Kyle's 9th Tooth Is Here!

Here's a picture of our silly boy playing first thing in the morning yesterday.  He makes me laugh!!!  These are his play construction goggles, obviously a little big for him.  LOL

Kyle is 15 months old, will be 16 months in another week or so.  His 9th tooth came in yesterday...another molar.  Ouch!  I was wondering why he was so cranky for a couple days, and he didn't poop for 3 days (he has been going every day, so 3 days is a long time).  Anyway, the tooth broke thru, and I'm glad we are past that one.  :)  It is on his bottom left side...not his very back molar, but the next one forward I think.  It's hard to get any amount of time to look in his mouth with all his wiggling around.  It's the tooth that matches the other molar (his 8th tooth) that came in a couple weeks ago, just on the other side of his mouth.

Josh took Kyle to the Little Gym today for his parent/child class.  I stayed home and took a nice long soak in a hot bubble bath.  Ahhhhhhhh.  It was nice to have an hour of peace and quiet in the house.  It's been a while!  Josh said they practiced somersaults on the "cheese mat", and doing a flip around the high bar.

Josh has been working two nights a week as a delivery guy for Black Jack Pizza.  So, on top of working all day, he spends two nights a week working as well.  Yuck!  Times are tough, so we are doing what we can.  It's hard on all of us.  Josh is exhausted from working so much, I am exhausted from taking care of Kyle 24/7 with no breaks, and Kyle is missing Daddy and family time.  But, I know we'll get through this, and in the end be stronger for having the experience.

We took Kyle to the park today so he could run around and burn off some of his energy.  That kid is quick these days!  Pretty much running!  Then we took him out this evening for our daily walk around the neighborhood in his blue car.  He LOVES this blue car...we definitely got our money's worth out of it!!!  So here's a cute picture of Kyle and Josh on our walk today.  I think Kyle is so cute with his hood on his head from his sweatshirt.  :)  (It was a little chilly out this evening, about 67 degrees-ish.)

Kyle has been expanding his vocabulary every day.  He says "ock" for clock, he is saying ma, ma and da, da a little more these days.  He is starting to give kisses a little more, which is cute.  He understands more words every day, even though he can't say them.  Today on our walk I asked him where the cactus was, and he pointed to a cactus.  :)  Smart kiddo!  He pointed to clouds in the sky when asked where the clouds were, and he still enjoys collecting rocks wherever he can find them.  He says "ock" for rock...so depending on the context, "ock" can either be rock or clock.  He points at trucks, and he says "uck".  Basically he is learning words with the first letter omitted.  The doctor said this is very common for kids his age when learning to talk.

 That's about all for now.  I'm still getting articles in my email about vaccinations in general, as well as the swine flu vaccine...so keep checking out the articles that are posted on the left menu bar.  :)

Till next time.....

Balls In The Bucket & Donut Rolls

I took Kyle to his gymnastics class this morning at the Little Gym.  We usually go on Saturday morning, all three of us...but we missed last Saturday, so I took Kyle this morning for his make-up class.  He was a little shy at first because there were new parents and new kids there that he's never met before.  We did see a couple familiar faces, but we made new friends today.  :)

Kyle walked the balance beam (I held his hands of course), and he explored all the equipment.  They set the gym up differently every week, so the kids always have new things to explore, and it never looks the same.  It's a good thing...it keeps Kyle interested...otherwise he would get bored of it.  We played with the shakers, and popped bubbles with our fingers.  Kyle did backwards flips with mommy, and rolls with mommy.  It was a lot of fun, and both of us were smiling and laughing!

They have this big blow up mat that they call an "air track" at the gym.  It's like a jumping castle but with no walls.  They take it out every now and again, but not every week.  Today we played on the air track.  Kyle was a little nervous about riding it today while it inflated (he didn't throw a fit or anything, he was just a little apprehensive about being on there while it filled up).  He is usually fine about riding it while it fills up, but I think with all the new people today for some reason he wasn't so sure.  He did somersaults and crawled around on the air track, and then when it was time to put it away, all the parents and kids sat together on top to take a ride down while it deflated.  Kyle was fine sitting with me for that part.  :)

Every week they dump out a big bin full of balls for the kids to play with.  It's one of Kyle's favorite parts of gym I think.  He is starting to get the idea of kicking the balls, but it's still a work in progress.  When Miss Kristy (the teacher) put the big garbage can back out to put the balls away, Kyle walked right over and put his ball in the can, before any directions were even given.  He's got the routine down for sure!  Ha, ha!


For the "skill of the week", Kyle stood up next to a big "donut" (circular mat), and with Miss Kristy and I spotting his arms and legs, he rolled up and around over the top, and when he came back down (head first)...he put his hands down, tucked his head, and did a somersault.  He wasn't so sure about the whole thing when he was going up and around the top (he gave a couple tiny wiggles, but never said a word), but then when we got to the somersault part he realized he was fine.  Silly little guy!


We go again for class this Saturday, and I can't wait to see what new things he will learn!

Fun Things We Like To Do In Tucson

Well, our list of recreational activities got shorter after Kyle was born... but we have new things we like to do as a family that are fun for Kyle.  :)

Our very favorite thing (especially Kyle's favorite thing) is going to The Little Gym.  It is a gymnastics center that is made for little people.  The staff is so great, and all of the parents and kids there are so nice!  All the children get along, share, and play so nice together.  It is just such a joy to go there to play.  :)  We go once a week for a parent/child class, and then they have two days a week where they have "open gym" for an hour.  We have made some new friends there, and it is just so much fun for all of us.

When Kyle first started out at the Little Gym, he was crawling, but not walking yet.  I was watching all the walking kiddos walk the balance beam, and I remember thinking...'I can't imagine Kyle being big enough to do that.'  LOL  Here we are...Kyle is walking...and he can walk the balance beam!  :)  Time goes so fast!  Kyle loves doing somersaults, climbing all the mats and obstacle courses, walking the beam, hanging on the high bar, climbing the 'alphabet wall', playing with shakers (and he especially likes taking all the shakers out of the tub and just plays with the plastic tub!).  He has learned how to throw balls, put things away, and share with other children.  Fun for the whole family...and a great place for Kyle to learn good social skills with other kids.  :)

We also like to go to the library "baby read" (it's free!).  They have separate classes for different ages.  Kyle is still in the younger of the two classes...but moving up there quickly!  At the library, the lady usually reads one or two short books, and the rest of the time is playing and singing (as a group).  She has a bubble machine, and the kids love to pop the bubbles.  At the very end there are a couple buckets of toys that are left out for the kids to stay and play with, while the parents mingle.  Kyle seems to have a good time, and it's a nice place to meet new people.  Good price tag...free!  :)

We sometimes go to Bookman's, they have a "children's book read" there as well (also free).  However, theirs is a bit too formal of a setting for Kyle right now.  The kids all sit in their parent's laps, while stories are read for about 30 minutes or so.  Kyle is not into sitting right now...he's into exploring!  So, we haven't made that one of our frequently visited locations.  They provide snacks and drinks for the kids, and they sometimes give out $5 free kids book credit. So, that's a nice perk...we get to leave with a couple new books for free.  :)  Maybe when Kyle gets a little older we'll go more often.

We have a membership to the Reid Park Zoo.  It's a very fun place to take Kyle, and it gives mommy a chance to get a little exercise in (which is much needed!).  Kyle's favorite animal is the giraffe.  Last time we were there, we fed the giraffes for the first time.  Well...I fed the giraffe, and held Kyle so he could watch.  When he gets older, he can feed them himself, and I'm sure he will love it!  There is a play area with fake grass where kids can run around and play.  That is where Kyle started rolling as a mode of transportation for the very first time (I was lucky enough to get it on video!).  It's nice having a membership, because we can go whenever we want, and for 30 minutes if we want to...and we don't have that feeling like we wasted money for such a short visit.  Now that the weather is cooling down, I'm sure we will be making a lot more trips to the zoo.  It was just too hot during the summer, so we only went a couple times.  Zoo weather is back, hurray!!

We also have a membership to the Desert Museum.  We like to go there as a family trip, since it's such a drive.  We leave during Kyle's nap time so he can sleep on the way there.  Josh and I like it there, and I think Kyle will enjoy it more and more as he gets older.

Those are just a few of the places we like to frequent here in Tucson.  I'm sure the list will expand as Kyle gets older!!