Maximum Capacity

We had another first tonight.

After playing, making and eating dinner, and washing dishes together tonight, Keanu and I decided to sit down at the computer for his daily dose of his cousin's Chinese video. However, I didn't remember that I'd turned the volume way up on the computer earlier to hear another video. When Keanu's favorite one started, the loud noise startled both of us, but it was the immediate warmth on my lap that surprised me more.

Moral of the story, always remember to check that the diaper has been recently changed when arriving home and remember that diapers DO have limits!

2nd haircut

Keanu got his second haircut this weekend. We went to the same place we'd been before that specializes in kids' cuts. He got to sit in a little toy car, play with toys, and watch TV, but even all of that excitement didn't keep him from wiggling all over during the cut. In fact we ended up finishing the cut while he sat on my lap, but the finished product looks nice. He looks like such a big boy!

Success

Last week we made a purchase that I'd been wanting for quite some time - a bread maker! The first two attempts last week resulted in yummy bread with collapsed domes, but finally tonight we had success. I'm not sure if the success today was a result of the different recipe, the "nicety" flour, or the fact that I was waiting for it to beep so I could take it out right away (although the instructions say that you can leave it in the machine for up to 60 minutes after baking without problems). Whatever the reason, we're quite happy with the results. Although I have to admit, even the failed attempts were pretty tasty. By the time I went to bed after making the first failed attempt last week, I decided my loaf looked like it had been through a whole congregation for communion!

What lies ahead? Definitely more bread, but also the possibility of pizza, buns that I can bake in my oven, and probably a stop to my shrinking waistline. There's even a setting for making jam!

Jayden's Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Jayden's first year in this world, so last night Keanu eagerly helped me wrap his gifts. Between him playing with the tape and playing in the closet, I finally got the gifts wrapped.

There were a bunch of kids already playing when we got to the party today, so Keanu was a bit shy. As soon as he got warmed up, he had a great time playing with Jayden on the cars, trikes, and bikes. When the other kids took a break to open gifts, Keanu enjoyed having the slide to himself. He's been going down slides for months, but he still goes down the "safe" way that we taught him to get off the bed or couch - feet first on his tummy!

I'm stuck!

We've got what we call our "Harry Potter bedroom", a storage closet under the stairs. Generally it's pretty well hidden because of the good carpentry, but last night I was getting somethings out and Keanu discovered it. Here he is, enjoying the fact that he's locked in the closet! Isn't he cute?

A beautiful, fun weekend

After a cold, drippy week, we were happy to have beautiful sunshine for both Saturday and Sunday and did we ever take advantage of the beautiful weather! However, we forgot to bring the camera both days so we don't have any cute pictures to show off the fact that we were wearing shorts and sweating.

On Saturday Kevin taught for a few hours so Keanu and I played on campus and got a chance to catch up with some old friends that I used to teach with. Josh and Comfrey had returned to Taiwan for about 10 days to pick up the little guy they adopted. Marshall is about 2 months older than Keanu, so they got to share cookies and look at the ducks in the pond together before they left. And of course it's always great fun to see Eve!

Then on Sunday, we went to an Easter party that had been postponed from each of the past 2 weekends due to rainy weather. The bigger kids dyed Easter eggs, played games, and hunted for Easter eggs in the big graden maze, but Keanu was just a happy lark to run and chase one of the many balls and play with some of the other toddlers.

Thanks for the picture, Julie!

Help?

Keanu has become quite the little helper these days. Do you think you can figure out what he's helping with here? So maybe he's not too much of a helper yet, but it sure does keep him out of too much trouble when I'm doing the dishes and he thinks he needs someone to play with. Actually, there's not much dish washing happening here because by this point he'd already drained the water and was playing with the plug and colander at the bottom of the sink. Standing on the tips of his toes is the only way he can reach those fun toys!