Big Boy

Signs that Kyle is growing up....

He has his own cell phone. He uses it for emergency temper tantrums when he can't have mommy or daddy's cell phone. Or when he needs to be occupied. And sometimes when he just wants to make a call.


He is now wearing the classic spider man Pajamas that little every boy has worn.

I don't know why but when he wore these for the first time I just could not stop thinking about how big he has gotten.

And not to mention the fact that he will be ONE in a few weeks!! How is that possible???

Choo Choo

I got a new train table (thanks Aunt Emily and Uncle Doug). I love to crawl over to the table and pull myself up. It is the perfect height for me to stand (without holding on) and play with all the pieces. I like to bang my toys on the table and throw them across the table (it makes a cool noise).

My favorite thing to do is throw all the pieces on the floor.











I caught my grandma and daddy playing with my table.








I think this is something my daddy and I will have fun doing together!








Love,
Kyle

Splish Splash

Kyle and I have been taking Mommy and Me swim classes for about 4 weeks.
During the first class Kyle cried the whole time.

Since then he does not cry and has gone under water without too much complaint. But the entire time he has a death grip on my bathing suit. It makes it difficult to sing the songs and move him around while I am trying to pry his hands from my suit.
I have had to stop a few times to re-tie my suit.
He does the best when he is laying on his back so he can't reach my suit.

I hope in the next few weeks he will get more comfortable with swimming.

Socks

Kyle does not like wearing shoes or socks. He will fuss and try to kick them off as we are putting them on. It is a battle every morning. Once they are on they do not stay on for very long. In the house he never has socks or shoes on. If he does get a hold of a pair of socks, he has started to carry them around the house in an unusual way. So now I am finding wet socks all over the house :)













I am glad it is getting warmer so I won't feel as bad about him never having shoes and socks on.

3 New Things

Here are 3 new things Kyle has started to do.


Walking with his "walker thingy". Watch out Cole here I come!!


Standing without holding on to anything.

And biting things when he is upset or frustrated. Here he is mad because his "walker thingy" won't go any further.

1st Year Pictures

Kyle's first birthday is coming up and we decided to get some professional pictures done since we have not had any done since he was born. My friend Sarah took our pictures at Ft. Smallwood Park on Saturday. It was a beautiful day but VERY windy. We got some really great pictures. Here are a few of our favorites...

Baby Proofing Journey

3 years ago when we purchased our house we were not thinking about how we would baby proof it when the time came. Of course we purchased on of the most difficult baby proofing houses! The biggest problem was with the stairs leading upstairs and downstairs from our dinning room.
The problem... there is nothing to attach a gate to in the middle of the two stairways and we couldn't use a super long gate because you would not be able to open/close if you were on the opposite side than the latch. We purchased a newell post and found that most gates do not attach to skinny posts. Or you needed to buy all these extra pieces and extension kits to make it work! $$$ We returned our purchased newel post and had a my dad build a newel post.
How nice does that look?

So the next step was finding a gate. We did not want one that would swing open because it would block the doorway to the kitchen if it was open. And it could not swing over the stairs. After a ton of searching I found a gate that rolls up. We purchased one and it was damaged, had to return that....we finally got one that works. Brian installed it this weekend. Here is the gate closed....








Here is the gate when it is open.





(Yes it is safe and is approved for use at the top and bottom of the steps) Using the gate will take some practice (at least for me). We have a removable gate for the stairs going up but we also use that for the kitchen.
I know we are not the only people in the world that have a stairways like this. So why was it so difficult??? The next step is building a railing on that part of the stairway.

Today Brian worked the kitchen cabinets. That was not as difficult. Next weekend is the railing that over looks the family room. I found a clear roll of this hard plastic stuff that you attach across the railing so no hands, feet, head or toys can go through the railings.