Five Times the Fun

Today Keaton, Grandpa and I went over to my cousin Kari's house to watch her 5 kids.  Kai (7 yrs.) , Kian (4 yrs.) and the triplets (1 1/2 yrs.), Liam, Brielle and River.

We were really hoping to give Kari some time to herself since she doesn't get any anymore.  She got a little but not much. I guess we will just have to come back!  I couldn't imagine my life changing in the way that her and Sidney's has since the surprise of the triplets.  But they seem to have a good system down at their house...she even goes out with all 5 kids by herself which is extremely impressive, actually just taking care of 5 kids now a days is extremely impressive!

The kids were all really fun and had so many cool toys for Keaton to play with.  It was such a fun time and I know we will be back....actually we have to go back since I only got a picture of the back of Liam's head. :)

 

 

 

 

Ready for School

Keaton started co-op preschool 3 weeks ago. It is one day a week for two hours and I attend with him.  Each of the parent's have different jobs (mine is helping out with a school project for the fundraising auction they do in April). The parent's also help out at the different station's in the classroom and get to participate in adult discussion every other week (while the other half of the parent's watch the kids in the classroom).

Keaton didn't enjoy the first class at all and wanted to leave the entire time and wanted his blanket.  This was the first time ever that we had attended a kids activity where he didn't enjoy at least part of it so it was very weird and I was second guessing joining pre-school...

But the second and third time we have gone he has loved it and forgot all about that blanket.  Each week they have different activities at the different stations in the classroom so it keeps it new and exciting for the kids. I think Keaton loves how there are so many fun things to do all in one room.  His favorite activity is dancing (of course)!

During the week we talk a lot about school, the rules they have, his teacher Sara, the other kids and the fun stuff to do there.  Next week is school pictures so this is almost like "real" school!

Here are a few pictures of Keaton having fun with the art projects.  I would have never thought to put a toy car in paint and then drive it on the paper!

 

We are proudly displaying his completed projects at home. Last week they did shamrock's with bingo blotters and he loved using them so we bought some (and he is having just as much fun with them at home).

 

This week one of the stations had a bathtub of water with little babies so the kids could give them a bath. This was a hit because of the water!

 

 

Here is the dancing man, he's quite a performer!

 

Next week, school pictures....I'm sure the class photo will be a classic (about 15 toddler's trying to look at the camera....good luck).

 

 

 



My Crazy Friend George

Keaton's first "friend" is his pal, George.  He has really taken a liking to this guy and loves to have George play with him and join in his daily activities. 

 

Here they are having a snack together.

 

Playing in Keaton's sleeping bag.

 

Going for a ride in the wagon.

 

Getting ready for a nap. Keaton was nice enough to get him a bunch of blankets and even moved them off George's face.

 

Here they are taking a nap, doesn't look like either of them are tired.

 

Keaton sure is lucky to have such a great friend who plays with him all day long! Thanks to Grandma Tarr who got him his first friend.  He refers to his buddy as crazy, saying over and over, "George is Crazy!" He also says "Manny is Crazy!" over and over.  Perhaps this little guy is really the crazy one!

 

 

 

 

Partied Like I Was 2

Keaton definitely partied like he was 2 on his birthday!  He sang "Happy Day to You..." He knows what "Fun" is and likes to have lots of it!  He also knows what "Cake", "Kids" "Presents" and "Bubble Guppies" are.... and when you combine that with "Fun" it's bound to be the best day ever for this 2 year old!

This year we decided on a DIY party (do it yourself vs. buying from store).  Those who know me know that is very out of character but the idea started when I found a bunch of Bubble Guppies printable's on the Internet which is Keaton's favorite show.  TJ even made Cd's with all of Keaton's favorite (crazy) music on it for party favors.

I am glad we decided on cupcakes because it was so much easier than cutting cake during the chaos of it all!  We are still finding blue frosting in random places (TJ found some on a light switch yesterday) :)

I was so glad some kids were able to come to the party. Keaton is a very social guy and loved having friends to play with.  I don't think he stopped running around the entire time (but did finally stop at 6:30pm when he fell asleep for the night)!

 

 

Because Keaton has everything he could ever want (the best parent's ever, great friends/family and a really cool dog) I indicated on the invitation that gifts weren't necessary.  But no one paid attention to my note and he got a bunch of really cool stuff.  One of his gifts was even a date with a little girl to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

This little Bubble Guppies fan sure had a fun day!

Got Lucky on Valentine's Day!

We got lucky because Keaton slept really good the night before so everyone was in a great mood on Valentine's Day. 

Keaton got lucky with chocolate from his Valentine's Day card at 5ish in the morning (for sleeping so good).  Sleeping through the night till 5 counts as a good nights sleep since transitioning from crib to bed!

Keaton also got lucky with a heart shaped waffle for breakfast although I don't think he noticed (I guess most of what we do at this age is for the parents anyways).

 

 

Manny and I made daddy brownies one day while Keaton was at daycare. Looks like Manny got lucky and snuck one....or maybe it was me!

 

 

That evening TJ and I got lucky with a date night out while Grandpa Morgan watched Keaton.  I can't remember the last time we went out to dinner on Valentine's Day....or a weeknight for that matter!  It was very exciting!  Manny was lucky enough to tag along since we chose a dog friendly place down the street (West Seattle is very dog and kid friendly so we fit in well).

Neighborhood Appreciation Day

Good thing we have the West Seattle Blog, a very active neighborhood blog that keeps us informed of all the important events in our area.  Otherwise we wouldn't have known it was neighborhood appreciation day on Saturday!

Keaton napped for about 20 minutes on Saturday and then was awake and unhappy. Since we are still in the transition to big boy bed phase, I was in his room trying to sooth him back to sleep.  I was discretely looking at neighborhood news on my phone while doing this and saw that there was an open house at the fire station right up the street.  The open house was happening for 30 more minutes.  Since Keaton was not sleeping I told him and dad we were taking a spontaneous trip up there!

He was a little hesitant about going in the trucks by himself but at the same time was very curious and pointing everywhere...what's that....what's that....

Luckily we have never had to appreciate this service in our neighborhood and hopefully never will! 

My hope was that this outing would tire him out and he would take another nap but no such luck.  He was in an amazing mood all day for a kid that only got a 20 minute nap.

It Was Bound to Happen Sooner or Later...

I just hoped it would be later.....

We have found Keaton out of his crib a few times over the past few weeks but Saturday night he decided he was done.   He climbed out, we heard the "thud", we put him back.  This happened over and over and over.

I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was eager to figure this out since he's been on the move since birth and we've given him plenty of opportunities to practice his climbing skills.

 

He's been known to climb onto backs and even climb on stage at a concert.

 

He's always been a daredevil, climbing onto toys/potty that most kids sit on.

 

We spent all day Sunday telling him how cool his big boy bed is.  He didn't think it was that cool because he cried and cried before finally falling asleep but then woke up in the middle of the night and I ended up sleeping on the floor next to him for a few hours before he fell asleep. 

 

Monday we bought him a night light hoping it would help and it must have.  It took about an hour of crying and parent soothing to get him to sleep but he slept through the night! 

 

Tuesday we started bedtime stories a half hour earlier than normal, anticipating it would take awhile to get him to sleep.  He immediately started crying and I went in right away, told him it was time for bed and he got back into bed and there hasn't been a peep out of him since (it's been about an hour).

 

Hopefully Keaton's fantastic sleeping habits followed him into the big boy bed (which is technically the same bed as his crib but with the bars removed).

 

This transition has been a big milestone that I felt snuck up on me and I certainly wasn't prepared for it.  I guess I'm not ready for my little baby boy to grow up!