all started about a month ago at Mom's Night Out (monthly dinner date with the PEPS group...sans toddlers!). In light of the fact that eight of us are due with child #2 this spring, the topic of vaccinations came up. Long story short, Koen is the only one of the 13 kids not vaccinated. I'll just say, the conversation grew awkward quickly (although, it might have all been in my head).

Anyway, boring but important, I got serious about my research...something I'd been planning to do for several months now. I took a little seminar on the subject, met with the pediatrician for a consultation, and now have a good plan that I feel comfortable with. Clay has left it all up to me. Yikes!

So we went into the doctor's office today, prepared with snacks, toys, and any other items that might serve as a distraction from the needle. I was a shaky, nervous mess, and Koen was busy bouncing Boba Fett around the room and eating Smarties. Nurse Fea came in, DT shot in hand, and asked me to sit up on the table with Koen in my lap. I squeezed him tightly for reassurance, bracing for the worst. He watched Fea's every move, and when she said "little pinch," he merely looked down at the needle and back up at her face with curiosity. Then he continued to play with his Santa Claus Smartie dispenser and Boba Fett figurine. That was it!? No tears (save mine)? I was baffled, proud and thrilled all at once. He was 100% un-phased by any of it.

So there it is. We have begun the process. I must say that I am very happy with this delayed schedule we've chosen and will definitely do it again with the Deuce! Koen only needs half as many shots as a two year old as he would've needed as an infant. Music to my ears.

Potty!!!!

Just to get it on record...Koen peed in the training potty for the very first time! It happened the night of February 3rd. Of course, I missed the exciting event because I was at my vaccinations class. :( Clay said it was such a celebration, and he thinks he scared Koen with his initial reaction, shouting and clapping. He said Koen just looked at him, quite startled for a moment, but soon joined the party. There was a look of huge accomplishment on his face. He knew he'd done something big.

Yay!

Views

So it's been known for a while now that the city had plans to install a "noise reduction wall" along the freeway across from our house....and now it's here. Crews have been working nightly all week, using a massive crane, positioned down on the freeway. And here is the finished product (before and after).





Various friends and neighbors have dubbed it the 'prison wall' (a term I've come to agree with). They say that when they drive up to our house at night, they expect to see search lights and guards patrolling the perimeter. However, Koen has somewhat of a more positive outlook about this eyesore we now get to look at every day...he calls it the 'castle wall'. O.k. I'll go with that approach too. I'd rather us be royalty than inmates. :)

Lately, I've been trying to capture a few photos of Koen that represent some of my favorite images that I see when I look at my little boy. He is at such a precious age, learning all that he can in this huge world and trying so hard to transition from a toddler to a 'big kid'. Yet, some of the 'baby' is still there when I look at him and he still needs us so much in so many ways. When we take the stairs he feels much safer if he can hold my hand (usually just a finger). Even Nana noticed how tender this little gesture is. He tightly grips one finger, and it's as if suddenly all his anxiety about going up or down the steps disappears. I love how his little hand feels, and I love the way it looks! I'm realizing that I just love Koen's hands. I think they are one of my favorite things about him. They've always been 'big' hands for his age, yet they are so soft and small.



Another view that I love, when he drinks the milk from his cereal bowl. He's a very thorough eater, finishing every last drop (at breakfast anyway). Again, it must be the hands. I love how they look when they grasp the bowl....so sweet!



And here's a view I see every time Koen rides in his stroller. I look down and see a little tiny person, a whole, complete and complicated being stuffed into a tiny little body. I'll never stop loving the look of his miniature knees as his short legs dangle over the stroller seat, and his cute feet placed together on the foot rest. He's just riding along, going wherever I take him. And he always rides quietly, soaking in all that he can see. I love this!



I've shown him that his hands stay warmer when tucked in his pockets. Now he scarcely rides without them tucked.



I hope this phase lasts a while. I so desperately want him to grow up SLOWLY! :)

Sunny day

We hitched a ride with our friends Barb and Drew, and went out to play this morning. She took us to a little bakery where we all sat and enjoyed a pastry or two (Barb and I threw our pregnancy diets out the window, momentarily). Koen gobbled up his very own Valentine cookie, and he was very serious about the matter. Drew devoured a heavenly little eclair.




Afterward, we made our way over to the Ballard Community Center for their toddler play rooms and outdoor playground. The sun was shining and making us desperately long for summertime. We knew we were infringing on the ever crucial nap time for both boys, but we didn't care. It was so warm outside and they were having such a great time.





I hope tomorrow is just as nice! We'll go out again!

I must also mention that Koen is talking even more than he used to (if you can believe that). He has happily dropped the New Year's stutter that appeared out of nowhere on Jan. 1. And now he is utterly determined to form the longest sentences he possibly can. It's cute and you can tell the little wheels are crankin' away up in his noggin. He'll start off with one of his typical short sentences. Then he pauses and adds several prepositional phrases to the end of it. Miraculously, he usually says the whole mouthful correctly. Then Clay and I just look at each other and laugh in disbelief. For example, rather than just saying "Let's go play basketball" (as he used to), he'll now say "Let's go play basketball with Daddy, in the living room, and Mommy and Oski can watch." Not bad, eh? It's terribly cute to see him figure out this wacky language we call English.