Happy Birthday to one of my favorite friends! 

In the words of Big K............

Usually at the end of the day as things are winding down, we begin to get a running commentary of what has happened in Keona's day. Yesterday we went to the beach and as he was bathing and getting ready for bed we heard:

sand -- shovel -- dig

fish--sand-- swim

big fish

tiny shell

'pus (octopus), legs--swim--gone

After Botanical Garden

flower--pretty

slide

snake--big--water

turtle--water-swim

Cute enough... 

Not cute enough to wear..... 

The offending romper! 

Clothes Horse

This morning I had an interesting experience when I tried to dress Keona. I had picked out a new romper with a yellow shirt. Quite a smart little outfit. Big K had other ideas about it though. When I tried to put it on him he said no....and started to push it off. I tried to pull it up; he pulled it up and turned up the volume, "Nooooooo! Don't want it." Well, I figured that he was just being obstinate about getting dressed, but we had places to go, so there was no choice. The fight continued for a few minutes and finally he said, "Jeans". I put him down and he ran into his room and tried to open his drawer, so I opened it for him and he got out a pair of jeans! Good night! It was the same with the socks, too. I tried for a white pair and he decidedly wanted red. Who knew at 20 months that he would care!

Sad Duck Story

Last month a duck chose to make her nest and lay eggs in the middle of Keona's play area. I think her decision was made in desperation and in the wee hours of the morning. Before discovering her nest, I found a duck egg lying in the open on the other side of the yard, so perhaps when she built the nest, she was in a hurry. Anyway, even though it wasn't a good place, I was pretty excited. She had 9 eggs in there. I tried, however unsuccessfully, to keep Keona out of the loop on this. I did let the mothers know when they came for playgroup so that everyone would be aware and keep the kids away from the nest. We always spoke in whispers about it and just looked in the general direction. I took pictures of mom and eggs, but only when Keona wasn't around.

One morning I came out to a tragic scene. It had been a particularly cold night and I couldn't resist walking out to check on mother and eggs. What I found broke my heart. I saw several shells on the ground, completely smashed. At first, I was pretty excited because I thought they had hatched. But the nest was eerily silent. Upon closer investigation, I found that mother was gone and all the eggs had been smashed and clearly eaten by some predator. I really almost cried. When my friend Robyn came over with her daughter Maddie, I told her about it and I think this time we went over and looked. The kids continued to play. However, sometime later in the afternoon, Keona amazed me with his perception. He walked over to where the nest had been and looked into it. Then he said, "Duck, eggs, sad...". He has repeated this several times since the event. How did he put all that together? I don't suppose I will be able to play the Santa Clause game with him for too many years....

Sad Duck Story 

Oh, no! Not the stiffy!

Yes, it has begun. Keona and I were on our way home from a very nice afternoon at the Hermitage (pictures later) when we stopped at McDonalds. I decided to take the opportunity to change his diapers and clothes as he was wet and sandy. However, when I went to put him back in his carseat, he had decided enough was enough and he didn't want to be restrained...and you guessed it: he went stiff and started screeching. It's one of those bad moments when you have to force the little guy into his seat...horrible, horrible, horrible. I figured he would stop crying after a few minutes as he normally does, but today he kept right on screaming and getting louder and pushing against his straps. I reached back to reassure him and he grabbed my arm with a death grip and started shaking. I thought my god, something is really wrong. Maybe a bee flew in and got into his seat; maybe he is pinched.... Anyway, I decided to stop and check. I pulled into a parking lot and got him out of his seat quickly. No bee. I even stripped him down to check his diaper and clothes. At this point he had become calm and was enjoying the game. I had to get a couple things in the pharmacy anyway, so we took the break and went inside. Keona was perfectly happy. I came back out and put him in his seat and had to listen to the screeching for the remainder of the ride home! The next morning, I dreaded putting him the seat...but he was fine. Whew!

Sigh....I really miss him. 

This is me and my bestest buddy, Spencer, who just moved to Georgia.  

This is me and my bestest buddy Spencer, who just moved to Georgia. 

I just gotta be me! 

at the Botanical Garden 

Daddy and me 

He called him "Toadie"..... 

Keona meets a toad... 

Some days are more challenging than others......

As exciting as it is to witness Keona find his voice, some days I long for the days when his communication was, well, simpler: "Ahhhh"....hungry, "Ahhhaha"...hold me, "ahheha"...change me. Today, I decided we were going to start our day with a morning walk and I took Big K outside and put him in the "jogging" stroller and started doen the driveway. Only to be treated to a torrent of emphatic "NOs" and squeals and "RUN! RUN! RUN!". Big K had no intention of riding, he wanted to run. And so we meet the "who's in charge" dilemma. Obviously some days he will have to go places he doesn't want to go (especially, since momma gets fatter by the day) and I guess we will have to deal with it, but today he got to run. And run he did. Up and down the sidewalk, around the yard, and up and down the porch. Then to the sandbox and the slide...then back to running. He ran for about an hour while I got some work done, and then he climbed up in the stroller and said "ride" and pointed down the driveway. So mommy did get to go walk some of that fat off afterall!

Pretending......

This week I caught Keona pretending several times. Pretty new and fascinating to me. His Nana was asking him about the lizard on his shirt and he said "lizard" then "turtle, water, swim". He then threw himself onto his stomach and began to "swim". I guess I've got to get him into the pool more. Next, we were getting ready to go out and he dropped onto all fours and started crawling around the floor going "meow! meow!". Later, he was sitting on the couch watching TV. I was checking on him from the kitchen where he couldn't see me and heard loud snoring noises coming from the couch......then he saw me and smiled. I asked him what he was doing and, of course, he said "sleeping", though he was clearly wide awake. I find it amazing to watch him unfold bit by bit each day.

Hanging with Uncle and Tony 

oooohhhhh...what is THAT for? 

Let me just see what happens when I flip this........ 

"I got to get me one of these!" 

A Rock-climbing Baby.......

This afternoon, I was working on the computer in our office and Big K was at the other end of the house watching television. Suddenly I heard a blood-curdling scream. I raced to the television room only to find Keona on the television. Not on top of the TV, he had climbed up onto the coffee table in front of the televison and he had himself sprawled out across the screen. I noticed that there were people climbing a rock wall on the screen and they had fallen down and were dangling on their ropes. I asked Keona what he was doing (despite the scream, he seemed okay). He said "climbing, I climbing". Stuck. Help." Now THAT'S INTERACTIVE TELEVISION!

A demonstration of genius........

Okay...so all of our children are "geniuses" at this age. I find the learning process amazing and I am sorry that I did not start documenting from day 1. Anyway, we will begin now. I hope such documentation will help me remember not to stop looking for the genius in us all. When we think someone is a genius, I think we are thinking the best for that person. We have hope and think there is great promise for that person. Perhaps if we looked at everyone that way, we would be amazed at what we find.

Anyway, today I was playing around with my son, who knows many letters of the alphabet but not numbers -- or so I thought. We never seem to get passed 2. At 20 months old I still think that is okay. However, today we were stringing, sorting, and counting (well I was sorting and counting, Big K was throwing) beads. Suddenly Big K started stacking the yellow squares and we sarted counting when I got to 4 HE said 5; I repeated 5; HE said 6; I repeated 6; HE said 7; I repeated 7; HE said 8; I repeated 8. Maybe this is normal, but I am always amazed at what he really does know and doesn't tell us until he's ready. I was tempted to make him do it again and start quizzing him, but I know from experience that this never works. He would've just looked at me with his beautiful grin and thrown some more beads. He reminds me time and time again that he is no show pony! I hope as we begin and continue our great journey of homeschooling that I will remember this.