What Kira does when she thinks she's alone

This story is going to start out kind of gross, and for that I apologize. Just don't use your imagination. I'll keep the language general to protect our gentle readers.

Kira made a special kind of mess in the bathtub this evening. This is the second day of this in a row. I was frustrated, but explained to Kira that I had to clean the bathtub and bath toys again and why. I needed a minute, so after I got Kira dried, diapered, and dressed, I told her to play with her toys in her room, and that I would be in the bathroom cleaning her bathtub. I locked the bathroom door so I could keep Kira away from the biohazard zone.

I think she played for a few minutes, but then I heard something from the kitchen. I said, "Kira?" and heard no response. I sighed and washed my hands. I opened the door and checked Kira's room, which was empty. I continued down the hallway to the kitchen.

Kira was kneeling on a kitchen chair in front of the cookie bin on the kitchen table. She had opened it, took out a little red star cookie that she knew she liked, and had taken a very small bite of it that she was still chewing on when I surprised her. She wasn't expecting me, that's for sure. I told her she wasn't allowed to have any cookies, and I put the nibbled cookie back in the bin. She didn't even protest. I think she felt she made out with just that one nibble.

She's a super fun, super ornery little girl. I'm sure she'll just get more fun and more ornery.

New tricks

Kira has learned a few new tricks to get her way, and while they are endearing, it is clear she will soon outsmart her mother and me :) Team parents may outnumber team Kira 2:1, but she is in no way daunted by this.

She has already begun attempting to pit us against each other. If one of us does something she disagrees with, or doesn't want to do, she immediately asks for the other. There is no subtlety in her method. It is clear that the offending parent has just failed to make passing marks, been dropped from future consideration, and the replacement is already late for the job. No one is as demanding as someone who doesn't know that it is indeed possible to not get their way :)

T'was the Sunday before Christmas

Kira and her mom came out to watch the last demo for my school today, and one of my students parents gave bindi, the red forehead dots worn by women in India and other nations. Mom and daughter both wore theirs for most of the day.

We also went to lunch at Jersey Mike's, where Kira stole one of my Jalepeno Chips and got her first taste of SPICY! She got over it pretty quickly, but not before she made some priceless faces :)

We will finish the day by traveling north, over the river and through the woods to Grandmas house for some Omaha steaks for dinner.

Hopefully, I can get Kristin to put up some pics as they were moved to her PC.

Halloween and more

Kira has really gotten into Halloween this year. She has a book about Halloween at Grandma and Grandpa's house from which she has learned sounds made by ghosts, monsters, bats, witches, pumpkins, and skeletons. Kira has dressed up and has either gone trick-or-treating, to a Halloween party, or both each of the last three days. She's pretty much had the time of her life.

Trick-or-treating was fun. Apparently, if you are tiny and cute, people will hold the bowl down for you and let you move candy from their big bowl to your treat bag pretty much indefinitely. We couldn't have hit up more than seven houses, but she has more, better loot than I used to get in two hours of busting my behind to hit the whole neighborhood. Little do those generous folks know that it was all a ruse to get candy for Jared. Kira doesn't eat candy, ha!

Kira in her Halloween dress, made by me.


Sitting next to her pumpkin, getting ready to go trick-or-treating for the first time in her life. We intended to put a face on the pumpkin, but Kira kept putting the face parts on the pumpkin, so we kept hammering them in place for her.


At the governor's mansion, where the first lady handed out Cheryl's cookies.


And now, on to the "and more" portion of this blog post...

Kira in her new dog pajamas, with her new dog ball and winter boots.


"When she was good she was very, very good..."


Blocks in the kitchen.


Someone noticed that the hall closet door was ajar...


Still loves to ride on mama's back.


My favorite new outfit from Kira's grandma.


Poor baby!


I've got some videos I want to upload, but that will have to wait.

Words Kira says

Dog, ball, kitty, bird, light, door, up, down, open, water, all done, yes, no, belly, eye, ear, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, dance, sit, walk, run, bear, duck, book, shoe, sock, mama, dada, papa, button, phone, tree, airplane, sky, leaf, snack, banana, eat, cup, bottle, hat, juice, glasses, bag, ow, mine, flower, sleep, night night, car, truck, ride, block, diaper, jump, kick, knee, Eric, Claudia, clean up, bike, train, choo choo, woof woof, meow, cheese, milk, tomato, cheep cheep, bug, hi, hello, bye bye, piggy, yippee, yum yum, chair, please, thank you, apple, baby, help, chin, throw, potty, keys, bite, want, blanket, nest, poo, uh oh, box

And more I can't remember and don't understand yet...

What Kira ate for dinner

2oz of salmon, 1/4c of spaghetti, 1/2 jar of baby food, and 3/4 of a banana.

Kira eating, wearing a hat, and pointing to Claudia and Eric!

Count them

The dance moves, I mean! I think I counted four...

New videos

Today

Today we went to Kira's grandmother's cabin to hike the property and prepare for hunting season. We went there ready to wear Kira on the hike as we usually do, but Grandma Wanda was there and wanted to hang with Kira. It was a good thing, too, because it was a very hot day and the horseflies were out in full force for the first time this summer. I screamed bloody murder and ran more times than I can count (I have an irrational fear of horseflies). If Kira had been on my back, we wouldn't have made it twenty steps from the cabin.

On the way home from Athens County, Kira played with a clean sock and Curious George. When we arrived home, she moved her princess chair in front of her piano so she could recline and play the piano with her feet. She also shoved Jared out of the chair every single time he came near it.

Kira got a bath and could probably have gone straight to bed, but instead sat in her high chair because dinner was served. She ate a good sized piece of salmon, a couple chunks of potato, and a tablespoon of grated sauteed zucchini. Apparently, she loves zucchini! And she fell asleep pretty readily. It was a great day.

Tomorrow I start back to school for the 5.5 month home stretch. I'm not looking forward to being gone all day again; I have really, really enjoyed this past week with Jared and Kira. Kira is at an age where she is showing more personality and learning more words and things every day, and I hate to miss the bulk of it during the week. But Kira will have a blast as usual with her grandparents and father! At least I get to hang with her the last few hours of the day. That's a lot of time to do something fun, like go to the park or swim in the baby pool.

Hodge podge

Daddy loves barrettes!


Father's Day. Jared picked out K's outfit and did her hair all up.


Swimming and hanging in the back yard on a hot day.








Last weekend the family went on a 1.5hr hike on Grandma Circle's property in Athens County. These are pics from our destination, her cave! Very cool. Kira had a great hike; she slept the last half hour. Only one of us got a tick (me).




Kira has finally learned to clap! She claps every time she takes a bite of food.

Backyard pool play and Kira's animal sounds

Kira has 3 animal sounds, all of which she makes in the video:
1. Cow (or dog, or horse) says "moo" (which sounds like "mmm")
2. Lion (one of her toys) says "rrraarrrr" (sounds like "aaaa")
3. Bird says "chirp chirp" (sounds like "chpchpchpchpchp")

Kira got mail...

And here's what happened when I opened the box (the entire series in order).





Trying to bite the keys...
























Thanks Aunt Claudia and Uncle Eric!! Kira loves her piano and has been walking over to it every five minutes to jam out. Miss you guys!

COSI visit, June 4

This is my second time writing out this post. Hopefully this one will not be lost!

Kira's birthday was a pretty normal, busy day for all of us, so when I got out of class earlier than expected on Thursday, Kira and I went to COSI. Here are some pics from our visit.

In this picture, you can see a good portion of the kids' area behind Kira.




Kira didn't really want to play in the water; I had to keep putting her back up there.




I'm not sure what K was crying about here... I think she was feeling too lazy to navigate the stairs and wanted me to come get her out of the little house.


There is one piece of equipment there that has several holes in the ground with air blowing out, allowing foam balls to hover above them. Kira's first thought at the sight of them... try to bite the ball.


It was on this visit that Kira decided to try walking up and down stairs instead of crawling. Gaaaah... death wish much?

Lil' Kira's First Birthday

So, Kira is one year old already. I spent most of this week looking back and trying to remember exactly what I was doing this time last year, and do a "then-and-now" comparison.

I was struck by how much I feel things have changed, but how, in actuality, many things are the same.

I remember clearly my 40 week pregnant wife going into labor watching "Sex and the City" at Easton AMC with the Erfles, who, oddly enough, we were able to spend time with this week as well.

We walked around the neighborhood enjoying the temperate summer night to pass the time when Kristin couldn't sleep, something I managed to do with Kristin and Kira this past week as well, although it was Kira who couldn't sleep this time.

I remember laying with Kira at 5AM immediately after watching her dramatic entrance into the world and my life. Which, I found myself doing the exact some thing 365 days later as well, minus the 30+ hrs or labor and delivery as a preamble of course ;) .

The birthday party details I will leave to Kristin to share (she has the pics) but I wanted to put up some of these thoughts. Seems "Wherever you go, there you are," stands true even when you bring your baby with you :)

More pics from Kira's 12th month

Mother's Day








Do YOU want to try prying the spoon from her death grip? I don't think so.






She loves crawling in the laundry basket...


...but it really does a number on her hair.


Kira loves glasses!!

Random pics from the last month

If this was a painting I would title it "unimpressed"