A Trip to the Zoo with Chelsea

A couple weeks ago, Kellan and Mommy joined our friend, Chelsea (whose birthday just happens to be TODAY - happy birthday, Chels!), for a visit to the zoo.  Despite the chilly day, we saw more animals than usual.  It was also nice that it wasn't so crowded!

Kellan's hand was almost as big as a hippopotamus's... almost.

A happy boy standing in front of the tapir exhibit.

We saw an elephant with only one tusk.  According to Kellan, he only has one tusk, too.

Chelsea, in a staring contest with an orangutan.

(Yes, there were other obvious captions I could've used for this photo, but it is her birthday...) ;-)

Kellan pretending to be a meerkat on the rock structure outside their display.

Kellan and Mommy

Kellan and Chelsea, in front of the lion exhibit (don't worry, they ran away just before the lioness could eat them).

Post-Christmas Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I had a great Christmas.  Mommy, Daddy, and I enjoyed seeing family and celebrating the holiday in some new locations this year - at Aunt Mari and Uncle George's house with Mommy's family, and in Cashmere with Daddy's family.  I got a lot of fun gifts, for which I am very grateful, but I wanted to send a follow-up letter so you have plenty of time to prepare for my 2012 gifts.

I got to test-sit on two different tractors at Aunt Mari and Uncle George's house - maybe you could bring me a John Deere tractor for Christmas this year?

Getting a tractor would make me ever so happy

You wouldn't even have to wrap it - I have a bow I saved and can put on top (I know how expensive giftwrap can be)

Grandma Pat made me a blanket as a gift, and I loooooooove it.  It's soft and cozy and a good size for my bed.  So, you don't have to worry about bringing me a new blanket this year.

Thatcher, Finley, and I really enjoyed creating things with Playdoh.  It wouldn't hurt if you added more of that to my stocking this year.

I was so excited to receive my monkey slippers from Grandma on Christmas Eve - Finley got mermaid slippers, and Thatcher got lion ones.  If you decide I need another pair, I'd like giraffe or elephant ones.

I know it doesn't look like it in this picture, but one of my favorite things we did in Cashmere was watch Christmas movies together.  Maybe you could send Mommy a new Christmas movie to watch next time - we already saw the Grinch, Charlie Brown, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and Polar Express (Mommy said stop-motion movies are cool, so perhaps one of those?).

We already have a big playhouse - this Thomas one is big enough for Finley and me to stand up in!

By the way, did you like the cookies, milk, orange, and caramel we left for you to eat?  Let me know if you'd prefer something else, OK?

Our Open-Me-First pajamas were really cool.  I think you talk to Grandma beforehand to make sure we get good ones, so be sure she knows what I like.

The Sesame Street characters you put in my stocking were perfect!  My favorites are Abby Cadabby and Super Grover (who is dressed like a fireman).  I don't have a Zoe one, though, so keep an eye out for one of those.

The train set you left for me is one of my favorite gifts.  I was so happy you included the motorized Thomas and Percy trains, too!  I might need a few more track pieces next Christmas, however.

The puppet theater you brought for Finley and Thatcher is so neat!  We had a lot of fun performing different puppet shows for the family.  I think my "pop up, then back down, then pop up again, then back down..." routine was a real hit.

Maybe you could bring Finley a car next Christmas.  She seemed to like my zoo-themed auto set quite a bit.

And I have to say, Thatcher's garbage truck was uber-cool.  I'm definitely adding one to my wish list this year.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas and a good head start on planning what to bring me this year.  I can hardly wait the 313 days until Christmas!!

Sincerely,

Kellan Gray

Everything But Christmas

I'm sure you're all curious to know what's been going on in Kellan's life the past couple of months.  Well, he's certainly been busy.  He's doing well in the big kids' room at daycare.  He still focuses his friendship energies on Margo, Abbey, and Sena, but the teachers have told me more than once that he's very popular with all the girls in the class.  Tsk tsk, already a ladies man... what's a mom to do?

Anyway, we've got lots to catch up on.  Here come the pics - everything but Christmas, which I'll have to do in another post.

I would not classify Kellan as an artistic type.  His creativity is subtle - for example, when we ask him to name a giraffe figurine he's holding, he always comes up with the wildly unique moniker, "giraffe".  But this triad of photos makes it look like he is an artist in the making with his thoughtful gaze at the picture as he's drawing it.  It encourages me to continue trying to foster the crafter in him.

Kellan and Finley, hanging out on Grandma's chair

At the daycare center's "Christmas production", Kellan dressed up as an angel with the rest of his class (this was before he moved to the older kids' room).  Isn't he cute in his halo?  The girl in the foreground is Abbey, one of his 3 best friends at school.

Many times when we've picked Kellan up from daycare, the kids have been dressed up in animal costumes in the gym.  It's usually a hard sell to get Kellan to come home with us on those days.  Clearly, being in an elephant costume is way more fun that going home for dinner and bathtime.  I'm sure you can guess what his pretend name is when he's in the costume... yep, "Elephant".

We've been to the Lynnwood Community Pool for Open Swim with the Freemans a couple times now.  It's like an indoor waterpark, though the kids aren't big enough to go on the waterslides yet.  That's right, they have waterslides.  I'm so glad Kellan enjoys swimming - those lessons really paid off!

We had a few snow days back in January.  Here is Kellan next to the small snowman we made at the nearby high school.

Kellan, enjoying the snow as it fell.

We joined the Freemans one day to sled down their cul-de-sac hill.  There wasn't much snow, but we made the best of it!

Daddy and Kellan

Mommy and Kellan

I have a funny little story to share about Kellan.  Last weekend, we ended up watching the Super Bowl with our PEPS group.  Madonna's performance at halftime featured many of her popular songs over the years.  When her song "Like A Prayer" began, Kellan excitedly shouted (amongst our otherwise quiet and attentive group) "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" and threw his hands up in the air.  Leave it to K-man to find a way to praise God during the halftime show, huh?

Pumpkins and Owls

Welcome to the belated October edition of "It's All about Kellan"!  As Octobers go, this year's was very nice.  The crisp autumn air descended and the landscape took on a whole new look.  Sweaters and wool coats were pulled out of the closet.  The harvest smells of roasting corn and pumpkin seeds were so heavy you could almost taste them.  And for the second year in a row (which now makes it an official tradition), we joined the Jorgenson family for a trip to "The Farm" in Snohomish.  We enjoyed interacting with some of the animals, made our way through the hay maze, and found the perfect pumpkins for carving.

Mommy and Kellan at The Farm

Daddy and Kellan, just before starting the pumpkin hunt

The Gray Family, circa October 2011

Kellan with Lacey, post-discovery of the practically perfect pumpkins for purchase

Can't wait to go again next year!

When I asked Kellan what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, he said an owl.  What's a mother (who had just taken her first-ever sewing class a month earlier) to do but make her son's costume?  I found a particularly cute idea for his costume online and promptly copied every bit of it... then paraded Kellan around like I'd come up with it myself.  Eh, whatever.  He looked awesome.  Here he is, "hoo hoo"-ing it up!

I was thrilled he kept the hat on; he's usually very annoyed by head gear, but somehow understood its integral part in the costume.  Way to go Kellan!

Camping with the Freemans

Waaaaaaay back at the beginning of October, we took a camping trip to Deception Pass.  We rented a travel trailer and shared a site with Aunt Justyn, Uncle Ian, Cousin Finley and Cousin Thatcher, who had their own camper.  We lucked out with not much rain; however, the Freemans did end up dealing with a gas alarm at 5am our last day there (it was a very early morning for them).  The trip was still quite a bit of fun overall, though.

The best picture from the trip was the first one (ha ha)

Kellan and Mommy in a teepee at the beach

Lots of logs, lots of jumping, lots of fun!

Finley

Aunt Justyn and Cousin Finley

Finley sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" for Kellan, complete with all the movements (it's one of his favorite songs)

We brought Kellan's red wagon with us - doesn't it look like they're having a cozy conversation?

Thatcher konked out on the way back from the beach

Uncle "Hot Lips" Ian

It should be noted that no one was harmed by the pebbles Thatcher and Kellan threw over the rock wall...

A couple of family photos to end the trip... 



...and now all Mommy can think about is macaroni salad.  Time for a snack. :-)

"I Did It!"

Recently, we bought Kellan a special clock that has a side display which shows a boy sleeping at night and the same boy awake during the day.  When it's nighttime, the sleeping picture is illuminated.  Once 6:30am rolls around, the display switches to the daytime picture.  We bought the clock because Kellan had been waking up multiple times in the night and very early in the morning not wanting to go back to sleep; we hoped he would recognize that if the daytime picture wasn't lit, it wasn't time to wake up yet.  We incentivized things by adding that if Kellan did sleep through the night, he'd get to pick out two special stickers in the morning.  If he woke up once during the night but went right back to sleep, he'd still get one sticker.  If he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep (or woke up multiple times), he wouldn't get any stickers.

It has worked very well!  Who knew stickers could be such a strong motivator?  About half the time he wakes up once during the night, usually because he can't find his pacifier, but lays right back down to sleep knowing he'll still get a sticker in the morning.  The other half of the time he's slept the whole night through!  Mommy and Daddy are getting more sleep, Kellan is so proud of himself, and stickers are cheap and plentiful!  It's been wonderful.  And in the morning when we go to get him out of the crib, one of the first thing he says is "I did it!".  It's so fun to see him reaching goals and pleased with himself.  We're crossing our fingers this continues!

Here's a random picture we caught one day during Kellan's nap.  It's of the display on his video monitor.  Notice how he's sprawled in the same manner as the sock monkey behind him?  Pretty cute, huh?

There are lots of photos and stories to add, but I wanted to keep up the tradition of having at least one post each calendar month, and today's the last day of November (where did the time go?).  So, keep watch - there's more to come!