Recent Developments

It has been fascinating watching Bruce learn new things. He knows how to open doors (our handles are the newer long handles) so we've had to shuffle a few things around to keep him safe. This clip is from one of the first few times he started opening our kitchen closet door, which previously had been barred from him. It's long...it may be something only Bruce's mom can appreciate, but here it is. I guess I'm taking care of my promise to Carrie to post a video of him walking...muahaha. I love how he runs a few steps away when he gets it open...he knows that was somewhere we didn't really want him to be.

He twirls around. This began a few weeks ago. I was shocked when I saw him do it the first time. It really made me wonder where he picked it up from...crazy kid! Today for lunch I had soup. It was too hot to eat so I was blowing on it. Now Bruce is blowing on his food. He is starting to be a bit cuddly when he wakes up. He'll tuck his little arms in and lay his head on my chest. It's really quite dear. Also, if a blanket is on the floor he'll lay down on it and do the same thing for just a few seconds, tucking his arms under his body. And probably not the last thing he'll learn from us that we wish he hadn't...he laughs at all burps and toots. Apparently they are very funny. What a fun little guy he's turning out to be!

Photo Shoot

Every Christmas, Kirk's company sends out holiday greetings to their clients. Last year, all the principles in the company shared a recipe. They put each of them on a cute card with their photo in the kitchen and the recipe. This year they highlighted 10 ways to use a paper bag. He was asked to participate in this. As you can see, this particular idea is origami. I appreciate that Kirk enjoys his job. He coordinates company outings and socials, participates in a drafting committee, and has most recently presented information on new software he is testing for his group.

Birthday Goodness

I love to see the temple...

and now I can everyday if I want...well, sort of! We're getting a temple in the Kansas City area, wahoo! This is really wonderful news.

What every one year old wants?

Bruce's big one is coming up soon. A special day is in the works, but we're just wondering what to get the little guy. Anybody have any recommendations that a walker who puts everything in this mouth would enjoy?

Umm...Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great day! We found a new Asian restaurant, Tannah's, that we ate lunch at. I love love love Asian cuisine! I still have some shopping to do. After a light dinner I made Kirk amass a ton of candles in a peanut butter playground cake from Coldstone and sing to me. And maybe most exciting *putsongeekyglasses* I finally earned enough reputation to buy my 70 hunter a Talbuk mount in World of Warcraft.

Welcome to Homely Family

So you're wondering about the title of this entry....Kirk's family would begin their weekly Family Home Evenings with that greeting. Tonight included some hangman, Kirk guessed pretty quickly...spoiled all my fun (I think the thought and scripture gave it away), some singing of "Rise Up, O Men of God" (can't say that I've sung that before), and some scripture chasing.

Our activity, in an effort to emphasize that the most important occupation for a man to be is to be a "priesthood man", was pantomiming occupations. To add a bit of a twist and to involve Bruce, he became our prop. Bruce was a drill hammer, Santa's bag, a grocery item, and a guitar. He loved it and well, we were amused too!

Ethnically Enriched

I seem to be a festival junkie...it doesn't help that Kansas City hosts an abundance of these. Our latest (which was a few weeks ago, bad blogger!) was the Enrichment Festival held at Swope Park. Basically we were ethnically fed. We tried out food from Israel (falafel), France (crepes), Vietnam (zhenzhu drink), and Indonesia (pumpkin drink). Apparently the zhenzhu drink brought back some memories for Kirk from serving in Taiwan. They call a lot of the drinks teas, but some have tea in them and some don't. He said it was a real struggle in the beginning being in Taiwan figuring out which of the 'teas' had tea in it or not.

Update

I feel like I haven't blogged for a really, really long time....oh wait, I haven't! Okay, so here's what's been going on...

Anniversary
Kirk and I celebrated our four year anniversary on the 16th. It was celebrated in little ways all week long. Lisa was staying with us on Monday so she booted me out the door to go have lunch with Kirk. We went to Bo Ling's. It doesn't matter, anniversary or Valentine's Day, Chinese is our traditional meal out together. Guess it sort of started when he proposed, we had take out...he switched out my fortune in the fortune cookie to say "Stand Up Now", he got down on his knee, it was special. Kirk brought me flowers on Wednesday, our anniversary. On Saturday, we got a babysitter and saw The Dark Knight. We're not into extravagant gifts so this week was perfect!

Haircut
Kirk was getting a haircut so we took care of Bruce's as well. Kirk trimmed him up and did a good job.

Dragon Boat Festival
We ventured to the Plaza on Saturday to experience the Dragon Boat Festival. Unfortunately, the boat races were canceled but we chowed down on some Zong Zi (rice dumplings stuffed with pork and another stuffed with red beans). We stopped off at The Cheesecake Factory before heading home.

Walking
Bruce has really gotten confident in his cruising. So much that I would say he is walking. Not consistently, but taking unaided steps!

Day at the Farm
We enjoyed walking around DeAnna Rose Farmstead. Can one get enough of this place? I'm not so sure. It will only get more enjoyable as Bruce becomes more aware of the animals. Love it!

Nine Months

We always thought he was advanced for his age, but now we're sure (see above, Bruce is getting ready to read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking). Haha, it wasn't until a few minutes ago while editing this photo that I realized this shot actually captured him pulling that book out. His dad would be proud. Bruce provides us with plenty of opportunities to rearrange our books as he is pulling them out daily.

Some things Bruce is doing now...pulling himself up and cruising around, is on a decent schedule sleeping at 8:00 till 7:00ish and napping at 9:00, 1:00, and 5:00, still breastfeeding and eating all types of baby food, currently has the bottom two teeth and pushing two top teeth through, babbles and says dadadada, omnomnomnom, blows out through his lips, likes books and being read to, hates getting his diaper changed (squirms around like none other), likes to be crawled/chased only to get caught and tickled, will lean over until he's in your eyesight when he's trying to get your attention, gets excited and will dance and wave his arms up and down, likes his pacifier, gets into cabinets, bookshelves, and our artificial tree, starting to throw tantrums, very smiley and happy most of the time (haha, didn't realize this comment followed "starting to throw tantrums"), loves walks in the stroller, and beginning to imitate us.


In other news, we've recently taken him to the pool for the first time. He did just fine.