Where is your bellybutton?

Kian has some new skills these days!

Before he moves on to new ones, I thought I'd better take a moment and write some down. Since most of my posts lately have been heavy on pictures with very little writing, this will be a change of pace! If I am able to take pictures or movies that show any of this in action later, I will be sure to come back and add them though.

His main new skill is asking what things are. He'll go around pointing at things and exclaim over and over "wa daht!?" Sometimes he likes to hear what something is several times in a row, sometimes he'll bob his head and move on. It's all part of learning his world, and it's been so exciting for us sappy parents to watch his vocabulary and communication skills start to take off. We've read that somewhere between 16 months and 20 months toddlers experience a huge increase in vocabulary, so this could be the beginning!

He also can find his bellybutton, which I think is really cute. I ask him "Where is your bellybutton, Kian?" He pulls up his shirt and looks down at his belly and points to it, and I cheer. I wonder sometimes if he thinks I've lost my mind (doesn't she realize it's exactly where it was the last time I showed it to her?), but he seems to not mind repeating the exercise.

When I say to him "Kian, let's read a book! Find a book and let's read it!" he'll grab one and come running over and throw himself into my arms so I can put him on my lap and read it to him. He can find a moon and a kitty in his books, and even makes some truck sounds when he's reading his book about trucks. He's a good independent "reader" too. He loves to pull out his books and find the one he's looking for and then plop down and flip through it, studying the pages. He also knows which books his nanny can read (the ones in Spanish), and he brings her those to read to him.

He knows about brushing his teeth, and can say "teeth" or "teethies" (my fault, I called them that), and will both allow his teeth to be brushed and "brush" them himself.

He is bilingual. He knows about shoes, and sometimes calls them that, but mostly he calls them "zapatos" or "'patos". He sometimes says star ("tah") and sometimes estrella ("eh-tray-ah"). Kitty is always "kitty", and baby is always "baby" though.

He dances. His favorite songs these days are "Keep on Moving" by Bob Marley (nobody gonna breaka my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, oh no!) and "Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth. He seems to really like the happy reggae beat. Can't say that I blame him, its good stuff. Other favorite music: anything by Putumayo, or with a good beat. He always demands music when he's in his high chair, and he tells us to change it if he doesn't like the song by pointing and sternly telling us "dah!" - until we get it right!

He has developed a sense of mischief. He knows when he's doing something that is against the rules, like knocking over the fan, or trying to pull kitty's tail, and he'll watch us as he slowly does it anyway with a sneaky little smile. If we get up and start walking over to him, he turns and runs. He knows he's not supposed to do it! He also cracks up at little games we play, like when he flips his straw and I make a sound effect noise. Hilarious.

He is tough. He falls down and brushes himself and gets back up from tumbles that would make most kids (or adults) lose it. If he didn't rub his head where he bumped it sometimes we would wonder if he had normal pain receptors.

He is affectionate. He knows how to give kisses (but will only give them when HE wants to, not on demand!), and will just put his head on my shoulder and be so sweet and let me hold him when he's tired. He also loves playing hide and seek, and wrestling around and getting zerbers from his dad.

He's really growing and learning so much these days. I wish I could capture it all. There are many, many more things that I am leaving out, but you get the idea. We are constantly amazed by how much he understands and what he is able to do, and every day it seems there are more and more "little kid" moments, and fewer "baby" ones. It's wonderful, and a bit bittersweet too!

Kian in the Fountain

Last weekend we went to a park that has fountains for kids to play in, and met up with a friend (Amanda) and her baby (Jaxon) whom we hadn't seen in a while.

Kian had a blast! He couldn't get enough of the fountain. Here he is, testing the waters:

Now getting bolder....

Here in LIVE ACTION:

You can see our friends Jaxon and Amanda in this video on the right:

Jaxon really enjoyed playing with this ball, and checking out any balloons that were nearby!

The end result of all this cavorting in the fountain was (not surprisingly) that Kian got completely soaked:

So we stripped him down a layer and let him back at it....

Luckily we had a backup outfit in the car. Next time, swim suit!

Great seeing you, Jaxon and Amanda!

Isla Moon's First Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISLA!

August 13 was Isla Moon's first birthday! Now all three '08 babies in the Smith clan are officially "1". Pretty amazing how they are all growing and changing!

Ashley and Ryan had a backyard BBQ birthday party for her the weekend before the official day. It was fun to see the babies playing in the little wading pools and to see some of Ashley's family, and Kian was even able to get in some playtime with the birthday girl:

Isla wasn't too sure what to think about her cake, especially if it meant getting out of the pool, but she humored us!

Kian got a great picture in with Uncle Dan:

And he played hard enough to be pretty tired toward the end....

A tired Kian is a huggable Kian!

But this one is my favorite picture of all .....

Priceless!

It was a great party. Happy Birthday IM!

A Tale of Two Reunions

Well, June / July was pretty busy for us, so it's been a while since I've posted and now I've got to catch up!

We had two family reunions: one Smith and one Choate. It was fun to get to see so much family!

The Smith "reunion" was mostly a get-together to spend a little time with cousin Sarah before she went back to continue teaching in China. We were missing cousin Courtland, but overall had a good turn out (I photoshopped Naysan and Kian into the picture, can you tell?):

The Choate reunion was more of a formal reunion-y type reunion. Our lovely and gracious hosts were cousin Holly and her family in Santa Barbara. Here's a group shot:

And here's another shot from the Choate reunion of just our little branch of the family:

Some memorable highlights from the Choate reunion:

Kian got to play with his baby cousin Jaysie!

And hang out with family!

Naysan got to play music....

And I got to spend quality time with Kian!

Hopefully next reunion I'll get more of a chance to visit with everyone else, too! It was great to see everyone though, and I know this time will go by fast and all too soon Kian will be off with the big kids and won't need his mom hanging around. In the meantime, I'm going to soak it up while I can!