Do They Really Have to Grow Up?

BORING WARNING: Could be boring to read unless you are MeMe, Grammy, or any other relatives. Or if you have a lot of time on your hands:)

I have decided that I am going to do a blog all about Kyler ("Like every post isn't already about him"...I know that is what you are all thinking!) But, he has just approached a year and I just want to be able to remember all that he loved and enjoyed by the time he was one!! I could do several blogs for all the millions of pictures of him I take a day, but I just put it all in one big GIANT blog so ENJOY!! (BTW...he does have more than one striped shirt outfit, but it just so happened that a lot of the pictures I took of him were on the same day or he was wearing that shirt again!!)

Kyler loves to have stories read to him! I can sit for hours and rock him in his glider and read, however, he lasts about 10 minutes and is done. He can turn the page on his own, sometimes not always front to back, and loves to point to things and hit the pages while I am reading! We started to go to Baby Story Time at our library every Monday morning when he was about 7 months and he enjoys it more and more every time! They do songs, rhyms, musical instruments and dancing. At the end, there is always something to do like a craft or parachute games and songs, tunnels, toys, etc. When he wakes up Monday morning I start to sing the welcome song "It's time for story time, Its time..." that we sing at the beginning and he just smiles because he knows that is what we get to do! We even would check out books to bring home so we can have more to read (except for in this pictures they are for crawling on!) and he always liked the ones with trucks, boats, animals or fish!

Kyler is officially into everything! I go from mess to mess everyday cleaning up after what he gets into! He is my little Curious George (Jason came up with this name :) that just loves to explore everything! Most things I am okay with, but not all.

Here I was cleaning house and it was the morning Grammy was coming to stay with us and I had just put a fresh roll of toilet paper on the hook and guess who finds it...my little rascal! This was a cute mess, but there have been worse! I caught him just when he was starting to eat it! YUCK!!

Here is another incident! He got into my paper shredder and was having a heck of a time playing with the little bits of paper! This picture looks good compared to what it got to! Just taking the picture and putting my camera away made the mess even more! It amazes me how much a small child can do in such little time!

I have learned my lesson the hard way! Kyler has lots of toys to play with, but unfortunately his favorite toy is mommy and daddy's cell phones- then in 2nd place- his trucks and balls! So how can we save money, buy him his own cell phone and don't waste money at Toys R' Us. Heck, I think we'll just get him on a plan and then he will be set for Kindergarten when I am sure all of his friends will have cell phones by that time anyway:)

It didn't take him very long to figure out how to use it either! This picture is a little blurry, but it was one of those "grab your camera fast and just snap a shot to have one" type of a moment! We even think he said "Hi" when he did it a couple times now! But as of 1, no official words are said on command- just "mama" when he is crying and "dada" when he is babbling and playing. Go Figure!!

My favorite thing, and I even got it on film, is when he pushes his truck around on the floor and makes a motor sound with his lips! It is the cutest thing to hear him actually making the sounds with his mouth. He can do this all day long! I have to look in different rooms sometimes to find where he ventured off to! So interesting to see his imagination working!

Bubbles are a favorite around our house! Cheap and exciting for Kyler and Cayman!

Kyler loves balls, but not as much as his trucks! He will sit and play catch with us and throw the ball then we just roll it back! He laughs and claps his hands when he does it every time! Already a potential athlete in the works!

"TOUCHDOWN...and the crowd goes wild! Kyler has scored the game winning point!"
Kyler has been eating small bits of food since about 10 months. You saw he got his first 2 teeth at 9 months, so solids were not the easiest thing to eat until then. His favorite of all is blueberries and grapes. I really have had it easy with Kyler and eating. He is such a good eater! I can take steamed carrots or peas with us in snack size containers and he will eat that on the go! Don't get me wrong, he loves gold fish, peanut butter crackers, and animal crackers for snacks too, but he will eat just about anything! Ice cream is his favorite sweet- and definitely during the teething stages- which is where we are back to right now!

I feel very fortunate, but you mom's out there with tough eaters, I know your thinking my time is coming with one of my other ones! So, keep me in mind when I am calling and begging on ways to get my next child to eat something!!

So this was one of the happiest days of Kyler's life...turning his car seat around! I did it a little bit earlier than his 1st birthday- oops!! But I just couldn't wait and he was the right size and whatever, so I didn't think it was going to hurt him! And boy was he so excited! We went to the bank that day and they gave me a lollipop for him (WOW...I really felt like a real mom when I got asked if my child would like a sucker! Weird- made me feel like he was way too grown up in that moment!)

I am sure you all know by now that Kyler loves his bath time! I just wanted to document that he graduated from his blue aquarium bath to the BIG bath just a week after his birthday. Unfortunately, he likes to stand up a lot, so I need to get a slip resistant mat to put on the bottom or else we will be visiting the ER!

He knows the word "Splash" and loves to get water all out of the tub when he does it! He also loves to hear me sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"! (not that I can and none of you will ever hear me sing)

After bath, we brush our 2 teeth (for right now)! He loves it! We sing "If All the Rain Drops Were..." and when I go "Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah" he does it too, but only 1 time or 2 if I am lucky! We go through the rain drops, snowflakes, and sun beams then we are done brushing! It cracks me up how he loves to stare at himself in the mirror and he finds himself funny to look at!

After brushing is diaper, lotion and PJ's. This is not always the most pleasant time, especially putting lotion on, but we try to make it fun and a time for laughing before bed!

From day one Kyler has been a great shopping buddy! In the beginning he was a great sleeper in his carrier and he would sleep while I shopped, we would stop to eat, then I would shop some more and he would sleep some more! Of course those were the good ole' days, but my shopping time got a little shorter and faster as he got older! Know, he sort of likes his stroller, but would much rather be pushing it since he knows how to walk, so that makes our trips VERY slow again!

Did I say WALK!!! Yep- our little guy finally walks! He started doing it a lot around his first birthday, but still very wobbly and unsure! He gets better and better every day!! And, I am so proud to say I finally figured out how to do a little video. The only thing is this one is kind of a bit long because I just kept filming thinking I could pick the segment I wanted, so if any of you know if that is an option will you comment and let me know how to do that! I'm just such a technology ditz when it comes to these things!

BTW... I cannot believe I let my child walk around in his wobbly stage with an air pump in his mouth half the time. I guess I was so excited and in the moment on figuring out how to take film on my regular camera that I didn't do anything about it! Like I said- ditz!!