Kira + the Bear

This weekend Kira made a new best friend, her teddy bear. Her Auntie May and Uncle Simon got her this bear from FAO Schwartz in NYC and it has all of a sudden become her favourite companion. He went everywhere with her this weekend, including to dinner with us on Sunday night. She changes his diaper, dresses it, and takes it for car rides. At night she sleeps with him too. It's pretty cute. Jon will try to get a video of Kira changing bears diaper tomorrow morning.

Taking Bear on a car ride

Repositioning Bear to keep him on the car

Fully dressed for the day - complete with her glasses

(notice how Kira's hair is in a ponytail, we finally succeeded this weekend in getting it up!)

At the playground with Daddy

Long weekend

Happy Canada Day long weekend everyone! We stayed home this weekend and due to the lingering colds, we didn't partake in any organized Canada day celebrations (save a bbq at a friends place). It's been nice to have Jon around this weekend, I've done a lot of resting and fully maxed out the pregnancy card. Kira has enjoyed having her Daddy around and has been quite attached to him most of the weekend.

Here are a couple of pictures that Jon took of Kira at the park today...

Hugging a tree, she likes to do this to lamp posts too. I have no idea where she gets it from

Walking down the stairs at the playground

Surprise, Kira is distracted by something else ---- she's so nosy!

Aquarium Style

Here are some pretty fuzzy pictures from the aquarium on Sunday, I forgot the camera, again. Kira had a great time looking at the fishies and the other animals, she was pretty exhausted by the time we left.

For a time, we were hanging out in the kid play area, Kira kept grabbing these bean bags shaped as blocks and then disappearing around the corner - so I finally had to go investigate. Here is what I found...

Kira applauding her tower that she built, not long after this some kid came and dive bombed her tower, thankfully she thought it was funny and didn't freak out.

This is another one she rebuilt, she's saying uh-oh because the yellow and red ones just fell over. Love that she stacked on the seat as well as the floor.

On our own, again!

This weekend Jon has gone to a stag in Whistler, so it's just Kira and I again. She seems to be in a better mood this weekend as her molar has pretty much cut through her gum, so that makes me happy. Plus, she even slept until 7:00 this morning (as opposed to the 5:30 wake-up calls we've been getting for the last week or so), can't complain when you get a little more sleep!

This week Kira figured out how to balance on her run bike on her own. We've been holding the seat or the handlebars for her for the last while, but this week she decided that she was going to do it on her own. With one wave of her hand, she pushed my hand off the handlebar (while saying "no mama, mine!) and then she was off! Here's the video of her, it's not too exciting for most people, but I was pretty darn proud. (notice how she slows to check herself at the oven and the mirrored closets)

Her vocabulary continues to grow, she is repeating most everything we say now, we can't always understand her, but she is getting pretty good at communicating. She also has started to sing along when we sing the ABC song, she doesn't know what letter to say, but she knows the breaks in the song and loves to sing along, it's pretty cute.

Beach and Dragon Boating

Today Jon started his charity bike ride to Seattle, so it's just Kira and I this weekend. The weather is finally cooperating too, so Kira and I headed down to the beach with her cousin Nicholas this morning. They were supposed to play in the sand, but they just opened up a HUGE new playground at the beach, so the kids were a little distracted by that. No worries though, they had a good time and were very exhausted by the time we left. Mission accomplished.

After her nap, I took her down to the Dragon Boating Festival at False Creek. She really enjoyed looking at all the people and waving good bye to the boats as they went by. With all this fresh air today I'm hopeful she'll sleep like a champ tonight, that molar has been waking her up a lot the last few nights, poor kid.

Naturally, I forgot my camera, but I was able to quickly snap 2 pictures with my phone...

Kira playing in the sand, it was pretty windy at the beach this morning

Watching the dragon boats go by, she decided all of a sudden that she hated shoes

Eating crackers while I posted this...charming isn't she?

San Fran!

This past weekend we took a family trip down to San Francisco. Jon and Kira flew out with Uncle Simon on Wednesday morning, they met up with Auntie Jo, Grandma, Marcus and Isabel in California. I flew out with Auntie May on Friday morning. The family all went down there because Jon's cousin, Cristabel, was graduating from Stanford and there was other family coming in from Malaysia for the event.

It was so nice to get away to some sunshine and shopping. Kira did so well, I was very impressed with her. Most nights she didn't get to bed until 1030 - 1100 and she didn't fuss (too much) - she did get very dramatic whenever Marcus would come near her, but for the most part she remained relatively happy. I think she really enjoyed having so much time with her cousins, she's started to call Isabel "Bel" now, it's pretty cute.

Since we returned home we have been dealing with another one of her 2-year molars that started cutting through her gums the last night we were in San Fran. She has decided that my finger massaging her gums is a most wonderful thing so I have spent a good portion of the last couple of nights with my finger in her mouth --- she reacts similar to a dog getting scratched behind its ear. She will even come up to me now and say "Momma, teeth please" while pointing to her mouth.

Anyhow, here are some pictures from our vacation...

Auntie Jo holding the food for everyone while pictures are being taken

The Tan Family - Congrats to Bel for graduating!

Isabel + Cristabel or Baby Bel and Big Bel (heh)

Isabel and Auntie Leena (she really is the happiest baby)

Marcus and Auntie Cheryl

This boy is turning into a serious flirt, complete with the arm around the shoulders while yawning move. Priceless.

Kira and Marcus --- This was the best I could get since they never stood still

Kira at the airport on the way home

Everything 7 adults + 3 kids need for a 'weekend trip' *sigh*

Kira sporting 2 toques - one supports Grandpa Charlie's favourite beer, I'm sure he's proud

Also last week our good friends Josh + Ginny welcomed their first baby into their family, a little boy named Benjamin Gray. Josh was the best man at our wedding and remains one of our closest family friends to this day. We are so excited for them and will be making a trip to Toronto later this summer to go meet the little man.

It was a busy baby week actually; our friends Gerald and Nancy welcomed their first child, a boy, on Monday, then Benjamin was Wednesday, and my friend had a son on Friday. Phew, babies everywhere! Thankfully we have 5 more months until baby Limbonte 2.0 arrives, I don't think I can handle any more babies. Ha.

So it appears that I accidently wiped the memory card on my camera, so I don't have any fun new videos or pictures; instead, I thought I'd bring back some of my favourite pictures of Kira as a baby...

Things are pretty much the same with us, Kira continues to add more words to her vocabulary (though we aren't always certain of what she is saying). She can now count from 1 - 10 (but she can't say 7, it's pretty cute) and knows 80% of the alphabet.

This week we will be heading to San Fran to visit with some of the family from Malaysia. Jon's cousin, Bel, is graduating from Stanford and we will all be attending the graduation ceremony. Jon and his brother will be heading down with Kira on Wednesday, and I'll join them all on Friday. It will be nice to get away, and I'm sure that Kira will have fun exploring the sights of a new city with her cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandma. I'll try not to erase those pictures before I upload them :)