Pictures

We saw lots of snow and friends over winter break!
Great Aunt Jewel came for a quick visit this winter

New bunk beds!

Kyle loves going to Mexico and playing on the beach!

Kyle enjoying his train table.

Washing cars

"Mom, I need a paper towel!" I hear Kyle calling from his bedroom during quiet time. So, I take him a paper towel...and feel the wet spot on his comforter. "Kyle what happened? Why is your bed all wet?". "I'm washing cars mom". "With what?" I wonder and say out loud at the same time. "I just washing cars". Ah yes, the milk cup I gave him with just a little bit of milk left in it; but that's a leak free sippy cup...hmmm. "Kyle, did you unscrew the lid and pour your milk out on the bed?". "Ah hu, I washed No Stall. Can I have another paper towel?"

We are so sick...

I'm counting the minutes to 8 a.m. so I can call the pediatrician. We're pretty sure it's croup that Kyle came down with Friday night, but instead of getting better, he's getting worse. I've been sick too, and numerous sleepless nights with a sick child haven't helped me get better very quickly either. Kevin seems to be none the worse for wear somehow.

A letter to little Kyle

Dear Kyle,

You turned 2 1/2 about a week ago. Lately you've been doing all sorts of new and exciting things. Your dad and I are thrilled that you seem to think using the potty on a regular basis may not be a bad idea after all! You've been interested in the potty process since turning a year old, but somehow we had yet to make the connection of using it all the time. Yesterday we went out all afternoon in your pants (you prefer to only wear pants, no underwear, pull ups, or diapers); talk about living dangerously! The highlight of the afternoon was the fact that you sat on two public toilets, which was a big "no way mom, nice try" kind of thing a few months ago. As yucky as I think public facilities can be, I realize they are a part of our future if we are to eradicate diapers from our lives (at least until mom and dad can furnish you with a sibling, right?).

On the topic of siblings, we often talk about you having a brother or sister. You look down your shirt from the collar, holding it open and saying "Mom, there's a baby growing in there"! You were saying "Mom, there's a baby in my chest!" last month, but now we've moved on to a baby in your tummy. You notice other babies all the time and ask for a baby of your own about once a week. You are often interested in checking infant car seats and strollers that are reclined, searching for a small baby. Sometimes I ask you what your baby's name is and you usually tell me "Henry", which is the name of one of your toy trains, LOL!

Going to bed and sleeping have been quit the adventures lately. It seems the going to bed part is better, as in you aren't trying to drag it out for every precious minute of staying up later. Now, we tuck you in, hand you your Pooh bear flashlight and you read books or play cars in your bed for minutes or hours, until you fall asleep. One night last week I went in and cleared off your bed, thinking that you were asleep, only to check back in on you an hour later to find the toy semi truck, flashlight, and water sippy cup that I had just removed, snuggled back under the covers with you. We leave your door open now, a night light on in your room, and another on in the bathroom. Around 5 or 6 a.m. you wander in to our room and lay down on the "bed" we've made you on the floor next to our bed: a camping mattress, some blankets, and a pillow. You are usually really good about just laying down, pulling a blanket over yourself, and going back to sleep. When I wake up to get ready for work, I tuck you in to our bed and you snuggle up to daddy to sleep for another hour or so.

Last Saturday we went to a spring training game! You wore your D-backs hat proudly and lasted until the 8th inning! We had such a good time eating sno cones and you loved playing with the flip up ballpark seats. Today, we were driving home from dropping daddy off at school and you saw a bulletin board ad for the spring training games. You said "I went to a baseball game!" and then you asked if we could go to one "right now". I'm hoping we'll get to go to another one later this month with one of your little friends.

I've been learning how to keep house lately and you are quite the helper. You love to climb up on the furniture to help me wipe windows, mirrors, and swipe at dust bunnies! We went to the ostrich farm not too long ago and fed the deer, ostriches, emus, and the lorikeet birds. I bought us each a feather duster and you love to help me dust once a week. Vacuuming is always exciting because you like to crash your pretend vacuum (usually your toy grocery cart or doll stroller) in to my vacuum and cry out "Crash!".

Lately, I've been taking you out in the sling again. Ever since you were born, your dad and I started wearing you in a sling and it still comes in handy today! We are working hard on teaching you to hold hands whenever you are on black street (including parking lots and such). Sometimes, I worry because we live so close to busy streets, so I just pop you in the sling until we get to our destination (usually Target). You seem to really enjoy being carried right now. You'll snuggle up to me in the sling and I think you can see more being high up than when we have you walk on your own holding our hands. I love the conversations we have while you are in the sling at this age. You'll point to something and talk about it or ask me a question. We'll sing songs or play peek a boo with the tail of the sling. Another reason I use the sling is because you don't enjoy sitting in the stroller for short trips out of the house; you prefer to push it, which isn't very efficient when I need to get things done!

We were thinking about putting you in preschool next year, but now we're going to keep you home. You enjoy learning new things and can easily count from 1-10, sometimes to 16 (that's how many stairs we have and where we first started counting on a regular basis). You love to memorize books we read to you over and over again and lately you've started singing songs! It's so much fun to see a new piece of knowledge click with you, that aha moment when you figure something out.

I hope to write you a little letter every month on here, because I don't update the blog as much as I used to.

Love you, Mom