Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Fun weekend!
On friday I took Kaio to a local park. There is a whole area for children, which was very busy since it was a beautiful, sunny day. Kaio was one of the smallest but not intimidated by anyone. He was loving all the different toys and very brave/daring! At one point a 3 year old pushed him from a 1 meter high platform (completely unprovoked!) and Kaio fell head first down. My heart stopped for a split second until I heard him scream (which was a good sign). His face was covered in mud and with a bit of blood. After comforting him a bit we went back to the toy so he would not become fearful. He did great and after 5 minutes he was already running around and playing again! It made me realize how fast things can happen but also how strong my little boy is.
Fun outing:
On saturday (another beautiful day) we went to the Battersea Park zoo. Kaio LOVED it! He really enjoyed looking at all the animals and tried to imitate their sounds. He was a bit reluctant to touch the goats. However after he saw another child petting it, he also tried. He really enjoyed the bunnies, monkeys, birds, meerkats and goats. He had so much fun running around that he slept the whole way back home.
Smart toddler:
Kaio had been saying a couple of words (boo=book, do = dog, mmm = milk, etc) but this past week he really started trying to repeat the words we say. He is doing great. He says 'sees' = cheese, 'tototo' = potato, "papapa" = sapato, etc. He is getting really good in noticing the amount of syllables we say and follows with the same amount.
Cute little guy:
On sunday we had a barbeque at a friends house. There was a 13month old and Kaio played very nicely with the baby and behaved really well. He kept himself entertained and entertained everyone else with his cute way. He loves 'jumping' when being held by us, but now he started 'jumping' by himself. He flexes his knees and 'jumps' up, without getting off the floor but he says 'puaa' (=pula - jump in Portuguese)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
BEAUTIFUL TODDLER!
More pictures of our beautiful, funny, sweet and smart toddler:
1) Happy it is 'sleepy' time - carrying his favorite sleeping buddy (donkey)
2) We are still working on getting him to sit more then 5 seconds on his potty (which is a progress from 3 weeks ago when he would not go near it!)
3) On his bike with crazy hair
4) 7 am - good morning!!!! (you can clearly see his 'smaller' right eye - inherited from daddy!)


Monday, February 16, 2009
Pictures
- Kaio allowing a hat on his head to look 'cool' (he has always thrown the hats off instantly)
- At the Clapham Fair which we visited this weekend. He really liked it but was a bit hesitant to try the flashy rides and all the different shapes, sounds and vibration of the place. On our way home he was babbling away about his trip to the fair:
- with mommy, asking for 'help' (his hands together and moving it up and down) to get out of the fast pace spinning tea cups.
- with daddy after he refused to enter a baby roller coaster
- with mommy in the 'tchu tchu' train - he seemed tense, but loved it
- 'king' of the train




Sunday, February 15, 2009
Peek-a-boo
Yesterday we were having lunch in a restaurant. After he had finished his meal, he was ready to go outside and play. I kept telling him that it was too cold to go outside. So, smart little guy, grabbed his jacket and gave it to me to put it on him so he could go and run outside.
He sometimes 'hits/smacks' us unintentionally, however, we make it clear that it is not acceptable. ("Kaio needs to be gentle") Yesterday he hit me while in the midst of very exciting playing. I looked at him upset and instantly he hugged me - his way of apologizing!
He has been sweet to Vinny, he goes to him and shows him toys or gets close to him and smiles and 'babbles'. Kaio is getting much better in repeating syllables. When we say 'boat' he says 'boa', 'toy' is 'to', 'doggy' is 'do', etc
Jason has been playing guitar for Kaio and both love it! Kaio starts dancing (without being told to do so, he automatically started dancing) Kaio loves when we dance with him to any song but he also does a great job in dancing alone.
Monday he is officially moving to the Toddler 1 room at daycare. He is more then ready to do more 'grown up' activities and be with the bigger kids. He has gone through a growth spurt the last weeks. We can notice it on his cloths!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
More teeth ?!
Over the weekend we met up with some friends. Kaio was adorable. He, initially, was a bit 'fun' shy but after a couple of minutes he was showing of and constantly looking at our friends to see if they were looking.
Kaio is really exploring diferent ways of making us laugh. He does diferent things (throws himself on the floor, throws a toy, bounces of the sofa, puts a toy in his mouth, screams) to see if we laugh. He always laugh first, hoping we will will follow. 99% of the time we do!
He started doing this cute thing where he waves and says 'bye bye' when he leaves a room or wants to go. The intonation of his voice is priceless.
He is very much into feeding himself. Some days he won't eat unless he is in full control of the spoon! Mr. independent!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
More pics of our cozy 'snowed in' day!
1) Jason adventuring outside to get some rosemary for our hearty soup
2) Kaio staring outside the window at Vinny (Kaio does need a hair cut!)
3) Mommy and Kaio adventure outside
4) Kaio all by himself in the snow
5) Mommy had the great idea to do some finger painting with Kaio. Now I understand why Kaio always comes home so messy from daycare!
6) "Where is all the paint gone?" (uh - on your face, cloths, mommy's face and cloths and floor!)





Monday, February 02, 2009
Snow day!
But the good news is that both of our offices are shut! So no worries there! And Kaio's nursery is open, but there's no reason to take him there!
So today we're all hanging out at home, cooking a nice barley soup for lunch.
We've also updated our pictures and added these pictures from our trip to Brasil over the holidays. Enjoy!
Vinny LOVED the snow; it was up to his chest and he kept hopping around like a little crazy doggy. Few pictures from this morning from our neighborhood, and a pic of Kaio having fun (this is a toy that he got from Oma for Christmas and he now uses the storage compartment, very creatively - as a seat ):





Sunday, February 01, 2009
6 Year anniversary!
Kaio is doing really well. He is running around and is so easy going.Saturday, January 17, 2009
Back into our normal 'routine'
At daycare, everyone is very impressed in how proficient Kaio is in the sign language and they are now motivated to teach him more and are 'using' him to show the other children. They also have been bragging to other parents who all want to see Kaio do the signing language... he is a mini celebrity!!!!
Some more pics from Brazil:
1) Kaio 'all done' after stuffing his mouth full of watermelon
2) Eating his first (of several) chicken heart
3) With Opa on the bike....


Sunday, January 11, 2009
Back to (brrrrrrrrr) cold London
A piece of travel advice for everyone: Under no circumstances, DO NOT EVER TRAVEL WITH AIR FRANCE!!!!!!! Throughout this nightmare of a journey, they were entirely rude to us, completely unaccommodating, and delivered many false promises for which they did not carry out. Considering that Air France is from the "developed world", their handling of our situation was just about the worst display of customer service that we can imagine. On the other hand, Tam Airlines (a Brasilian carrier, which is supposed to be from the "developing world") ran a first class operation. They were kind, accommodating, and even offered us to use a baby stroller while we were stuck in one of our long delays in the airport.
Anyhow, Kaio did very well and coped with the lack of sleep as well as he/we could.
Back home we were a bit afraid of how he would sleep. Luckily he slept 14hrs straight the last two days! (plus 3hrs of naps during the day!) These holidays and trips are so exhausting for a baby! (and the parents ;)
We had such a great time in Brasil and we miss the family already. When I say Oma, Kaio looks around searching for her! He loved playing with titio (uncle Ward) and loved all the delicious meals Oma and Opa prepared for him as well as all the hugs, kisses, birds, gifts, attention, swimming pool, jeep rides, waffletjes and playing golf!!!!
Oh, and he loved the warm weather too - it was between 25-35C in Brasil; and we arrived back to London during a glacier front at around -4C. He keeps wanting to run around outside, but it's just too cold!
Soon we'll download all of our pictures and post the best ones. A happy New Year to everyone!!!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
2009!
On our way to Brazil (more specifically - Paris airport at 9pm!) Kaio started walking like a little "mad man". Our flight to Rio was cancelled and we had to stay the night in Paris. While waiting for the new flight information and hotel details, Kaio just walked ALL over the airport - really enjoying the fact that he was so mobile and able to "run" around. Although it was way past his sleeping time, he was very energized.
Once in Brazil, Kaio was initially a bit shy with everyone from the family, but after a couple of days he totally warmed up to everyone. He adores Oma (Sometimes he even prefers to go to her arms then mommy´s!) and just loves the attention he gets from everyone. He loves the space, being able to walk around naked, all the different 'toys', plants, birds, etc and specially the swimming pool (sometimes he is ready to go in the pool as early as 8am!)
Everyone is very impressed with the sign language. He is now able to sign:
- Food
- Water
- Milk
- More
- All done
- Help
- Baby
- Phone (this one he made up, but it is very obvious - he puts his fist to his ear every time he sees a phone or hears one)
- Airplane
He loves animals and loves the birds my parents have at their house (it's with them that Oma totally won him over, by singing and looking at the birds!)
Kaio has been very vocal. He experiments with his voice, shouts, babbles, imitates our sounds and is clearly saying some words (like Bi - bird, do - dog, bo - ball, etc) . He also knows:
- how does the tiger go? - rrrrrrrrh
- how does the cow go? - mmmmmm
Jason and I went to the mountain region for 3 days and 2 nights. Kaio stayed with Oma and Opa and behaved very well. Everyone is impressed in how happy and easy going he is.
He has been enjoying the local food and even ate (and asked for more) some of my preferred foods - chicken heart, watermelon, corn, black beans, etc he also loves Opa's churrasco meat!
It has been so great to spend so much time with him. It is amazing to see his personality develop and flourish. He is funny, happy, sweet but also very stubborn!
Some pictures:
Friday, December 19, 2008
One moment that will always make me laugh
But one moment that stood out was when we were in Brasil back in February/March: Kaio was about 5/6 months at the time, starting to change from a tiny, helpless baby, into a more-mature baby, learning to express himself, focusing on objects, learning to use his hands, etc. This particular moment, we were at a mall in Porto Alegre; Annelies, her mother, Kaio and I went shopping. I put Kaio into the Baby Bjorn (it's the carrier where he is held tight to your belly, facing forward). As Annelies and Fanny were discussing the intracacies of some particular haute couture, I had to run to the loo. After washing my hands, I reached for a paper towel to dry them. As I grabbed a paper towel, Kaio BURSTED into an uncontrollable laugher! I'm not sure if he thought that was the funniest thing he had ever seen or if he was still just learning how to control that whole "laughter-as-one-of-my-expressions" sort of thing.
So, pushing the issue, I grabbed another paper towel. More hilarity and giggles from Kaio! Another paper towel, sure enough, more laughing! Of course, with this little 6-month old creature hanging on my belly, laughing like a little madman, I started cracking up too. There was another guy in the restroom who started laughing as well (you just don't see that every day).
Anyhow, wanting to share my laughing son with the world, I grabbed a few paper towels and headed back into the mall to show Annelies and Fanny. By that point, all I had to do was grab a few paper towels and smack them between my hands - and he would burst into a hearty belly laugh. So I found Annelies and Fanny, quickly trying to get their attention. "Uh oh, is everything OK?" they said? "Watch THIS!" I responded as the little man started giggling again like crazy.
Well, this carried on for about 5 minutes in this little jewelry shop in the mall; the shopkeepers were cracking up, Fanny & Annelies were having a hoot, little Kaio thought those paper towels were the funniest thing since sliced bread, and I was giggling away the whole time.
As Kaio has grown up a bit more and learned how to control his emotions a bit better, he is no longer overcome by a 7-minute bout of the giggles. That said, when he's in just the right mood (usually just a bit sleepy, but not to the point of being flat-out tired), the randomest things will trigger a good 45-seconds of laughter - the other day, it was Vinny getting rambunctious in the house, other times it's a loud noise, etc...
The belly laughter of Kaio is certainly one of the big joys in my life now :)
-Jason
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sick family!
He walks (or crawls - depending on his mood) and comes to our legs, stretches out his arms and opens and closes his hands... it is impossible not to pick him up!!!! He is walking more and more by himself and is realizing it is easier to hold something and walk then crawl and drag something along!!!
The sign language is also going well and we are currently teaching him 'help' (when he squeaks and cries to get something done - open or reach a toy/box, something is stuck, etc) and he picked it up in 2 days!
We had a nice weekend and Kaio and mommy went Christmas shopping. This included a nice break at Starbucks for some cake, playing and recharging. Overall it went really well, Kaio behaved for 3 hrs and I got the majority of my Christmas shopping done!
On Tuesday morning Jason and I woke up feeling poorly (British version of saying - sick!) Jason called in sick at work but I had to go into work due to some important meetings. On Wednesday the same story however this time Kaio also has a slight fever. I just hope we will all feel well to go to Brazil on Saturday!!!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Last shots ----- until 4 years
I tried (unsuccessfully) to get Jason to go since I have always taken him for his shots and I did not want him to get 'upset' with me.
We got to the Dr.'s office and he was smiling to everyone, playing, being curious - being Kaio. When we went into the examination room, he was playful and did not recognize the nurse that has given him his previous shots (he kept smiling at her). He was fine when we weighed him (he is now 9.4kg - 9% - which shows he is 'recovering' from his low weight.) When I exposed his thighs and held him tight, he still smiled at the nurse and it only 'struck' him when the needle went into his thigh! He screamed and cried for only a couple of seconds. I hugged him and he felt better. Then a second shot went into his other thigh and he looked at me - "why are you allowing her to do this to me... AGAIN!" After crying a bit longer (30sec) he was fine and was back to his old self.
He did not have any major reaction this time around and he is now protected!
He has been SO much fun. (as usual!) We play hide-and-seek, building blocks (until a couple of weeks he would only destroy what we build but now he is actually building things), reading stories (he has is favorite books), etc. He is so smart and really understanding so many things!
Monday, December 08, 2008
smart baby!
I read somewhere that a baby around 14 months understands around 25 words. I first thought - 'oh no, Kaio is behind!!! We need to catch up!' but then I started thinking about the words he "knows". He is (of course) not able to actually say them, but when you say the words he acknowledges and reacts to them. He clearly understands the following:
- flor (flower)
- luz (light)
- Kaio (his name)
- doggy
- mamae (mommy)
- daddy
- Vinny
- food
- water
- more
- all done
- escovar os dente (brush the teeth)
- aviao (air plane)
- baby
- passarinho (birdy)
- uva (grape)
- sapatos (shoes)
- bola (ball)
- not for the baby (yes, he does understand this and he stops and started doing a 'fake' cry for a couple of seconds and then just does something else!)
- not in the mouth
- beijo (kiss)
- abraco (hug)
- livro (book)
- yogurte
- Tchau (good bye)
- Milk
- Dance (he bends his knees and actually dances!)
There is a fare share of English and Portuguese words and it might lead to confusion in the future, but it seems to all make sense in his little head!
This weekend we went to a Christmas craft market an hour by car form London. Kaio behaved marvellously. However, on the way back, buckled in his seat, he did the 'all done' sign. He was 'done' with the whole care trip and wanted to get out of his seat. It really showed he understands what 'all done' means, but now needs to understand that not everything can be ' all done' when we want it to be! (wouldn't life be easy!?!)
In two weeks we will be on our way to Brazil for Christmas. We can't wait! Kaio absolutely LOVES his bath time and will have such a blast in the pool! It will be great to spend 3 weeks with him!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Mussels in Brussels...
- all done
- more
- food
- airplane
- milk
We are still working on 'drink' and recently started 'sleep'
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sign language
1) I am a thirsty and Belgian!
2) Oops, you caught my red handed!
PS - the bottle was empty!!!!
3) Eating his yogurt all by himself. (although it requires a lot of concentration)


Saturday, November 15, 2008
More teeth!
He's also started to understand how to "give us a kiss". He'll open his mouth wide-open, and give us a sloppy kiss on the cheek; very cute :) Some of the other babies at the nursery will make the "smootch" noise and pucker their lips, but Kaio hasn't quite learned that yet. Surely he will with time.
Another discover this weekend was that he really enjoys feeding himself. This morning I made him a little sandwich for breakfast, and I was expecting to give him little chunks of it until finished. Either he was so hungry or so excited, but he grabbed the sandwich and started taking big bites out of it.
I don't know what he likes more, the fact that he feeds himself (yea, independence!), or the fact that he gets himself extra special dirty, hehehehe.
We're all having a great fun weekend together playing around the house!
He is taking 10+ steps at a time, however his prefered way of moving is still crawling!
This friday we met up with some of the girls from our antenatal group (3 baby girls and Kaio), besides he being the smallest he is also the loudest in banging things (it's such a boy thing, the girls just kept staring at him) While he is into getting the remote controls, play with the tv, radio, etc the girls were playing with a set of tea pots and dolls! He does seem to be the more agile and the one taking steps. However some of the girls had 12 teeth already while he only has 6!
Here is a pic of Kaio and Vinny (Kaio loves to play with Vinny's toys). He had a bit of a swollen face due to some allergic reaction. We are not sure what it was, but are suspecting strawberries! (which is a shames since he really liked them!)
Sunday, November 09, 2008
pictures
2) Kaio loving the zoo
3) Kaio and mommy after looking at the lions (he did not enjoy them that much since they were not hanging from trees, chasing each other and running around like the other animals!)
4) Daddy and Kaio with Evan and Daryl. Kaio loves babies (any size or shape)
5) Little prisoner - Halloween!









