July 2007

Summer is in full swing again and we have been enjoying the sunny weather.

We did the Fourth of July at the Chambers' Lake House where we set off kid-friendly fireworks and Uncle Tom provided everyone with party poppers. Breaking with the Seattle tradition the weather brought no rain this year.

Thomas the Train came back into town so we went to Snoqualmie with the Neels and Santiagos to see him and ride the rails. Blake slept through his first train ride. As we were leaving I managed to back the car into a rock and scrape up the bumper pretty bad. For the record this was my first real car accident ever.

Becky was reading our blog entry for October 2004 and saw that Kyla rolled over at 8 weeks and was worried that Blake, who was 9 weeks at the time, was falling behind. So I grabbed Blake, put him on his stomach, and he promptly rolled over. Perhaps he felt challenged.

Blake continues to smile and seems to find more of his voice everyday. He really enjoys interacting with people and loves attention. Overall he is turning out to be a very happy baby.

Kyla's two-year molars finally came, the appearance of which seemed to have affected her sleep and her mood. During one of her tantrums she managed to climb over the banister on the stairs and Becky found her dangling by her foot from the railing. I never imagined a toddler's tantrums could be so dangerous.

Lately Kyla's taste in television programming has diversified beyond Dora and Caillou, and unfortunately she has selected Barney and Friends as one of her new favorites. I suppose I shouldn't complain since it is an age appropriate, educational program, but it is every bit as irritating to watch as it was 15 years ago when my younger brother Kirk was a fan. I've sat through a number of other preschool-level shows, but for some reason Barney is harder for an adult to stomach.

I'm still looking forward to the day that I introduce Transformers to Blake... and maybe Kyla too.