a good afternoon of play

Warning:  The story below contains a bit of potty talk.

Yesterday afternoon in our home turned out to be a really sweet time of playing together for Isaiah and Marian.  I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard Isaiah tell Marian, "Come on, we can poop together.  Let's hold hands."

I was so glad they were willing to repeat the pose for me once I had grabbed the camera.  And then they were so taken with my excitement for them that they wanted to hold hands for jumping off the couch (a daily routine at our place) and running too.  

Sadly, this sweetness is not the exclusive way of things in our home.  Just a few hours earlier Marian received a good bite on her arm from her loving big brother... and that was the second this week.  (These are the only two times we've known him to bite, and we hope he is well convinced now of the unworthiness of the activity!)

riding around

Where my little baby go?

For the title, Marian's grammar comes easiest to mind to express my utter disbelief that our one month old is this big already! Honest- he was skinny at birth! Happy (1 month) Birthday "Little" John!

At the one month mark John had grown 6 cm (2.4 inches) and gained 1.7 kg (3.5 pounds- on top of 7.2 lb birhtweight!)

Isaiah really loves snuggling John.  He often goes out of his way to stop and give John a kiss or pat his head and tell him "it's ok baby John,"  or "I love you baby John."  Its really special for us to get to see and celebrate this tender side in our all-boy boy.

And here's some of what we've been busy with at our house lately (along with enjoying lots of sweet visitors)....  Potty training for us involves LOTS of reading on the pot.  And it's a family affair at this point.  Marian was a little slow at the get-go for the light to come on with the whole potty training process, but now that it's on- it seems to be a brighter future for the whole K Fam and the carpet is back down in the living room now.  She's now fully convinced of the worth-whileness of getting to read "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?"(almost always her first pick) and get a chocolate (half an M-n-M) every time she goes.... and she's even been right on target- going in the potty- when we've been at friends' houses and haven't had the book or the chocolate on hand.  Phew!!

More photos coming soon... for now, here's just one of our littlest love.

the fourth... on youtube

Matt and I are perhaps too laissez-faire in our celebration of some holidays here.  Our first Thanksgiving here we let slip by mostly uncelebrated and it wasn't until afterwards that we realized we really missed it.

Late this morning some new friends, who recently moved to our area, called to invite us to a Fourth of July party in their apartment.  Before that, I imagined we would spend the fourth of July in plain old anticipation of the fifth:  nothing special.  But it was fun to get together with friends, eat some BBQ (saucy chicken from a crock-pot) and watermelon, talk about the kids and watch them play, and just be American.  

For our finale- we celebrated in Capital City style.  We watched a (fairly lame) fireworks show on youtube.

Actually, the fireworks show was entirely lame (still well-worth the try!), but we still feel healthier and happier for getting to celebrate a good day with dear friends.   These guys sure know how to host a party and cook up some great food.  It was lots of fun!  We're grateful.  

We hope your fireworks left encouragement and joy in your hearts too.