Halloween in Canton

We spent this past weekend visiting Sean, Laura and Peggy in Canton and it was a wonderful time! Keegan and Peggy are really starting to play together, not just near each other. The most amusement for us as well as the toddlers came from the chases around and around through the dining room, kitchen and living room. One would take off giggling and yelling and the other would follow suit. If one fell, the other would usually go down with them, sometimes ending in a crawling chase. Every so often we would catch them sitting down together. And it's funny how you take so many pictures and not all are good, but sometimes you just get lucky. Here's a series of Sean playing with the little ones that I feel came out great.

Uncle Sean makes Peggy giggle

Uncle Sean makes Keegan Giggle

Funny Faces all around

Keegan and Peggy read together

In the afternoon, after naps, we all loaded up and went to the Akron Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo." We dressed them up, Peggy a frog and Keegan a skeleton, and ran around the zoo. It was a little chilly, but the kids were bundled in their costumes and were more concerned with the animals. We saw lots of animals, fed some waterfowl, and managed to all get tired out. A nice warm dinner had us all ready for bed. What a weekend; thanks Sean, Laura and Peggy!

End of the day and there are two tired kiddies

Cameras are not as interesting as Llamas

Cutest skeleton ever

Keegan's New Room and the Pumpkin Farm

This past week we moved Keegan into his new room. It took a lot of work from Mommy and Daddy, but we finished and he is moved in. Now we just have to refinish the rest of the upstairs! I think he will like his new room, but since he is very go with the flow he doesn't really show either way. There is a lot more room for him to play and especially as moves up in bed size, he will need the room. It's not decorated or anything yet, but below is a short video panning the room. I'm not sure how many of you remember, but the floors were green carpet when we moved in. Then we tore up the carpet to find red-painted and dark-stained (yes, both) hardwood floors. The original 85+ year old floors. Pretty awesome. As you can tell, I'm excited about them. He is still in his crib for now, but usually plays with his bear if he wakes up before we do. We are looking for a toddler bed, but aren't really in a hurry since he doesn't seem interested in climbing out of his crib (*knock* *knock*).

The new room

Keegan helps clean the new digs with his popper

Keegan reads his book before his first night in his new room.

Enough with that and on to the real reason you are here. We took a visit to Rouster's orchard and Shaw farm today to get some pumpkins, take a hayride, and, most importantly, run around and be silly. I believe we accomplished all three quite well. In addition to Keegan, Suzanne and me, Grandma and Grandpa Shary, Uncle Steve, Nana Boyle, and Aunt Krista came along for the pumpkin picking fun. We were also joined for the hayride by Uncle Brent, Aunt Sara, Caleb, Alex and Elly.

Keegan did manage to pick out a pumpkin between laps around the piles of pumpkins. There were so many playhouses set up around the pumpkins he had to try to get to them all. His favorite thing, though, was the tractor that was dropping off a load of pumpkins. He always went back to old faithful and had he been able would have driven it off. He also got to run around in the mud a little bit trying to get at the chickens, which never makes little boys sad. We needed some helping getting the pumpkins in the cart and then pulling it around so it is a good thing we had Keegan with us. There is a viseo at the bottom of him helping out! Keegan had such a good time he fell asleep on the ride home, half eaten apple resting on his lap. It was a great day and we are almost ready for Halloween. We just have to decide what Keegan is going to be!

Now these are pumpkins!

If at any time you need to find the tractor, look where Keegan is looking

Brent, Sara, Elly and Caleb's forehead (sorry Caleb, couldn't see the viewfinder)

Grandpa Shary and Keegan enjoy the ride

Keegan helps with the wagon

oops

I seem to have misplaced a blog or two...

Hard to believe Summer is coming to an end, but here we are. Keegan has been back to school/daycare for a week now. A lot has happened this summer but where do I begin?

Keegan spent his days this summer with Grandma Shary and got to spend a lot of time in the pool. He is most definitely a water rat and even started "swimming" in the bathtub which gets mommy or daddy thoroughly wet as well. During his days with Grandma he got to go the zoo, the library, the store and made visits to Mommy's, Daddy's and Grandpa's workplaces. I'm not sure who had more fun during those days, Grandma or Keegan (though we all know who had more work).

We spent a week at Suzanne's family's cottage on Candlewood Lake in Connecticut. We went to the beach every day and Keegan loved the sand and the water, though it was a little chillier than the pool. He discovered that sand is yummy despite mommy and daddy's protests. Keegan got to experience a canoe ride, though he managed to sleep through half of it. He also got to see some family he had not yet met. We had quite a packed house for a few days. We all had a great time, but I think next year he will really be in his prime. Here is a video of Uncle Steve playing in the water with Keegan.

Eatin' on the beach

Attack! Attack!

Soooo tired

Zoo trips, the Children's Museum, swimming pools, and vacations are exciting but can't really hold a candle to how much he has changed this summer. He is walking fine and picking up the pace almost to a run when we play chase now. He is starting to get a vocabulary, though it seems to be a moving target. He'll say a word for a couple days and then you might not hear it again for a bit. He calls Aurora "Aurora", but he also calls the cats and any other dog "Aurora" although he can say cat (actually more like "at", but he gets "cat" out sometimes) and dog. His signing vocabulary is also growing and it's amazing how quickly he picks some of them up. He also knows a few animal sounds/gestures (i.e. beating his chest like a gorilla). He is very curious and points at everything and questions "Dat?"

Keegan has made the transition to the toddler room at daycare. This means sitting at a table to eat, using utensils and napping on a cot. There will also be more structure to his days with group activities, assigned nap time, etc. The head teacher from his infant room moved to the toddler room as well which I believe will help his transition. He likes her a lot, though I think he likes everyone given a little time. I must admit that I was actually a little nervous dropping him off the first day back to daycare though I really had no reason to be. He took right to it excited about the new toys and I think he remembered a couple of his friends. The best part though (for me) is seeing the realization on his face that I am there to pick him up. He smiles and runs over arms open wide and there are few things in the world that can compare to that.

Keegan Versus Boris the Blade

The cats have always been a little indifferent to Keegan. Now that he is completely mobile they are paying more attention especially when he screams and runs after them. I think they are getting used to him though. Keegan found one of their toys, a wand with a feather on the end, and started winging it around like he does with pretty much everything. Boris took the bait and we got a cute little video. Forgive the poor quality; I had to use my cell phone. The camcorder was on the other side of Keegan and I didn't want to disturb him!

Peek a ... Zoo!!

Yesterday, I took the day off for my birthday, and Mom and Keegan and I headed downtown to the Zoo! We had a blast - here are some of the pictures:

We rode the Safari train

The flamingos were making a lot of noise so we stopped by

At the petting zoo we said hello to the goats

And Rosetta, the turtle

We fed the giraffes before Keegan ate the cracker himself

And we saw the elephants get a bath!

Keegan Versus Daddy

Keegan's walking improves every day and he pushes himself a little more. This means that he is: 1. more fun and 2. more likely to get into things he shouldn't. He is also starting to test us. He knows the things he is not supposed to do (or at least the things that get us to come over and stop him). It is cute because he will walk up and make his question sound to see if we react to whatever he is about to do, let's say knock over the lamp or pull plugs out of the wall. He does it whether we react or not. He just wants to see what we do. His alternate ploy is to take a couple steps away and pretend to be playing with something else. Then when he thinks we aren't looking he goes for whatever he isn't supposed to do or have. It's pretty amazing how far he has come in these 15 months. As for the more fun part he loves to be chased around, to get thrown in the air, to climb anything and just about everything else boys do. Much to our lament he has had a handful of bumps and scrapes already, but that is what it is to be a kid. I'm just glad that he is so eager to learn and explore.

So here is what everyone really wants! In this video Keegan is running from me back and forth through the house. This is only a few of the couple dozen laps. He takes some pit stops every so often. Sometimes we have to get inventive with snack time. The high chair is not his favorite place to be.



I'm trying an embedded video because the blogger upload is kinda squirrelly. LEt me know if you have issues seeing it.

Keegan Versus the Sprinkler

Nothing beats the heat like a dash through sprinkler. Keegan isn't quite dashing anywhere, though he does have the walking part down pretty well and gives the sprinkler a run for the money.

Let's get this Party Started!

It's been a little bit since we've gotten anything new on here, but that's because we've been chasing after Keegan...

He was only crawling until recently, but, boy can he move! He's much faster than you think he is, and somehow he is able to instantly recognize items that are within his grasp but shouldn't be (enter full glasses of water, cell phones, laptops, earrings, etc).

Here's a glimpse of our last few weeks:

We're now a professional stair-climber,

We've learned that the best things in life might be in the cabinets so we must check them,

Bathtime is still the best time of the day,

We've moved from bottles to sippy cups,

But we haven't learned not to scream with food in our mouth,

We've learned to play piano,

We love to carry around, wave around, and yell into any kind of balloon,

We're obsessed with moving any furniture that isn't bolted to the floor,

We're testing out walking on our own without the furniture,

And then we're walking some more,

And we had a first birthday in there somewhere!

And, of course, ate some cake!!

Quick update

I haven't posted in a couple weeks, we've been busy doing stuff to the house and getting ready for Keegan's first birthday tomorrow. Yup, if you look at the counter today it says 364 days! The real reason for this post though is that there is some big news (no, Suzanne isn't pregnant). Keegan took his first unassisted steps a couple days ago. Unfortunately I don't have a video, but I will get some this weekend. It is really cute though, because he takes these really little steps and once he thinks he is close enough to you he leaps forward and then jumps up and down. Check back soon for the video!

The Long Awaited Keegan and Peggy Take a Bath

Sorry this took so long, but here are a couple clips of Peggy and Keegan's first bath together. Enjoy!

Peek-a-boo

Keegan likes to play peek-a-boo and discovered that he can be the one hiding. Lucky for you we caught this on video!




I also have a video of Keegan and Peggy in the bath that will be forthcoming. It is much longer and requires more editing. Blogger won't let me upload 10 minutes of video.

Weekend in Canton!

We just got home from a weekend with Aunt Laura, Uncle Sean, and cousin Peggy in Canton, OH. It was a fun-filled weekend of babies! Although Keegan and Peggy managed to get on opposite schedules Saturday - Keegan slept while Peggy was awake and Peggy slept while Keegan was awake - they did get in some playtime and the best bath ever! We're so glad we got to spend some quality time with Peggy.... and of course Sean and Lou too!

Helping the Daddies with their beer grains...
Bubbles!

Pictures!

Ok, it's been a while since we've put some new things on here. So, first things first, pictures from Keegan's first Christmas....

Keegan and Aunt Catherine (in from Pheonix!)