First day of School (again)

Kai had his first day of school last week. Okay, his 4th ¨first day of school¨ in this last year (and 4th school), but this was his first real first day of school. You know, when all the other kids are crying and screaming for their parents too. Yes, it was glorious and my kid put up a good fight, I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or proud. All in all he did better his next day and I think he really does like it even if he is not running in to the arms of his teachers every day yet. The first couple weeks we sent him every day so he could get used to it but now we will only do 3 days a week. It is great for him as he is the type that NEEDS to be around other people and loves other kids and it will really help him with his Spanish. When I asked him how it was his first day he said: ¨Good. The bad guy took the ball and a kid kissed me.¨Sweet.

Not Yet!

A few weeks ago I was putting on make-up and Kai asked me what I was doing and I told him and then he asked why and I told him it was ¨to look pretty¨. So, a few days later he looked at my eyes (that had eye shadow--not something that happens every day here in the jungle humidity) and he said ¨You look pretty mom?¨ So, association made.

Fast forward to this morning:

Scene: Kai on toilet, me brushing my hair in front of mirror.
Kai: Mom, you make, you pretty mom?
Me: Thank you sweety, that is so nice of you (taking it as a compliment).
Kai: No momma, you not pretty yet (points to counter---and make-up).

I about died laughing!

Kinda Like Daddy

A while back I was putting Kai to bed and, while being his crazy active self, he accidently hit me in the face and it kinda hurt. I didn´t make a big deal about it because I knew it was an accident, but I did let him know that it hurt and he needs to be careful. We said prayers and in the prayers we asked God to help my face feel better. About 20 minutes after I said goodnight I heard crying from his room so I went in to check on him. I asked him what was wrong and this is how the conversation went:

Me: Kai what´s wrong?
Kai: I hurt your face (crying)
Me: Kai, its okay, Mommy feels all better. Remember when you prayed and asked God to help me feel better?
Kai: Yeah?
Me: Well, God listens to your prayers and he made me feel better.
Kai: Yeah (less skeptical)
Me: Did you know God hears your prayers and answers them? You prayed and he answered...isn´t that wonderful! (trying to sound very excited and unhurt so he would understand)
Kai: Yeah, I prayed!
Me: Yes, and God heard you.
Kai: Yeah (very excited now) I´m kinda like Daddy!
Me: (heart melting) Yes sweetie, you are.

Say What?

Situation: watching a lightning storm together
Kai: "Oh my man that was a big Lightning McQueen!"

"Oh my man" is his new favorite expression...and mine too:)

What he´s up to...

Kai is growing and changing so fast and I have not been great at documenting it. At this point it is hard to pin point things sometimes…those mile stones like rolling over, crawling, walking, talking…they were easy to recognize. You knew that your baby had moved onto the next stage. Now it is harder. There are days I watch him run and play and talk and sing and I really don’t know where the time has gone or what happened to my baby. He will be 3 in a couple months which seems crazy. Kinda old if you ask me. So I will try to do a quick (but I’m guessing it will be long) summary of what Kai’s up to right now.

• He is potty trained! This was a long time coming in my mind and we finally got it. In the end it was me who wasn’t being consistent enough with him. So once we started a rigorous on the potty schedule, he got it in a snap. He is now only diapers for napping and nighttime and even then he usually wakes up dry. He loves that fact that he is a little boy who lives in Peru and can pretty much drop his drawers anytime to go pee…I’m hoping he will learn this isn’t socially acceptable when we get back to the states…but for now it works for him. Being potty trained has added to his independent streak and in the same breath he tells me he has to go to the bathroom he also informs me that he can do it himself.
  
• He sings. All. The. Time. No kidding. He loves to sing…usually making up his own words or mixing English and Spanish. He often gets a song in his head and sticks with it for a few weeks. Or at bedtime he will ask me to sing with him and tells me he wants to sing “The train song” or “The bear song” or some other sort of song that I don’t know. When I ask him how it goes he sings it for me—totally made up. I think maybe Tyson makes up songs for him so he thinks it is normal.
  
• Right now his favorite toys are his train tracks. I guess he likes the trains to but he loves to put the tracks together and comes up with new ways to do it. His other favorite toy is his blocks. He loves to build airplanes with them because, well, planes are his other favorite thing:)
  
• Kai loves to ride his bike and is getting better every day. The first few weeks he had it he would just sit on it and then push it around. Then he moved onto figuring out the peddles but instead of peddling in circles he would go half way around and then peddle backwards and then halfway around again. It got him moving but would only get him so far. We practiced for a day up and down our road and I would lean down and move the peddles in circles and yay, all the sweating paid off because he figured it out! He can now ride around much easier and loves it.
  
• He loves to help Daddy. Tyson has had tons of projects around here trying to fix some issues we have and Kai is right beside him every time. He grabs a shovel and puts dirt in the wheelbarrow, goes to get tools that Tyson needs or comes to me to pass on a request. The other day I watched him carry a pick axe across the property to Tyson…I was seriously impressed. Just yesterday they tiled around our cistern to seal it so water couldn’t get in. Kai was right there to hand Tyson a tile every time he needed one…it was precious!
  
• I’m not sure what else. He loves to draw and color and do puzzles and play with playdough and read. He can catch a football and throw a spiral (sometimes), shoot a basket and hit with a tennis racket…the kid takes after his Daddy! He doesn’t cry when the ball hits him in the face, yet he will break down in tears over something silly (like when I washed his mosquito net yesterday). He is 2 and acts like it and I am learning to balance my expectations with reality. He is a tough little boy yet is also sensitive and loving. He has a great sense of humor and seems to understand mine. He looks at me and says “Mommy, that’s silly” when I joke or tease him and I appreciate that he gets it. He makes us laugh a lot and has a zillion faces and expressions.

We feel so blessed to be the parents of this little boy, he is a joy to us. It is a privilege to guide him and teach him in the ways of the Lord and an honor to watch him grow and change each day. We love you Kai, more than words can say…you are precious and wonderful!

Nothing to special about this…except that Kai looks pretty cute and I was pretty proud of my pancake making skills:)

As if living in the jungle avoiding sickness, critters and who knows what isn’t dangerous enough…our son has taken up flying (into the arms of his Daddy, of course).

Bike!

Here is Kai enjoying his Christmas present from my parents. He loves his bike but is still working on figuring it out. He is loves to push it around but is struggling to figure out the pedals. I give him a couple more weeks and he'll have it down and be headed down the road with dust (or mud) flying behind:)

Helping Daddy

And looking cute doing it.

Kai decided to try to wear Tyson's rubber boots around one afternoon...I was thoroughly entertained watching him try to maneuver.

I love this pic of him with his little diaper hanging out...but seriously he needs to get out of those diapers...but that's a whole other post...