Hawaii Chronicles 1: Water Time

Seeing as we're pretty much submerged here in MA (see photo above of our driveway), I thought it was appropriate to start our Hawaii tales with a story about water. Kai spent ALOT of time in the liquid medium during our trip. Enough in fact to transform flat bunny (one of the original bunny 3) into "Water Bunny." Our beach house had an absolutely amazing pool that was exceptionally child friendly with its shallow lagoon style entrance and slow slope into the deep end. Kai was one happy little boy. During breakfast on our first dark, rainy morning back in MA, Kai said sadly "no fimming pool outside." Sorry buddy! If I could whisk you back to Hawaii I would!!!

He is a true man of his name (Kai = ocean in Hawaiian. We also learned on our trip that more specifically, the word Kai refers to a friendly, near ocean....like a beach, whereas the word moana refers more to the ocean "out there").

Here are Kai and Daddy taking Water Bunny for a ride on the boogie board. Kai enjoyed many watery games like running and jumping into the pool, watching Mommy and Daddy run and "fall down" in the water, tossing a ball around, making a shower out of a watering can and pouring water on guess who... He even got to enjoy some pool side dining with his little friend Sara. In fact, Kai had so much fun that he got in touch with his inner assertive voice and hollered "more fun! more fun!" as Daddy dragged him kicking and screaming to dinner.

You'll notice Kai is wearing an inside out purple life vest. We found this great vest at the pool house where we stayed. At first Kai didn't seem to mind the orange and purple flowers but I'm guessing he overhead some commentary on boys wearing flowery life vests b/c after the first day he started insisting that the life vest be put on inside out and sometimes he even wanted it backwards! I guess this where gender biases begin!

We are very proud of our little man who decided that he would put his head under the water during our trip! He made up his own mind that he would do it and plugged his nose, closed his eyes and mouth and DUNK he was under! He was a bit scared when he emerged but quickly a big smile spread over his face and he wanted to do it again! What a great thing to watch him pushing his limits and gaining the confidence that comes from trying new and intimidating things!!!

Miss Teia tried dipping her tender tootsies first in the ocean and then in the pool. The first few times she complained a bit but by the end of the week she decided that maybe this water thing wasn't too bad after all, even if Mommy couldn't figure out how to put her bathing suit on and put it on backwards! I'm sure she'll notice when she is 16 and looking back at these photos! Dressing girls is so complicated! This was a big week for Teia. She started rolling from her back to her tummy and pushing herself up to her feet while holding just Mommy's finger. She can also sit almost by herself. In fact, she did sit by herself for just a few seconds but Mommy wasn't taking any chances in letting her face plant into the pool from her perch on the rock.

We're back!

Just a quick aloha! to let our friends and family know that we are back (already :-(((() from our trip to Hawai'i. We had a wonderful time and Teia and Kai (known now as Beach Runner and Mini-Runner - Kai is into making up nicknames lately - today I got "Fast Runner" and Daddy got "Slow Runner" ;-) not sure how that happened), were superb travelers! I mentioned to Greg that they did so well that maybe we should consider a trip to Australia. Greg agreed that they did well but he wasn't so enthusiastic about my idea. Maybe I should let the jet lag pass first...

I hope to be back several times this week to put up some pics and stories of our trip. It was a big week. Teia started rolling from her back to tummy and just didn't stop! We have lots of other stories to share so stay tuned for the Hawaii Chronicles. For now it is back to catching up on sleep, unpacking, and dealing with yet more mold and flooding. Hmmmm....good to be home? NOT.

Aloha!

Why do we look so happy? We're off to Hawaii on Saturday!!! Kai can't wait to taste some "apaya," check out some coconuts and palm trees, see a real gecko and a real wawafall. He is especially excited that the house we're staying at has a pool. I think he'll be even more excited when he actually sees it! We haven't mentioned cockroaches. I think his reaction when he sees one scurrying about will be priceless! Greg joked that we should stay here seeing as the weather has just turned beautiful! Ha! We need to escape our house as well as winter. Since the basement flooded the other day our entire house now smells like moldy basement. Yep, we should stay home....

Ok. So this is a random shot of the kids playing in the morning sun. But I couldn't resist. You can see how interested Teia is in her older brother. I imagine lots and lots of fun times once these two can really play together (okay, and lots of squabbles too). I saw a prelude to that. Kai was busy making soup with fridge magnets and every time Teia grabbed for them, he patiently removed her fingers and told her sternly "Kai's."

While we are excited about the trip we are a bit anxious about our looooong flights. We told Teia that if she is too noisy, this is where she'll be riding for the trip home. She does look a little concerned...

Today Daddy and Teia decided to try out their sunglasses with a springtime walk. It really is spring here. My tulip bulbs are up! This year I'm not taking any chances. They have already been sprayed with putrescent egg salad. Sorry Deer!! Did I mentioned we saw a Fisher yesterday in our backyard!!! Boy, this post is random. Did I mention I haven't slept much lately?

Here is our little hula girl again sporting her shades and her dimple. We hope she'll charm our fellow plane passengers as much as she charms everyone else she has met so far! Doesn't she look cute on her 5 month birthday?

Favorite Things

A few of our friends have blogs for their kids and they have posted about their kids' favorite things. Seeing as those things change rather quickly, I thought maybe we should capture some of the loves in our little loves lives too!

Kai

1. Well we know Kai loves bunnies but he has expanded his animal horizons and his big boy bed is now home to a couple of lions, make that three to be exact. His big favorite these days is "Music Wyon" so named b/c he plays a tune when you turn the key on his bum.

2. "Dancing Wyon" - aka Alex the Lion in the movie Madagascar. Very popular at our house as of late. In fact, if you come to visit you are likely to be called Dancing Wyon and asked to dance!

3. Running - Yes, Kai still loves to run. It is pretty heart warming actually to watch him ripping across the yard with rosy cheeks and an ear to ear grin on his face. He loves running so much that he has started to call himself "Runner." This has come in quite handy b/c Runner tends to be a more agreeable fellow than Kai when asked to do things like go upstairs for rest, wash hands, or pick up his mess. We also chuckle about this nickname b/c our #2 name for Teia, had she been a boy, was Ryder. Now wouldn't that have been quaint - "please let me introduce our sons, Ryder and Runner." I guess all kids go through this phase. I remember when a certain sibling of mine would only answer to Princess ;-) (Sorry Mike, your secret is out).

4. Cereal bars. What would we do without this staple in Kai's diet? At our house, they are known as "big boy cereal bars." Kai now turns up his nose at the Gerber toddler ones and gobbles up the full sizers with gusto.

5. Mac n' Cheese. Not very original I know. He has requested green M&C for St. Paddy's day tomorrow. I plan to make it with pureed spinach. We'll see if that is what he had in mind.

6. Koklate bunnies - Kai almost, almost got on the potty for one of these bad boys today. But alas, the bunny went to Music Wyon who willingly sits on his throne.

7. Playing house - Kai is a master of imaginary play lately and he loves to pretend he is in different rooms of different houses. He likes to move his crew of bunnies and lions from imaginary room to imaginary room. He also likes to make them eat stuff he'd never touch like tomatoes and green beans.

8. Whole Foods - Absolutely Kai's favorite store. He enters with a quiet reverence and is a very well behaved chap while we shop. We're not sure why but we suspect it might be the free cheese. Do you know we have a pretend whole foods in our house and a closet that is now named "whole foods bag room." You can guess what we keep in there!

9. Apple Cider - Also likely b/c he first sipped its nectar while visiting Whole Foods.

10. Lightning McQueen - Because he's fast. Nuf said.

11. The Bim - (gym) officially known as the Edge sports center where we'll be holding Kai's birthday party.

Teia

Now the little lady's list is a bit shorter because she's had less time to develop her discerning tastes but she does have some favorites.

1. Her Daddy - Teia greets Greg with smiles, giggles, bounces and very rapid arm movements when he gets home from school. We take it that this all means that she likes him.

2. Gloworm - A little glowing face and a simple tune played when its belly is touched will stop a crying Teia in 2 seconds or less. Gotta love it.

3. Milk, not formula, milk. Teia has been quite clear about that.

4. Her brother - When Kai is awake, Teia is riveted.

5. Her mama - okay, had to add myself to this list too. I was starting to feel left out.

6. Pink cat - funny how babies really spend time playing with some toys and blow others off.

7. Ball - see above.

8. Being outside - with the recent change in weather, our Teia is discovering that there is a world outside the walls of our house. And we think she likes what she sees judging by how long she'll hang out in the front carrier just taking it all in.

We're hoping that on Saturday we can add airplane rides to both of our kidlets' lists :-)

Upcoming Adventures

Seems there is a lot of excitement brewing in the Fennell household lately. We have a lot to look forward to with a busy few months coming up and Kai is at the age now where he understands about the future and can get excited about things to come. Our next adventure is a trip to Hawaii, which I'm sure we'll be blogging about lots. A tropical fish marks the day on our calendar and each morning Kai and I count down how many days are left. So as long as I can get a little bit of uninterrupted time to pack our bags, we'll be heading off in 8 days!!!!

April is a busy month with lots of birthdays (Kai's being the most important of course), our wedding anniversary (which gets hidden behind the shadow of the little man's big day...I think he planned it that way when he arrived the day before...), a planned visit from Granddad and Easter. I think right now Kai is most excited about Easter. Not surprising really, given that he LOVES bunnies and he LOVES chocolate and he has now made the connection of how the two go together at this time of year. The other day when I got him up from his rest he was chomping on one of his bunnies' tails and told me he was eating a 'koklate' bunny. He made sure that I understood the distinction b/tw real and pretend 'koklate' bunnies and that he'd enjoy the real kind! Today we took a trip to the mall and stopped at the chocolate bunny store (aka the Lindt store). Kai was pretty excited to see a whole wall of chocolate bunnies. I asked him if he thought we should buy one for Daddy to which he replied affirmatively. Then he thought for a moment and added "buy one for Kai." As I reached up to chose one, he then suggested "buy a BIG one for Kai." Smart boy.

Sweet Slumber

What do parents of little ones think about ALL the time? You guessed it...SLEEP. Sweet, sweet slumber. We want it for our babes and we want it for ourselves. We were doing pretty well here for awhile. Teia was sleeping up to 10 hrs a night. Unfortunately, it was in a cozy papasan chair and we knew that she couldn't sleep there forever. So about 2 weeks ago we moved her out of our room and into a big, lonely crib in her room. She is not far from us, about 10 steps exactly (yes, I've counted them). A baby monitor is really unnecessary seeing as with our door open we can hear everything going on in her room. But we have one anyway so we can hear every wiggle, cough, hiccup and peep out of our little princess. Makes for a good night's sleep...

Lately the little woman (as Greg calls her) has been waking up 2-3 times a night. The reason I'm sharing all this is so that our readership can truly appreciate our bravery in that in the middle of all this we decided it was time to transition our little deep sleepin' lad into a big boy bed. Kai long ago gave up his nap but he is a great night sleeper which explains the vim and vigor with which he approaches each day. So we anxiously approached this task wondering if we were bidding adieu to his good night sleep and his afternoon "rest periods." We've heard that sometimes, once given the get-out-of-the-crib card, the little tykes will prowl the house at night, leave their bedroom repeatedly and basically refuse to sleep. Seeing as Kai has never slept anywhere except his crib or a pack and play, we really didn't know what to expect. In preparation, I reorganized the bathroom, just in case...

Here is the little man on the last morning in his crib. Later that day we moved the crib into the hallway and moved in the big boy bed, which was constructed by Kai and Daddy a few weeks ago and kept out on the landing. We figured Kai might appreciate a little "get acquainted time" before being asked to spend a night alone with the new bed...wouldn't you? When Kai saw that his crib had been replaced, he walked over to it and said "bye bye pib*," and then walked over to the bed and said "hello big boy bed." For some reason this caused the waterworks to flow and mommy had to leave the premises. Must be something about her little boy growing up :-(

The first night went MUCH better than expected. Kai slept in his bed ALL night with no complaints. We planned a photo of his first morning but when we turned on the monitor at 7 am he was already up and jumping on the "crash mat" that we placed beside his bed in case he fell out. This is the morning scene:

As you can see many bunnies had already been kicked to the crash mat. What transpired during the afternoon "rest period" was even more amazing. Not only did Kai stay in his bed for his rest time, he actually napped. Oh big boy bed, where have you been for the last year or so??? How many peaceful afternoons have been missed??? Seriously though, it was probably a random fluke, kinda like beginner's luck and we're not expecting it again. But at least he is content to hang out in the big boy bed for some afternoon down time. Below are a few more shots of Kai and his new bed.

This photo is from big boy bed building day. Here Kai is helping to put on his Lightening McQueen sheets.

*We think Kai secretly knows how to spell. How else can you explain his substitution of "p" for all "c" words but not for "k" words?????