mmm...cheerios

It took us awhile to start giving Kai solid foods. He was just about 9 months when he started eating his first real chewable solids (cheerios and mum mums). We were so worried that he would choke. He used to gag on oatmeal so we weren't sure how he would handle foods that he would have to chew/mush, but he LOVED it. By looking at him, you'd think he hates it since he has this sour face when eating dry foods, but he just keeps eating a way. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He is just like Mommy and Daddy in that he loves to eat! It's funny to watch him since he sticks his whole hand in his mouth for one little cheerio, but he's getting better at it. Our current challenge is to keep him from stuffing his mouth full of cheerios. The other day, he started chocking because he had 2 handfuls of cheerios in his mouth! Jason and I panicked but we were able to get the food out of his mouth. His mouth was so full he couldn't even close his mouth to chew....silly little boy.

Tickle Me Kai

Kai is the most ticklish baby I have ever seen. He is ticklish on his feet, thighs, stomach, back, neck, and armpits! Jason was playing with Kai and it turned into a tickle fight. He just laughed and giggled...it's a good thing he's wearing diapers or I think he would have peed his pants!

say cheese = close your eyes?

Kai has always been good at predicting what comes next. When I'm reading him one of his books and a page with pictures that he does not like is coming up, he closes the book before I can get to that page. If I'm singing him a song that has hand actions to go with it, he knows when to look up or down before that part comes. Well, now he has learned to prepare for the "flash" of the camera. The challenge is, he closes his eyes as soon as he sees the camera and hears it beep. This is with or without the flash so getting pictures of Kai with his eyes open has been difficult. You can see what I mean by the pictures. Actually, its kind of cute and we just can't help but laugh.

HO HO Help!

It was our family Christmas Party and as always, Santa (this year it was Jason), came to visit the kids to spread a little holiday cheer. Kai was up first and as you can see from the picture, he was NOT happy. First, he had this puzzled look on his face as if to ask "it sounds like daddy...but it doesn't look like daddy!?" which quickly turned into "Why are you putting me on his lap!?". I'd have to say, it could have been a lot worse but this experience made me very glad that we decided to NOT take Kai to the Mall Santa! It would have been a lot of waiting and fussing just to end with a lot of crying!!

a new discovery

Kai has now discovered balloons and can't get enough of them! At first, he just kept running into it and chased it all around the room. But, of course, he had to learn how to grab onto it! Now he grabs it, squeezes it, and tries to bite it!! As you can imagine, Jason and I are constantly yelling "Kai No!" in fear that he's going to pop the balloon right in his face. I'm sure the easy solution is to just take it away from him, but it's so fun watching him smile and have fun.

Picky Picky

The last time I went to Japan, I bought Kai tons of Japanese books. He has couple of favorites, but today, he wanted me to keep reading this book called "iro". Each page shows a color and the right hand page has an animal with texture. The texture changes for each page so Kai LOVES to touch the textured animals. In fact, he knows that if he touches the textured part, we turn the page. He used to love all the pages, but for some reason, he had something against the BLUE page and the textured fish. If you watch the video, you'll hear him groan after he touches the Blue Fish! The last page doesn't have a textured animal...it's just a shiny butterfly, so he doesn't even bother to touch it anymore! He just groans again because he wants to start over. The video only shows us reading the book once, but we actually read it over and over and over. Towards the end, he wouldn't even touch the Blue page. He just groaned for me to turn to the next page! Picky Picky!!

Glimpse of Santa

Kai had his very first picture with Santa. It is done by a local photographer who has one of the parents dress up in the Santa suit so that the kids are not afraid. That's why you only get a "glimpse" of Santa. It was a proud moment for me because she said that Kai was the easiest baby she had all day! He was such a trooper! He just sat there, looked at the camera and smiled (as much as possible). The only challenge was that he kept closing his eyes every time the flash went off. The best part of this photo session was that all proceeds went to a little girl in our city that is fighting leukemia. It felt great to be part of something so special. It was a fun experience for our family!

Where's Kai?

Kai learned a new game called "Where's Kai?". It's actually the same concept as peek-a-boo or inai-inai-ba (Japanese) but Kai reacted to "Where's Kai?" better. Here's what happens: Kai "hides" (he puts his face down on Jason's shoulder or into Jason's hands), we say "Where's Kai?" over and over until Kai lifts his head up and we say "There's Kai!". He just laughs and laughs and thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. In fact, he starts laughing while he has his face down on Jason's hands and can't wait to put his head up! Sometimes, he is so excited to put his head up, that he only "hides" for 1 second and quickly puts his head up before we can even say "Where's Kai?".

It's a BOX!!!

Kai received his first Christmas Package today. Thank you Grandma Carol and Grandpa Walker! There was a cute gift wrapped in blue wrapping paper inside the US Postage box. I gave Kai the present so that we could go put it under the Christmas Tree, but what does Kai play with? the US Postage box! He's really into boxes lately... Silly boy! He also LOVES ripping paper so I'm sure he'll love opening the present on Christmas Day.

What goes up, must come down

Kai finally figured out how to crawl on top of the fireplace. he had been leaning against it to help him stand up for weeks so it was only a matter of time until he decided to get enough courage to crawl on top. The only problem? he couldn't get back down. He just sat there looking down, trying to figure out what to do. So, Mom to the rescue! I tried to teach him how to get back down one foot at a time. Well, it wasn't long before he got up again and got stuck AGAIN. But this time, he decided to show me how to do it "Kai" style. he just leaned forward and went falling down head first. It was a beautiful landing on his head with his butt and leg to follow. I think it hurt me to watch him more than it did him because he kept doing it over and over again. I guess I have to learn that boys will be boys!