Charlie Brown

Happy Halloween!
This year we dressed Kellan up as Charlie Brown.  It took some searching, but Mommy eventually found a Snoopy doll to complete the look; however, Kellan wasn't too keen on the idea...

Every time Mommy put Snoopy in Kellan's hand, he would drop it and give her the above (obviously annoyed) look

Mommy thought tying Snoopy around Kellan's waist might make things easier... but it really only created a poor distraction and more frustration

Then Mommy realized that putting Snoopy on a "leash" might make him more appealing to Kellan.

And clearly, it helped.

But in the end, it made it look like Charlie Brown was trying to lynch Snoopy, so we bagged the whole thing and tried the football idea.

It was a paltry substitute for Snoopy, but at least we know Kellan will hold on to a football for longer than a couple of seconds.

Now, if only Mommy had dressed up like Lucy Van Pelt... (why do we always think of the good ideas a little too late?)

Visit to Aunt Bun's

After visiting the pumpkin patch (see last post), Mommy and Daddy dropped Kellan off with Aunt Bun while they went to see a movie.  When Mommy and Daddy returned, we decided to take a walk to the home improvement store, to get some fresh air.

Aunt Bun's real name is Aunt FUN

There are so many interesting things to point to in Aunt Bun's garden!

Did you hear that?  Elmo thinks your garden is really funny!

(it's a giggling Elmo)

There was a playground on the way to the store, so Kellan did a quick test of the slide... it passed (apparently)

Thanks for the fun day, Aunt Bun!  We'll be back!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, we took Kellan to his first pumpkin patch.  We went to a farm in Snohomish (actually called "The Farm") with the Jorgenson family.

Benjamin, Kellan, and Daddy walking through the flower garden

There was a petting zoo of sorts at the farm.  This shows Kellan pointing to a rabbit in its cage.

Did you see that?  I think it was a chicken!!

We found Kellan's "twin" while we were there (he was very friendly, and wanted to give Kellan a hug)

A couple of cute pics Mommy took while Kellan was eating his snack

Kellan was none-too-thrilled about getting into the wheelbarrow at first, but he eased into it (the snack cup helped)

Brian and Daddy in the pumpkin patch

It was a gorgeous, sunny day

C'ya next year, Farm!

Swim Lessons

Daddy took Kellan to his first ever swim lesson last Sunday.  Considering the last few experiences in a pool have elicited less than enthusiastic responses from K-Man, we weren't sure what kind of reaction to expect.  But happily, we think he rather enjoyed it this time.

The water noodle helped keep Kellan buoyant

Part of the lesson was to practice "jumping" into the pool by standing on a table that was under the water, then having Daddy lift him off

The best part about the class?  Three of Kellan's friends are in the class, too!  Pictured to the right of Kellan are Griffin (the redhead), who goes to the same daycare, and Jackson, who is not only part of our PEPS group, but also the son of one of Jared's coworkers (quick shout out to Jim!).  Not pictured is Flynn, our next door neighbor.  We're sure having so many familiar faces in the water helped Kellan adjust quickly.

They have plenty of pool toys to choose from to keep the toddlers entertained.  Kellan's toy of choice?  A red ball shaped to look like a pirate's head.

Kellan's first swim lesson couldn't have gone better, but the true highlight came when Grandma and Grandpa made a surprise appearance at the pool!  Thanks for the visit and the family lunch date afterwards, G & G!

Kellan's Report Card

Whenever we pick Kellan up from daycare, there is a "Daily Report" sheet that lets us know how/what Kellan did that day and if we need to bring more supplies of any kind.  Here is his report card from yesterday:

You'll notice he received a special sticker.  It says "Great Job", and here is what the teacher wrote (she's ESL, by the way) - "Kellan love food a lot. When we sing the good morning to him he clap his hand with us."  Ha!  We didn't realize he could be rewarded for eating so much and enjoying music.  We'll have to make sure he keeps practicing at home.

Another funny thing we noticed - next to "Group Activity", it looks like it says "Casino Time".  Um... what?  You're teaching the 1 and 2 year olds to gamble??  Curious...

Also, there was a notation in the "Comments" section of Diaper Changes - it says "poo-poo was so hard as a rock" (remember, ESL).  We used to get comments such as "lots lots lots!" in the diaper changes section on the Infant Room reports, but now we rarely get any indication of amount of poo or otherwise.  So of course we worried about Kellan being constipated (especially since he hasn't been sleeping well lately, so we wondered if that might've been tummy-related).  But, don't worry.  Kellan saved the "lots lots lots!" for home last night.  Lucky Mommy and Daddy!  Still stuck with the sleeping problems, however.

3rd Quarter 2010 Update

Things continue to move right along here at the Gray household.  Here are a few updates:

1. Kellan's first day in the "big kids" (aka Honeybees) room at daycare was today.  He did pretty well.  Only napped for 50 minutes (which made for a cranky little boy come pick-up time), but ate all his food for the day.  Also, he decided to try eating sand... not such a good idea, as it irritated his upper lip and gums.  Maybe it distracted him from any teething pain he had (he's still trying to break out those molars).

2. He can now get up to a standing position without the aid of a pull-up item (i.e. walls, furniture, etc.).  We weren't sure he was going to learn before transferring to the Honeybees room, but he taught himself just in time.

3. Kellan's becoming more vocal.  He still mainly says "mah" for everything he doesn't have a word for, but he's definitely paying attention when we tell him what something is called and often attempts to mimic us.  We've recently taught him to say "wow!".

4. He's retrieving items when we ask ("Kellan, can you bring me the sock monkey?") and has knowledge of the location of several body parts, including his bellybutton.

5. He still loves avocados, and still (mostly) dislikes fruit.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last few weeks:

Mommy pulled out Kellan's "0-3 months"-sized hat and tested to see if it still fit... maybe his head isn't as big as we thought? (or, that's some seriously stretchy yarn)

He really is the coolest kid ever

Hanging out with Daddy

He gets so excited on walks outside - "Hey! Is that a rock?!"

It's pretty cute when we go to the high school stadium near our house - Kellan's always so mesmerized by the athletes

Someday, Kellan... someday...