22 months

At 22 months, Kyle no longer walks anywhere - he runs or skips as fast as he can. He is all over the place and touches everything in his sight. Today at the store, in the 1.5 minutes it took me to pay for groceries, he pulled down the car air freshener and a bag of plastic bags off the shelf. The checker said "that's what boys do, mom!" and I guess he's right! He loves to explore outside and inside drawers, play with his cars and choo choos, throw balls, do play doh, watch Curious George, eat peanut butter off the spoon, and pull boxes of cookies off the counter and stuff them in his mouth (ok, that just happened once but it was hilarious).  

Kyle is really trying to put sentences together! So far they're just 2 or sometimes 3 words, but in the past few weeks his vocabulary has really grown. He loves to say "shoes on" or "shoes off," "out back," "bath time," "ready... go!" "watch show" "silly Penny" ... his little voice is so sweet. His favorite saying is still "up up up up up up" any time I'm sitting or relaxing somewhere because he just wants me to be UP holding him up or walking around doing whatever he's doing. Until this morning actually it sounded more like "uh uh uh uh" and then out of the blue today he said "uP" and enunciated the P!

He loves going on adventures with his mom & dad. He gets really excited when we all get ready to go somewhere. He makes sure dad is wearing his hat, gets his hat out of the closet, brings me my shoes and chooses a toy from his toy box to take in the car with him and gets cozy in his car seat with his blanket. He loves car rides and is such a good boy when we run millions of errands together every week. The ladies at the bank love him because he knows how to swipe my ATM card correctly, and everyone gives him so much attention because he's just so sweet and handsome with his red mop ;)

My favorite time of day is the morning, even though I'm never ready to get out of bed. Kyle will wake up, come in our room, climb in bed with me and get under the blanket. He'll snuggle with me every day - sometimes just a minute if he is excited to start his day, but sometimes for up to 30 minutes if he's feeling sleepy still. Sometimes he'll actually fall back asleep on me, and those days are so special since we've never been co-sleepers and I get to hug my boy as I catch a few more zzz's. Then we'll get up, get his milk, make coffee and watch a show before breakfast. An easy routine but I feel so happy and spoiled every morning being lazy with my boy before our day gets going. 

Kyle is really, really funny. He loves to tease us and make us laugh. He LOVES to be chased and "hides" by running away and dropping on the floor and crawling up into a ball. He loves his sister Penny - no one can make him laugh like she does. Except maybe cousin Jacob, who makes him belly laugh just by shaking his head silly. He knows how to push his boundaries and do things he knows he shouldn't be doing, but is also a great listener and such a good boy when we go places. He's been refusing to give us kisses and wipes ours off for a couple of months now because he thinks it's so hilarious. It is pretty funny, but I really can't wait until he's over that joke so I can get kisses from my boy again! 

Just two more months until we have a 2 year old! The thought of that is just crazy to me. I can't talk about it too much because I'm known to cry at the drop of a hat just thinking about my boy growing up. I'm going to miss these days when I can still rock him to sleep and he likes to hold my hand on the couch and do anything in his power (i.e. climb on my head while I'm working on the computer, climb up my legs when I'm standing or lay on my chest) just to be close to me. Great I'm crying now. Love my boy so much and this phase has been so much fun.

Knott's Merry Farm

Kyle and I had so much fun at Knott's last week with our friends. He's tall enough now to go on the airplane ride ALL BY HIMSELF (a very stressful 1.5 minutes for mommy). He loved it so much, but I was super nervous. We went on all the Camp Snoopy rides a few times and then stayed for the tree lighting show, which he watched from my shoulders - a first for us! He loved it. It's so cute to watch him interact with his friends. His favorite is holding hands and walking by himself... such a big boy. 

xmas jammies

 Can't. handle. this. picture. 

Bed head! Big boy pose! Jammies! Stop it.
Kyle has entered the dreaded phase of "point a camera at me and I refuse to smile or look cute," but our photographer worked her magic, and I am eternally grateful for that sweet smile.

21 months

I can't believe it is almost time to start planning Kyle's 2nd birthday party! I'm getting so excited about it because I know he's going to have so much fun playing with all of his friends and celebrating. He is changing so much every day, I can't even imagine what a big boy he will be on his special day in just 3 months.

At 21 months, our sweet boy is talking more and more. He's really trying to put sentences together and sometimes I can even understand him :) He is also learning how to charm his mom, which of course melts my heart. He bribed me with a kiss the other day and is starting to smile so sweetly at me when he knows he's starting to get into trouble.

Kyle loooooves to be tickled, laugh and be chased around the house. He's really into Play Doh, his Woody, pretending to take a nap (so silly), playing with his choo choos and riding his little Jeep around the house. He's becoming a much better eater and recently discovered the joys of new foods like mac n cheese, and he even ate broccoli willingly! He'll sleep until about 6:30-7 a.m. in his crib and then come climb in bed with mom for some morning snuggles. Some of his common words and phrases are "up up up" (all day long), "outside" and "pleeeeeease" when he wants to do puzzles on my iPhone. 

I just love my sweet boy to bits and cherish every single day I get to spend with him. He is my heart!

thankful.

This year, I'm thankful for:

• My healthy FAMILY! A supportive, hard working husband who puts all his love and trust in me. A sweet, smart, adorable, silly son who melts my heart and blows me away every day. A patient dog who loves us unconditionally. A mom who I go to for everything, a sister who's always there for me, a brother, dad and grandma who I wish I saw more of, and a niece and nephew who I love very much.
• My mother-in-law, who would drop everything (and does on a regular basis!) to help us out, and who loves Kyle with all her heart.
• The gift of staying home with Kyle most of the week, and the ability to make money when I do leave for work.
• The ability to use my education and writing experience to work from home.
• A great group of friends who I can be myself and laugh with, and who love Kyle as much as they love me & Brian.
• The means to indulge in fun things all year round, like Knott's Berry Farm, Discovery Science Center, a wine tasting weekend away, pedicures, train rides, dining out and family mountain trips.
• A good night's sleep.
• The fact that my back has not gone out since April (KNOCKING AS HARD AS I CAN ON WOOD ALL DAY LONG).
• My eyebrow girl.