Kyle Woods?

Thanks for the golf clubs, Uncle Kev. When's tee time?

Hello Mr. Gnome

Friday, after learning all about the letter "B" and the words Bat, Ball, and Book, Kyle and I hung out in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. I taught him how to do cartwheels (or at least my almost 30 year-old attempt at what might once have resembled a cartwheel), which made him laugh and laugh ... especially when Mama fall down. Ouch. We opened and closed the elves door to their magical tree house, swished our hands through the cool grass, slid down the slide, gazed at the airplanes soaring over the clouds above, and said hello to Mr. Gnome. All in all a most enchanting Friday afternoon.

Letter Study

Sometimes Kyle can be a really slow eater, especially in the morning, so since I'm home I decided to start some morning meal mini lessons with him. We bought a simple white board during our run to Target earlier in the week, along with a pack of washable crayons, and while Kyle munches on eggo waffles and peanut butter, bananas/apple sauce, and milk, I pull out one letter from his card pack to do a few simple activities with. So far this week we've done "K", "Y" and "A". First I review the letter/word/sound (we go through all his cards a few times a week so he's familiar with this part): "K", Kite, /k/. "Y", Yellow, /y/. "A", Apple, /a/. Then I trace the letter on the card with my finger as I say the name. Next I take the crayon and draw the same letter on the white board, followed by three words that begin with that same sound: "K", Kite, /k/, "K", Kyle, /k/, "K", Key, /k/. "Y", Yellow, /y/, "Y", Yes, /y/, "Y", Yoda, /y/. "A" was a little trickier in that this card teaches the short a sound, so I needed three words that began with the short a as opposed to the long a: "A", Apple, /a/, "A", Aunt, /a/, "A", Abplanalp, /a/. I try to bring some meaning to the words by holding up objects, pointing at things, or drawing pictures. When Kyle is finished eating, I let him hold the crayon and write on the board until he tries to eat the crayon. At that point the lesson is over and playtime can begin :)

Spring Style

Peanut Butter! Doctors Orders?

So the guidelines we've been given thus far have warned us - IN CAPITAL LETTERS, BOLD FONT - not to give Kyle peanut butter until the age of 2 due to the potential risk of nut related allergies; however, yesterday, when we went in for his one year check-up, the doctor told us to scratch all that. The office is in the process of revising their feeding guidelines document in light of new research that has recently been released suggesting that the cause of so many nut allergies in young children could very well be because they weren't exposed to nut products early enough. Great. Wish I had known that before Kyle's party when I made 20 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and told everyone to keep him away from them! The doctor said that for our next baby, they'll even be encouraging us to feed him/her peanut butter as early as 4 - 6 months (in moderation of course to monitor for allergies and to avoid choking). So, when we got home from Kyle's doctor's visit, I tried to make him feel better after the two painful shots he received in his arms by feeding him a delicious snack of peanut butter and cheerios (the crackers we had seemed too hard to chew and we were all out of bread)! YUM! And guess what? Kyle loves peanut butter! He takes after Mommy. At the doctor's office, Kyle was into EVERYTHING, except for those shots and the two nurses who gave them. He was not a fan of either of them, and the tears in his eyes and look in his face right after receiving them pretty much said, "Why? Why would you do that to me?!" Later on last night, we could tell that his arms were in a bit of pain so we called in the "Boo Boo Bunny" for backup. In other news, Kyle is back up to the 50th percentile for weight, coming in at 21 pounds, 4 ounces. He is also backup to the 75th percentile for height. Kyle can now start having cows milk, YAY! The doctor said new research also shows that if your baby has a healthy/hearty American diet, he/she can have skim milk, whereas before they were always pushing for whole milk. She said studies have found only a 3% IQ difference between babies who drink whole versus skim. Well, since Chris and I don't really drink that much milk anyways, I decided to just buy whole milk for now and work toward that upper 3% haha! I'm still pumping (down to only twice a day now, YAY!) so I'll be mixing his bottles half and half so that we don't switch cold turkey.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Kyle's great grandparents at the nursing home near our place, and then headed off to the park since the weather cooled down a bit. Check out Ky sporting the new hat we got him on our run to Target today. Such a cool dude! After his knees were covered in dirt, and he tried to lick the dirt off his hands several times, I knew it was time to head home :)

A Year in Onesies

Bath Time!