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The last week of our vacation started out well. The weather had improved, and even as the temperature dropped, the sun returned. So, we took advantage of thatand spend lots of time outdoor.

On Sunday, Keegan spent the whole day outside. In the morning, the granps took him for a walk in a nice park; at lunch time, mom and dad took him for a walk in the neighborhood, hoping he would fall asleep (in vain); and in the afternoon, we met up with one of Tizi’s best friends, Loredana and her family for yet another park. Keegan loved it. Not only there was lots of places to run and some small hills he could climb, but Loredana’s daughter Francesca loved to play with him, and so they had a blast in the playground and all around the park.

We even had pit stop for ice cream. Keegan is now well aware of what gelato is, and as soon as you mention the name, he starts smiling, saying YUMM and rubbing his belly. Who can resists? He got to slurp down a HUGE ice cream cup, the “famous” Coppa Tiziana (Tiziana’s cup) I remember from my own childhood. Except I don’t think I ate the whole cup when I was not even 2! Check out the size of that thing!

Loredana, Carmelo and Francesca

Oh well, I guess that we suspended our food rules in Italy, and Keegan got to eat almost everything he wanted: this included gelato of course, but also tons of focaccia bread and pizza, and regular bread, and delicious Italian cookies and croissants. Good thing that Grandma was also cooking him a delicious vegetable soup he loved to ate almost every day. He even ate olives! And of course, he overdosed on milk. Man, that kid will have bones of steel. It must be his absolute favorite thing in the world: he just sit there, content, drinking from his cup, and playing with his left ear.

The rest of  the week has been a whirlwind of activities for Keegan: more time with his cousins, more playgrounds to discover, more walks to be done. He feel in love with public transportation: buses, trolley and especially the subway: we could  pass by a stop without him saying: “choo-choo. Inside! ” We took as many subway trips as possible, and let me tell you, it was NOT fun for us. Milan is not very kid friendly, so most stations don’t have escalators (let’s not even talk about elevators) and you are dealing with many ramps of stairs, carrying your stroller. Not fun. This is why you don’t see too many young children on the subway. I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the time, someone (mainly new immigrants) gave up a seat for me as I was carrying Keegan.

 on the subway train, on a windy day

even Italy gets ready for Halloween

Matt and I became very familiar with all the snack bars in the area, we took Keegan for walks almost everyday at lunch time. He usually fell promptly asleep in his stroller and to increase the chances of a longer nap, we would stop and grab some lunch outside. It was actually very nice and gave us the chance to spend more time together. If we were not successful, we tried other methods: lullabies, sleeping with grandma, laying on the big bed…anything but putting him in his bed, which he can’t stand. When all failed, I have found myself one day stuck on the couch for an hour when he passed out on me. We know better than waking him up, after all the efforts to get him to sleep. So, here another one for the “Keegan’s Sleeping Places” collection. Don’t I have another image exactly like it…when Keegan was three weeks old????

Tizi revved up her social life, getting to meet high school friend she has not seen in 20 years (ah the magic of Facebook). Matt stayed home for this one, and it was great to see what everyone has been up to. It was weird how it did not feel like 20 years has passed. Anyway, I will spare you the comparison pictures; let’s just say we all look exactly as we did in high school, just better. (-:

Franco, me, Tiziana and Luigi

Matt joined me for other social events, like an awesome dinner in the trendy center of the city with an old friend. Yummy tartar filet and great wine and limoncello. In that occasion I discovered that the Porche Carrera actually seats 4 people. I would have never guessed. And honestly, the back seat is way more comfortable that the jump seats in Matt’s truck.

We got to do some shopping, Tizi more than Matt: one morning, as she and Loredana hit the town and its shops, Matt, Keegan and the grandparents went to The Natural History Museum, repeating a family tradition: I guess it was one of my favorite places to be when I was little. Keegan had fun running around and watching stuffed animals. Yes, a little creepy, but that is the best you can do if you live in a city, right? And I guess I still find it somewhat fascinating. It is really well done, and the scenes and settings are well thought out.

what the heck is a “cefaloco”? It looks like a deer to me

We also added some cultural events: we went to check out a Frank Geary Exhibit. It was very interesting, presenting plans and models from his projects from 1997 on. And we got more date nights. I guess an advantage of living in a city like Milan is that there are so many places to go. So we got our fill of great food, awesome home cooked meals, drinks and shopping. What else can you ask for?

Well, to be totally honest we really wanted to go somewhere a few days, to see something different, maybe to the mountains or even the beach. I love the beach in the fall/winter. However, seen how difficult it has been for Keegan to get adjusted, we really did not have the energy to deal with one more adjustment(=night wakings, crankiness, etc.. ) After all, it was supposed to be a relaxing time for us, so if it would have brought us more stress, why going at all? Oh well, next year we will do it for sure. We will plan it in advance so we can back out, and hopefully, by then, Keegan will be a better traveler.

As always when we go away, he seems that Keegan had a huge developmental growth. We started losing track of how many new words he has been adding. We guess he probably added about 40+ new words in these three weeks alone and most of them in Italian. And he is adding more and more everyday. My favorite one is probably “honey”, that he usually repeats after I say it to him: is he mocking me? Most importantly, he is really trying to repeat most sounds he hears, and often times he succeeds. Hopefully he will not lose all there new Italian words, and I will make sure to reinforce his Italian.

He is also got better at his motor skills: climbing, running, walking backwards all improved. Check him out walking on rope bridge and walking over obstacles.Yeah, yeah, big deal, I know. But this is a big progress for him, and he was damn proud of it too.

He even started using the big boys swing: still not a big fan of swings in general, but he seems to have fun on this one.

We even saw his first real jump (feet off the floor), and his signing has improved as well. I bet they will be very surprised at daycare when they see him and notice how much he has grown.

Welcome to Italy Matt! The day has come: Matt’s arrival in Milano. We left for the airport bright and early:  no need of mechanical instruments since we have our natural alarm clock, who decided to wake up at 5.20 since Tizi has been out late the night before.

Matt’s plane was 1.5 hours late, but fortunately, Keegan was easily entertained. We even found some sort of kids playroom (no toys, mind you, but lots of brightly colored furniture) and Keegan spent the time running around.

It was great to see Matt, and we were all happy to hug him and kiss him.

welcome to Milan, daddy

catching up with daddy and Keegan’s favorite books

On the way back, Keegan fell asleep in the car, and that has been his only nap all day, so he was extra cranky all day… unfortunately this was a trend that continued in the following days. We are not sure what happened, but our happy, sunny Keegan of a few days before has changed into a whiny alien, just as the weather has suddenly cooled off, and the sun has been replaced by dark clouds. Could the two events be related? Not sure, but all I know is that the night wakings started again, and the whining increased significantly… fortunately, grandpa and grandma were still his favorite playmates, so we could get a little break, and take morning naps and afternoons rest. Maybe, for as happy as he was to see daddy, it was another destabilizing event for him. Not sure, but all I know is that, between Matt’s jet lag, and Keegan’s crankiness, we had a very mellow week: we just did not have any energy left. We still found time for fun, of course.

The next morning, October 5, was our Wedding Anniversary (wedding number 2): 7 years! If there is something called “7-years itch” we surely have not felt it. Are we maybe too busy with our  little hurricane? Just kidding. It seems impossible that it has been so long ago, it feels like yesterday and we are still grateful every day we have found each other.

That morning we woke up with the smell of a freshly baked cake: Tizi’s mom made this great rose shaped cake for us. Keegan of course wanted in the action, and ate quite a bit.

bleary eyes and jet-lagged but still celebrating

On Thursday,  we all piled up on Grandpa’s car for a trip to a Safari Park, that is only an hour or so away (and Keegan slept the whole way up). The sky was gray, and being midweek, we basically had the whole place all for ourselves. It was fun. The park is divided in two sections: the safari park, where you drive around a loop and the animals move freely around you and your car; and the amusement park section, with more traditional cages and displays and also many rides targeted to the little ones.

All of us really enjoyed the safari park: it is interesting seeing emus, zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, etc. so close. Maybe a little too close…one of the tigers basically licked our car window! And who really needs to see a zebra’s butt this well?

After the safari drive, it was already lunch time so we took a break eating yummy sandwiches: think lots of cured meats and cheese. Keegan enjoyed trying a little bit of everything, but mainly chomp down on focaccia bread.

After a nice lunch, we headed towards the rides part. There are many rides, and he enjoyed them all…well, maybe he was a little perplexed on the water ride, but other than that it was all good fun.

Keegan loved running in the aquarium, and checking out the reptiles and of course trying out some rides. We went to a caterpillar roller-coaster, and to the Lion King carousel, and also, Tizi’s favorite thing: a huge bumpy slide. It was actually set up for adults, and no kids under 4 was allowed, but since there was no one checking (you must love Italy), we gave it a try. It was not really too steep, and Keegan loved the thrill. We already know he will be a big adrenaline junkie! Since there were hardly anyone in the park, we got to go on the rides without waiting, and sometimes we have them all for ourselves.Mom was usually the designated ride person, but daddy and grandpa also got in the action.

The next day, mom and dad got a day off. We left the little guy with the grandparents and went to Torin. Yes, I know, not a very exotic location, but it has been really cleaned up for the Winter Olympics of a few years back, and it really nice. We walked on old streets, lines with luxury shops, and see all palaces and castle, and ended up at Mole Antonelliana, the city symbol, now hosting a large Cinema Museum. We took the panoramic elevator to get a beautiful view of the city, and the river Po. It was sunny and warm, and of course we forgot our camera…oh well.

We then visited the cinema museum: it is really very well presented, if a little light in content. A great experience we recommend to anyone: it really puts you inside the movie experience. We had lunch in the trendy cafe, and we left n time for going back to the train station…and for a nice thunderstorm. It was great to have some time all for ourselves, to chat and just do whatever we wanted without worrying about nap times and lunch times and whining. Even the train ride gave us the chance to relax and read… except when Matt got stopped by the train police (yes, there is really a Poliza Ferroviaria, or train police): not only they asked him for his ID, which he fortunately had with him, they checked it thoroughly, even calling someone to check his entry stamp.I could not believe it was happening. Did we land in Switzerland without noticing it? With all the illegal immigrants they have in Italy, they are “harassing” and American tourist? Funny! Little scary as well, because, I did not have any document on me that proved I was Italian, but I guess they took my word for it.

Keegan was a little angel with the grandparents, or so they said. After all, he reserved his worse behavior for us: I am not kidding. When he was alone with grandma and grandpa, he was a perfect child, but as soon as Matt or I joined in, the crying, tantrums and whining started…I guess we had an excuse to leave him with the granps more often.

We got the chance to have a few afternoons, as my parents took Keegan to see his cousins: they live in a remodeled old farmhouse, with an internal yard, that has been restructured to include 4 apartments. All the families that live there have young children, so it is a great, communal life. Keegan loved to see all the older kids and to play with them.

We also went out a few nights, either with Tizi’s friends or alone. There is a cute bar right below Tizi’s parents apartment, which, while is a nuisance when you are trying to sleep, is very  convenient when you want a cocktail and are too tired to go anywhere fast. Good and cheap too.

Fortunately, as the week approached its end, the weather started improving, with colder temperatures but also sunnier days, and Keegan’s mood seemed to improve too. The last week, he returned the happy boy we all know, and his whining dramatically decreased. His sleeping somewhat improved, no more night waking, and most importantly, he did not call out for mom when he woke up: so, while grandma was getting him up and giving him his milk and his breakfast, and playing with him at those early hours (5am), we could get a little more sleep.

So, here we are at last: Milan, Italy. The dreaded trip has come and gone, and it is now time to enjoy our vacation. First things first: our long trip.

As you all know, Tizi was extremely worried about spending many, many hours on a plane with Keegan alone. Door to door the trip took approximately 22 hours. However, the trip went amazingly well, beyond our wildest dreams. Yes Keegan did not sleep much, but he did not fuss, which was paramount. There were no meltdowns, at least no Keegan’s meltdown. More on Tizi’s meltdown later. Just to give you an idea, this was my carry on luggage: a car seat, folded inside a backpack (23lb); overflowing diaper bag; carry on bag, full of books and toys; thermic bag and a plastic bag with Keegan’s food. stroller and of course a squirmy 22 moths old. Hard to see in the photo, but to make it work, I had a large, sturdy hook on the stroller, so I could attach the carry-on and the food bag, while the car seat was on my shoulder and the diaper bag across the stroller top bar: I did get some compliments for the efficiency!

Security was easier than expected: one of the TSA lady actually helped me through it, while another guy was testing the food and liquids (quite a different scene from Phoenix).  Keegan was in a great mood, and he started the day spilling 4 new words: dark, dog, people, down. We got to the gate about 30 minutes early: of course there was no empty seat, which meant 5 hours of Keegan on my lap. At least I had an aisle seat this time.

The guys next to me were very nice and Keegan was great: he played, walked down the aisle, ate some food, read some books…I honestly don’t even remember what we did on the flight, since it went so smoothly. We landed early in Atlanta right around his naptime and he fell asleep in his stroller shortly after touching down. Not the ideal situation, as I wanted him to play around and run, but at least I had some time to call Matt and reassure him, and to have some lunch.

Now, you may remember that last year we flew the same route, and in Atlanta, just before boarding, Keegan had a massive throw up, and we had all the drama, and fear of losing the flight. Well, Atlanta may not be our lucky town after all, because we had a drama of other sorts this time.

We arrived at the gate early and as soon as an agent showed up, I approached and asked him if there was an extra seat. The guy was a total moron, and unfriendly to boot. He told me he did not know, it was too early, he could not tell me, etc. So I asked him to change my aisle seat for an aisle in the bulkhead, so Keegan would have more space (plus it is a great barganing seat). The idiot took forever, could not do it, had to ask for help, and finally printed the tickets. As boarding approached, I noticed a woman with a young baby fighting with the agents at the counter for quite a while. For some reason I felt uneasy about it. Sure enough, as most people have boarded already, the agent approaches me and tells me that my son is too old for the bassinet – which I NEVER asked for- and that they will have to move me to give my seat to this other lady. The problem is that they don’t have any more seats on the aisle and have to place me somewhere in the middle seat.

You can imagine what happened next: I was so upset I could not see straight. I definitely went a little overboard, but the thought of a 10 hours flight with Keegan on my lap, stuck in the middle seat was terrifying…and it was all THEIR mistake. I told them that, in multiple ways (many including not very nice words) and all they could offer me was to fly the following day. Then I had a total meltdown, feeling powerless. Finally, the agent said that there were two people that had not shown up yet, so there may be a chance I could get a second seat: and so it went. So, I was basically the last one to board, I got two seats, and was able to put all my stuff under the seat, for easy access. So, all is well what ends well.

The second flight ended up leaving the gate an hour late, for an electrical problem (just what you want to hear before crossing the Atlantic), but being close to nigthtime I did not care. Keegan did not sit long, but he had the extra space he needed, and between some new toys, books, and games, time went by. I did not even need to use the DVD player I brought with me. Keegan kept on adding new words: eat, walk, apri (open), chair, five (as in Gimme five), acqua (water). It must have been his words day.

At nighttime, I tried to put him down, but you could see he was very uncomfortable, tossing and turning, and running out of space. Of course, my car seat, that I brought on purpose in case there were an empty seat, was in the cargo, since nobody knew till the last second if I could have the extra seat.

I barely got any sleep, but the relief of no tantrums was so big I almost did not care. I also did not care that the entertainment system did not work, but I can imagine how happy the other passengers were about it…This is not the first time it happens on these flight, so I can say with confidence: DELTA SUCKS!

We finally made it with 20 minutes delay.

My parents were waiting at the airport and Keegan immediately recognized them and greeted them. In fact he was calling for them as soon as they were out of sight. He did not need any adjustment time at all with them.

We crashed as soon as we got home, but after two hours, Keegan decided he had enough and woke me up with a loud: “no nanna!”. We had the first visitors: my sister and her kids, and went to bed early. As expected, the nights has been challenging, between the jet lag and the new environment, with multiple night wakings, but after 3/4 days, he was sleeping more or less through the night.

Tizi spent the first week, despite the lack of sleep, reconnecting with old friends, even some old high school buddies, that she has not seen for years.

with Simona, restoration specialist and friend since preschool

with high school buddy Tiziana (see, it is not that rare of a name)

It was great to catch up and spend time together. Keegan was happy to spend time with the grandparents, and they were even happier to oblige.

The weather was nice and sunny, and somewhat unusually warm. Keegan enjoyed the attention, and seeing so many different people. He loves the craziness of the city, and its thousands sounds. He is particularly attracted by motorcycles, cement mixers and the sounds of the many emergency vehicles.

He got to ride on the bus and the subway, and immensely appreciated both experiences. He has been at his best behaviour for all my friends, even enduring an hour long lunch while he was not eating. He took long naps in the stroller (nothing new here), and enjoyed Italian playgrounds. It is interesting to notice how different they look: the structures are made in wood, they usually have more climbing surfaces than stairs, and the slides are stainless steel…No matter, he enjoyed them all.

He of course had to try the Italian fountains as well (check out the Milano emblem on it) and getting all wet.

At the public park, Keegan had his first Merry go round experience. He never showed much interest till now, and I have to say he is somewhat ambivalent: he enjoys it for a couple of rounds but then he wants to get off. He picked a couple of different rides, but we could no dissuade him from riding the pink car.

He even got to play and interact with other kids, in a house setting, and he did very well. There was a huge train model set up, so all the kids played together without
fights. Keegan’s favorite part was the draw bridge and the annoying beep it made: he must have activated it a thousand times.

He is still on a roll as far as his language skills. Two, three words combos are now the norm, and he is adding lots of new words every day, many of those in Italian. We got sor (star), carta (paper), albero (tree), beech(beach), dita (fingers), tita (matita or pencil),titzza (pizza), go, vai (go in Italian),move, door, qui/li’ (here, there), and my favorite one: sasore (ascensore or elevator). He knows more colors too: green, red, white, black and more names: tiza (Cinzia, my sister), Loi (Lori, Tizi’s friend), uele (Samuele, his cousin). Now it is getting really dangerous: we need to be careful on what we say, as he is repeating everything.

Of course, for as much as he has been enjoying the new adventures, Keegan has not forgotten his old friends: the DVD with pictures from this blog has been running on constant rotation on Grandpa’s big screen TV. He is so happy to see all these familiar faces.

We had been counting down the days to Matt’s arrival: Keegan has been crossing out the calendar, and we were all excited for Sunday to come to see daddy.

Goodbye San Diego! As mom is feverishly trying to get everything done, and as she is growing more anxious about the trip, we are still enjoying our wonderful San Diego, and yet anther heat wave. Just to make it harder to leave, San Diego is showing off his wonderful blue skies and warm weather (and warm water).

We had an intense week. Keegan got to see all his girlfriends in separate playdates. We started on Monday with Jada, our neighbor. we stopped by for a couple of hours, and the two played together, and made each other laugh. Keegan was both in awe and fear of the two beautiful, and very playful dogs at the house.

On Wednesday, we headed to Mission Bay Park, to the usual playground, with his favorite daycare buddy: Mackenzie. he was so excited. The two played wonderfully together, sliding side by side, running around and playing house.

Of course the sand is always a big draw and they did plenty of that too. There were no fight and very little “mine” happening.

She is a little dynamo: climbing everywhere, and roughing around.Everyone at daycare mention how well the two of them get along. Allegedly, they spent 40 minutes, one morning, playing Play-Doh together, sharing and not fighting…Keegan definitely turns on his charm with her, and never hesitated sharing his snacks with her. In fact, the two of them were feeding each other.

When it was time to leave, the two of them run towards each other to hug…and of course bumped heads. So we ended a wonderful day with two crying babies. It was hilarious, though. It looked like a scene out of a Saturday Night Live Skit.

On Friday, it was time to say goodbye to all his friends. We took a nice group shot with Ms Isella and Ms Yadira, his two favorite teachers, and all the other kids, and then it was time for hugs.

We then headed out to La Jolla Shore for yet another playdate. This time with Hannah. Jennifer’s little girl. It was another glorious day in San Diego so the beach was just the ticket.We met Jennifer, Hannah and another friend, Kelly with her little Liam on the sand.  and  Keegan has not shown too much interest in the beach or the ocean, so far, so we have not been as much as we could have, since we are so close. Today, however, it was a different story. I don’t know if it was Hannah’s presence, or what, but he had a ball.

Almost immediately, Keegan wanted to go to put his feet in the water. He NEVER wanted to do this at the beach. He was pretending to dip his feet when we were reading books with pictures of the ocean, but he never actually got too close. Maybe his experience at Bay helped:I let him dip his feet, and splash around before realizing there was a huge  sewage pipe (with caution sign) right there.Insert mommie’s guilt here, ad a long, strenuous scrubbing in the tub back at home.

In any case, he dragged me by the water, and jumped right in. He played, splashed, fell down face first in the sand, got up, and did it all again. The water was very warm, so he did not mind getting wet.

He did not want to get out, even if Hannah refused to go in. No matter, he was finding stranger boys to play with. At which point I really started asking: who is this kid and what did he do with my son???? The alien abduction theory seemed confirmed when he decided to go and play with Hannah in the sand, by himself. They played together, a good 40 feet away, without fighting, and sharing the toys for a good 15/20 minutes. And Keegan, not only was not calling out for me, he had his back turned on me!

she is cute: I will pretend I did not notice her…

This is a miracle. And they kept on getting along, and playing the whole afternoon.

goofing around under the umbrella

Wow, so this is what it feels like to have a mellow child! As the afternoon came to a close, Keegan was ready to go: he now usually says something like”car mama” or does the driving sign when he is ready to go. If I am chatting for too long, or he is getting bored, he simply says “goodbye” to get me to leave. How funny! So, we hugged and Hannah gave him another big kiss and bid everyone bye bye.

What a send off. Goodbye San Diego: we will see you in a few weeks! In the meantime, everyone please send us some positive thoughts for the trip on Sunday. We need all the help we can get!

Keegan is quickly approaching the 2 year mark, and while we have been “enjoying” more than a glimpse of the terrible twos, we can also enjoy watching him becoming his own person. What can we tell so far? He is a little clown, and he is very “spirited”: his emotions run high on both end of the spectrum. Last time we took him at Seaworld, he made the whole room crack up as he exploded in a series of really loud WOW! as the beluga whales were slowly floating by the glass.

He loves to laugh and to make you laugh. He like to do little games and tease you and he is 100% boy: he is roughing and tumbling around at any occasion; at this point we are walking around full of bruises, from his affectionate outbursts, his playing or his “cuddling”. We can’t wait till we can enroll him in some wrestling or martial arts class so he can use some of that energy productively.

Here is a rare moment in which we were able to get him to stay still long enough for a picture. Ignore the tired, strained expression of  parents, and focus on the cute little guy. They needed a photo of the family at daycare for the All About Me week, and of course we waited till the last minute, so here we are, trying to look normal at the end of a LONG day…

He is also, as all of you know, an early bird: after a couple of 6am wakings, we are back to our 4.30/5.30 wake up time. One of our neighbors has a rooster, and I can tell you our kid is up before the roster. And this is why, we present…one more picture of Keegan sleeping. it is such a rare sight, we need to document it. Also notice that, yet again, he is not sleeping in the crib. Noooo, he fell asleep on the high chair, and the closest, safest place to put him in was the sun room. By the way, that circular seat is amazingly comfortable for naps: I can attest to that.

Doesn’t he look like a little angel when he sleeps? And then he wakes up, and the illusion is gone. (-:

He is a lot more social: his shyness is now usually limited to a few minutes, and he is interacting with other kids more and more. he is still very much “mama’s boy” and going through his “mama’s separation anxiety”, when Tizi is around. He is usually fine when he is at daycare or with a sitter. Talking of which, this week we had a miracle: we went out for our friend Eric’s birthday, and Keegan, not only said goodbye to us when we left, but he did NOT cry, not even for a minute. This is a first!

He is also going through a language development phase: while a lot of his words are not completely intelligible, he is adding new words almost every day. The new additions, from the last couple of weeks:

car
toe
knee
foot
piede  (foot in italian)
tow (towel)
shoes
ragu (pasta meat sauce)
bibi (baby)
su (up)
Yadira (his other Daycare teacher, name that he repeats over and over and over again)
so (sock)
no (nose)
cucu (peek-abo, the Italian way)
poppy (yes the flower: it is in one of his favorite songs)
puppy (dog)
hot
cold (also used for wet)
tao tao (ciao ciao)
cookie
kick
atte (milk, from latte)
tree
poon (spoon)
apple
appy (happy)
anna (Hannah)
Emma
Titti  (Kensie, his best buddy at daycare)
tada (is now only Keegan)
whale
bear
tide (now it means: outside, inside, open, close)
acqua (water)
fruit (as it applies to our pineapple guava fruit tree)

He also added the donkey noise (ehh-oh), the chicken (ga ga ga) accompanied by arm movements, crows, elephant and sea lions. He is also making the driving sign. And in the past week he has been using more and more 2 and 3 words sentences: “my Towel”, “coocle mamma”, “no more atte”, “car mamma”. He now opens and close his hands also for a flashing light and for saying Ciao.

Not much Italian as of yet, but he is definitely understand it fully. And honestly, if you were a baby learning the language, what word would you find easier: towel or asciugamano??? Hopefully a three weeks full immersion will boost his Italian vocabulary.

Goodbye summer! We can’t believe it is already over but with Labor Day we mark the official end of the season. And we ended with a bang. We had a wonderful weekend: since Matt took half day on Friday, it felt even longer. One of Matt’s sisters, Beth, came visit us with her husband Wayne on Friday. We had a nice BBQ  outdoors, and Keegan got reacquainted with his Auntie. We were happily surprised to notice that despite a really short nap he was actually was in a social mood. Of course he did not eat any of the delicious food we cooked, but he got its feel of chips and salsa (mainly salsa).

Saturday was a relaxing day: we did not do much, just played around the house, did chores, and of course caught up on our sleep. Keegan also had some marathon naps most of the weekend, 2.5 hours each day. Sunday we had Jennifer, Dave and Hannah’s over. Oh boy, was Keegan excited. Hannah is, at this time, probably one of his favorite buddies…and who can blame him? So despite a few territorial issues, and many MINE from both sides, they overall played well together. They shared books, and ran outside and really enjoyed getting wet at the water table.

this is so much fun!

As the kids were somewhat playing by themselves, we were also able to have a nice relaxing afternoon, and enjoyed some adult time. It was great.

In the late afternoon, we all had a great outdoor BBQ. Keegan and Hannah had their own conversation going and were able to sit at the table for the whole dinner, enjoying Mac and Cheese, veggies and chicken. They were rewarded with ice cream. It was just so fun to watch them communicate: despite Hannah’s excellent vocabulary— and Keegan’s very poor one—, they were still able to talk to each other in their own language.

Keegan busy eating, Hannah busy posing for the camera

As an extra treat, Keegan got to stay up later that night…all the excitement must have exhausted him, because he slept past 6am the next day. Or it may have been Hannah’s goodnight kiss! (hopefully he will learn to be a little less stiff when a girl kisses him).

What a great way to end the summer!

It has been a long time coming. Keegan’s hair has been really long for quite a while, but Tizi hesitated. First of all, she really likes the surfer look: long blond hair blowing in the wind; then there has been the practicality of it: we had pretty hectic weeks and weekends and it seems the only kids salons are in East County …well they have one in La Jolla too, but do we really want to spend even more just for the location? However, his bangs were already getting in his eyes, and he complained about it. I did a quick cut, but I guess it was not enough. One afternoon this week, when I picked him up, he was wearing a barrette. I actually had to do a double take, and did not recognized him at first.

snack time with Beckett and Miss Veronica

it is spaghetti time!

I thought it was really funny, but I guess Matt was not that amused, and basically drew the line in the sand. The next day I made an appointment for Saturday. In the morning, Keegan was incredibly cranky, for some reason (did he know what was coming?), but we packed some food, toys and books and headed towards the salon. No parking was available, so Matt dropped us off and went to look for a space. Keegan was inconsolable, so I entered the salon with a inconsolable toddler in my arms. Fortunately the hairdresser helped me distract him with toys while we waited for dad to come back. To my great relief, both of the other two “first haircut babies”: were whaling, so I felt a little better. There were no more little chairs available, so I ended up sitting in the big chair, holding him. I think that actually worked out better: he was calm, distracted by the novelty, and simply a little perplexed.It was also super fast, only a few minutes.

I am not sure why I am here, wearing this funny thing

 Hey, watch it with those scissors

Uhhmm, not bad at all.

He did not cry or fussed. Neither did I as I saw his blond locks falling down. He got a real ‘boy” haircut. Not quite as long as mom would have wanted  (they grow back anyway) but definitely not a buzz cut. He looks older, and still adorable. They gave us a nice certificate, and taped some of his hair there: a nice memory.

We are not planning on taking him regularly: we can definitely trim his bans at home, but we wanted to have at least the “First Official Haircut experience”. Afterwards, we went to Lake Murray for some play time: Keegan enjoyed looking at the birds, ducks, and the hairy caterpillar that was crawling all over his arm. And he practiced throwing rocks in the water. We had a quick lunch and drove home. Keegan fell asleep promptly in the car…and of course, there he staid. However, learning from our past experiences, besides leaving the garage door open, and the windows rolled back, we also set up a small fan blowing some cool air to be a little more comfortable. Yesterday he woke up early, all sweaty, and very upset and cranky, since it was too hot.

It must have been working: he ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours! Not only that, but he woke up in a wonderful mood, and was happy all afternoon. So here it is: we know that when he sleep more he is happier…so how do we get him to sleep more? Anyone?

I don’t care what they say…dry heat or not, 110+ degrees is H-O-T!!!!! We just got back from Phoenix, and of course we did not expect a cool weather, but did it have to be the hottest temperatures on record since the 1856? We had highs of 109 (43 Celsius) on Friday, 110 (43 Celsius) on Saturday and 113 (45 Celsius) on Sunday! And the lows were around mid 80s (28-30 Celsius). Crazy! It felt like walking in front of a gigantic blow drier.

So, why did we do something this crazy, leaving our perfect weather city to go in the desert in August? Well, Matt’s Corean Hight School had a 20 years reunion, and Matt thought it would be nice to see some of these people again. I was game too, because we have not left San Diego in about a year. And overall, I guess we had some good times: as far as I am concerned, it was nice to do something different.

We staid at the Arizona Grand Hotel, a beautiful resort hotel, which I am sure could be enjoyed more in a better season, with an older kid. (-:  However, it was really wonderful and for a fraction of high season price, I am sure. So, it was a little reminder of our past life BK (Before Keegan), and we enjoyed the luxury. The hotel has been through a major remodel, so everything looked new.

the lobby, overlooking the golf course

The trip, however, did not start well. We left on Friday afternoon, after a mad dash to get everything packed and ready, and after picking up Keegan at daycare. We were hoping that if he had his nap he would have been in a better mood….and he was till we got to the airport. It was crowded and packed, and he did not like that, nor he wanted to get inside the plane. We sat in the last row, hoping for free seat, but the flight was full. So, we were stuck with Keegan in our “lap”: he did not stay still 1 minute. The windows entertained him for a little while, but overall it was very difficult. The flight left late, so we got in late. We hit turbulence on the way down, and while Tizi was trying hard to keep control and not get sick, Keegan lost it and threw up…fortunately, we had a bag ready, so we did not get too soaked. Everything smelled bad, which is not ideal, if you already feeling nauseous. Since we left late, there was no gate available, so we had to wait another 15 minutes on the tarmac, with our wiggly worm.

When we finally got out, we had to get our car, located a good 15 minutes away, set up the car seat in 105 degrees, while Keegan, by now tired, hungry and cranky was whining. We left the airport after 7 and could not find the hotel….so we got there after 8pm. Keegan was still awake, but did not have any dinner, and we were trying to get into the room asap.

Being a resort, we had to get to the room with a golf cart, and of, course, as we get in the room…there is no crib. So we requested one. By now it is 8.20. After 15 minutes, we try to call, anyone, and after trying 4 different extensions, with no answer, we finally get the Crib service: a crib is on our way…in another 10 minutes. The crib turns out to be a Pack and Play kind of thing, and the housekeeping guy, can’t get it to stay open. So, off he goes for another crib. 15 more minutes, and he comes back with another Pack and Play he can’t set up. By now it is 9pm and Keegan is begging for sleep, holding his sheep and saying “Nanna, nanna”. This NEVER happened before.

So we set up the pull out couch, and tried to fill the gaps between mattress and frame as good as we can. By 9.15 he is finally in bed. Matt and I are sitting in the bathroom (we thought we got a suite, but we were wrong. I guess all suite hotel means that your room has a couch) not to wake him, eating cheerios and Nutrigrain bars and drinking beer, wondering what we were thinking: by now the reception was over (it started at 6) and we were so stressed that we felt it was an absolutely waste of time and money!!!! Fortunately, there was a bright light at the end of this tunnel. One of Matt’s friends tracked us down and called our room, so Matt could do some unwinding by the pool, catching up with old buddies.

I took a nice bubble bath, read the paper and promptly crashed by 11 in a wonderful, pillow top mattress. The relief was short lived: Keegan woke up at 2.50 , then 3.15, then 4.15, then 4.30 (at which point, Matt went to sleep with him) and then 5.30. We cuddled with him a little in bed, and rested and by 7am I was out the door with him to get some food and to let Matt sleep a little.

Amazingly enough, I felt a little better about the whole trip. The Hotel was beautiful,  with a 18 holes golf course and a Water Park reserved for Hotel’s guests. By the way, can you believe there are people crazy enough to play golf in 110 degree weather? That early in the morning, the weather is bearable, so we took a nice stroll around and went for breakfast: we were both really hungry. After breakfast, we went playing in a fun fountain. Keegan loved it…got all wrenched, but it did not matter. The photos are awful, but I forgot the camera, so I used my phone to capture the event. He was having so much fun.

We got back around 9, and then it was Matt’s turn. They got back quickly, because promptly fell asleep. During his 2 hours nap, we just relaxed and rested. I had the brilliant idea of getting coffees, so I could not sleep, but it was fun to have pillow talk and some rest, in the cool room.

After Keegan woke up, we went to have some brunch. I got to meet one of Matt’s friend and to enjoy some jummy food. After lunch, off to the water park. It was amazing, and even if we could not really enjoy it all that much, we had a good time. Tizi got to ride in the freefall slide: so much fun. I have not gone down one of those since I was 17. It was still AWESOME! Matt and Keegan watched from below. I went down the one that is partly covered.

More fun in the fountain for Keegan and mom: when you are wet, you really don’t feel that hot! Matt head off for his dinner at 6, after some playing and book reading. Keegan and I stayed in the room for more playing and some dinner. Going to bed was a little difficult. Keegan did not want to go to sleep, and when I finally convinced him, he was lifting up his head every few minutes to make sure I was still there.

After he finally got asleep, Tizi ate some room service and got asome wine. We had In Suite movies, so she got to see Shrink, which is still in theater, while munching on cobb salad and an incredible Creme Brule tart to die for. A real Tizi Night.

I still managed to go to sleep somewhat early, which is a good thing, even if the coffee did not make it easy for me to sleep: Keegan woke up again multiple times (12.30, 4.14, 4.30) and we ended up getting him in bed with us and we finally crushed for an hour, till 6.30. We went for a yummy breakfast, and off we went back to the water park, and this time played in the toddlers pool, so Keegan had fun splashing around. I took one more free fall slide down and went back packing. Keegan feel asleep as it was time to leave, so we had to wake him up. This did not help his mood.

The Phoenix airport experience sucked even more than the San Diego one. The friendly TSA people had to open EVERY bottle I had for Keegan, hold a strip on top of it, drop some liquid on it and wait to see if it changed colors. The sealed bottles were swabbed too. This is annoying enough when you have time, but when you are late, is dreadful. Of course the gate was at the opposite end of the airport, so here I am running, with Keegan in my arms, and my bags trying to make the flight…we did make it with 2 minutes to spare…I thought I was about to cough up a lung!. The trip was uneventful: we had an extra seat this time, and Keegan was as agitated as ever but we had more space now, and especially no delays and no turbulance. We were home by late afternoon. YEAH!

Keegan was so  tired he crashed at 6.45 and slept non-stop till 6am! Don’t worry, we have no illusions…in fact, today, he was back to his 5am wake up call.

So, all and all, while challenging,  we were glad we went. We did have good times, and Tizi did enjoy her alone movie time. However, we are not going anywhere for a long time…till the Italy trip that is. Tizi will leave with Keegan at the end of September. Honestly, I am not sure how I will survive the trip alone…Any suggestions, advice, prayers, vodoo, witchcraft is always appreciated.

As we are approaching Keegan’s 20th month, we have noticed a real increase on his ability, and desire, to communicate. While he will not win any record for number of words or clarity, he has really increased his verbal, vocal and sign vocabulary.

He is also imitating sounds and words a lot better now…so we are really in trouble now. I am expecting cuss words to pop up from his mouth any day.

Before listing all his words, noises and sounds, we thought to give you some eye candy, and post some pics. We also need to issue a warning. Probably this long post will bore most if you to tears, so after the pictures, feel free to skip it. Seriously, no guilt: we imagine that maybe Tizi’s parents will be interested in details about his talking ability, but is hard to phantom that anybody else will.

Keegan has been a lot more social, (YEAH) so it is more fun to take him to visit friends. Here is at Barbara’s house, playing with Stella (about 6 months older) and Roberto (about a year younger). He was excited about the pool and the swing that hung from a tree, and he had his first taste of the Savoiardi cookies: you know, the ones that go inside a Tiramisu. he was dressed in italian clothes for the occasion.

check me out, in my Armani clothes (grandma’s gift)


with mama…but I really want to get in the pool

Barbara with Stella and Roberto (and Maunel, studying in the background)

Keegan’s fake smile, playing with his blocks

So here is the list. The words with an asterisk are pronounced basically correctly. The other ones, with pronunciation in parenthesis, can be understood only by mom and dad, without a Keegan-English Dictionary. Also, much to Tizi’s dismay, most of the words are in English. However, he still understands both languages well, so we have hope.

Words

* Mamma (repeated at least a couple of hundred times a day…we will count it one of this day. One weekend we counted 65 times between 5.30am and 9am)
baba/papa (papa’)
* pappa (food)
* bye
* hi
* mine (it actually uses this also for saying By Myself)
* no (with and without the wagging finger)
* yeah
* cacca (poop)
* cracker
* bubbles
* nanna (sleepie time)
* go
* eye
* hat
* uova (eggs)
* giu'(down)
* nonno (grandpa)
* nonna (grandma)
* cheese
juice (juuus)
pool (pooo)
broom (broo)
banana (nana)
book (bo)
coccodrillo (coco) Crocodile
coccole (cocrle or something like that) Cuddles
baby/Keegan (tada)
ball (ba/pa)
outside/inside (tide)
help (helpup) with accompanying sign
potatoe (tata, from patata)
Hannah (nna)
Ms. Isela, his daycare teacher (ella)

and as of today…please (peas)

It is funny to notice that he pronounce nonno and nonna differently, even if they are the same word, with different ending vowel. Nonno is pronounced with a close O, almost like gnonno, while nonna is pronounced correctly. It is also funny to notice that when he learns a new word, he repeats it continuosly, regardless if he means it or not. So, nowadays is a constant: “cacca” (regardless if he has a dirty diaper),”nonno, nonna, giu’, uova”.

Whatever he can’t name, he use the pointing and the “eh” grunt, which is frustrating for all involved, especially because his pointing skills needs to be refined. However, he also makes quite a few noises, in imitation (and I am not taking about body noises).

Noises:
cow
pig
monkey
snake
bee
cat
dog
lion
walrus
fish
train
cold
dirty (basically a raspberry with his hand on his mouth)
uh-oh
wow
gnam (for something jummy)
heartbeat (pa-pam, while hitting his chest)

And he also uses signs, some from the ASL (or at least his interpretation of it), some he or we made up;

Signs:
milk (closing and opening his hand as if milking a cow)
more (one hand against the other. Always used with words)
finished (shaking hands in the air)
bye (waving)
airplane (hand in the air)
tarzan (banging his chest)
driving (pretends to steer a steering wheel)
tree/tall (hands up)
cold (bringing his fists on his chest with bend arms and shaking them saying BRRR)
help (moving up his fist on a flat palm. Always used with words)
please (rubbing his chest with almost a rotation)
thank you (moving his hand from his mouth outwards)
i don’t know (like an adult would do it: hands on his side, perplexed face)

So, here you have it, give or take a few: our talkative little guy. Of course we didn’t include his own language, which we don’t understand ourselves. What would words like “beechiebah” or “mamore” mean?? We wonder if the other babies understand it.

We made it to the year and half mark. It is hard to believe…especially because we are still dealing with sleeping and eating issues. Shouldn’t we be over that by now…at least the sleeping part? (-: We must have upset the sleep gods (big friends of the water gods that are already NOT on our side).

Anyway, the big day, actually the whole “birthday” week, did not start in the best day. Keegan was very cranky, waking up super early, before 5am, and just not happy. On Tuesday he was particularly fussy: so much so we actually circled the FUSSY option in his daily daycare sheet. And sure enough, just after 8 we got a call to come and get him, as he had a fever. Matt is sure they called usall because we wrote fussy…I did see how they measure the temperature and it definitely not precise. In either case, he was miserable. We think it was teething since he was drooling quite a bit, but no new tooth emerged. Matt got him, and then Tizi came home at around 10.30. Keegan got a quick nap on daddy’s lap and he felt better. Fortunately we had a check up that afternoon, so with a signed doctor note, we were able to get him back to daycare the next day. And honestly, he was fine, even if he kept on waking up early, so he was more tired than usual. He did even got a small present: the Busy Ball activity center, now one of his favorite toys. We actually bought it a few months ago, but forgot to get batteries for it…ooops.

check out the drool spots

The check up went well. We didn’t wait quite as much, even if Keegan was more cranky as I had to wake him up from his car nap. The doctor found him well. He did not gain much in weight, so he is down to the 15% but he is still 50% for height and 25% for his head circumference. The magic numbers are:

23.3 lb (10.5 kg) in weight and 32in (81cm) in height. He is right on schedule with anything he is supposed to be doing right now, so we are happy.

Some of his milestones:

• he stacks tall towers of cubes, even if he still enjoys more knocking them down
• he feeds himself with spoon and forks (sometimes)
• he drinks from a straw, but he does not like it much. He prefers to drink from a real grown-up glass, and he is really good at it: almost no spills. He likes orange juice quite a bit.

• he points to most body parts: he is learning knees, neck, tight and ankles right now
• he imitates us, even noises. He tries to feed us.
• he is more vocal: he added “tate”(potatoes or patate in Italian) , “cocco”(coccodrillo or crocodile for his wooden dancing croc), “cacra” (coccole or cuddles), “tai(d)” (outside), “my” for mine (a words he uses more and more),”papup” (help up) accompanied by the help sign, and the sound for heart, “gackle” (coccole or cuddles),”pap pap”, while hitting his chest. He also uses a variety of sounds to make himself understood.
• he is trying to communicate more: besides the help sign, in the past couple of days he has been doing the I Love You sign, especially after one of us makes it first. He may not fully understands its meaning, but he definitely do it with intent. Sometimes he even blow a kiss afterwards

I love you mommie

I love you too daddy (check out the Cheerios’s explosion!)

• he lets us know clearly when he is bored with a place by saying Bye Bye and waving repeatedly
• he blew his first bubbles: the wind helped but he still blew them all by himself
• he takes toys apart and puts them back together, and puts lids on and off containers
• he “brushes” his teeth. He still will not let us brush them, but he likes to try to do it when mom is doing it. He must look at himself on the mirror, though
• he “dances” to music or when asked
• he likes to help. He enjoys helping mom to put on sunscreen, and sweeping outside…from the jacuzzi cover

should I do the floor too?

• surprising enough, he says Yeah much more often than no. In fact he never really said no, he just shakes his head. Unfortunately, he does not always mean it when he says yes, but he ALWAYS mean it when he says no. He looks like Tizi when she first learned English: there was a lot of smiling and saying yes even if she did not have the foggiest idea of what other people were saying
• he kicks balls around more
• he points to objects when we name them and makes connections between a photo in a book and the corresponding object in the house: such as the picture of a monkey and his stuffed monkey
• he dumps objects in containers, including throwing things in the garbage
• he follows two-steps requests…and he is usually putting his toys away when asked (or pick the food he is still throwing on the floor)
• he opens more doors

less fun milestones:

• he has temper tantrums when frustrated, which unfortunately happens quite often.

an expression we have become quite acquainted with lately

• he is still going through a big separation/stranger anxiety phase…
• he is very shy in social situations, even if if they are not totally unfamiliar to him. Other kids or other people in general intimidate him. He seems to be better with older girls (4+) but otherwise, he likes to stand and watch from a distance…for quite a while before approaching the situation
• he is definitely a toddler when it comes to food: picky and finicky…which explains his little weight gain. He enjoys playing more than eating

We also finally took him to see a dentist: I know some of you may think: what? he has 10 teeth! ( and we thought that too: in fact we did not add him to our dental insurance). However, after being reprimanded twice by our doctor because we had not taken him to see a dentist yet, we caved in. I have to say that the experience was less painful, for mom of course, than expected. The office is small, stocked with cool toys, and we DID NOT WAIT at all. The doctor was nice and quite gentle, and even if Keegan cried, he was pretty still and opening his mouth, contrary to some of his best exorcist interpretations that he reserved to his regular check up: screaming, thrashing from side to side, requiring 3 adults to get to see inside his mouth… It seems that everything is OK, no cavities, and nothing to worry about for now.He has a little bit of an overbite right now, but with so few teeth is hard to tell. I guess we are due in 6 months again…

So, overall Keegan is a normal toddler: it is amazing to see how strong his personality is already…We enjoy watching him become more and more his own person every day.

here he is: our super cute (if we can say so ourselves) toddler

It is supposed to be almost summer, according to the calendar, but of course, being San Diego, we have been living with grey skies since May. May gray and June Gloom are definitely not just an expression. Anyway, we still had the chance to go outside and play around with our little guy, enjoying the sun, when it breaks through in the afternoon.

Lots of water fun. Keegan is fascinated by all sort of water. However, being the cautious little guy he is, he is also timid and somewhat reserving his judgment, most of the times. We have been exposing him to all sort of water activity in the past month of so. Of course there was the swim lessons: he did not learn much, but definitely enjoyed himself, and gain a new admiration for the Hokie Pokie Song, that we sang at the end of each class. See, he is already a real Hokie! Go Virginia Tech.

He had is first visit to SeaWorld as well. It was a quick stop, but we bought a Fun Card, so we can come back anytime for free.

The now have a great toddler area we did not have the chance to check out. We did spend most time in the tide pools: he loved dipping his hands in the water, and touch the cool starfish. Can you tell someone was having fun? We took him also to see the sharks, the turtles and the penguins, but nothing could beat the star fish.

We went back to the  beach as well, and this time we tried to re-introduce him to the ocean, after his traumatic first encounter last year: well, he did not go that much better this time. Not huge waves, but the water was freezing cold, and he (and mommie alike) did not like that a bit. He had a lot of fun playing on the shore and jumping on the pools of water there, but the waves did not fascinated him at all.

He still loves loves loves the sand, though. He makes castles, with some help, and knock them down and he enjoys getting his feet buried under the sand. Once home, one more water experience: the shower. He has watched daddies many times and he was curious about it, so we gave it a try. He was enthralled: I would not say excited but curios. He liked placing his hand under the shower head and getting wet. Not too thrilled about water in his ears, but he thought it was fun to be in there. We should also mention that he has been quite fascinated by how mommie and daddie look different from each other when naked. He finds that hilarious.

Last weekend it was finally mostly a sunny day, so our brand new solar system could actually warm up the pool to a nice 88 degrees. So it was pool time for all of us. Again Keegan was more excited about dipping his hands in it that actually playing in the pool, but it is his first try: we have learned already he needs some time to “absorb” new experiences, and we have the whole summer. We bought new water toys and we will be practicing some of the lessons learned at the swim classes…assuming the weather cooperates.

What do you mean I have to wait? I am all dressed and ready to go.

let me in, let me in, let me in

this floater is kind of fun…

but you can’t beat being in mommie’s arms

We have one more water surprise in store: we got Keegan a small water table to splash around. Judging from how much he loved splashing in the fountains in Balboa Park we think he will like it. And talking about Balboa park, he loved watching the Koi fish in the pond with daddy.

May 10: Tizi’s second Mother’s day. It was a great one…at this point mainly thanks to Matt, but still.The extended weekend started out with Keegan waking up at 6.30(!!) without crying (!!!!!!!!) on Friday. Which meant we had 9 hours of sleep. It felt nice!

It also happened to be Teacher Appreciation Week, so they had a nice lunch prepared for us at work after class. Later in the afternoon, there was a Mother Day Tea event at Keegan’s daycare. Since it was at 3.30, Tizi got an extra hour for herself, which is a gift in itself.

The tea was a cute event, but maybe geared more towards older kids: they had tables set up outside, where mom and their children could have muffins, cookies, teas and juice and the kids could run around, and play with bubbles. However, Keegan did not really want to have anything to do with it: maybe there were too many older kids for him, and he is definitely not the kind of kid that likes to sit down. So, we ended up visiting next door with his old teacher and in his old room (and toys) with one of his buddies that only recently moved into his bigger kids room. It was a lot quieter, and Keegan loved playing with his old pal Eric (who should be moving to his room in June) and running around. Tizi enjoyed quiet conversation with the other mom and the teacher.

Keegan “made” a nice big card, with foamy stickers and his hand-prints. Very cute. The challenge was keeping him from pulling all the stickers off and eating them. Anf of course, trying to get him to pose and smile for the camera…not quite as easy as last year.

On Saturday, Tizi met with two other mom friends, Jennifer and Lina, and their little girls, Hannah and Mila. It was really fun to see them, especially because it has been a little while. The kids played on the playground, not exactly together, but still, and the moms chatted and got all caught up.

The three musketeers
 

And check out what a difference a few months make! These two pictures collaged by Lina (thank you) are taken about six months apart. They all grew so much.

Yummy pasta lunch! |

One thing we have noticed latley, is that Keegan enjoys feeding other people. We could  see it as he likes to share, but we are not that deluded. He is not that generous. In fact he has started defining what it is his by using the word “ma”. However, he gives away his food when he does not want it himself.  So, he insisted in giving Hannah his apple: maybe he was trying to impress her. And he was quite insistent.

HEY, look at me cutie! Do you want some apple?

Here you go!

Sunday was a really good day. Keegan woke up around 6, again with no crying. After the standard cuddles and reading in bed, Matt took him outside, so Tizi could get a couple more hours of sleep. Once she woke up, she of course called her mom (and dad) and we had a good Skype conversation. It was the first time we video called since they left and Keegan was excited and confused at the same time. He has been talking with grandma on the phone in the past couple of months…seriously: she sings to him or talks and he responds to her, either by repeating some animal sounds, or sending kisses or even mimicking some song. It is very cute to see. Skype, however, was different. He recognized them, and waved at them and smiled, but he still could not understand why he could not touch them.

Matt started cooking and Keegan went in the driveway and grabbed mommie’s newspaper and brought it to her.

Isn’t this pampering or what? Yes, he now recognizes our “stuff”, and he identifies it by saying mamma or baba. He has also become quite the helper. He now imitates a lot of what we do: this is the only way we get some minimal teeth brushing, for example.  In the morning, after his milk, when Tizi and Matt are getting ready, we all brush our teeth together.

Matt prepared his excellent breakfast, so we all ate together. Keegan was falling asleep in his chair, so we thought we had a shoo-in. Alas, no way. As soon as we got in the room, he started crying and screaming, and nothing soothed him, except us holding him and rocking him. So back to the car we went. We should have known better, and go straight to the car.

We drove to pick up an inflatable house with lots of balls (another Craigslist find), and then drove to sunset Cliff to park: at least we had a nice view. We brought a game to entertain us.

He woke up pretty soon, so off the zoo we went. This time we brought the backpack instead of the stroller, and I have to say he enjoyed more than usual. He was in there for more than an hour, without fussing. It was fun to see the animals from up there for once.

Back home Tizi and Keegan had some yummy strawberry cheesecake ice cream, with graham cracker. What do you think, did  Keegan like ice cream? This is a toughie!  He was a little surprised at first by the cold stuff, but then he could not have enough. So he got his own bowl. We don’t usually give him sweets, but it was Mother’s Day and Tizi really wanted to eat some ice cream in peace…which is not possible with Keegan around, as he begs for food (wahoo, he is fetching the paper, begging for food, whining for attention…do you see a pattern here? Hey, is Mother’s Day, so I can be mean if I want to. Come on, now, we do LOVE our little puppy…I mean little boy).

Then is was Ball Time! We poured some balls in the baby pool and let him go wild. He had a blast, and didn’t even throw them all out right a way.

And when he was done, he helped us putting them away, and he brought them inside. I am telling you, he is really helping. We even get him to help us bring his toys inside at bedtime!

Lately we have also noticed that Keegan is trying to communicate and talk a lot more. We started introducing more signs, but he also tries to repeat words. He even tried to say  “coccodrillo”(with limited success, but hey, it is a tough one). He says “bro” for book (libro), “ma” for mine (we think), and he says his second full word: “cackers”(for crackers). It is funny that when he is learning a word he repeats as a question, as if it was not sure it is the right word. He has also started saying “Baaa” and waving for BYE or ciao…It looks like , while he is understanding Italian slightly better, his words are mainly in English. We think because it is a little easier, but we are still hopeful he will speak both fluently.

One more big event on Mother’s day: we trimmed his hair for the first time. It was somewhat emotional…he has been bold for so long, that it feels weird to thing he now needs a haircut. Tizi was not too excited about this, but it needed to be done: they were down in his eyes. He did not like this much, but it was quick. It is amazing how a small trim make him look so different. Even the teacher at daycare noticed and mentioned he looks so much older. I don’t know about older, but definitely different…we will post an after picture soon, so you can see the difference.

After Keegan went to bed, Matt had one more surprise up his sleeve. He cooked an exceptional filet dinner, and  we had a beautiful romantic time, with the sweet smelling lilies and tulips he bought for me, and a good glass of wine. We played the Baby Smarts game, and we realized, that even after 17 months, there is still lots we don’t know about babies. (-:

I am really blessed to have such a wonderful hubby and son. They made my Mother’s Day a wonderful one. Thank you to my two favorite guys!

I can’t believe is Easter already, but here we are. The first week after the grandparents left went OK. We are definitely back to normal: no more sleeping in till 8am for Keegan. In fact he started his random schedule again, which usually means WE are not getting any sleep. We had in order: a 6am wake up, a midnight wake-up with him (and us) staying awake till 3.30am, another wake up at 4.30 and 5.30, and then the next day a midnight and 1.30 and then 5.30 wake ups…and of course, while he sleeps fine at daycare, he does NOT want to nap at home. We tried again the crying out method on saturday, and guess what, he cried 2.5 hours, and no nap. So once again, it is back in the car and he fell asleep right away…We definitely need to find a way for him to nap, since he is very tired. We can try to get some kind of cot, like they have a daycare, so maybe it will help. At this point we are open to everything. (-:

Anyway, this too shall pass.

Easter, while still did start with a somewhat sleepless night, turned out to be a very fun day for all of us. The weather was once again beautiful and sunny, so we started the day with a small Easter hunt. Matt hid some colorful eggs filled with treats in the yard, and we got Keegan out there to find them. We did not do anything too elaborate, but he had a blast. “He” made a small basket at daycare, so he was  ready to go, and he quickly got the hang of it.

let’s store them all in the basket

I have found another one

He was such a thrill to watch him and to hear him shriek in delight, especially when he started shaking them, and he realized that there was something inside…and something edible at that.

hey, they are making a fun shaking sound

what’s in there?

Yummy Strawberry Puffs

yummy!!!

enough, let’s save the loot for later

It was so much fun! After both mom and Keegan had a nap, it was off to the playground. He did have a good time, climbing stairs, going down the slides, playing with the sand, and petting doggies. He even crawl though the tunnel, something he usually does not like to do. Then is was time for more playtime at home.

We hope all of you had as fun as a Easter Day as we did.

Sadly, the time has come to say Arrivederci again. The grandparents left for Italy last week…just in time for the biggest earthquake in Italy in 30 years. Fortunately they are not in harm’s way, and thank you to all of you that expressed concern. Neither they or anyone in their direct circle has been affected.

We had a wonderful time, and spent many days enjoying each other’s company. We all miss them a lot. Keegan has been occasionally pointing to the door, waiting for them to show up at any time. He has been looking for their car, and its keys, since he had a lot of fun playing in it, and pretending to drive it…oh- oh, are we in trouble?

I am getting the hang of this driving thing

For us, it has really been a treat seeing how well they get along, and how much fun they had together. It could have been a simple stroll in the neighborhood…

…or a shopping trip in mama’s mothership: Target…

I love this shopping thing… check out my mug

Making mama proud: Keegan is a Target lover already

… or simply playing in the yard

man, this is a REALLY big ball

or enjoying an old-fashioned passtime as  paper dolls (and grandpa is a master at it)…

…no matter what they did, they had a ball. Unfortunately, the last week, has been spent tending to Keegan who got sick, and was out of daycare for 4 days. We are very grateful for Grandmma and Grandpa that took such god care of him so we could still go to work. It was nothing serious, just a combo cold-cough-fever-teething thing. He was well enough by Friday to enjoy one last day with his best playmates.

We are looking forward to seeing them again soon, possibly in Italy. Thank you again for everything  you have done, and see you soon on Skype!

Once again, while the grandparents are around, Keegan is going through some big change. Nothing stratospheric, mind you, but after almost 5 months of quiet he is finally sprouting new teeth. Not one, not two, but three: two top front ones, and a top molar! We honestly didn’t noticed the first two, as his sleep has been erratic plenty times before without reason. I just put my finger accidentally into his mouth and felt them. While at first I was not too thrilled about losing symmetry, with the new top tooth, she was relieved to see that the other top tooth is about to poke out. Relieved till this morning that is, when Keegan woke at 5.30 crying and could not be soothed. Oh well, hopefully it will be over soon.

The weather has been good, and we have very warm forecasts for the next few days, so Keegan has been enjoying lots and lots of outdoor play and walks with grandma and grandpa. This a great thing because he absolutely LOVES being outside, and he will clamor to go outside as soon as we get back home from daycare.Tizi on the other hand has been enjoying a few hours of free time each day, and just at the right time too, as she has been somewhat buys at work.

goofing around in Mission Bay

how did this got on my head?

slides are still Keegan’s favorite

Keegan has also increased his vocal repertoire, as far as animal noises goes at least. He now grunts for piggie, makes “mmmm” for cow, “oh,oh,oh,oh” for monkey, “awooo” for cat, “ssssss” for snake, “ah, ah, ah” for crows (or any other bird), “awoooooo” for dog (we must have hounds in the neighborhood). No much more progress in talking, even though he can now say “mama, dada, nana (for banana)” quite well. His signing has improved as well, both in quality and consistency. Milk, more (referring to anything, not just food), food, and all the others we mentioned already, and now even “shhhh” (hand on his mouth). Of course he also has lots of other ways to let us know what he wants.

Finally he has kept on eating more and more food, and more and more on his own. He is now quite good at eating with a spoon, even dipping it himself. And tomatoes have made a triumphal return. He finally likes pasta!!! Tizi is excited about that.

We have another week and a half with the grandparents and we are all planning to enjoy every minute of it. You don’t need to tell Keegan twice. He is having a ball with them, his favorite playmates. He plays all afternoon, and laughs out loud, and squeal in delight at all the games grandma and grandpa are inventing for him. It does not hurt that they are bringing lots of gifts, big and small. We will definitely had to hide some when they leave, and rotate them. For now though, is great to see him light up and play with them.

having a laugh with grandma’s musical book

Tizi and Matt are also enjoying the extra free time. Saturday we had our first night outside the house. Grandma offered kindly to sleep over so we went to a funny comedy show at 4th and B and then stayed the night at the Sheraton Hotel at Symphony hall, in a nice king suite, with awesome view of the city. We were even upgraded and got a wonderful free breakfast buffet. By the way, the Sheraton restaurant is the place where we first talked about/decided to get married in 2002.

The best part of it, though, was the chance to actually spend time together, as a couple, without worries, and really only focus on each other, without being interrupted. And let not forget the chance to get a nice night of sleep. Even if we were not able to sleep in till 9/10am straight as we used to (we still got up earlier) it was wonderful not to have to get up right away, and just lie down and talk and cuddle with no rush. Plus, we got back home early enough not to miss the little guy too much. Seeing how happy he was when he saw us really was touching: it almost compensate us for the perennial lack of sleep… almost.

So thank you grandparents for such a great gift!

our little angel