Kaisen started walking the end of June (11 months). Once he found out he could take steps, all he wanted to do was be on his feet, so it was a pretty quick process.
Kaisen's first 4th of July was spent with our family at a friend's house in Peoria. He had a great time playing outside until it got dark and time for the fireworks. He seemed really interested at first and then eventually fell asleep on Grandma's lap. And here was I worried he'd be scared of them!
Kaisen turned 1 on July 13th. We had his party the previous Sunday (the 11th). We had a good turn out of family and friends. It was at Fairview park at one of the pavilions. We had a 'Mod Monkey' theme with the colors yellow and blue. It was windy so some of the decorations didn't last long, but other than that it went great!
Kaisen got his first haircut on July 22nd. He needed it! We went to Denise Baker in Mackinaw. He did great for his first time! He sat on my lap the whole time and made faces when Denise used the razor.
before
afterIn August we went to Florida. We drove down there in Grandpa's Lexus. He has DVD players and TVs built into the seats so Kaisen got to watch movies all the way down and back. In order to hear the movies he had to wear headphones which he didn't do much, but luckily was content with just watching. Unlike Kaisen's first trip to Florida (where he was colicky and constantly in a bad mood), he did great the whole week. We went shopping, driving around, went to the beach and played in the pool in the backyard. We also went to a little carnival they were having where he rode 3 different rides. He can't wait to go back!
Let's talk about: FOOD, the stuff Kaisen can't stop eating! He loves it, all kinds of it! When I stayed home when him, he ate 3 full meals plus constant snacks! There are a few (very few) foods that he doesn't care for, but for the most part he will eat anything! He loves ice cream (but really, who doesn't?) and fruit snacks. He also loves water, would rather have that than anything else most days. He drinks soy milk instead of whole milk and can't have regular yogurt because he gets butt rashes.
WORDS! For the longest time this kid refused to talk. At about 7 or 8 months old he said his first word: "uh oh", which was more like "ooh ooo". Shortly after he started saying "mama" and "dada". Then after that it was just "mom" and "mama", which basically meant everything. If he wanted up, it was "mama", if he wanted a snack or drink, "mama", if he was upset, "mama". I would try everyday to get him to say things: up, drink, cup, banana, puppy, bye, hi, etc. Nothing, he refused! It all started on Black Friday. We were out shopping and at Kohls he saw a picture of a dog and out of nowhere pointed to the dog and said "dah", which we soon learned was "dog". Now he says everything (or he at least tries!)! It's such a change. It's nice because it's cute to hear him say things and awesome that he's learning. He knows who people are (Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Rye Rye, Kaisen, Aunt Emily, Miley, etc).
Mid December I got a job at Curves, so Kaisen went to Uncle Daniel's house for a few hours. Right before Christmas, some unfortunate circumstances left Kaisen without a babysitter, so we were forced to put him in daycare. We looked up the daycare in Mackinaw, but it wasn't convenient enough for us, so I enrolled him at Little Jewels. He started there 2nd week of January. The first week went okay, he didn't mind being left behind surprisingly. But the 2nd and 3rd week were rough, he cried every time Grandpa dropped him off in the morning. By now though, he's used to it and does great again with the rare bad morning.
I think that's all of the updates for now. So I will share some random pics since last July:
Lots of pics, couldn't choose just a couple.
