Tail, toes... funny little guy

A couple of days ago, Kaio grabbed Vinny's tail and I said it is the 'rabo' (tail in Portuguese). We then went around the house looking at teddy bears and pictures of animals pointing out the 'rabo'. Our smart little guy then grabbed his lower back and asked 'abo?' and I told him he did not have a 'rabo', just like mommy and daddy and I showed him this. He learns fast, now he sees an animal with a tail and says 'abo' and right after he grabs his lower back, shakes his had and says 'no abo' if I ask him if 'daddy' has a 'abo' he says 'no' and when I ask about Vinny he says 'yes'!
The other day we caught him removing some 'sock fur' from in between his toes (see pic below) It is so adorable, and every time we take his socks off he goes to look in between his toes to check if there is 'sujeira' (=dirt)
I also have been working on the word 'grandao' (=big) and when we now see a big truck he opens his arms wide open and says 'dandao'
Kaio continues LOVING music and dancing. He actually goes to the radio and asks to turn it on!
This past weekend Kaio was playing with his toys while I started cleaning the floor. When he saw what I was doing he instantly dropped his toy and ran to the cupboard to grab cleaning wipes and he spend the next 30 min (even after I had stopped) cleaning everything around the house - the floor, his toys, Vinny. Let's hope he keeps up this good habit!
Some pictures:
- As happy as can be in the empty nappy box
- Also very happy in an empty paper bag
- Playing with friend Freya
- 'sujeira' in between the toes
- Reading books for his sleeping buddies: 'donkey' and 'squirrel'

Music class and afternoon tea!

Friday was another busy day! We first went to the music class (fruity tunes). We now go to the toddler session. Kaio LOVES the music but tends to sit and dance close to me (instead of mingling with the other children) However he now is more confident and goes and dances and jumps with the other children in the middle! He definitely has a good rhythm. We did finish the class with a little cry - the last music is about a truck and a digger (with actually toy trucks) and at the end of the song, Kaio grabbed the trucks under his arms and headed for the door saying "bye bye".... big tears when I told him he had to return the trucks!
In the afternoon we had some friends + toddlers come for tea. Kaio had just woken from a nap and was not very keen in sharing his toys, however after a while they were all playing and chasing each other around the house. However he was not happy when one of the toddlers grabbed his 'donkey' (his favorite sleeping buddy!) and Kaio only relaxes when he got it back!
Kaio continues doing well at daycare. In the afternoon, when I go and pick him up, his class (toddler 1) mixes outside with Toddler 2 (children between 2 - 3). It is great for him to interact with older children. The other day I was actually surprised that Kaio won a 'battle' with an older child over a bike! I saw them from far 'yelling' over the same bike and I was ready to jump in (the boy must have been almost 3) however it resulted with the bigger boy walking away crying and Kaio, triumphantly, sitting on the bike! My boy!!!!!

Kaio is "bapi"

Kaio is progressing very well with his words. When we read books (which he is always asking for) we point at various objects and he says what it is (in his toddler vocabulary that mainly only parents understand) . Some are in Portuguese and some in English. It also works the other way around, when we ask him where the fish, bird, boat, tree, cloud, etc is (in either language) he points at it. His vocabulary is clearly expanding and sometimes I am surprised he picked up a word I said only once!
One word we have taught him is 'happy'. When he is happy we tell him about his feeling (I read a book that said it is important for children to be able to express their feelings since they sometimes have a hard time dealing with them). Kaio now says 'bapi' when he is happy and smiling, when he sees pictures of people smiling he also says 'bapi'! We now have to work on the 'sad', 'angry', 'frustrated', etc but let's take it one word at a time!

Tip toe

Kaio has discovered how to walk on the tip of his toes. It is so cute and funny. I just need to say - "tip toes tip toes" and he walks around very proud of his achievement! He continues to love dancing. Today Jason turned on the radio and instantly he dropped his toy and stood up to dance. He also loves to embrace Jason and I, at the same time, and have a 'group dance'! He seems to have good rhythm. (must be his brazilian side!)
Yesterday we went to the beach. As it was here in the UK, I should've know... I took along Kaio's swimming shorts, my bikini, towels, etc hoping for a fun day, splashing water and enjoying the ocean and sun! However, we spend the day complaining how cold it was and did not get close to the water at all! We had a great time and enjoyed exploring Littlehampton, but it was very windy and cold! Kaio had a lot of fun with Jason and I during the 1 1/2hr train journey each way.

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):