Tortuga

Hmm...not sure if that is how you spell it...it just sounded more fun than "turtle". BUT, that is what I am here to quickly write about today.

If you looked at the most recent post, prior to this one, you would have seen that Kegan got to meet a turtle at Grandma's house. Well...let me tell you that little bit of schema (for all the non-teachers out there, that is merely a fancy word for background knowledge) went a long way! This morning Kegan had finished his breakfast of waffles, almond butter, cherries, blueberries, and milk to which NONE of it got on him or his tray...he stayed perfectly clean...not even a little almond butter went into his hair, which is HUGE for him. Anyways, back to my story - I was not done with my boring bowl of cereal, so I let him down to play before we got in the car to head to VBS. I heard him playing around with the toys in his room, so I just sat there enjoying a little serenity for a brief moment...THEN here comes Mr. Kegan bounding around the corner carrying a little board book he has on sea creature opened up to a certain page. He brings it over to me, puts the book in my lap, points to the picture (of a turtle) and says tootle...aka "turtle"! Wow! No one showed him the book, pointed out the turtle to him...nothing, he did that all on his own. I was so proud! He also pointed out to me the star fish and said "sta" - he has 2 puzzles (he calls those "puz") which have star fish in them. Wow!

One more thing - he put his little crocs on again, all by himself, on the correct feet and everything (one shoe with the back part up and the other shoe with the back part behind his foot)!

Ok - I am done bragging!!! :)

More Water Fun x 2

Phew...we have been on the go. And...I believe I realized that I might be a bit obsessed with the camera and taking pictures of my son. I sat down tonight and thought...oh...we have been so busy during the day time this week I have not really taken out my camera a lot...compared to most weeks. Well, I would say, I still had WELL OVER 100...probably more...pictures to choose from. Granted we had "destinations' this week that we took pictures at...but still... In my defense, Kegan really is growing, changing, and developing so fast that I fill I must catch it all and to do so takes TONS of photos. Anyways...enjoy this week in review!

Last Saturday day (May 31st) we had some friends come down to visit with their 3 kids...and one on the way. They are such a sweet and family and have great kids - we thoroughly enjoyed them and Kegan had a blast have 3 other kids to play with in the house.

They arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and we all headed out to the beach. Let me tell you, it took Kegan NO time to get excited. He has not been to the beach in about a year, but as soon as Matthew let him out of the car...zoom...off he headed to the water. I did not even have a chance to put on his little swimmer and swim trunks.
Stepping into the water with daddy...who thankfully quickly ran after our darting son.

After inspecting the umm...lovely?...Corpus water and sitting right on it, I dragged him back to the car to change him...and off his was again. No lie...that is Matthew's arm running to catch up to Kegan who is running after little Matthew, all toward the water.

Woo-hoo!! Splashing in the water!

I LOVE the face..."Catch me if you can!" - totally a Matthew face!

Running like crazy...he took a few dives into the water because of his love for running through the water...but did not cry/complain/fuss one time about the salt water. It did not seem to bother him AT ALL...thank goodness...because he did get some face fulls and he loved laying down in the area where the tide came up to and rolling around...I think he must have liked the sensation of the waves going back and forth...I don't know...but it was funny to watch, because he would lay down, but not put his head all the way down because he did not want the water in his ear, I guess, but it would throw in off balance easily...soo cute!

Ok...so I had to bring the sun-block out to the water, so we could get it on him. I gave it to Matthew...since I had the camera and was leery of holding the camera and putting sunscreen on Kegan all at once, Matthew did...well...tell me what you think - Did he go a little heavy on the face? Obviously, it did not stop Kegan from splashing it up and having a good ol' time.

Woo-hoo...back from a water break at the car and into the water he goes...


"HI!"

Helping Matthew dig a hole in the sand. The child does like to get dirty where ever he is...just like his daddy!

Matthew must have read the last blog, because once again here is one of the 4 pictures Matthew took of Kegan and I...and this was the only one were we were relatively close...he was running around and playing in the others...so once again, my proof that Kegan does indeed have two parents.
(I don't know what he is doing in the picture...but I thought it was a funny facial expression.)

Ewww...seaweed...

Matthew and Brian's pride for the day...the "nose" sculpture...nice, huh?

Sweet moments between daddy and son.

Kegan, daddy, and little Matthew off into the waves (Which, by-the-way, also did not bother Kegan. He loved going out deeper into the water and having it higher up on him.)

A short video of running on the beach. (Please excuse the wind noise)

Giving Kaylee a hug at the house. It was so cute...they would give each other hugs all weekend. Such a ladies man already...haha!

Emily was pushing Kegan in the rocking chair...this made me laugh - he looks very worried and she looks a little mischievous in this picture!

The Alderson's stayed till Sunday afternoon - I think Kegan was sad to see all the kids go - such excitement and entertainment.

Just playing around...like the sticker. I don't know if Kegan put it up on his head or if Matthew did...but it made me laugh...then he walked around with it on his head for quite a while. What a nut! Speaking of stickers...Kegan has really gotten into stickers lately. He loves to stick them on himself and pull them off....on and off...on and off.
What a great grin!!!

Monday - June 2nd
I promise, no animals were hurt in the making of this picture. Kegan wanted to see outside...I wanted to take a picture of the flowers, but not have to go out there...so I raised the window a little. I guess Maggie underestimated her size!
Kegan liked seeing his puppy, though!

I got it on film...the first set of shoes Kegan put on all by himself! Way to go big boy!
(Granted, they are his easy to slip on crocs...no laces, buckles, or Velcro involved...but he did have to use his fine motor skills to match up the foot to the hole in the shoe, turn the shoe the right way, and he put them on the correct feet (lucky)....)

Woah...I did good! I think he looks like he is looking down at his feet, shocked he got them on.

Monday we were out running lots of errands with aunt Stephani (Stephy is sort-of what he tries to call her...working on that long name...) to get some stuff for VBS next week. He actually did very well for all the places we ran to. I was proud.
Monday night he got to help daddy set the sprinkler in the back.
This is what happens when daddies are left in charge...for even a little bit. Yep..I opened up the back door and this adorable drenched child greeted me with a look of shock!

Look how well he is taking charge of things and really paying attention to his son's where abouts...haha...

Tuesday - After working up at the church with Aunt Stephani, we came home, Kegan napped and then he got up and outdoors to play we went...and experienced side-walk chalk for the first time. First thing...he tried to eat it like a Popsicle...yuck! Once he realized that was not good and I tried to show him he could write with it...he decided the dogs needed a little chalk on them and proceeded to try and write on both dogs...to no avail.
I had to laugh when all this was going on. Kegan was very determined to try and write on Roo and she was ducking away...pulling back her ears...whatever she could to avoid the chalk!

There we go...now we got it...writing on the sidewalk. What you see is about what we got...not too interested in the stuff, yet.

Roo's panting soon became more interesting. Kegan was fascinated with her tongue and kept trying to reach out and touch it. As you can see...he also thought it would be fun to mimic her.

Not too much green chalk on the side-walk...but he did get a more colorful face!

After dinner - I guess he has seen me sweep up after him so many times that when he got down from his chair, he went to the broom closet, got out his broom, and "swept" around his chair and under the table. Now if only I could get his sweeping to be a bit more useful!

Ride on horsey!


Wednesday we picked up aunt Stephani and headed over to see Grandma for lunch. Lunch was...active...good food...good company...active child! After lunch we headed back over to Grandma's work to see all the people she works with...ok, to show Kegan off...and to see LOTS of tractors! Tractor number 1 out of who knows how many he sat on that day!
Not a typical steering devise...not a problem...Kegan's got a hang of it.

Woo-hoo! I am ready to go!

Aunt Stephani and Grandma look on has Kegan has to touch EVERY SINGLE TOY. I think he was on sensory over-load. He would run to toy for 2 seconds, run to another toy, then another, then back to one...it was like he was afraid if he stopped to long at one he would not get to see them all.

Gramdma pushing Kegan in the 4-wheeler. (Which had to be done with-out him seeing you do it, because if he realized he was getting help, he would go "no...no..." - He likes to be VERY independent! at a LOT of things!)

OOO...more tractors outside!

After a nice long and much needed nap we headed off to church for the youth wacky-water-Wednesday.
A few blueberries to snack on, while on the way there, turned into a very funny picture!
Haha...this is what Kegan would look like if he got a tooth knocked out...lucky for him, just a little blueberry stuck on the tooth!

Big kids...no problem! I can hang with them...adios mom!

Walking through one of the water toys.

Playing in the little pool.

Woo-hoo...sliding is better than walking this thing!
Funny... (for those of you who might worry...grandmothers...I was there, off to the side and did catch him before he went into the water)

Even funnier...

Up-close and personal peanut butter face.

After we left church we headed over to Grandma's house. We got to eat supper, see Uncle Kyle and...meet a turtle Grandma rescued off the road in the neighbor hood. I think Kegan and the turtle were equally aprehensive about meeting eachother. Kegan finally tried to feel it...the poor turtle stayed hidden in his shell.


Thursday - Back up at the church - morning, lunch, nap time, and a little of the afternoon. Aunt Stephani another lady in the church and I were setting up our room for VBS and Kegan was "helping". He actaully did VERY well and played pretty hapily...especially considering the amount of time we were up there. It was all worth it though, becuase when we left that church we got to go to the farm with daddy.
Kegan and Matthew standing by a seed test plot on one of his fields. Don't my two men look so handsome, and Praise the Lord - check out the nice grain growing behind them!

After a long day of working at the church and checking over daddies fields nothing really hits the stomach like some nice pis pisa (aka pizza)
Yummm...hungry anyone?

Ignore the fact that it is a Christmas cup and look what he is doing. I realized Kegan was always wanting our drinks and I started to think it was more becuase he wanted to drink out of our cups than what we were drinking...so I started (this pizza night) to put his drink in a "real cup" not a sippie cup and he did very well and just dribbled twice down his shirt. He was very good about setting the cup down real softly and being careful to keep it upright. I was proud of him. (We tried it again today and did very good till the end of supper, and he accidently tipped it over and spilt it on his tray.) I think we might try to keep doing cups at the table and just do sippie cups through-out the rest of the day's activities (ie - walking around anywhere)


Friday - No pictures. We just went up to church again to finish up with the decorating, then Aunt Stephani watched him, while he napped, while I went and used a gift certificate, from my birthday to go get a little pedicure. After that we came home played, ate, played and went to bed. He was ready for it, too! What a day...what a week, infact!

Potty training - Well, Kegan has no clue what it means to go "pe pe"...but we do know a stinky...we have yet to make it to the toilet, but he does come and tell him "pew pew", while holding his nose, and I ask if he needs to go to the potty and he will say yes, and he runs to his Elmo potty...and sits down shorts, diaper and all...we have a lot of work to do...haha...anyways, we have yet to actaully go in the potty, but he is trying...so yea for him!

His vocabulary continues to grow - I love getting him to try new words and hearing his version of the word as he mimics us. I will try to catch some on video to post. I will also try to get him putting together his puzzles. He is very good at this...I am hoping this means he will be good at math (both using the logical/visual/ step by step/etx... part of your brain)...we shall see. In the mean time, putting together puzzles with each other is great entertainment!

He is sleeping now...prepping up and gearing for all the new adventures we will encounter tomorrow!

Setliff Family Frio River Fun 2008

Kegan just got home - yesterday - from a fun trip to Concan with his Setliff Grandparents, Mom and Dad, Grandad and Madeline, and Scott, Stacy and Gus...and his Uncle Kyle, too. What a crew, huh?

Before we headed out on Monday, we headed off to a wedding Saturday evening and Sunday we went to church. After church and some lunch at the Cafe in Mathis, Daddy had to go check the farm - Kegan drove him around...and what fun he had doing it!

After all the driving, Kegan was too tired to enjoy the children's musical at church that night. We had brought him into the service (we figured there would be enough noise to drown out his noise, but Kegan slept through 3/4 of the program). He does look peaceful, though.

Monday morning we got up, packed up and headed out right after lunch...just in time for Kegan to fall asleep for nap time! When we got there, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandad and Madeline were already there. Kegan too this opportunity to hand out with Grandpa on the back porch while his mommy and daddy unloaded some things.
(Yes...I realize once again, Kegan had on no pants. I changed his diaper when we got there and he was so ready to run and play, so I just said, forget it. Before the pants were gone he looked very patriotic for Memorial Day - blue pants and flip flops with his red and white stripe shirt...trust me...it was cute!)

Finding a rocking chair just his size.

A little after we got there, our friends, Scott, Stacy and August (6 wks. younger than Kegan) arrived and Kegan was ready to play with August...and some of the fun toys he brought.
Playing in front of the house while August's parents unloaded.

Mowing...the uh...concrete...but hey, he looks cute doing it!

" OOhhhh...such hard work...especially since I can't figure out the pedals."

Later that evening everyone headed back out to the back porch...where we spent a lot of time over the 4 days we were there...to play some more. I had brought a bubble machine and boy did Kegan ever LOVE it!!!! (He quickly learned how to turn it on and off...that was a good and bad thing...)

Trying to catch the bubbles...he ran everywhere going after them...

Weee....

Riding the tricycle through the bubbles. I just thought this was a cute face.

Well, Kegan has learned well from his cousin, Karsyn...give hugs to all friends! Kegan went up and hugged August and because everyone made such a fuss over it because it was sooo cute, he kept doing it...it really was very sweet (August got some hugs all week long...what a sweet boy Kegan is). However, I am not sure August was a fan of the man hug...every time he tried to move or push Kegan off...haha....

Hanging out Tuesday morning. The step into the house, from the porch, was just the right size for sitting. (Seriously, I had to take about 5 pictures till I got one with both boys looking up...and still neither is looking at the camera...oh well!)

Adorable little man...

Kegan is greased up with sunblock and ready for his first floating trip down the river!

I have no pictures from the float trip...unfortunaltly...water and the camera do not mix. I will say, though, Kegan LOVED floating...well not really floating so much as "swimming" down the river. He did not want to be in that float...he wanted to be in the water. We had on a life vest...which seemed to be a big inconvenience for him...but he had to keep it on despite protest. Back to swimming down the river - we of course were not going to just let him be in the water...so Matthew or I...mainly Matthew ending up holding on to him as he kicked his way down the majority of the river...only getting in the float with one of us to go through rapids or deeper parts...and then, not too happily. Water in his face did not matter, the fact that it was slightly cook did not matter...he just wanted to be in it! The child loves LOVES LOVES water!
After getting the wet clothes off - back to the back porch we went (notice no nap...he was VERY keyed up and did not fall off to sleep till about 5:30ish on a walk we took...and pretty much slept till morning except for about 30 minutes when we tried to wake him up for dinner, realized that was pointless, gave him a bath and put him to bed)
Playing on the back porch with no shoes on was a very messy job. Check out the feet...Kegan is!

"Oh man, those are some DIRTY feet!" "How did this happen?"

Wednesday morning we were up and going, ready for another fun day. Matthew and Scott surprised Stacy and I and suggested they take the boys down to the river by the house while we go float and have some time to relax...woo-hoo...off Stacy and I went....and off the boys went, with their Daddies, to play in the water. I gave Matthew the camera to take some pictures...since they would be stationed on dry land, and with a wagon, I figured the camera would be safe. Well, here are 2 of the ONLY FOUR token shots Matthew took. We certainly know who is the picture freak of the family...and it is not Matthew...haha!
Heading off in August's wagon. (Now those tires are made for some off-raoding.)

I can just imagine this scenario.
Matthew - "Kegan, I need to take a picture for mom."
Kegan - "Ok, I'm ready."
Matthew - "Say cheese!"
Kegan - "Cheeeese!"
Matthew - "Ok, you can go back to playing, now."

After Stacy and I got back and the boys napped, we all headed down to the river by the house for some family fun in the water time.
Frio Fun Trip 2008, official family picture. (Kegan was not happy that he was having to take a picture and not getting to play in the water.)

A small glimpse at Kegan's joy in the water. Check it out...
up...up...up...

down...down...down...splash...followed by a squeal of excitement.

Side note - If you lift your child up over your head, and hold on tight to them as they splash into the water, multiple times...in a row...a few different times...your back will hurt the next day...bad...
Both family playing in the water.

Grandpa Bruce, this one is for you. There were lots of little perch and Minos in the water and when you stirred up the bottom they would all come over trying to get something to eat...sooo...I stirred up the rocks and when the fishies came I pointed them all out to Kegan. He was thrilled when he saw them! He is getting ready to go fishing!

Mommy and Kegan..."cheese"...

All that playing in the water makes little guys THIRSTY!

Haha...Grandad was being silly on the other side of the door and caught BOTH boys attention. I need to know his trick, because I can never hold Kegan's attention as long as Grandad did...haha!
I thought this just made a very cute shot...both attentive to what was going on on the other side of the door.

While we waited for dinner to finish up, the boys had a little more fun in the water and sun.


Yes...Kegan still really likes to play with the water hose.

Swinging on the big boy swing. He is getting very good at this...we still stand close by, but he holds on pretty good and lets us know when he wants down by saying "dow...dow"

Father and son swinging together!


Thursday morning we packed up and left around 10:30. It was a very nice and relaxing trip. I look forward to next year...can't wait to try and float wit him again...maybe more float and less swim...although I highly doubt it.

Friday - Today was a nice relaxing day, just hanging out around the house, trying to get caught up on some things, and Kegan enjoying all his toys like they were new, all over again! OH, he has learned some more words.
cold/cool - "coo..." (Says when he touches or drinks something cold)
muffin - "mup mup" (I had made some muffins and he was having one this morning and it sounded like he kept saying "mupmup" when we was telling me that is what he wanted, but I wasn't sure, till this evening when he walked over to the counter, pointed to the container with the muffins and said "mupmup".

There ya have it. Kegan is growing, changing, and having fun, and just think...summer has just begun! :)