Logging Off

My kids aren't embarrassed of me...yet.

I know that day is coming, though, and broadcasting every bowel movement for the world to see probably isn't the best way to get in good favor with my future sons.

So, this might be it for a while. Or ever. Who knows?

This doesn't mean that recording of cute stories for posterity will stop - I'll just be sharing them directly with Miles and Marshall through their own newly-created email addresses. I plan to give them the password whenever they are 18...or 16...or whichever milestone age they are when they can be amused and mortified simultaneously at my witty exposes. Genius idea, right? Not my genius, just whichever genius first posted it to Facebook or Pinterest or the Tweeterverse, plus the powers that be that conjured the gods to put it on my Newsfeed last week. It might not be so genius in 10-15 years when email is known as the floppy disk of the 2020s, but it's worth a shot.

If you're interested in sending the boys little snippets of time-travelling wisdom, just let me know and I'll hook you up with the future Messieurs Kahl and their email addresses.

Before I go, just one last photo dripping with cuteness. I love you, my handsome young men.

Winter Wrap-Up

Oh what a winter it has been! We've seen 30-below wind chills, almost a foot of snow in one day, and countless little snow squalls to mess up our routines. Most of the big snow falls have been too cold to get outside and enjoy, but we conveniently had the perfect snow-angel storm before Christmas, just in time for Christmas cards.

Although we've been suffering from some cabin fever, it has been nice to get to spend some time as a family. Thankfully, the really big storms happened after Santa brought presents that kept us all occupied.

 

 

Miles seemed to like his Spider-Man lamp and Ninjago Legos best. Marshall was over the moon to get the "car seat with cup holders" that he requested, and he spent a lot of time playing with his new grill. Of course, the box is always the most fun part, and we spent a good long evening turning the car seat box into a train and doing laps around the kitchen/dining room.

 

 

 



Miles was semi-excited about starting up swimming lessons again. He's still not a fan of getting his ears/eyes/hair wet, but he is getting closer to my goal of swimming without a floatie or noodle. Marshall started his first lessons and seems to be more of a fish. His favorite part is "Humpty Dumpty" and jumping into the pool.

 

Finally, I have a few little scholars on my hands. Miles got his grade card, and we are so proud of what his teacher had to say about him - "He is a pleasure and a delight to have in class". Although he can write all of his letters, we are working on forming them correctly. Did you know that the proper formation of an "o" is counter-clockwise, but a "p" is clockwise? Neither did we. It's been fun switching roles and having him read bedtime stories to us at night.

 
Marshall is truly flourishing in his new school. It was a really hard decision to move him, but he showed improvement immediately and loves it there! Even though he was two months shy of his 3rd birthday, he was moved to the 3-year olds room last week. The director said that his assessment showed he already knew half of what the 3-years olds knew anyway! Plus, he is semi-potty trained. It's still a process, but at least his is in cute kid undies the majority of the day.

Guess you'll hear from me in the spring!

 



Gettin' Schooled

We're already at the end of the first quarter / grading period!

Miles is an old pro at being a kindergartner already. Doesn't he look old enough to be ready for middle school?!?

We had our first parent/teacher conferences, and it reminded us of what a special boy we have in Miles. I just hope that his enthusiasm and energy for learning stays with him always! He'll be starting the first grade reading curriculum soon, and I believe his teacher said he has a "great mathematical mind". Maybe she said that...or the proud mama gene might be clouding my memory. Or maybe that's just what I'm hoping she said, since Miles' latest career aspiration is to be an engineer like his Uncle Davy. Despite his perfect pencil-holding technique, he still needs work on forming his letters during handwriting. I remember getting mediocre marks in handwriting as a kid. I would have Jason write you a note about his poor handwriting skills, but you wouldn't be able to read it anyway. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and we seemed to turn out okay.

Miles still needs work with blurting out answers and distracting others while doing his work...big surprise there. The proudest I was during the whole meeting was when the teacher told a story about Miles using those powers for good instead of evil. There was a shy boy in the class who was struggling, so the teacher purposefully sat Miles next to him to bring him out of his shell a little bit. She said since befriending Miles, she's actually seen a smile on the boy's face every day. So glad that my boy has brightened another's day!

Marshall has wrapped up his first - and last - quarter at day care. After some philosophical differences (and maybe Jason blowing up at the director once or twice), we decided to switch day cares. If asked, Nosy Miles would tell you that Marshall was biting other kids because they let him watch TV, but we adults know things can be more complicated than that. ;-)  It basically came down to that Marshall didn't seem happy, so, hard as it will be, he'll be going to a new place on Monday. We bought a new pillow pet especially for the occasion, and he is excited to take it and show it to some new friends. I'm probably more nervous than he is!

Despite the drama, our little Marshall is turning out to be just as smart as his big brother. He speaks clearly in complete sentences, and he can identify all the letters upper- and lower-case. Here's a video of our nightly routine of "spelling" out the words in his alphabet books. Yes, it's dark, but it was bedtime!

I guess I'll post more after Christmas - the boys have already made their lists, have been watching Christmas cartoons, and are asking when we can put up the tree. We'll see if I can hold them off until after Thanksgiving!

Knock Knock

Who's there?
Choo-choo Train
I don't wanna go down the drain!

So, yeah, those are the kind of jokes we've been hearing from both boys for the last few weeks. The more nonsensical, the funnier they are! Guess it's better than fart jokes...

We're getting into the swing of things with school starting. Miles went on his first field trip today - a two-mile hike to learn about nature - and he actually liked it! Apparently he doesn't whine about his feet hurting to his teachers as much as he whines to us. He has been receiving "excellent" ratings on his recitations and loves pretty much everything about school - learning nursery rhymes, gym class, singing new songs, and buying his lunch on Fridays. We are looking forward to shadowing him at "Saturday School" in a few weeks! No, that's not a punishment like when I was a kid - just a chance for the parents to see what goes on during the school day.

Marshall seems to like school better, but we had some biting issues last week. I'm hoping that phase is finished now. Sad to say, but I would rather have my kid be bitten than be the one doing the biting! He's actually one of the smaller ones in his class, so I guess he just feel like he needs to put on a tough-guy face.

 

OK, OK. The good news is that he actually likes going to school now - he chose going to school this morning over snuggling with Mommy and watching Dora. He is also starting to do a great job at recognizing his letters, so they must be doing something right there. I guess I'd rather think of him as this way at school:

Other than school, we've just been enjoying our free weekends! Lots of staying in our jammies until noon, trips for ice cream, and, of course, football. Jason has been without college football, since, well, when he was in college himself, so I think he's trying to make up for lost time. We've also been going to festivals and enjoying (or annoying) each others' company.

 

New School for All!

My boys (big and small) are all doing well at their new schools!

Marshall had a shaky start at his new day care, but he seems to be adjusting now. The first couple of weeks, he would cry for long stretches of time - always upon drop-off and then when the first kid's parent came to pick him/her up in the afternoon. It was breaking my mama heart, so thankfully Jason took on most of the painful drop-off duties. I was starting to get really worried that things might not be working out until one morning I asked Marshall if he was ready to go to day care to play with his friends. He responded, "Mmm-hmm. I better now!" Here's Marshall's first day of day care and Miles' first day of summer "camp":

 

We thought Miles might have an uncharacteristically rough start after his first day of summer day camp at the new school, but his extrovert self recovered on Day 2, and he was back to making new friends and having fun as usual. In general, he has been so excited about the whole process of starting school. The day before his first day of kindergarten, I asked him to tell me what he was looking forward to most. He said when the bell rings. Then I asked him what he was looking forward to the least about the next day. He said, "When I don't get to be at school!" I knew that everything would be just fine after that. Here is Miles at his new desk - so proud!

 

 

 

 

Jason is also easing into the school year. When I say easing, that is definitely the truth. He started work at the school with nearly two weeks' worth of teacher days. Then school started last week, but he didn't actually have to teach class until today. It's definitely a different pace of life for the Kahls!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

We've entered into Bonus Summer...and Bonus Weekends, Bonus Evenings, and all-around Bonus Daddy Time!

A few weeks ago, Jason accepted a job offer at a new school. As much as we'll miss being a part of the community in his old school, we missed having Jason at home with us even more! Rather than herding kids grades 6-12 in and out of marching band, pep band, concert band, jazz band, color guard, winter percussion, solo and ensemble, plus coordinating booster meetings, fundraisers, etc., etc., etc....Jason will be teaching concert band to grades 6-8, with a side of 5th grade general music. It'll be a big change, but the boys and I are so happy and relieved to have him at home with us on the evenings and weekends. It's been a little strange not having our calendar fully booked, but it's been so wonderful to spend our free time just doing things like this:

It also turns out that Jason's new school is a pretty awesome place, and a perk of his employment is being able to send our kids there for less money than it costs for us to pay for after care at public school. It doesn't hurt that if you had asked me to name the qualities of my ideal school, this pretty much is as close as you could come. So, no surprise, we switched our plans to send Miles to kindergarten at our local elementary, and instead he'll be making the commute with Jason every day. Miles is so excited about it all. When I told him he would be wearing uniforms, he asked, "Like Daddy's marching band uniforms?". When I told him "not quite", he said, "OK. So, like, football uniforms?" Here he is, goofing off while trying on some of his actual uniform clothes:

The new school starts three weeks later than Miles' "old" school - and Jason would have already been well into marching band rehearsals at this point - so we feel like we've gotten a bonus summer. Jason has been spending lots of time with the boys on special trips to the library, the zoo, the Children's Museum, and the playground. I'm personally pretty jealous sometimes that I have to go to work while they get to go fun places. 

At least I did get to join in the fun at Cedar Point over the 4th holiday! Miles rode his first roller coaster with Aunt KK, and Marshall was jealous that he wasn't tall enough to ride some of the rides that big kids Lyla and Miles got to ride.

We are so looking forward to a new life filled with every more fun outings and great times together as a family!

Blame Technology

This really is a sad, sorry excuse of a blog. I blame advances in technology, or at least my adoption of them. The guilty parties include:
 
The iPhone
Now that I can pretty much do whatever I used to on computer, in about half the time, in about a quarter of the space, I never touch my actual computer. Since my fat little fingers would win an award for Worst Touchscreen Typer, I find it torture to write more than sentence on my phone. Believe me, if you've ever received a text from me with the help my my friend Autocorrect, you know how sorry my posts would look if I attempted to post from my phone. And who wants to wait 72 minutes for my computer to boot up when I can just get on to Pinterest in 7 seconds instead? I'd also like to thank the iPhone for allowing me to take a hundred photos of the same scene, just so I can find the best of the buck and delete the rest. Something like this is a standard on my phone. (Idea for future post about why technology is good in general: iPhone apps, like the collage one I used for Miles' PreK graduation).
 

 
 
The Work Laptop
OK, so it's kind of hard calling this one an "advance in technology", since it crashes on me every other day and is as slow as Marshall "riding" his bike down the street or Miles trying to decide on, well, anything. However, when I used to work from home from my personal computer, access to Blogger at lunch breaks or after work (never during work hours, of course) was much faster and frequent. Considering that my company blocks Blogger, Facebook, Yahoo Mail, and sends nasty grams to higher-ups if you so much as think about looking at LinkedIn sideways, I pretty much never do anything non-work related on a computer anymore.

Facebook
Let's face it. I'm friends with most of you on Facebook anyway, and I post all of my pictures there. If you're not on Facebook and am complaining about how infrequently I post here, join the 21st century and just set up an account. Or, if you're on Facebook and still am complaining about infrequently I post pictures there, then let me know. I have a special group set up for family and friends who I think actually want to see my pictures. This is so I don't torture that person who I'm sure begrundingly friended me, hasn't talked to me in 20 years, and still sees me as 110 pounds (yay!) with a mouth full of braces (boo!). On the other hand, if you're sick of seeing pictures like the one below (587th picture of my family at the Indianapolis Indians games), then let me know that too. I'm a proud mama, but not proud in general. I'd rather take you off my special people list than have you block me forever...I might need you someday for an emergency opinion on which refrigerator to buy.

Netflix
I knew it would happen. Like about a million other people, we sign up for the free trial month to catch the Netflix-only season of Arrested Development (Same!) and we decided that never again shall we live without its beauty and wonder in our lives. Blame Don Draper from Mad Men for why I'm watching TV instead of updating this blog. You can also blame Tom Bergerron from America's Funniest Home Videos too. My boys are too busy guffawing at Grandpa Dropping a Cake on His Crotch to do the cute and funny things that I used to catch on video. OK, so I still catch some great moments - they're just all sitting at my YouTube account (refer to Section 1: iPhone on why it's so much easier to upload there).
  
So...if you're still reading at this point, I guess you want to hear a little something about the two gentlemen whose names are on the virtual door. The boys are full swing into brotherhood - wrestling, hogging toys, yelling, kissing and making up - and just plain driving Daddy crazy while he's home with them four days a week on summer break. We had a lovely time on a cheap but fun vacation in the Smokies, thanks to a fantastic Christmas present from Grammy & Co. Miles and Marshall loved hanging out with cousins Lyla and Natalie.

The above picture was about the only time Marshall had fun splashing in the pool. He must take after his mommy, because while the other kids were playing in the sun, he just wanted to be in the air-conditioned clubhouse. We thought maybe the indoor pool might go over better, but, like his Daddy, I think he just doesn't dig the water.

The whole thing surprised me, because he tends to be pretty adventurous and not scared of much. We especially like when Miles was scared of the sound effects at WonderWorks (the "upside-down" house / fancy arcade in Pigeon Forge), Marshall just kept trying to tell Miles, "It's just creaking!".

Marshall is also full into being an independent two-year old and showing his stubborn side. He had his first potty training success about a month ago, but is refusing to try it again, no matter how much candy talk we throw at him. Despite the toddler fits, he is still such a sweet boy, requesting "snuggles" several times a day. The other day, I picked him up in front of the bathroom mirror, and he mushed his chubby little cheek next to mine to look at ourselves in the mirror. Then he just said, "I love you so!"

Miles is transitioning to be a "big kid" kindergartener next month. He's only going to day care one day a week, but he always reminds us that it's not day care, it's "summer camp", because he's technically considered a school ager there now. He loves going on field trips (the pool, the fair, the splash park) and he really likes bringing his lunch in his Spider Man lunch box. We only have a few days left over the next month for him to go back to day care, and I think it will be pretty hard leaving. After all, he's been going there since he was three months old!

As I mentioned about the "creaking", Miles may be working towards big-boyhood, but he still gets a little scared about some things. For his birthday, Miles talked for weeks ahead of time about going to the Star Wars exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. We pulled up in front, he took one look at the 50-foot high Darth Vader poster, and then he promptly decided that he no longer wanted to go there. So, we went to the old standby Children's Museum. Even there, he still didn't want to attempt the dinosaurs (as usual) and this what he looked like on the carousel:

OK - hopefully that will do you for another month or two...on to Kindergarten!!

Moved In and On

What a whirlwind of a spring! I don't normally give advice, but...if you're thinking about moving with two children under five, hosting a birthday party, having a house full of overnight guests, entertaining the Easter Bunny, and traveling to the other side of the country - all within a week's time - DON'T DO IT! What was I thinking? The boys wonder too, "Ooooohhhhh. Mommy, why did you do that?"

Nevertheless, we've pretty much adjusted. We still don't have pictures on the wall, our yard is totally overgrown, and we still have stuff in boxes, but we are living our lives.

Miles is turning out to be such a big kid! He is pretty much reading - can get through a story in the ol' "At Home and Away" reader from 1964 we all started out on. He had his kindergarten assessment today (results to come) and is "graduating" from PreK next week. His new favorite love is Tee Ball. He's really pretty good! He's one of the few on his team that hits in into the outfield and is a good little fielder. He even made a play at home plate!

Marshall knows all of his colors and shapes, can count to 12, and can sing his ABCs. He moved up to the bigger kids room at school and is having a little bit of a tough time adjusting. We have been saying lots of "No hitting friends. No biting friends." So, we've been doing more regular time outs.  Here he is in his time-out spot, before he really knew what time outs were:

Well, my borrowed time is up...after going upstairs after bedtime for the fourth time, Marshall is crying again. Guess I'll call this one a wrap!

New! New! New!

There are lots of new things in the Kahl Bros' world lately.

First...a new baby cousin! Baby Nolan was born on March 4, and we are overjoyed to have a new family member! We visited the new baby and big brother Gavin last weekend.We had tons of fun with Grammy at the park and eating strawberry ice cream.

 

We also officially own a new house! We closed on Monday, but the excitement hasn't quite set in yet because we don't get possession for a few more days. Thankfully spring break is coming up, and we'll be able to clean, pack, move, celebrate Marshall's birthday, and celebrate Easter all before the month is over! Can't wait to get into our new digs:

 

As if my heart couldn't take anymore, today I registered Miles for kindergarten. Has this day really come? He'll have his assessment in May, and we'll be learning more about his school and big boy stuff like riding the bus.

Marshall is getting ready for Big Two birthday, and he's starting to show signs of the Terrible Twos. He's mostly a happy boy, but he sure is stubborn! We went round and round all night long the other day, telling him that he couldn't have ice cream until he ate a bite of chicken. He eventually went to bed without ice cream! Tonight he held a piece of broccoli in his mouth until it basically disintegrated - he refused to chew it as told before a 300th round of "chase". In more fun areas, he's starting to sing recognizable songs (ABCDs, Twinkle Twinkle). His newest phrase is "Aw, Man!"

We have all kinds of new videos on our You Tube channel that no one has watched. If you get a minute, check them out. The usual wacky dances, ABCs, and Hide and Go Seek!

On to our next adventure!!

 

Movin' on Up (And Fallin' On Down)

We're almost there! We sorta kinda bought a house and sold ours, or at least signed our lives away with the intentions to do it.

We're through the inspection phase on our purchase - just waiting for closing in mid-March. We took the leap on making an offer before we got on offer on our existing house, and it was a little scary there for a little bit. We originally looked at the house back in October. The house itself was perfect for what we need (minus the resident cat), but the yard wasn't our dream yard, so we put it on the back burner. After they lowered the price for the third time (and got a call from the seller's agent begging us to make an offer), we realized that it really was the best deal for our money, so we decided to take the jump. Feeling more excited about it every day!

We thought it was a sign, because, of the dozen or so houses we had seen,  it was the only house in which Miles chose to - ahem - use the facilities. Even during the second showing, I guess Miles decided to mark his territory. Jason and I often joke that we're glad we have Miles to make decisions for us, because we're so indecisive. Where to eat dinner is usually the choice he makes, but where to live for the next 20 years can work too. Miles is so excited about the basement, and we've been playing up the swing set that we negotiated to stay for them too. Even Marshall is in the spirit, often talking about the "new house". I read a book to him the other day with a haunted house in it, and it pointed to it and said "New House!"

Thankfully, we got an offer last week to buy this one - only a few weeks of living with the idea of two mortgages. That was an adventure too - it took us 5 days to get an offer signed on both sides, but we're pretty happy with where we landed. Now just keeping our fingers crossed that the loan (kind of a strange one) will go through. We might be insane, but we're still entertaining showings on our house. However, we'll be a lot more picky about which ones we accept and less picky about how clean the house is for them. Now on to the packing!

In other news, Marshall took a tumble down the stairs yesterday. One of the scariest moments of my life as a parent, and I watched it all happen. We were heading up after breakfast to get dressed, and we both reached the top of the stairs. I stepped aside to close the gate, and Marshall grabbed it from me and slammed it shut. The gate then swung open the opposite direction over the open air. Marshall lunged for the gate to grab it and tumbled head over heels all the way down the stairs. I was right behind him the whole way down but never got to actually catch him. By the time we both got the bottom, I think I was crying harder than he was. Within 10 minutes, he was his happy normal self and so we decided he would go to school as usual. After his nap, I got a call from his teacher saying that he just wasn't acting like his normal self and was just sitting in the chair in the corner watching the other kids play and looking pitiful. That's just where I found him when I went to go pick him up, and his poor little eye was swollen and watering. We rushed to the doctor, and thankfully everything checked out perfectly. It was definitely not something I want to repeat! No major bruises or issues today.

In happier updates, Miles is getting so good at reading and writing! He still gets a little frustrated when he can't figure out something right away, but I am amazed at how many words he can recognize. He even wrote the names of just about every person he knows on his Valentines this year.

Speaking of Valentines, here are my favorite loves:

Xmas Etc.

Happy New Year! My new year's resolution is not to start every blog post with an excuse or an apology about how long it's been since the last one. Oops.

Speaking of "Oops", today's blog will be a non-proofread stream of consciousness. Let's see see if I can dump everything in my head from the last month in under 10 minutes...aaaaand go!

Back to "Oops". Marshall's favorite book right now is "Baby Counts", which he knows by heart. (One, Two. One, Two, Three, Four. OOPS! Back to one.) He also loves "Bubbles, Bubbles", just like his Bubba. He's getting slightly more patient with reading books but he can't yet sit still long enough to read one with Big Bro at bedtime. Santa got him a new Mickey book, which I thought would keep him interested, but Miles reads it more than he does.

Speaking of Santa:



On Christmas morning, Marshall wasn't exactly thrilled. He threw a little tantrum at one point and didn't open half of his presents until later that afternoon. His favorite present seems to be his Elmo cash register.

Miles, on the other hand was super pumped! I think Marshall made the first peep that morning, but Miles was awake as soon as he heard it. I think we ended up going downstairs around 5:30. We opened presents, ate breakfast, opened stockings, and Nana and I went back to bed before the sun even came up. I was anticipating that Miles would be the one throwing a fit after several lectures beforehand about "It's about giving just as much as getting." However, I wrongly underestimated by sweet boy. Since then, he has told me how thankful he is several times for all the presents Santa and other have gotten for him.

Most of Miles' Santa presents were Spiderman related (which Marshall, for some reason, calls "Bubby"). He got some sa-weet Spiderman 3D wall art and Spiderman bedding for his new room in the new house. No news on that front. Boo. Anyway, Miles was telling me a little this afternoon about how he was a little scared and nervous about moving. I kept giving him reasons about why it'll be cool to move, and he seemed to understand but still wasn't totally bought in. Then, I mentioned that we would be moving a lot closer to Chick-Fil-A. We got SO excited and decided right then and there that moving was a good idea after all.

The boys got to have a sleepover at Granny and Grampa Kahl's house with Gavin while the parents spent an evening in Nashville to watching Butler's road game at Vanderbilt. Miles got in the spirit soon afterward:



My 15 minutes are about up...just a couple more random tidbits.

Overheard by Miles after taking a bite of a not-yet-ripe banana, "This tastes like white Mexican jello!"

Overhead by Marshall (a hundred times), "Aw, nuts!"

Overhead by Miles at the grocery, after I told him, no, we can't buy that salami. "Mommy, I bit it." Yes, I had to buy the black-pepper coated salami that Miles bit. To quote Nana, "Damn sausages!"

The Rest of Fall

Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger. I know.  Where to even start?

I guess I'll start with my excuse for it all - the house is still on the market. We almost made an offer on a house without selling this one, but it was probably a blessing in disguise that it sold before we got to that point. Who needs two mortgages? Miles goes back and forth about his excitement about the whole thing. He doesn't want to leave his friends, but he gets really excited about having a basement. I guess having lived on a slab his whole life, the idea of living underground is kind of a strange concept. He said he was going to put an air hockey table on his Santa list, but I told him that Santa only brings those to people with basements. Maybe that'll get him pumped...

Miles' latest thing has been "Kidz Bop" CDs - you know where pre-teens sing today's latest hits and clean it up a little bit? At first it drove us crazy, but then we realized that those CDs are our only link to "modern" music. The perils of being an NPR listener. We got the Kidz Bop kids telling jokes CD most recently, and it's pretty torturous. However, it's been pretty hilarious listening to Miles pretending to be a stand up comedian with Chicken and Knock Knock jokes.

Marshall has been developing quite a little personality as well. He knows all kinds of words. He loves his "Mao-Mouse" (Miles) and "Nee-No" (Keno). It should be a pretty fun Christmas this year! He recognizes "Ta-ta" (Santa) and thinks it's hysterical that he says "Ho, Ho, Ho".  If Marshall could write a list, he would probably ask for "Meh-mo" (Elmo), "Buh-bee" (Bumblebee), and "Mouse" (Mickey) stuff. We'll see what the old man brings!

I'd like to share just one story for the record books for when I become a grandparent. Last night, we were all making Christmas brownies. (OK, so Jason and the boys were making brownies and I was licking the bowl.) I asked Miles if he was going to cook for his wife and kids someday. He said he was. So I asked him what his kids names were going to be. His answer? Angela and Kermit. Then I asked him what Marshall's kids' names would be. He said Angela and Kermit too. Then he changed his mind and decided they would be Ann and Ker instead. :-)

Here's some pics to catch you up!

Daddy's Band Contest with the cousins

Halloween

Fun with friends Will and Janelle and the Children's Museum

Thanksgiving Kids Table

Monstrous Month

It's been quite a month since I last wrote! Where to even start? I guess we'll do the usual doctor's visit...Marshall's 18 month stats:

• 32.5 inches (58%)
• 23 lb 9 oz (20%)
• Still tiny head at 15%

Everything was great at Marshall's appointment...however, Miles made up for it with some drama of his own. A couple weeks back, he started complaining of an earache on a Friday night. We were able to distract him at first, so we thought maybe it was just a fluke. Then he started crying in the middle of the night. Thank God that Disney Junior is on 24/7, because distracting him with cartoons was the only way I could get him to fall asleep...the 5 or so times he woke up crying. Even through the crying, I just assumed most of it was Miles' usual dramatics, and it was an ear infection that could wait until morning. Well, Jason left at 4:30am for a marching band contest, which woke Marshall up, which woke Miles up again. Since we were all awake, we headed to MedCheck. It wasn't until we were in the waiting room that I noticed Miles had blood in his ear. Again, I assumed we was just scratching at it from the pain, but nooo....it was, in fact, a ruptured ear drum.

Since then, I've found it's more common that we thought, but it was still scary to hear. Thankfully, we got into an ENT the next week (after checking three different hospital systems) and I was able to go with him before (guiltily) leaving for a business trip to San Francisco. The ENT said the rupture was likely from an ear infection (not from falling out of bed the night before). His hearing was borderline normal, but they said that was likely from the build-up. We see our family doctor next week, so we're hoping he tells us everything has cleared up and we'll be ready to start swimming lessons again.

I also forgot to include an update a while back on Miles' speech and hearing appointment (before the eardrum thing). He was totally normal! Now neurotic mom can stop worrying. The only sound he doesn't have yet (the "r") isn't normally developed until age 8, so we have a while to start worrying about that one.

Marshall is getting chattier than ever. We don't know what he is saying a lot of the time, but that doesn't stop him from trying! You can tell that he is really proud when we do recognize what he is telling us. He'll be just as smart as his big bro! He even has learned O-H-I-O...much to Jason's chagrin, especially after shouting it during the "time for silence and reflection" at church last week. Wonder if he knows Pastor Mitch is a Purdue grad? Here's just a fun Marshall moment during bath time the other night:

And the biggest news of all is that our house is on the market!! It's been an adventure stopping the boys from destroying our newly perfected home, but, as of now, it feels really nice to live in a clean house for once! If you won't believe it until you see it with your own eyes and you know our address, check it out on realtor.com. No, I'm not dumb enough to post my address for any creepers to see.

 

We've had three showings so far, and the house hasn't even been on the market a week. We're keeping our fingers crossed. Our very first showing was one of those can-we-be-there-in-30-minutes deals, so we were definitely thrown into the deep end. We're finding that eating out is becoming the norm, and it was a little much keeping the boys entertained all evening tonight for three hours alone away from the house without spending much money. Picnic in the park is possible during Indian Summer, but I hope we don't have to figure it out in the winter!

 

Oh, and one more addendum as a follow up to last month's post about curse words. Yesterday, Miles said "I slipped on the damn floor!" Jason swiftly followed with, "That's Mommy's fault." Yeah, my bad.

 

Here's a little Bulldog Homecoming family fun, before I turned by eldest into a potty mouth:

 

Baby's First Curse Word?

I'm kind of proud of the fact that Miles hasn't said a really bad 4-letter word just yet. The worst I can claim is when Jason heard him repeating my use of the term "bird crap". I was a bit concerned when Miles recently told me that his friends told on him at school for saying a bad word -- "hate". When I asked him how he used it, he said he was simply singing "Leavin' On A Jet Plane." I breathed a sigh of relief when Jason informed me of the "I hate to go" part. Guess my biggest problem is that my 4-year old knows more Peter Paul & Mary lyrics than I do.

Well, I can't stay up on my high horse for too long. I know the day will come sooner or later with Miles...and it's already come with Marshall. Sort of. He's in a really fun period of speech development right now and is learning more words than I can count. Some are clear as can be. I heard a clear "baby" last week and turned around to see Marshall pointing at the Pampers box. Others are a little muddier. Unfortunately, the worst sounds like a certain 5-letter worst that starts with "B". I'm pretty sure I don't throw that B word around within earshot of the boys - I hope that he is actually saying "this" - but it does sound a lot like the Big B.

Thankfully, his used of the B-bomb isn't quite as frequent now, but he says "butt" as clear as a bell. Great. Crap and butt won't win me any Mother of the Year Awards, but at least my kids could be on America's Funniest Home Videos without being bleeped...right now, at least.

Speaking of AFHV, here's the latest from the KahlBros Dance Spectacular at Indy Irish Fest:



I didn't really realize how many people were watching this little spectacle until Marshall decided a few minutes later to do a headstand...and I heard a roar of laughter coming from behind me. We also got a chuckle from our audience when Marshall threw a tantrum because I wouldn't let him have a sip of my Guinness. Again, a Parent of the Year tidbit worthy of nomination. 

We thought we would do Little League in the spring because Miles wants to spend every evening doing batting practice with Daddy (Mommy is a "bad pitcher"). However, after he saw the Irish Step Dancing live and on stage, we may need to enroll him in dance lessons instead. All this, and he still tells us he wants to be a football player when he grows up. Wonder how many folk-singing, Irish step-dancing quarterbacks there are out there?

And just because...a little snapshot from our outing in Brown County with Nana (before I forgot my wallet on the train and we hit a skunk):

Talkin' It Up

Even though we're just at the mid-way point of August, summer is definitely over for the Kahls.

Jason started a new "balanced schedule", so he was back to school August 1. Miles and Marshall started a new "school" year last week as well. Both boys moved up into different rooms at day care - Miles is now a "firefly" - and Miles started Pre-K. Can't believe my boy will be in kindergarten this time next year!




Marshall is turning into quite the big boy as well. The last few weeks, we've seen a word explosion! He says ball, hot, bye, and "Mi" pretty clearly. He says "eyes" and can point to them, plus he knows his ears mouth, teeth, and belly. He loves calling out to "Da-eee" and thinks it hilarious when he calls me "Da-eee". Only occasionally will he in indulge me with a "Ma-eee". I'm pretty sure I've heard him say Davy, Lyla, KK, and Papa too, although we're still working on those. Grammy says that she got an "Ammy" last week too.

Marshall is also following in his brother's footsteps as a song and dance man. He's a Beyonce fan and breaks out into "Oh, Oh, Oh" at least a couple times a day. Here is the duo, with both a Single Ladies remix and a bonus TMNT theme.

Vacation for All

Dear Readers, because our family has been on vacation, I thought you might want a vacation from this blog to make you feel a part of the fun. Yeah, that's it.


Before we get started on the vacation fun...a quick stats update.


At our recent doctor's appointment, Miles measured 3 feet 5.5 inches (74%) and weighed 40 lbs 5 ounces (81%). After staring at his ribs during all of the swimming/sprinkler fun on vacation, it was hard for us to believe he was 80% for weight, but he's right in line BMI-wise because of his height. We'll be setting up a speech and hearing appointment soon. Despite Miles' vast vocabulary, he had a still has a bit of trouble with his "r"s and "th"s ("Hello, Mudda. Hello, Fadda"). That, combined with the fact that he talks pretty loudly (even for our family), means we'll just do a check-in to make sure. More to come!


Marshall was 30.75 inches (39%) tall and 22 lb 2 ounces (17%). That shocked us even more than Miles' stats, just because of how much food that boy puts away! Usually, he will eat all of his portion, plus the rest of Miles' dinner. He hit all of the milestones on the doc's checklist too, including saying 3-5 words ("uh oh", "more", and "hello" are still what we hear most often). He also has good handle on identifying his head and belly and is getting close on ear, nose, and eye.


The worst part was that both boys needed shots. Miles was very brave and volunteered to go first. I'm not sure he quite realized what he was getting into...we heard lots of "owie, owie, owie" and had some crying afterward by both parties.


So, on to vacation highlights. I am in the last few days on my month-long sabbatical from work, so we took advantage of both of us having the time off. We headed up first to the lake, and David, Hilary, and Gavin joined the fun:







We celebrated the big boys' birthday at Put-In-Bay (minus the kids) and had cake and ice cream for the June birthdays the next day. It was great fun, despite the annual Attack of the Mayflies.







Then, the real "Nana and Papa Vacation" began. While, Jason and I spent a glorious week basking in the 50 - 60 degrees temps in Washington State, Miles and Marshall hung out with Nana and Papa. Despite a train ride, zoo visit, and other fun activites, Miles still says his favorite part of the whole week was eating snow cones and s'mores.








When Jason and I returned, the mayflies were gone and we were actually able to enjoy some time on the lake.





On the way home, we stopped for a visit with the Bensons and the Falks. The kids all had a fantastic time with the kiddie pool and popsicles!





We were home for one full day before hitting the road again for Lyla's third birthday party. Cupcakes + sprinklers + cousins = success!




This past week, we've had a great time just relaxing and trying to stay cool in the triple digit temperatures. We managed to sneak in mini golf and a baseball game before things got miserable. Then, Miles and Marshall had their "Grammy Vacation" last night so Jason and I could celebrate our 11th anniversary. Miles says his favorite part was watching movies before bed, and Marshall loved swimming, despite his creepy crud (cold? pinkeye? teething? reaction to shot? who knows...).

It's been an exciting month, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. It's been wonderful just being able "be" with my boys.

One Small Step for Boy

It's official - we have a walker! A hesitant walker, but a walker nonethless! He' been taking 2ish steps for Daddy, but I had never seen it, so it's not official until it gets the Mommy Stamp of Approval, right? The boys and I were out playing baseball, and I convinced Marshall to hold on to the bat while I held the other end. Trickster Mommy let go, and he took off the four or five steps to the patio wall!

Marshall is also getting much more vocal. He's really into "uh oh" and loves saying "heh-ro!" when he's talking on the phone. It's kind of hard to tell the difference between "mama" and "more more", but we're starting to figure it out as he gets better at signing.

Our boys and house have been really dirty lately...well, beyond how dirty they normally are. It's all thanks to our new sand "box" that Daddy made for Marshall's birthday. Every night, Marshall crawls longingly to the patio door and asks to go out and play.

Gavin even joined in the sand box party with them this weekend, which, of course, required a group bath afterward!

Gavin was in town to watch Grandpa Bernie do the ride-along at the speedway. He and Miles had a great time with him and Aunt Ashley!

Quick One

I just wanted to remind everyone - we have a YouTube channel, and I just uploaded some cute new videos.

I am also even too lazy to crop out this dude's finger right now. Someday...

Family pic at Lucas Oil!