A memorable day!

Today was a memorable day for many reasons. The first reason is that today Kai not only came to a stand all by himself, but he also took his first steps!! Jitse was the first one to witness Kai's new skill, but later today he happily repeated it for Silvia to see. So far four steps is the most he has taken, but we are very proud of him and can't wait to see him do it again.

Another fun thing we did today was install the bicycle seat we brought from Holland. Silvia and Kai took a test drive and Kai really seemed to like this new means of transportation:




After our bicycle adventure we took off to the playground, another thing Kai has started to enjoy lately. When he sees the swings and slides he always tries to climb out of the stroller, I guess we are not going fast enough for him! He loves to be on the swing and stare at the other children and he goes down the slides by himself without any problem. Today he also discovered that sand is a lot of fun.

A visit to the sugar bush

Last weekend we took a little trip to a sugar bush just outside of Ottawa. It was still pretty cold, but at least it was not freezing and snowing anymore. This was our first visit to a sugar bush and all three of us really liked it. Here are some pictures of our day:

Kai loved the animals in the barn.



It is obvious who had the best view.



The shed where the maple syrup was cooked.



We went for a ride in this horse drawn cart and within a few minutes Kai was nicknamed "The Cowboy" by our driver: our little guy was squealing with delight upon seeing the horses.



The collection of the sap from the maple tree.



The preparation of taffy on the snow:





Jitse enjoying his taffy.

Surfer Kai's word count.

Apart from the continuous babbling in baby-language Kai has lately started saying real words in the right context. To our surprise he is both using Dutch and English words. Here's his word count so far:

mama (mommy)
papa (daddy)
dag dag (bye bye)
bye/bye bye
boem (boom)
doei (bye)
baby
hachoo
ja (yes)
Kai
broem broem (vroom vroom)

He also really likes to imitate things we say, even though it doesn't sound like the actual word yet. Words he is trying to imitate are:

tot zo (see you later)
ei ei (this is from a Dutch nursery rhyme)

Kai's relation to food

Lately Kai has started to enjoy table foods. Whenever we are eating something that is suitable for Kai too, we let him eat off our plates. Here are some pictures of him enjoying some new foods:


A bagel with melted cheese for breakfast.


Eating pancakes for the first time.


His first food order at a restaurant: cheese curds.

Kai in action: some videos

Click here to see a video of Kai walking behind his cart or here to see a video of him drumming.

Another first

Yesterday Jitse and I took Kai out for dinner: it was the first time that he was actually aware of us eating out, instead of sleeping in the sling while we ate. We chose to go to a Persian restaurant within walking distance of our home, we had never been there before and thought this would be a good chance to try it out. Unfortunately we forgot to bring our camera, because watching Kai at the restaurant was priceless. Our little guy was busy smiling at all the other customers and the waitress, looking at the lights and the fans, dancing to the Persian music and eating kebab, rice and bread in between. He had a great time and so did we, we'll definitely try to do this again soon.

Kai went skating too.

The post about Kai's first swim reminded me that Kai went skating for the first time too! Last week we took him to the Rideau Canal (for the non-Ottawans: world's largest skating rink) in his stroller. He was fine for the first 30 minutes, but just as we started taking pictures he'd had enough.

Kai's first swim.

This morning we took Kai for his first swim in the Splash Wave Pool in Gloucester. We didn't know what to expect and thought he might be a bit frightened. He proved us wrong! Kai loved every minute of our visit to the swimming pool and splashed away. He was fascinated by the life guards and just kept smiling at them, we think he liked their yellow and red outfits.
Here are some pics of our little outing:

Ready to go in (and peeing on daddy)

Enjoying the warm water

Kai would not let go of the toy watering-can

Relaxing in his towel

All dressed and ready to go

What 9 months can do.

Chatting with a friend today made me realise once again how much Kai has changed in the past 9 months. This collage really shows how he is on his way to becoming a toddler.

Moving up!

Last week Kai decided he was big enough to climb the stairs all by himself. He had already climbed part of the stairs, but now he has conquered them all. After the discovery of how much fun it is, it has become an impossible task to keep him away from the stairway. If we forget to pay attention for 1 second, we will hear Kai panting enthusiastically and see him crawling towards the stairs, or climbing them. When he is halfway up, he usually will start screaming "aah aah aah", because we have a very nice echo in the stairway: he sure likes to listen to himself. Once he reaches the top, it's time to play with the safety gate. Safety gates are fun, because they can be opened, closed, opened, closed, opened......
Here's some proof of Kai's new skill:

In between of all this exercise there luckily still is some time to meditate...

....and play!