A Trip to the Beach

 

Kerala and Kian had their first trip to the beach this past weekend. Unfortunatley, I did not take any pictures while we were on the actual beach since we had our hands full with the two little ones. Instead, you get to take a look at a photo of Kian in his favorite position and Kerala and Daddy at the pool. We had a great trip and really enjoyed getting away. It was particularly wonderful since we got to spend quality time with Troy who has been working a ton in July.

The kids did pretty well on the actual beach. Kerala spent most of the time digging in the sand looking for rocks and racing up and down the beach with her buddy Sean. She also liked laying down and letting the waves hit her legs. Kian spent most of his time in the sun tent that Brandy lent us. Unfortuantely, he wasn't too psyched about it so we ended up heading back to the house we rented earlier than I had anticipated.

On the trip, Kerala also had her first ice cream cone. It was awesome because we were walking down the street and Kerala kept going up to random people telling them to look at her ice cream cone. She looked pretty adorable eating the cone that was about half her body size.

The only difficult part of the trip was sleeping. We were all in the same room, so trying to get both kids to sleep and not wake each other up was a bit of a challenge. Sleeping definitely got better as the weekend progressed - our first night Kerala kept slamming the bathroom door waking up Kian and then telling me she thought he might be crying. All in all it was a successful trip and we are hoping to go back next summer.

We are still making progress with potty training. Last night Kerala kept delaying going to bed by going to the potty. It's a difficult balance because we know it's a delay tactic but at the same time she will sit on the potty and go. It's pretty cute when she goes potty because if you are standing in the door way ready to help her she will tell you to "leave my alone" instead of "leave me alone."

 

A Case of Pink Eye

 

We have our first case of the pink eye at the Smerry household. Kerala's left eye started to ooze this morning (right in the middle of Spanish class). We talked to the doctor and now we are on antibiotic drops. Unfortunately for Kerala her eye has gotten worse as the day progressed and is now really swollen and puffy. Fortunately, it is suppose to clear up pretty soon with the drops. Pink eye is not pleasant and I hope we didn't pass it on to any of the kids in her Spanish class. So far Troy, Kian and I are all okay (knock on wood).

On a positive note, we are making great progress toward potty training. I was talking to a friend last week about how it seemed like potty training would be a long way off, but since then Kerala has been really psyched to wear underwear and she has gone in the potty at least once a day since last Thursday. All very exciting. She was pretty cute today after she pooped in the toilet she started to dance and sing her potty song which goes something like this...

Kerala goes poo poo in the potty
Kerala goes pee pee in the potty
And when she is done with her fun,
she wipes her bum, washes her hands, and does the potty dance, dooh dah dooh dooh.

I can't really do it justice, but it is pretty darn cute when Kerala and her daddy sing the potty song. The other positive note is that Kerala is doing great in the pool this summer. She consistently wants to go in the big girl pool and is doing really well kicking and moving her arms. She also loves to hang on the side of the pool and practice floating.

Kian is doing really well. We have been practicing sitting up with him and he seems to be getting stronger each day. He was doing a great job sitting up in the bath tub today and making a big mess splashing. He is still the happiest little guy and seems to really enjoy being outside every day. He has been doing a ton of tummy time at the park when we are having picnics with our friends. Also, this past week he had his first swing in the baby swing at the park. He seemed to love it, especially when Kerala was pushing him. He just lit up every time he got close to her. The only trouble was that Kerala wanted to push him a bit higher than I was comfortable with.

I don't know what we have in store for tomorrow. Usually, we head off to music class but Kerala will still be contagious until about 5:00pm tomorrow night so music class is out.

 

Kian's 4 Month Check Up

 

We had Kian's 4 month check up today and things went pretty well. He is still growing very well and Troy is very proud that he is 90% for height. His weight growth slowed a bit, but the doctor said that was normal and was very pleased with his weight. She was also very impressed with all of the milestones he has reached and kept commenting on his strength. The only downside to the appointment is that Kian is starting to get a bit of a flat spot on the right side of his head. The doctor said that she was not too concerned with it and there was definitely no need for a helmet, but she did suggest making sure he slept on his left side and to do some exercises. Overall though a very good appointment.

As for Kerala, she has actually been sick the last two days. She went down for a nap at 1:15 yesterday which was unusually early. When she woke up she was in really good spirits and asked if we could go to the park with Henry and Silas. So we met Henry and Silas at the park and had arranged for them to come over for dinner. On the way home from the park Kerala started to get really hot. When we got home she just wanted to be held and seemed to be pretty lethargic. I took her temperature and it was 100.3. As soon as we realized she had a fever, Tamra packed up the boys and at that point Kerala puked all over the place. Unfortunately, Kian started to make a beeline for the puke while I was comforting Kerala. He didn't get near it but of all times to show off his scooting ability. We had a low key day in the house - she was actually pretty psyched because she got to watch a ton of Curious George and drink Gatorade.

A couple of somewhat sad milestones with Kerala's language development. She no longer says "wa wa" for water or "balloonee" for balloon. Our little baby is growing up and while it is so exciting to see her progressing so well, it is also kind of sad because she is growing up so quickly. One funny note with her language development is that she is continuing to have little conversations with us. The one that stands out from tonight is while we were eating dinner Kerala informed me that our friend JT made the soup we were eating. I asked why she thought JT made it and she said because it was yummy. I don't know if I should be happy that she thinks my cooking tastes like JT's or sad that she thinks I can't cook and the only time we get yummy food is when JT makes it.

Finally, a lady at the park this past weekend told me that Troy should receive the father of the year award. She was sitting next to him while he was watching Kian and she was super impressed with how much he interacted with Kian. It was very sweet of her to comment on him. Troy is a great dad and I am very lucky to have him as a partner in raising our kids.