I finally had Kyler's 2 yr well baby appt. He's growing! Up, but definitely not out. He went from 90% in height, up to 95%. He's a very tall boy. But his weight only went from 20% up to 25%. Which is at least up. He's very skinny! I have sewn a big seam on both sides of all of his pants to keep them from sliding down his waist. We talked a lot about it to the dr, and he just says to hold on for another year. Don't stuff him with fat like cream, extra butter, and extra empty fats (like a number of other mothers have suggested to me), and it's OK if he eats Oatmeal or another breakfast food 3 times a day! He was pleased that we do keep presenting him with regular food, and don't give in easily to him, but he agreed that in the end, we do need to feed him something. He's just too underweight to skip meals altogether because he won't eat what we give him originally. So we make him eat 1 bite now, and then after we've mostly finished eating we will give him some oatmeal or mini-wheats. Last week we dug in for some reason, and it took 2 1/2 hours for him to eat that first bite. Then he asked for more, and ate 6 bites of chicken! Go figure. Then, since it was past his bedtime, we gave him some oatmeal. The dr. really isn't as worried as we are. He says that foods these days are very fortified, and if he eats some milk and a few others, he's probably getting all the nutrition he needs, and we can see the numbers - he's growing!

We finally had some nice weather, and all of us were out back doing something. Kipp and I hear a scream and a thump, and Kyler falls off the TOP of the fort/slide onto his back on the grass. Instantly, Ilea says, "I'm sorry for that!" I asked her if she pushed him, and she said "No, it was an accident". I asked her if it was because she wanted to go first, and she said yes, but it was an accident! Kipp's like, no big deal, he's fine, but I'm having visions of broken neck, back, concussion!

Today Kyler was stinking. Jenny went and got the baby wipes and a new diaper, but remember something she wanted to finish on the computer. So she put the wipes and diaper down. A minute later Kyler was calling for help! He was on the other side of the couch, so she couldn't see him. He had taken his footsie pajamas off, gotten a wipe out, and undid his diaper. At this point luckily, he realized he neede help! It was a mess, soon to be all over the carpet! So Jenny cleaned him up and finished with the diaper. She told hiim to put his PJ's on. He came over a minute later with his feet stuck through the arm holes! It was very funny. What a big helper!

Later we went to lunch to McDonalds. Ilea was such a big helper with Kyler. She helped boost him up the platforms, and played very well with him for a long time. She is getting so good with him!

Last night, Kyler took 2 1/2 hrs to eat a bite of dinner. We usually cave in once we're done eating and let him have oatmeal. He's so underweight, we just don't have the heart to say "Tough luck, kid, no food until breakfast!" Besides, if he doesn't get enough he wakes up about 6:30 am hungry (then mom is unhappy). But for some reason, Jenny dug in last night and made him eat 1 piece of chicken. Jenny sat with him for 2 hours, the first of which he cried continuously, with his fiingers in his mouth, until all his fingers were wrinkled prunes. Then he played for a long time. Finally at 8, Jenny took Ilea up to bed. Kipp got Kyler-duty, and Kipp finally got mad at him and yelled. Kyler finally ate one, and asked for more! He ate 6 pieces of chicken! Then a bowl of oatmeal. Oh well. It's progress.

Kyler has been saying "do me", and we haven't been able to figure it out. Well the mystery is finally revealed. He has books about manners, called Please, Thank You, Excuse me, and Your Welcome. Today he had 2 of them, and I told him they were Please and Excuse me. He picked the second one, and started reading, "do me". Mystery Solved.

Jenny read Ilea "He Bear,She Bear", a book about what you can be. After, Jenny asked Ilea what she wanted to be when she grew up. She thought for a minute, and said, "Well, I want to be just like you!" Melt. The good moments go a long way.

Later, Ilea was playing in the oven part of the play kitchen. Kyler was fiddling at the top. Ilea says, "Kyler, are you going to cook me, Kyler? Am I hot?" He said, "No. Warm" Jenny told him to be sure and put lots of Ketchup on Ilea.

Jenny was at the computer when Kyler came over making funny noises, pawing at his mouth. There was white lumpy stuff. I grabbed a kleenix to try to wipe it out, and took him to the sink to get water. I thought he had gotten into some old milk, and that it had curdled. I was a little surprised because it would have had to have been in a sippy cup, and I didn't know how he got that much out or got the lid off. So I started looking around, and noticed my spice drawer was open, and there was a spoon sticking out of the bowl of Kosher salt! Poor guy! I hope he won't try that again!

Kyler was kind of grumpy after nap today, and while they had a snack Ilea did "creepy Mouse" on him. Jenny's mom does Creepy mouse and walks her fingers toward the child and then tickles him. Pretty soon Kyler starts saying "more". And Ilea does more creepy mouse to him.

Ilea and Jenny were sitting in the front entrance waiting for Pete Hackett to take Ilea to school. Kyler came in with a handful of cereal. I told him "No Cereal away from the table! Go back!" So he grinned at me and stuffed the whole handfull in his mouth at once! Then he grinned again. Ilea said, "That silly brother!"

After Ilea had left, Kyler and I were playing around. He hit his head on the floor. He cried, and so I started kissing him. And he said, "Bonk head! Need Lala's medicine!" She is taking some antibiotic for a sinus infection, and he asks for some every time she takes it.

In early Jan Jenny came in to get Kyler from his nap. I found him with his garbage can in his crib! Luckily there were only a few papers in it. He must have reached down through the crib slats, and pulled it up to the top, then reached over without letting it fall and pulled it in with him. Quite creative. So we switched the laundry basket and the garbage.

Kyler's birthday today. We only invited 2 friends, since he's 2! That's a great rule. One family got sick, so we just went with the other family, the Natsuharas, to Auburn Family Fun center. It has a back room that has ball pits, slides, and tubes to play in. It's supposed to be just for little kids under 10, but usually there are only kids under 5 or so. We had the place to ourselves for quite a while, and then some older kids came in for a party. They were throwing balls and being quite rough. So we decided to have our cake then. As our kids were finishing up the cake, the older kids went into a room to have pizza and their cake. So we got another 20 minutes of play again. It worked out perfect. Nori is a little younger than Ilea, and Koji is almost the same age. By this time they were getting pretty tired anyway, so we called it quits when the big kids came back. All in all, it was a fun party. Kyler had a train cake. I had frosted it the day before, and Ilea wanted to help me decorate it. So I had frosted all of the cars a different color, and pushed it to the back of the counter. I was sitting at the computer while Kyler was awake, waiting for Ilea to come home, and Kyler comes over with a hand full of different color frosting and says "CAKE!!!" He had pushed a chair over, and run his finger down every one of the cars, getting different frosting on his hand each time! What a mess! But, since it was his cake, no big deal. I tried to smooth it out, and we put candy over the bad spots.