and now he is three!

Well, again, it has been too long between posts.  I have the best of intentions.  Kian has turned three now and is the biggest joy I've ever had in my life!  We never saw a sign of the "terrible twos", and some people say it's now the "terrible threes", but he is anything but!  He is so sweet, lively, and fun and rarely gives us trouble.  He enjoys us, but doesn't mind playing alone for a while.  He loves daycare, but is very happy when we pick him up.  He is so blessed to not only have the best daycare lady, but now our Thessa works at the daycare, too!  So he gets to see his 'big brothers' Levi and Logan almost every day! 

Lately he has been very interested in letters and sounds!  He now has a 'leap pad' type computer toy in both of our cars to help him learn letters and sounds.  He loves to point out the letters on my shirts when I'm getting him ready for bed (Curves Woman and PLAY!)  I am soo happy, of course!

He loves to play, wrestle, tease, and LICK!  Him and his daddy have licking contests, and I just barely put up with it!  He is getting very excited for Christmas, and I know we'll have fun celebrating it with him this year!  He is talking like crazy and is almost always 100% intelligible (sometimes you have to try a little harder, but we can usually figure out what he's talking about!

our changing boy!

back at it...almost exactly a year later, it's time to start back on this blog.  Our lives are flying by, Kian is growing up way too fast, and this is one way that I can document our lives.  Both Jeff and I feel that Kian grew up a few months just today!  It was almost dinnertime and all of a sudden, Kian says, "I'm hungry!"  We are pretty sure it's the first time he's said that!  Over the weekend, he had a headache or earache and was able to tell us that.  He had to poop while we were in the car travelling and was able to tell us that.  He was too hot and didn't feel well (along with the poo-ing) in the car, and was able to tell us that.  Oh my...where has our little boy gone?  Then, after Jeff tried putting him to bed, he started whining, then got out of bed and opened the door. Jeff went back in to check on him to find out that Kian was afraid of his shadow, the "monster."  This is all new...imagination, the good parts and the bad parts, are cropping up in our little boy every day.  Wow!

Hard times have hit the Larson family. Tim had an aneurysm about 3 weeks ago, and although he has been making slow strides forward in his healing, he now has meningitis, which can be a deadly and/or debilitating illness.

Vicki got fired from her job over a week ago, had an appeal hearing, but has been told the firing stands. She is now looking for work, and thankfully she does have a few good leads. She is very sad and worried, and is trying very hard not to hold resentment toward The Everett Clinic. Brad, however is very angry (I'm sure it's worry and fear manifested into anger). Vicki and the girls have no insurance as of right now. This is probably one of the biggest concerns. Vicki is starting the job search and working on a resume'.

Just found out that my 15 year old step-niece is pregnant. oh my Lord...

My best friend is about to become a grandma, her daughter's pregnancy is at a worrisome state and she can't work now. I just went to her baby shower Sunday and saw her new place (with boyfriend) Monday, but all I can feel is sadness and concern.

My life with my Jeff and my Kian is so great...but it's hard to keep all of this sadness, anger, fear, worry, concern, and grief out of our happiness. My heart is breaking for all of my loved ones.

sick of the sickies!

Ok, I've had enough! A few weeks ago, Jeff and I both had NASTY colds at the same time. Started to go away...then, Jeff got icky sick on Valentine's Day. Only lasted about a day, no barfy, just icky. Thennnn...I get sick that Saturday night, felt like I got run over by an ICE truck...had the chills like nobody's busines. Woke up in the middle of the night to barf, with the chills, notsomuchfun! The next day, Sunday, I begged Jeff to stay home from work. But, he couldn't. So, I cancelled church at our house and laid around watching Kian wreak havoc on our house. Jeff made it home early from work, I took a nap and a shower, and bam, started feeling better. BTW...2nd President's Day weekend IN A ROW that I have been poopy/barfy sick!!! ugh!

Today, a week later...Kian is SUPER fussy! ALL day. Tried to nap him FOUR times! Only successful ONCE! Yesterday, he needed a nap in the morning, but we were headed to grocery shop. When we came home, he went down for a nap before noon...epic fail! He only slept about an hour, and we were headed to to JCPenney for family portraits at 3:20...he pretty much needed another one...right about then! Well, he made it, the pictures are OK, and then we headed to dinner at Red Robin. The fish n chips that Jeff and I were so looking forward to were a let down. Bummer. Kian LOVED his cheese pizza and mandarin oranges, though!

Found a new canine tooth in Brayby's mouth just before happy bedtime with daddy! No wonder!

Work last week...epic fail. I'm hoping for a fresh start tomorrow. I need to figure out how to help these kiddos behave without raising my voice...I hate raising my voice.

Snow dayzzzzz

What a week it's been! Non school day Monday, then four snow days. Darnit, I was looking forward to our crazy, weird, short week, and then next week as well! Oh well, it's been interesting!

I've been home with Kian for 4 days straight (well, he had a little time at Bethy's on Monday) and it's been interesting, to say the least! Yesterday, Wednesday, was a wild roller coaster of a day here in this home! Kian was adorable, sweet, funny, happy, mad, infuriating, and adorable! I have no idea what order these things happened, but here is a bulleted list of our ONE day!

• while I was trying to help him down the stairs (while holding hot tea) he accidentally let go of my finger and fell down. Since I was holding tea, I tried to stop him...with my foot...which backfired, and I almost sorta pushed him down the stairs. He barrel rolled, recovered quickly, no injuries!
• I have started trying to put him on time out for pushing the power button on the VCR...it makes the tv all snowy. After putting him on timeout about 5 times for this, he started going over to the VCR, pushing the button and RUNNING to the time out spot on the stairs!
• As I sit in the chaise in his playroom (the only way he'll play in there) holding my hot tea, he thinks I'm his personal jungle gym and climbs all over me. I have nowhere to put the tea, so it is spilled on me!
• We went outside to shovel the driveway so daddy could come back home. Kian is a very good boy and plays close by while I shovel. Doesn't take me too long. Then we migrate down 2 houses to Alexander's house where he is playing in the snow with his mom and dad. Kian gets to sled for the first time, down their driveway! He is indifferent, but I think he liked it!
• Bethy (daycare) says Kian has been napping for 2 hours in the afternoons lately, since she got him down to one nap. Not for mama! 45 min.-one hour was it.
• Mamma doesn't even get to use her laptop at all during the day because Kian thinks it's his toy...lots of buttons to push!
• We go to the neighbors house to visit, and we have some hot cocoa. Whoops, she leaves her chair out at the table. Kian climbs up, grabs the placemat, cocoa cup and all, and down it goes. Chocolatey cocoa all over him, the floor, and a broken mug! Thank GOD for hardwood!
  
• He loves to push all the cushions off the couch and jump into them...adorable-but I get tired of picking them up!
  
• He also loves to climb the stairs, open our bedroom door, and BOLT into the bathroom-where he is NOT supposed to go. He will not listen when I call him out of there. He earned a little spankin' on that one! He recovered quickly, trust me! I think I hurt his feelings more than anything!
• he found a small slinky downstairs and a bottle of nail polish (I store the slinky on the polish and fidget with the slinky while watching tv) and played with the two for at least 20 minutes (inside a little ottoman that opens up!)
• he's starting to throw the ball for Maggie...but he throws it AT her...still cute!
• Since a new baby has started at daycare and there is now a swing around, he has figured out how to crawl into the one we still have in his playroom. He crawled into it, swung with a big ole grin, fell out a couple of times, and had a ball!

So goes my day with Kian! I was relieved when daycare was opened back up on Thursday, and I've never had so much fun picking up, dusting, vacuuming, and just generally straightening up the house...knowing it would stay that way for at least a coupla hours!

bathtime

If it weren't already past his bedtime, I could've watched Kian take a bath tonight all evening long! He was having so much fun pouring and stirring and pouring some more. Guess what the only things he was playing with? His bathtime pouring pitcher, a small plastic drinking cup, a large plastic cup from Taco Bell, the lid, and the straw! For at least a half an hour! This kid is so cute and he is such a thinker. I swear I could hear the gears spinning while he was 'playing'!

I am going to say this is my favorite age...every age so far has been my favorite age. We've never slid backwards (that I can remember). He is such a sponge! Absorbing and learning about everything he sees, hears, touches, tastes, smells, and experiences.

I decided to run to the craft store this afternoon after I picked him up from daycare. First stop was Joann Fabric, which didn't have anything of what I wanted. But it was fun to let him walk through the store a little with me. At one point, he was pushing the cart under me and I was holding him back, making him work really hard! He's like our dog, Maggie...he needs to be WORKED!

So we carried on over to Michael's and wandered and wandered. Kian was the oh-so-patient accompaniment that I needed. All it takes is something new in his hands every five minutes or so. So easy to do in a store! Especially when mommy is wandering and wondering what to get. The only reason he got a little fussy was when I tethered him into his carseat to head home AND he was hungry! I didn't even have a diaper bag with me, but luckily I at least had a couple of satsumas, which he loves. We stopped to grab Chinese at Haggen for mama and Daddy and Kian just hung out close by but wandered just enough to curb his curiosity. Such a good boy! He EVEN helped me carry the chopsticks!

I like this blog...I can post lots more of my thoughts about this little boy, my family, and our happiness than on facebook and the people who want to read it can, and those that don't aren't 'stuck'! If you are reading this, thanks for caring. I love this kid!

tradition overload!

We have started our holiday traditions with Kian! I'm slightly obsessed with creating our own family traditions, not having had a whole lot growing up. He is so much fun right now!

Every morning, whoever gets up with Kian helps him find our elf, "Elfie". If you haven't heard of Elf on a Shelf and you have young kids, you have to check it out! Kian is starting to realize the elf is there and enjoys looking for him. According to Pinterest, the elf can get VERY creative on hiding spots and activities, but we're taking the easy way out this year and just hiding him around the living room for now. In the future, our elf will be zip-lining across the room, doing snow angels in a pile of sugar, trying to steal a toy, taking a bubble bath in the bathroom sink with little marshmellows, and on and on!

Also, right when we get up, we take him to the Christmas tree, which has a foot pedal to turn on the lights. We get ready, then count to three and "magically" turn on the lights! I almost gave it away a few days ago when I turned them off while he was watching...without doing the magic! I think we may have slipped by, he's forgotten, for now!

We bought an advent calendar that looks like a wardrobe on the outside and has 24 little drawers inside. I filled the drawers alternately with Reese's peanut butter cups and little bell ornaments. It's taken a while for him to figure out that we have to unwrap the candy first, AND he thinks he can eat the bells. Maybe not such a great idea, mama! Oh well! It's fun, nonetheless!

I am also going to take 13 books (for now, I'm going to use the many books he already has, that he hasn't even seen yet) and wrap them individually. I will put them in a special 'book box' and he will open one on Christmas and one each month until next Christmas. I am going to cheat a little until he's a little older and save the Dolly Parton Imagination Library books for next year to wrap for next Christmas! Smart Mama!

We have a couple of toy trains for Kian that have been given as gifts. We bought the tracks for one of them to set up by the Christmas tree and I'm so excited to see this and to add to it each year.

I'm a cheese ball. Yes, I like cheese, in all its many forms! And I love my family!