Kevin & Johna .com

Kyler has been walking all around the house in the last couple of weeks. He continues to get more comfortable with it and even since this video was taken (6 days ago) its become his preferred method of getting around. Oddly enough, he does his best walking when he has something else in his hands that he wants to carry around the house.

At the same time that he’s discovering his love of walking, he’s quickly found a new friend: Elmo. His favorite thing to do with Elmo is give out hugs which he has plenty to offer.

Yes, this is over a month old, but I took some time to make a one-year DVD for various family members and its amazing how much time building a DVD can consume. With that excuse out of the way, here’s a short recap of our day at the Apple Orchard with Kyler.

This has become somewhat of a tradition, as it was the first “outing” we took him on when last year just a few weeks after he was born. As you can see, he enjoyed it much more this time around.

Kyler got a lot of use out of his costume this year. Once we heard that the weather would be nice for Halloween (which is rare - I can still remember 1991 with a HUGE snow storm) we thought we might take him out trick-or-treating. The day before, it was clear he clearly started cutting a new tooth and was kind of cranky and not really feeling well, so we opted to stay home, dress up and give out candy.

The day started with Kyler making sure everything was in order, candy-wise.

He then put on his costume and waited anxiously for kids. In the end, just under 20 kids showed up… but Kyler still enjoyed seeing all the kids and their costumes.

At Kyler’s “school” (ECFE class) it was (of course) Halloween week so he got to dress up. He went as a pumpkin. A costume he really doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Perfect (and warm) fall days are a rare thing in Minnesota so when one comes around we try to take advantage of it. Yesterday we spent some time taking lots of fall pictures (which gave me a chance to learn my new camera’s settings a bit better) and we’ll post more of those pictures later.

Today we started by grabbing Starbucks (after missing the late service at church) and heading to the docks in Wayzata where Kyler got to check out the lake, boats, ducks and trains All of which he found fascinating. We then went shopping where Kyler tried on some Halloween hats.

Kyler has figured out one of his mom and dad’s favorite simple pleasures: a morning cup of coffee. In his case, we skip the coffee and stick to just the cup.

Kyler turned one last week. I’ll post more pics and videos of that later. Man! Does one year fly by!

We took him for his one year check up on the same day he attempted to go downstairs by himself, face first. He was a bit bruised up by it but pretty tough considering the tumble and four shots he endured at the doctor’s office. As you can see from the pictures, the high point of the day was reading a book and checking out the fish at the doctor’s office.

Kyler and I spent our first weekend alone while Johna was out of town. That meant that Kyler got to do things mom doesn’t allow like looking in the refrigerator. The weekend went well. Kyler and I had fun going to the toy store (and getting a school bus - which he loves seeing on the road), grabbing lunch together and running errands. It was a fun weekend but it reminded me how much easier it is to do “outings” when Johna is there as well.