Oma in town

Oma arrived on Thursday evening and will stay a whole week with us!
Kaio recognized her instantly when she arrived and it did not take a lot of time for him to follow her around everywhere! Oma loves to play with Kaio and he really enjoys the fact that she is keen to play and do anything.
We have done a lot of shopping - Oma is always so generous - we bought a little table + matching chairs and a set of toddler pots and pans. Kaio LOVES it!
Jason and I are both travelling (separately) on business trips tomorrow (monday) and Kaio is staying with Oma until wednesday. They will have so much fun together!

DADYYYYYYY

Kaio is doing this adorable thing! When we kiss him in the neck or tickle him and he is a bit annoyed (in a playful way) he says 'dadiiiiiiii', independent of who does it. I think it comes from originally Jason teasing him and tickling him.

Family time in Florida

We went to Florida over Easter. It was the first time Kaio met his great grandparents who live near Tampa. Grandpa, grandma and Aunt Carrie also came down from Colorado to see us! We had a great time. Besides the early morning wake ups (there is a 5 hour time difference so Kaio was ready to play at 2am, which on the second day onwards was 5:30) it was so amazing to see Kaio be happy running around, playing with everyone and adoring all the attention.

One of the days we adventured to the beach. He absolutely loved it specially because this was followed by sitting on pepe's Bernie lap for a nice milkshake!

Kaio had a blast with pepe Bernie (and the entire family). There was a very special connection between them and reinforces it is a great middle name we picked for Kaio.

Kaio had his first Easter hunt, organized by grandma. Since it was hot in Florida we used plastic eggs. (the boiled eggs we painted, which was fun doing, were cracked and ended up being a nice egg salad!) He got the 'egg hunting' concept very easily and enjoyed running around collecting the eggs (with a little help from us)
Kaio did really well on the plane (both ways) and was very interested in the planes, machinery and staff at the airports.
1) Cool dude with mommy!
2) Looking at the 'wildlife' in Florida (there is a lizard on the tree to the right)
3) Touching the flora in Florida
4) Grandpa, daddy and Kaio at the beach
5) Having fun with Aunt Carrie at the beach
6) Very interested in pepe's horse story
7) Pepe, Grandpa and Kaio on the golf cart
8) Mommy and Kaio looking at the manatees (it's the big 'stone looking' thing on the right of the picture)
9) Kaio and pepe having fun in the garden (they both have a smile on their face!)
10) Kaio pointing at the fish
11) Kaio having fun in the baby water park
12) Easter egg hunt

Budapest pictures

Pictures in Budapest:
1) Starting the day with a good cappuccino
2) Walking with mommy
3) Getting tired.... being held by mommy
4 & 5) His new toy - he was trying to blow to get it moving!
6) Staring at the view of the parliament (and boats on the river) with mommy
7) Some more walking
8) Finishing the day with a beer (not for Kaio though)
Pictures at home:
1) in the garden (he loves to water the plants, which almost always results in watering himself also!)
2) Giving treats to Vinny!

Budapest

Last week I had a meeting in Budapest and on friday Jason and Kaio joined me. Kaio was a great traveller and both Jason and Kaio had fun flying together. Kaio's face was priceless when he saw me - he had just woken up and had a big pouty lip, but when he saw me he opened a huge smile and opened his arms to hug me!!!!! (moments like that are just unforgetful!)
The weekend in Budapest was great. We enjoyed the local architecture, food and hanging out together. Kaio also seemed to have enjoyed the museum. (it was also one of my most enjoyable visits to a museum since Kaio seemed to really be interested in what I was showing him) I showed him the 'birdies', butterflies, babies, etc on antique pots, glasses and paintings while Jason could enjoy the exhibition! Let’s hope he will take after daddy and Oma and really enjoy museums.
Kaio didn't take many naps during the day since he was so interested in everything around him. Luckily he slept really well during the night. (with daylight saving kicking this weekend, we actually got to 'sleep in' on sunday) The flight back also went great (mommy and daddy giving Kaio his full attention). The only minor issue was when we took off, Kaio looked out the window and panicked. He wanted to get as far away from the window as possible and later he kept closing the window and avoiding to look at it. He behaved really well and even ate a whole sandwich he got from the flight attendant.

First Hair Cut

We finally got Kaio's hair cut (professionally). I have to confess I was a bit apprehensive about it since I think he has beautiful hair! However we went to a very nice hairdresser that only cuts children's hair and the whole experience was great! Specially because it looks GREAT!!!!!!!! (we kept the volume of hair but trimmed it significantly so he looks like a boy now - we were getting too many comments of what a beautiful girl we had!)
Afterward we went to for a nice pic-nic in the park. Kaio loved the freedom of running around, chasing pigeons and smelling the flowers!
1) Before
2) After
3) More after... he is just too gorgeous!
4) Lot's of flowers in the park
5) Anatomy of the flower
6) Very handsome daddy and son!
7) A pint for daddy and some water for Kaio
8) dito as number 3!

Already missing him!

Tomorrow I will be going on a business trip for 4 days, just the thought of being away from Kaio already hurts me!
Kaio is so much fun and every minute apart from him seems like eternity. And although I really enjoy my job it makes me think what my priorities should be. It is sometimes hard to know if I have the balance right! I do feel we spend great quality time together and the fact that I am working from home several days a week and the days I go to the office I leave home at 8 and leave the office at 4 makes me feel better. My doubts always arise when I have to travel for several days or when I talk to stay at home moms. I sometimes think I am less of a mom because I work full time! I know Kaio adores me and he is smart and daycare does him good, but... there is always that but....
Anyways, Kaio has been babbling so much. The latest cute one is 'ioio' (=yo-yo), 'ubbles' (=bubbles) and 'eeeze' (dependent of the situation it means cheese or keys)! He is also saying 'daddy' and 'mama' perfectly. Today we spend some times with some friends who have a 14 month old and it was adorable to see them play. They were running around chasing each other and giggling. So cute!

A few pictures

Here are some new pictures of Kaio:
This is Kaio and Vinny hanging out together and having a good time:
Here we see our couch potato!! (sucking on his socks)
I think it's time to cut his hair since we can put it into a pony tail!
Here we can see Kaio's chicken pox. He's excited to show them off!Big hugs for mommyThis is Kaio at the children's playground; apparently it was a lot of fun to hide behind the train and watch the other children.
At the zoo - Kaio's face on a goat's body; now isn't that cuuuuute!
That is the coolest animal of the whole place! (it's a trash bin!)In the park with daddy and mommy:Helping mommy with the laundry (chicken pox around his mouth):Showing mommy how to turn on the washer:This is Kaio a couple of hours after he fell at the park (red cheeks, finger in the mouth and watching TV and his hair somewhat under control):

Chicken pox

Yes, after two previous false alarms, we finally have chicken pox!
Over the weekend Kaio had this blister on his upper lip which looked like it was filled with liquid, but since there was nothing else on his body, I blamed it on teething!
On Sunday evening, while bathing Kaio, we noticed some red spots on his chest and back. We counted them and put him to bed, already expecting it to be chicken pox.
After a good night of sleep our little guy woke up in a great mood, no fever, no itching, no lack of appetite but more spots over his body. I took him to the GP whom confirmed a mild presentation of chicken pox. Luckily both Jason and I have have a 'light' weeks at work with no traveling and we revise staying at home with him.
Kaio and I spend our first day confined in the house and it was great. I adore spending time with this little guy and he responds so well and is always game to do anything with us. He is also very capable of entertaining himself. (we already learned that if it goes to quiet when he is playhing by himself, he is probably doing something he is not supposed to - the other day he was very silent and when I went to look at him he unrolled an entire toilet paper roll all over the floor and was having a blast - all I could do was laugh and join him in throwing it up in the air!)
On Sunday I was doing some gardening in the back garden and Kaio helped me by putting leaves in the garbage bag, grabbing the broom to remove dirt, etc He has been enjoying our garden - he grabs his coat and stands by the door trying to say 'outside'.
I forgot to tell this adorable thing Kaio is doing: when he grabs a book or wants to watch tv, he comes and stands in front of us, turns his back to us and backs up until he can sit on our lap! Sometimes he miscalculates it and has to back up for several feet before reaching us!
He continues to 'speak' and imitate words. A very useful one is 'down' for when he is on a chair or being held.

Fun weekend!

Stressful moment:
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)

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!)

Pictures

Some pics of the weekend:
- 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