Thanksgiving and Soccer Trophy Day

Early Thanksgiving.

Today we officially celebrated Thanksgiving. I wanted to mark the holiday in a significant way but we won't be able to celebrate on the actual day, so we decided to celebrate early. While I was cooking the boys helped daddy build a teepee which was fun for them. The boys also broke out the rocking horse and used it to hunt for Buffalo. This was all in the context of introducing the story of the first thanksgiving. We also all painted pictures of the things we were thankful for. Kai included a Rocket Ship on his picture. ( We were able to see the last shuttle launch from our house, so maybe that is why that was on his mind). We rounded out the Thanksgiving fun with a "Character Builders' cartoon about Thankfulness. Kai has been singing the song to that all day.

During dinner Kai said he wanted 10 sisters or at least one for each of us. I told him that would mean a lot more people he would have to share toys with, but he seemed fine with that.

After dinner he referred to Baby brother Levi as "A poopy pilgrim". He came up with that completely on his own. It was pretty funny.

I have an update about Kai's reaction to the info he learned from the "Why do we eat?" book. Tonight we went for a long walk and stopped at the store and let Kai pick out a lollipop. He was eating it and held it out to me and said. "Is this great food?" I replied, "Well, it is actually junk food. Remember the book said junk food is food that just has sugar in it and doesn't have vitamins or nutrients." He then handed me the lollipop and said he didn't want it because it "didn't do anything to build up my muscles." So that book really had a big impact on him.

Yesterday was a big day for Kai. he played his last soccer game of the season and received a trophy. He was thrilled about that. We were proud of him for playing a great game and sticking with it every week. I think he learned a lot from the experience. We had fun watching him figure it all out.

I will add photos of getting the Soccer trophy and Thanksgiving soon.

soccer, halloween and Gotcha day

My big kid

Kai is really growing up. He has become my little helper all around the house. He was cleaning up his toys in the playroom today and Levi started crying. Kai went over and picked up his baby brother's bottle and brought it to him and put it in his mouth. It was completely adorable.

Today we went to Mops. Kai always has a good time playing with the other kids.. They do a lesson, songs and an art project and get some playground time as well. I asked him about the story today and he said, "The teacher told me to be quiet." I said, "Were you quiet?" and he answered, "A little bit." He was so matter of fact about it.

Kai has been playing Soccer with a bunch of other 3 year olds through the YMCA. He seems half-way interested. I think snack time is his favorite part of the game! :) He will be ready next year.

We read a book at quiet time today called "Why do we eat?". It is a book about the whole process of eating with all kinds of funny illustrations. He was fascinated by it, especially the pages about germs. So for the rest of today he was asking me if there were germs on the food before he ate it.

Kai's favorite things right now are cars. I had a desk page-a-day calendar that was a Car and Driver calendar. So it has a different picture of some fancy or rare care for each day. He has ripped them all out and lays him out on the floor when he plays. He wants to tape them to his walls.

For Kai's Gotcha Day celebration we went to Chuck E Cheese which is Kai's favorite place these days. He played games with daddy for about an hour or so. Then we ate dessert. I found a neat book about Racecars. You can pull out and fold together these different cardboard racecars and fit them on a car that comes with the book. That was a big hit with Kai. We also gave him a birthday cake playdough set.

Kai watched some cartoon where someone "tipped their hat" as a way of saying thank you or something. So now whenever we are out he tips his imaginary hat to waiters and waitresses. It is so cute.

I will never get over how smart and interesting Kai is. His mind is always working.

Grandma likes to tease Kai and tell him she wants him to grow up to be a Dentist. He says, " NO! First I am going to be a rockstar with a guitar, then a racecar driver."

One more funny thing:
I am reading Kai books about the First Thanksgiving. In one they have an illustration of a cooked Turkey and Kai is convinced it is a Camel Hump. He always says, "Are they going to eat that Camel?" when we read the book. So one time I said, "No, they will probably eat that deer." He was totally horrified. Camel humps are ok, but Deer are off-limits for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are moving to an area that has a Chinese Pre-school. I am thinking about starting him there part-time so he can learn some Mandarin.

Little Levi

Levi turned one on Halloween. We had a costume party/birthday playgroup party with a bunch of babies in cute costumes. it was fun. He is as adorable as ever. He is not walking yet but has started to wave and he says, "noooooooo" and "oh no" along with mama dada and bubba. I am enjoying watching him grow and learn. He does tend to terrorize Kai, if you can believe it. :) He likes to wrestle on the floor with his big bubba. He is indecisive right now, he wants up - no, he wants down - no he wants up, etc. On Sunday, I overheard Kai pointing out his Baby brother to another preschool in his Sunday School class. Kai had great pride in his voice about his baby brother. That really warmed my heart. I hope those two will have great fun growing up together.

Gotcha!

November 6, 2005 was the date I first held my little son in my arms. He was 8 months old. He was so quiet and curious about these new people in his life. After a few hours he became this bright, happy, giggling baby. I had no clue about babies or parenthood but little Kai endured my ineptness. :) Kai was instantaneously the center of our lives and attention. We already loved him before we met him, but once he was in our arms we had the joy of getting to know him. Like all parents with their first child, we were amazed every day by the way he was growing and learning.

He is not a baby anymore and technically isn't even a toddler anymore. One day he will hate hearing this, but to me he will always be my baby.