Step By Step

Kellan's walking!  Pretty decent distances, too.  Here's a video we captured on the lawn last night.  Woohoo!

Except for the face plant at the end, not to shabby for a first-time walker, right?

Outdoor Photo Shoot

We've finally been getting nice enough weather to spend more time outside on the deck.  The other day, Kellan was looking particularly cute, so I decided to snap a few shots.

What? You wanna piece of me?

Happy toddler!!

Kellan's been doing this "thing" lately with his hand - a silly wave of sorts.  It cracks him up, so... whatever makes you happy, Kellan. :-)

Kellan Hearts Avocado

We're so pleased that Kellan loves his vegetables, though we'd be happy if he liked a few fruits as well (we're working on it).  His favorite food, however, is technically a fruit.  I'm speaking, of course, about avocado.

He takes fistfuls of avocado at a time.

Then he just smashes it in - most of which ends up in his mouth, but some ends up on his face.

An avocado mask now and then is good for the skin, right?

Walking Practice

Kellan's been hard at work learning how to walk.  Daddy has been practicing with him in the evening (when possible) on the grass, though Kellan gets lots of it at daycare, too.

This shows Daddy letting go of Kellan, and...

...Kellan took 5 or 6 steps on his own towards Mommy!  It's his biggest streak so far.

He's so excited to get moving!

First Haircut

On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy took Kellan to get his first haircut.  We went to "Li'l Klippers" at Wallingford Center.  They specialize in children's cuts, and afterwards we received a little card memorializing the event with a description of Kellan's reactions and a lock of his hair.  Below is an almost blow-by-blow account of the haircut.

This is the first pre-haircut picture we took.  As you can see, the chairs are pretty cute (Kellan got the airplane chair), and he got to wear a big kid's smock.

One last look at his curls (it was looking rather mullet-esque).

The first cry of "what the heck is going on?"

Susan (the stylist) thought maybe showing Kellan what she was using might ease his fears...

...she was wrong.

 

Eventually we found that the only way to get it done was to distract Kellan with toys (which they had loads of at the salon).

We still had our moments of fussing, however.

This is the first picture taken with Mommy's iPhone, as the batteries ran out on our camera (so, sorry for the bad quality of the remaing pics).

By the end, Kellan seemed to be pretty pleased with his new 'do.

Here's another look at the cut...

...and one more for good measure.  Doesn't he look older?

On a totally random side note, Mommy couldn't help but notice how much the stylist, Susan, looked like Peg Bundy from "Married with Children" (minus the oversized hair).  Judge for yourself:

Susan

Peg Bundy

Eerie, right??

Snaggletooth No More

Kellan's teething again, and it appears he's getting his 2nd lower front tooth, as well as both of his 2 upper front teeth.  Wow, he's been grumpy.  But, can you imagine?  Cutting teeth can't be all that comfortable.  Anyway, we're going to miss calling him snaggletooth.  He's pretty cute with just that one pearly white on the bottom, don't you think?

Peekaboo

Kellan's frequently playing forms of peekaboo with us these days, and it's pretty fun to get him going, as it always brings a smile (and most times a laugh) from him.  One of his favorite ways to play is to get on one side of the ottoman and peek above it to see us -

- then look underneath the ottoman until we show our faces on the other side to look at him.

Repeat about 20-30 times, and you've got one happy Kellan!

Surrogate Pacifier

Kellan's become very attached to his pacifier. We didn't realize just how attached he is, however, until he started using puzzle pieces as replacements outside the crib.

The puzzle pieces have knobs on the front so toddlers can easily remove/replace the pieces, which is what Kellan sucks on as a binky substitute.

Hey, no one can say he's not creative.  Way to think outside the box, K-Man!

Kellan's Funniest Home Videos

Mommy's taken a number of videos on her iPhone that she has been meaning to post on the blog for quite some time.

This is Kellan at his 12-month doctor appointment, waiting for the Pediatrician to come in

Whenever Kellan walks around his activity center, he tends to look like he's "flying" - arms outstretched in front of him, running as fast as he can around the center (this video may induce motion sickness - you've been warned)

When we took our road trip to Eastern Washington, we stopped in Ellensburg for a snack. There was a cute little shop with tons of wares - including this "dual drum" (can't think of the right term), which Kellan thought was pretty hilarious.  It was also funny to see his reaction when Mommy tried to take the toy back.

This is just a funny video Mommy captured while Kellan was eating some avocado (which he loves, much to our delight)

No Need to Check ID Anymore - He Really is One Year Old Now

Today is Kellan's one year birthday!  Well, corrected age birthday, anyway.  Mommy's due date was a year ago - July 12, 2009 - and that's the date we use to "correct" Kellan's age for tracking his development.

It seems appropriate, then, that yesterday was the first time Kellan stood without any assistance!  He did it a few times, actually.  No pictures of the grand event, but there were several witnesses.  Way to go, K-Man!

Another new trick of Kellan's is to give a kiss on request.  Here's a photo of him kissing the lion's head on his walker:

Yes, it does appear as though he's trying to eat the lion, but that's just how Kellan gives kisses these days.  We're hoping he eventually learns to refine his kissing skills.

He's growing up so fast...

Controlling the Remote

We're finding that Kellan loves anything with buttons on it.  Our 2 remote controls in the living room are his favorite things to "sneak" and play with.

Mommy first caught Kellan hiding between the couch and ottoman with the remote

What? I don't know how the remote control got into my hand! Um... look how cute I am!

Kellan thought it was downright hilarious to pick up the remote, then bang it down onto the floor, over and over - he'd laugh every time!  Isn't it strange what toddlers think is funny?

You'll notice Kellan is without a shirt - summer finally arrived here in Seattle!  We're in the middle of a mini heatwave.  At least we are all able to be in air-conditioned environments most of the day! (Mommy and Daddy at work, Kellan at daycare)

Belated Birthday Celebration (or, 13 Month Birthday Celebration)

We were finally able to celebrate Kellan's birthday with Daddy's side of the family on July 4th at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  It also happened to be the day Kellan turned 13 months old... but we'll still call it his 1 year birthday party (just don't tell Kellan). ;-)

The presents were piled HIGH!

Check out the ultra-cool, handpainted table and chairs that Aunt Justyn and Uncle Ian gave Kellan! (a big "K" because we call him K-Man)

The party hat that actually stayed on!  Also, Kellan got his first "people" (a little king, queen, girl, and cat) which he proceeded to cover in saliva... perhaps marking them as his own

(See? The hat's still there!)
Kellan's first taste of chocolate...

He didn't get much of the chocolate cupcake in his mouth, but we think he liked it anyway

How do you make a chocolate mess more fun?  Why naturally, add a hot pink balloon!

Kellan really enjoyed the balloons - they entertained him for hours!

It had been a long time since Kellan had seen Grandma and Grandpa.  So, he spent some one-on-one time with both.

Grandpa is so wise...

...and Grandma is so smart!

Kellan's First Wedding

A couple weeks ago, our little family took a road trip to Eastern Washington to attend (stay with me here) Mommy's Half-Sister's Son's wedding.  It was the first time Kellan and Daddy got to meet Mommy's four half-sisters (and the first time Mommy got to meet two of the four).

Kellan with his (Half-)Aunties - Jeanne (L) and Michelle (R)

Jeanne has a granddaughter a year older than Kellan, so she knows how to show a toddler a good time

Kellan loved making his way around and under the chairs

You probably noticed the puncture wound on the right side of Kellan's head.  Just before we left for the wedding, Kellan fell into the corner of the coffee table in our hotel room.  Besides the mark it left on his forehead, it also left a bruise on his right cheek.  Poor guy!  But, as they say, bumps and bruises are all part of learning how to walk.  Hopefully, Kellan won't get many more of the really painful variety before mastering his step-taking technique.

Like a Fish out of Water... in the Water

Poor Kellan.  We haven't taken him swimming since we were in Hawaii last November.  So, we suppose it shouldn't have been any surprise that Kellan might be afraid of the water when we took him into the pool at our hotel 2 weeks ago.

We started off so well - maybe Kellan thought he was going to get to watch us play in the pool?

Then, things turned ugly... it was clear Kellan was NOT okay with the change of events

Eventually, we tried bringing rubber ducky (a favorite bath toy) into the pool with Kellan, which seemed to help a little bit

By the end of the swimming excursion, Kellan felt confident enough to stand by himself at the side of the kiddie pool (with rubber duck in hand, of course)

Hey, there's that Kellan grin!