Christmas 2010

 

The kids had a fabulous Christmas. This was the first year that Kerala seemed to really get the idea that on Christmas day she would wake up and there would be a roomful of presents.

We started Christmas Eve off with opening up all of the great gifts from Grandma Sue. I am really happy we did that because it took forever to open gifts on Christmas. The kids would get distracted and want to play with what they had received, so it was like pulling teeth to get them to continue opening presents. After opening some gifts on Christmas Eve with Grandma Sue, we had a nice dinner at home. The kids went off to bed and we finished up all of the final preparations for the big day.

 

I am not sure if I mentioned, but Kerala is not really a morning person. We had to wake her up Christmas morning and basically prod her to get out of bed. Kian, on the other hand, was super psyched to go downstairs (although I don't think he realized what was awaiting him). The kids started with their stockings and that took quite some time because they were obsessed with all of the candy (note to Santa, not so much candy next year). Troy had made a really wonderful breakfast for us to eat on while opening presents - homemade cinnamon rolls, a donut hole Xmas tree, and an egg casserole (actually that was my contribution). After presents, the kids played with their new toys while we started preparing for Xmas dinner. Although Grandma Sue and Jeff did not stick around for Xmas dinner, they helped us prepare for our annual Xmas dinner with friends - thanks Sue for putting on the ham and keeping up with all of the dishes and thanks Jeff for shoveling our sidewalks). Dinner was fabulous - it was great to have a houseful of friends and family for our first Christmas in our new home.

 

We are now off for our annual New Year's trip - can't wait for a relaxing week with friends.

Halloween Update

 

Okay, I know it's been a few weeks since Halloween, but I thought I might as well give a quick update of the holiday as well as the other happenings around here.

We started off the Halloween weekend with a Halloween party at our house. There were about 20 kids and 20 adults, it was the first big event we hosted since moving in and things generally went pretty well. I had a number of activities planned for the kids (bozo buckets w/ pumpkins, pumpkin decorating, mummy wrapping), but for the most part hte kids just wanted to run around and be kids. Kerala was really psyched to have her friends over and I hope we can make it a Halloween tradition.

On Halloween, Kerala and I handed out candy while Kian napped. Kerala really enjoyed handing out the candy and enforcing the no costume/one piece of candy rule - she was strict! She did seem to get a bit overwhelmed when there was a large crowd of trick or treaters that would build up while she tried to find the perfect piece of candy for each trick or treater. As far as costumes, Kerala wore her mouse costume for the first year. She wore the same costume at 9 months, 21 months and 3 1/2 years. Since it appears to now be capri length, I think this is definitely the last year she will wear it. She insisted though. Kian went as a ghost, the costume Kerala wore last year. I must say that he was a very cute ghost.

 

The kids are doing well. Kian has been doing really well with speaking. He is consistently uses two word sentences, which are pretty cute. Lately he has been saying "Shake your booty, Tamra" because our friend Tamra taught him that phrase. It's pretty adorable.

 

Kerala is doing well at school. I got to observe her classroom this past week and it was really neat to see her in action and the various activities that she does. It was also cute to see the interaction between her and her friends.

 

Settling In

 

We finally feel like we are settling in our new home in Oak Park. This past week we had our bedroom and family room furniture delivered. Up until this point, we had been sleeping in our guest bedroom. While we still need to buy a ton for the home, we are beginning to really enjoy our home and the surroundings. Kerala really loves her preschool and Kian loves his morning classes (music, spanish, gym and art). We also got a cat this past weekend and plan to add to the household with a dog this spring. The kids are doing really well with the cat - although I did have an "Olivia" moment when I turned around and saw Kerala carrying the cat up the stairs and then attempt to plop him down in a kid's chair. He is a kitten - but he is really long, so the two of them looked pretty funny. I have also heard Kerala tell Max, the cat, that she is going to give him a bath. Kian is very excited about the cat as well. This evening he kept putting a ball in front of Max and telling him to "eat it." Kian also is constantly showing Max where is food and litter pan are located. It's very sweet to see how quickly the kids have become attached to this cat.

As far as preschool, Kerala really loves it although she does not tell us a ton. It seems like the most infomration that we get is right before she goes to sleep. Tonight she was telling me about how someone was not being respectful today during line up time and he had a time out. Troy and I are just really happy that she is excited to go to school every day and appears to even be disappointed when it is the weekend.


 

As for Kian, he is doing spectacular. His language is really developing - the other day we were cuddling in bed and when I told him I had to get up he responded with "stay here." It was so sweet - needless to say, I got in a bit later to work than I was planning to that day. Kian is also really active - it seems like he went from crawling to running. He is constantly running around the house - typically chasing either Kerala or me.

All in all, we are doing really well and look forward to the fall. This weekend we are going pumpkin picking, which should be a blast.

 

First Day of School

 

This past Wednesday was Kerala's first day of preschool. From what we could tell, it went really well. We did not have any separation issues (well, at least not on Kerala's part) - Kerala basically kissed us goodbye and then walked into the classroom. She hasn't talked a ton about school, but every so often she will say something which gives you a little bit of insight into her new world. For instance, she has talked about a favorite seat next to some bookshelves as well as playing with a little boy named William. She hasn't told us a ton about her activities, but she did say she painted last week. She also said that when the teacher wants them to be quiet she turns off the music and that they also have to get in a line for carpool time (the time we pick them up). Overall, it seems to be going well.

 

Kian is doing great. He is definitely a bit more adventerous than Kerala. He can now climb up the slide in our backyard whcih is no small feat. He also loves to get on top of the kids' play table and look at you with a very devlish grin. It's cute because he knows when he is being mischevious.

 

First Day of School Tomorrow

 

Tomorrow is Kerala's first day of preschool. We are really excited for her - she is going to love it. This past weekend I had orientation at her school and was able to see the classroom set up for the students and it was wonderful. It was really neat to see the various stations that I know Kerala will absolutely love. Her teacher visted us yesterday and said there are a lot of really sweet girls in the class this year, so I think Kerala will make a ton of friends. Kerala's teacher seems to be really sweet and has a very calm presence, which you probably need in a room full of 3-5 year olds. It was also really nice for me to meet the other parents at orientation and I exchanged e-mail addresses with another mom who has a son Kian's age and a daughter Kerala's age - sounds perfect. We will post tomorrow with updates on how the first day went.

We are still unpacking and hope to be completely unpacked and situated sometime next month (after the painters finish painting up a couple of rooms). This has been a long process - I can really see why people never move. We are enjoying our home more and more and have really loved our backyard lately. The kids just love to run around. I bought a play golf set for the kids. So far they love the golf clubs - they like to take them and hit them against one of our trees to knock down leaves. Kerala also likes to use the club to crush cicadia shells, which she refers to as "taking care of the scadas."

Kian is doing great. I am not sure how he will adjust to Kerala being at school in the mornings. He loves his sister so I think he is going to miss her. This morning he kept climbing into her bed trying to wake her up by laying on top of her and saying her name. Kerala wasn't a huge fan of that method of waking up at first, but in a minute or two both kids were laughing. It is really sweet to see the bond they are developing.

Back from Vacation

 

We had a fabulous time in Michigan last week. We went to Michigan with four other couples that we have known since college. Each couple has children now, so it was a great family vacation. All of the kids played very well together, although we did have some sharing issues. Kian and Kerala were particularly fond of their buddy Emmett and every time Kian would here Emmett cry he would scream out "Emmett!" It was really sweet. The weather was great most of the trip and we spent almost every morning at the beach. Both kids loved playing in the sand and Kian loved the water. He was actually a bit dangerous because he would attempt to walk straight into Lake Michigan and keep going. He also did not seem to mind it when big waves would splash him in the face and he even asked for "more waves" a couple of times. We definitely need to enroll him in swim classes since he likes the water so much. Kerala got to experience her first campfire and seemed to really enjoy the vacation once her buddies Val and Rollie arrived. Kerala has been asking about doing a sleep over with Val ever since. The girls were really adorable together - holding hands and just playing.

We are still in the process of getting settled into our home. They did some work while we were away, but work seems to always be ongoing. Right now we have quite a large hole in our living room ceiling so that our plumber can fix some horrible pipework that was causing some issues with one of our bathrooms. The plumbing work should be done tomorrow and then the hole will hopefully be patched up on Saturday. The nice thing about this whole process is that we found a really great handyman, so if anyone needs a recommendation please let us know.

We Have Moved

 

We are finally in our new house. It seems like so long ago that we moved out of our condo. We stayed in our friend's townhouse for about a month while they were doing work on our house and then moved in on July 3rd, just in time for the Fourth of July parade that goes in front of our new house each year. We have had our share of new home issues - leaking bathroom, paint issues, sump pump malfunction (just in time for the "100 Year Storm") and a host of other mishaps. But overall we really like our home and our new neighborhood.

The kids are still transitioning to their new surroundings. They both seem to really love the backyard and their playroom (up until it was flooded by the huge rain storm). Kian also seems to like the fact that he has his own room. Kerala is really excited about preschool - she has visited her preschool a couple of times and talks about it a lot. I think she is going to do really well and will love being with a ton of kids everyday. She is still a social butterfly and has been really good about introducing herself to people. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite figured out age differences and the other day she went up to a group of 15 year olds at the park and said "Hi, I am Kerala. Would you like to come over for a playdate?"

This is a short update because I am int he process of packing - we head off for a week beach vacation tomorrow. The kids and I are leaving tomorrow and Troy will be following Tuesday/Wednesday. Everyone is very excited about the time away, particularly Kerala who cannot stop talking about the beach, going into the water and having ice cream with her buddy Todd.

 

Last Night in Condo

 

I am taking a break right now from packing. The moveres arrive tomorrow at 8:00 am to move us to our temporary house for the next five weeks. We are excited, but also sad. This was the first home that we brought our children to, the last home we lived in when both of our fathers were still alive...it was just a really wonderful home and we are sad to say goodbye. If only it had two more extra rooms, a basement and a backyard.

 

The kids have been fabulous during the packing. Kerala has been very into helping us pack and attempting to climb on all of the packed boxes. Kerala did say that she was sad to be moving, but hopefully it will be short lived and she will transition smoothly into her new home and surroundings. Kian should be pretty pscyhed about his new house - he will have his own room which is at least 3x the size of his current room (aka as my closet).


 

As far as development goes, Kian continues to walk more and more every day. At times he will take up to 5 steps, however, he still prefers crawling. His language development is still amazing - today, he kpet saying "OK Sam" when we were making fun of Troy acting like his father. Kerala and Kian also have been getting along fantastically. Their favorite actiivty is to wrestle, which can get pretty intense. Kerala is doing great - I don't think I have posted that she is officially potty trained. We only do diapers at night (we tried one night without and that was a disaster). The only problem with being potty trained is that we had to unbabyproof her door at night so she could use the potty. The problem is that occassionally Troy and I will get a visit from her around 4:00am or so. The other morning she came to our room at 4:30 to tell me that I didn't tickle her before she went to bed and that she needed me to tickle her. This morning she came up to let me know that her nightlight was out of batteries.

We should be able to post from our temporary housing, but in case we can't - we'll write with pictures shortly after we get into our new home.

A long long past due update....

 

For the past two months we have been crazy busy with house-related stuff. We bought a new home, which we close on in a little over a week. Between packing, working, picking out (fighting over) paint colors, etc...we have been really busy. The kids have been great through it all - Kerala has generally been pretty psyched about the new house. She has requested that her room be a space theme with a castle and an elevator. We are accommodating hte space theme request. While we close in a little over a week, we won't be moving in until the end of June while some work is being done at the house. We are very fortunate in that a friend of ours has a vacant house in the city that we will be using for the next month and a half. The only downside is that we basically have to move twice. If all goes well, we will be in the house in July. That will give us plenty of time to adjust before Kerala starts preschool.

The kids are doing great - Kian has been taking some steps, not a ton. Today he walked from me to our friend Alba, twice! The funny thing is that he only seems to be taking steps at Kerala's art class. Even though he isn't walking, he is talking like crazy. At this point, I would say he has between 20 to 30 words. He is really picking up verbally and it's just amazing. I think it's because he hears Kerala chattering away non stop. Today was pretty funny because Kerala was getting pretty bossy with him and Kian responded in a pretty bossy garble of words.

 

As I mentioned, Kerala is pretty psyched about the new house. She has been talking about preschool a lot and I think she is ready for it. She is very into having friends and will go up to any kid at the park and introduce herself and ask them what their name is, so I think preschool will be a great environment for her. We are still figuring out which preschool she will be attending, but for now it looks like we are going to send her to a Spanish immersion preschool. It's a block away from our new home, so it is in an ideal location.

 

Birthday Update

 

After much planning, we had the kids' birthday party at Kerala's art studio. The party was an art themed party with the kids doing various art projects. There was a Pablo Picasso table (homemade scultping clay - cinammon and apple sauce mixed together), Jerry Garcia table (tie-dye t-shirts), Georgia O'Keefe table (flowers made out of coffee filters), Jackson Pollack table (splatter painting on canvas) and a Monet Table (water colors). Everyone seemed to have a great time and the kids were able to take home some fabulous handmade goodies. The only negative of the party was the fact that Kerala and Kian were both coming down with a stomach bug. The next week was horrendous at our house with everyone getting sick, which included our nanny and my sister Kim who flew in from AZ for the parties. Kerala and Kian made it through the party but you could defintiely tell they were pretty low energy.

With the kids' birthday came their one and three-year dr's appts. Overall the kids are doing really well. The only area of concern that came out of the visit was the fact that I have two very skinny kids. The doctor wasn't overly concerned, especially since they were both getting over a stomach bug, but we do have to go in for a weight check in a few weeks to make sure the kids get back on track. The doctor also gave us some tips on potty training which we are still implementing.

 

As far as a general update for Kian, he is doing fabulous. He is still not walking, but he is going crazy verbally. His favorite phrase is "thank you" and he says it non stop. It's pretty cute because he will give you something and then say thank you. He also will waive when you say "adios" and say something that sounds somewhat like "adios." I need to count how many words he has, but it sure does seem like a lot at this point.

Kerala is doing great. We have pulled out her bike wit the warmer weather and she is pedaling like crazy. It's actually great to be able to walk to the park with her pedaling on her bike. It's definitely a slow walk, but I am quite impressed that she can make it the whole way there and back.

And for the family news...we sold our condo (yay!). We are now starting to look for a house and hopefully will find something before we close on our condo at the end of May.

 

Family Vacation

We are in Vail and having a blast. Kerala had her first ski lesson and Troy and I couldn't have been prouder. The class was a solo class - so her first experience without us or her nanny. Yesterday, we picked up her ski boots, helmet and goggles - all of which she was super pscyhed about. We talked to her about the class last night and how she would be in the class with other kids and a teacher. She seemed pretty pscyhed about it, but we weren't sure how she would do when we actually had to say good bye to her. Dropping her off at the class was a bit of a mad house - there were a ton of kids there, some of which were screaming incredibly loudly about not wanting to do the class. We were a bit concerned because as we were standing in line to drop Kerala off a little girl was screaming and kicking behind us. Kerala held my hand a bit tighter than normal, but when it came time for her to go - she walked through the classroom door and didn't even look back at us. We were able to check her out during the class and she was having a blast. She kept going up the magic carpet and down a little hill (with much assistance). At one point, she also kept trying to hold a little boy's hand, but he wasn't really intersted. She did seem to make a friend and from the sidelines we could hear her and her little friend talking about how they were going to ski on the big mountain. We originally signed Kerala up for a half day, but when we went to pick her up she said she wanted to stay for the full day. At the end of the day, we picked up a very tired but very happy little girl.

While Kerala was at ski class, Kian tried out the ski resort's day care. I was pretty hesitant about putting him in it, but we heard great things about it and I was able to check it out yesterday before enrolling him in the class. Kian apparently fell in love with one of the staff people and she told us that he was definitely her favorite kid during the day. They said he had a blast and got pretty attached to some of the other little ones.

With Kerala in ski class and Kian in the resort day care, Troy and I were able to enjoy a day on the slopes with Kim and Kyle. We were having a blast until a lady collided with me pretty badly. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet so I am fine, but the lady ended up hurting her head which was pretty scary. After the collision we ended the day doing some pretty easy terrain.

On our trip, Kian has developed a few new words. The house we are staying at has a stuffed moose above the fire place, so he has been pointing to it and saying something that kind of sounds like moose. He also said book and Troy has finally acknowledged that Kian has been saying "Kerala."

The Big One and Almost Three Party

 

This past Saturday was Kian's one year birthday. We celebrated it by having a party down at Troy's mom's house. We also combined it with Kerala's three year party. In the past, we have held two parties on one day - the am party was for family/friends and the afternoon party was for friends with little ones Kerala's age. This year we decided to do the family/friends party on Kian's birthday and the crazy kids party closer to Kerala's birthday. I like this format better because the two parties on one day was absolutely exhausting and left little time for us to enjoy and take in the special day.

We had a great time down at Troy's mom's house. Kerala and Kian were pretty psyched about the party and getting to spend time with the gang from down state. I am so happy that Kian is over all of his illnesses from February - he was in a fabulous mood at the party. Since the party, Kerala has been talking about her friends, Bonnie, Sandee and Jeff which has been pretty cute. Kian was psyched about the cake and Kerala was willing to help Kian with his smash cake. The kids were also pretty psyched about Grandma Smith's doggie Harley, who is really gentle and sweet with the kids. The only negative was that Kian had a pretty rough time sleeping. Kerala, on the other hand, did fabulous sleeping - she went to sleep on her own and on the way home on Sunday she told us she was going to sleep and shut her eyes and slept the entire ride home. Overall, we had a great trip - thanks Grandma Smith for the lovely party.

As far as milestones, Kian stood quite a few times by himself today. Also, we introduced milk to him yesterday. I am psyched about the milk introduction because I'll start reducing the number of pumping sessions I have at work. Kerala is doing really well - she has been super into the alphabet and knows the sounds for most letters and has been sounding out some words with Troy. She loves books, so I think we will have an avid reader with her. Kian on the other hand is still developing his love for books - a lot of times he still wants to chew the book.

 

A Rough Month for the K Man

 

Kian has had quite a month or so. At the end of last month/beginning of this month, he came down with a terrible stomach bug. He finally got over that bug and then got hit with the flu, an ear infection, and three new teeth all in the same week. We defintely had a pretty rough patch here. Kian is generally the happiest little guy and he was just so miserable the past week. He did not want to have anything to do with food which resulted in him losing quite a bit of weight. Fortunatley, he seems to have recovered and has his appetite back, so hopefully he will regain everything he lost before his one year appointment. We will definitely try to stuff him with some birthday cake to beef him up.

As far as positive news, Kian is babbling away and today he was saying "no no" and consistently will say "Da" for Troy. I am also convinced that he said "Kerala" but no one (other than Kerala) beleives me. He will also shake his head sideways for "no" and move his body back and forth for saying "yes." He is getting really fast at climbing stairs and stood up in our bed all on his own the other morning. For awhile now, he has been catching a ball if you throw it to him pretty slowly. I am still amazed that he has figured out that he has to close his hands to catch the ball.

Kerala is doing great - she is getting really excited for her birthday party. The other day she asked me if her best friends, Griffina and Ella, will be there. She does not quite get the fact that Kian has begun to get birthday presents and that she can't open them. Also, everything that Kian gets she tells us that it really belongs to her because "Kian actually has enough." I am shocked at the things Kerala says. For instance, the other day Troy asked her if she would like a little bit of cookie for dessert. Her response was "No Daddy, I would like a lot of cookie."

I hope to have another post on Sunday with pictures from the kids' birthday party down at Grandma Sue's.

An Update...Finally

 

Yes, I know it has been a while and I do apologize for not blogging more frequently. With the holidays and it being my busy season at work, blogging has not been a priority.

The family is doing really well. We had a great Christmas and New Year's, although it will be known as the year of the pink eye. Kerala developed pink eye right in the middle of Christmas dinner and it made it's way through the whole family the following week while we were on vacation with about 20 other people in the same house. Fortunately, we were able to quarantine the infected family members and no one else got sick. It was not a pleasant experience however. The kids did really well on Christmas and Kerala got the gift she asked for from Santa - a big thing of chocolate. I think she was more excited about hte chocolate than any of the other gifts she received.

We have had ton of excitment here since the holidays. My friend Tania and her husband Charu were visiting from Ethiopia. Kerala fell in love with Tania and keeps talking about her and whether Tania and Charu will go to the park with us. When I explain that Tania lives in Ethiopia, Kerala says that she would like to go there. Kerala has also insisted that Tania is her friend and not mine. Kerala also went to her first musical - Curious George Live. I think she was a little freaked out about it at first, especially after Troy set her down in the stadium chair and it folded up on her because she is such a peanut.

 

Kian is doing great. He has been saying Mama and Dada indiscriminately for awhile and this past week or so he seems to be making the connection that we are mommy and daddy. He was also waving bye bye to Troy yesterday and about 2 minutes after Troy left the house he said "Bye Bye." He hasn't repeated it since, but we will count it as a word. He is still crusing like crazy and has finally started to get interested in books. He will now sit through a couple of stories which is good since I was a bit worried about his language development since he didn't seem interested in books.

Other than that, we are doing great. I will post more often this month especially since the K-man is turning the big one this month! I can't believe it.