Happy 11 months!

Last one before the big 1 year old! These photos were taken the morning of his 11 month birthday. On the way down to breakfast Kieran made a mad grab for a toy to carry along and he ended up with this turtle. Turtle hung out on the highchair tray while Kieran ate some puffs and waited for mommy to get his breakfast ready. Happy 11 month birthday big boy!

Happy 48 weeks!

This week's photo shoot was a night early as Rick and I will be out tonight till late for conferences and Kieran will be at Sheila's- again I say we have the best sitter!

As you can see Kieran has discovered another new and fun game, opening and shutting doors and peeking out around the corner... he delights in hearing mommy say "open" "shut" and having one of us on either side of the door to cheer him on. I suppose this game will only be fun until he shuts his fingers in the door though... time to do some more baby-proofing...

Kieran has been babbling up a storm recently. Sheila swears he says "hello" and I think he can say "kiki" or 'Ka" in reference to his cats. I also think he is getting pretty good at mimicking sounds and words too- but not reliably enough to be sure... we are on our way to a very verbal little boy!

I think Kieran is working on a few more teeth right now as he will randomly fuss and cry even when he seems happy otherwise. He already has at least 8 teeth now- three on bottom and the rest on top and he's getting pretty good at chewing and biting. I think I have curbed the nursing bites for the most part, but he will still nestle into my shoulder during an innocent seeming hug and then take a little nip... ouch! I am ready for this teething thing to be over and I think we aren't even half way through it yet!

Kieran is going to spend his Valentine's weekend, or at least a few hours of it on Saturday, entertaining grandma Sandy. Rick and I are going out to lunch and a movie because Sandy is generous and offered her services, which of course we accepted gladly ;) On one hand, I hate to give up any of my precious Kieran time as there is so little of it, but on the other hand, mommy and daddy do need a little time to be a couple rather than a threesome. At least this is what I tell myself when I am walking out the door and willingly leaving Kieran... "This is good for all of us.... this is good for all of us..." and repeat! Ahh the joy of guilt felt most acutely by the working mother.

Happy 47 weeks!

No owl pal again this week... that's what happens when you put daddy in charge of the weekly photo shoot ;) As you can see, eating and playing are both very serious activities for KP. He LOVES cheese and has a lot of fun trying to get as much as possible as quickly as possible into his mouth. This technique usually results in a cheese beard and sometimes cheese in his nose, eyes and ears- not to mention all over the highchair and floor- which of course the dogs love!

Kieran has recently discovered the many joys of his firetruck toy... putting things in and out and in and out and in and out... plus there's the super cool ladder and don't get him started on disassembling it... totally awesome!

This week Kieran has learned to "share' or at least that's how we like to view it... occasionally whilst playing, KP will offer over a block or small toy to me or Rick (or grandpa D- who was the first recipient of Kieran's generosity) of course he wants it back later- but at least it's a start!

Kieran got a chance to spend some quality time with grandma/grandpa this week on Monday when Sheila was sick and then again Thursday night when mommy and daddy had conferences till 8. Grandma/Grandpa are earning their KP stripes for sure this week as he keeps them hoppin'! Tuesday KP had a boys day in with daddy since poor Sheila was ill again and so daddy stayed home with the little man- I think they had lots of fun and I know they took two looooong drives so Kieran would sleep... whatever works!

46 weeks!

Happy 46 weeks little man! Only six left until the big one year! Mommy and daddy can hardly believe how you have grown and keep growing at an alarming rate! This week Kieran has been practicing his new word- "dada" and is babbling up a storm! He may be working on a new tooth or two because he has been a bit fussy in the evenings as our PAT, Alla, found out yesterday when she came for her monthly visit. Despite Kieran's sour mood towards the end, however, we all had fun playing with the cool toys Alla brought along in her magic bag and mommy and daddy are grateful as always for all the great advice she has to offer.
This weeks pics show how Kieran likes to enjoy a good book- through the sense of taste of course! Note the shiny string of drool and Kieran's look of pride when he finally gnaws the front cover off his Peek-a-Whoo book!
Kieran is less and less enthused these days with Owl Pal. In fact the relationship has been in a slow decline for a few weeks now. Kieran was especially displeased when his green friend decided to take a ride on one of KP's favorite toys- the rhyme-time firetruck! It's a good thing these weekly owl photo sessions are nearing an end- I think Kieran might be ready to quit Owl Pal pretty soon!

45 weeks!

Kieran is 45 weeks old already and getting closer and closer to that one year mark! New this week: KP has added "dada" to his vocabulary and is saying it a lot! He is pulling up more and better- as you can see in the pic of Kieran rotting his brain (what great parents we are!) He's been doing better sleeping at night for longer stretches (for now anyway) and even rolls/scoots himself over into his crib- guess he needs his space! When we get the new sides to the crib (due to that recall) we are thinking of putting all four sides on again and seeing how he does with that- of course the crib will stay right next to the bed for now though- baby steps...!
Kirean spent some time with grandpa Rother and Kimi this weekend to celebrate a late xmas and birthdays (mom's and Kimi's) We all enjoyed a yummy dinner at El Rodeo and then some cake at grandpa Rother's place. Kieran was very excited about his super cute explorer pal and vibrating chew toy- thanks again guys!
Guess that's all for now... I will try to get back on track with the uploading of weekly pics this week... the camera was at my parents all last week as I left it there when we visited on MLK day.

Happy 44 weeks/10 months!!

Running a little behind this week with the blog and never did get owl-pal in on the photo shoot action either... however we did manage to get some cute bath pics and a couple shots of Kieran is his too cute super-baby-sleeper ;)
Kieran is getting bigger and bigger- he's now wearing 12-24 month clothes and weighs 22+ pounds! Big boy! He is eating like a champ- feeding him self better and better every day both with his fingers and his helper spoon. He has also figured out his sippy cup and straw cup.
This week Kieran is finally able to get his little hands to connect so that all his frantic hand waving is paying off in the form of clapping- makes patty-cake all the more fun! I also think I have caught KP trying to blow kisses when we are driving home in the evenings- quite adorable. Kieran is also getting pretty good at rolling a ball back and forth and loves to play with paper bags and plastic containers. He still hasn't said much recognizable outside of "mama" and "mom" but we keep on practicing!
Another new but not so wonderful development is that Kieran has not been naping for Sheila any more at daycare- great. In fact, she has gotten so desperate to get the little fuss-in-stuff to sleep that she has resorted to laying down with him! A truly dedicated babysitter- but we really don't expect her to continue do give up what little "free" time she has... hopefully he will get it together in the coming week or two as we all get used to the work-day schedule again.

Mommy's birthday and 43 weeks!

We have all enjoyed another extended break together thanks to snow and sub-zero temps... gotta love being a teacher on snow days! Kiearan helped mommy celebrate here 30-something birthday at grandma/grandpa with daddy, grandma Sandy, auntie Shannon, uncle JT and cousin Presley. We had warm-you-up-yummy-soup and delicious appetizers for dinner and two types of cake for dessert- pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting (thanks Sandy!) and chocolate with mint frosting and chocolate ganache- mmmm!
Kiearan's owl pal pics this week are too cute- I especially love the bad-boy-biker-baby pic with his too cool expression! Happy birthday to mommy and Kieran!