Kessler Likes Singer-Songwriters

After my one man re-enactment of Veggie Tales' The Hairbrush Song this morning, I switched the music over to One Republic. Kessler kept saying, "Want play guitar, Daddy." So, eager to please and impress my son, I sold out and went all air-guitar to One Republic's guitarless synth.

Kessler said, "No Daddy, want play guitar on Daddy's pooter."

"Oh, you want me to play a song on the computer that has a guitar in it?"

"Yeah."

I started at the top of my iTunes list and quickly selected Track 6 of Andrew Osenga's Letter To The Editor, Vol. 1. The open was a 10 second guitar strum.

Kessler was happy.

I Wan To Do Do Go To Town!

Life's been moving fast recently. Lots of exciting things have been happening and we have lots to be thankful for.

One of the many things we have to be thankful for is The Little Guy. He is more fun each day as he develops language, a sense of humor, coordination, and a sweet disposition.

Ashley taught him a new game last night and he LOVED it. It's called Go To Town.

Thanksgiving Video 2010

Forgot to post this.

It was fun to have the fam together over Thanksgiving weekend and to watch Kessler interact with all his girly cousins.



Kessler Gets A Flu Shot

A few weeks ago Kessler got his first flu shot. He was totally fine after crying for about 30 seconds. I just loved his epic silent cry and had to share it.

Our Son Loves To Swing

Kessler In The Tub

Ashley does his baths in the sink, but since he hit his head on the metal the first 3 times I tried to bathe him in the sink, I like to use the blow-up baby bathtub in the big bathtub. He was in an especially good mood one evening, so I grabbed the camera.

"Kessler Needs To Wash His Hair"

A couple months ago I posted how I love kid conversations. Stories of what kids say and do consistently make me smile and often make me laugh.

This morning Livy came over to the house. Livy and Kessler were each in a really good mood. Livy finished coloring and was eating breakfast. Kessler was crawling all over the house, banging a big spoon on the floor, and pulling up on the furniture. He moseyed into the kitchen near Livy while she was eating. Ashley then got a phone call and I went to brush my teeth. I start walking back toward the kitchen and hear Livy say, "Kessler needs to wash his hair." I look down and see Kessler's head dripping with white fluid. I look over and see Livy's "big-girl" cup, once half-full of milk, now empty.

Kessler: 9 Months

He's actually over 10 months old now, but this is from around his 9 month birthday.

Kessler Wants The Football

There was a ball about 5 feet away from him. He was a slow crawler. He really wanted the ball.

Hey Dada

Kessler has gradually started to say "Dadadada" and "Hey Dada" enough as a response to seeing me that we think we can confidently say that's what he's saying. While he doesn't understand what it means that I'm his dad, it's still pretty fun.

Hey Kessler.

Bath.

Kid Conversations

Kid dialogue is the best.

I guess we've gotten to the age where a lot of our friends have kids. And those kids do say the darndest things. The things I laugh at the most on twitter are 140 character kid stories. Like when @sarah16 tweeted this a few days ago. Or this, when @McKieDJ was tucking his seven year old in to bed.

Then there's the kid dialogue that I get to witness in person, like when Ashley walked into the kids' classroom at church on a cold morning and was greeted by a six year old with, "Pssst. You have a red nose." Ashley couldn't quite hear her and said, "Huh?" The girl, in the loudest whisper she could muster said, "You have a red nose!"

Well one night during dinner at the beach with Ashley's family, our 2 year old niece, Livy, provided some fun kid dialogue.

She chugged her cup of water, set it down abruptly, looked at her mom and sweetly said, "More water."
Heather said, "What do you say?"
Livy said, "More water."
Heather said, "No, what do you say?"
Livy, still calm, said, "More water."
Heather firmly said, "Livy, what do you say?!"
Livy said, "MOOOOOORRRRE WAAAATERRRR!"
And we all laughed uproariously.

Eventually she did say "peese" and she wasn't trying to be defiant. It was a lot of fun to watch her brain process it all. She let out the cutest giggle when we all laughed.

Kessler isn’t saying much more than “blababababwa” or “EeeeeOooo!” now, but I’m pretty excited about the endless supply of comedy he'll provide throughout his toddler and elementary school days. After that he'll probably just be annoying and have stinky armpits ( I jest. I jest).

The Difference A Year Makes

One year ago we were at Holden Beach and I took a picture of Ashley, and the little guy in utero, except at the time we didn't know the sex of this child, or the child's name, or that the child would have a smile that lights up the room and the sweetest disposition in the world.

This year, I snapped a picture of the same people in the same spot and it looks quite different.

Kessler's First Lie

Our usual weekday rhythm is Ashley gets up around 6:15 to shower while I relish my last prone moments. I listen to the monitor and wait for Kessler to let us know he's tired of laying in his topless cage.

One particular morning while I'm on monitor duty, Kessler starts to fuss a little with some soft grunts and quiet squeals. Longing for a few more minutes of shut-eye, I hope and wish for him to calm on his own. Maybe one minute passes and he gets quiet. Shwew! I could finally go back to sleep. Thirty seconds of silence pass and I think I'm safe. Then, it happens.

He begins to cough as if he's a Newsie trying to sell his last pape. I give him a few measures before deciding I need to go check on him in case something is actually wrong, even though he didn't show any signs of sickness the night before. I peel myself off the mattress, shuffle into his room, slowly open the door and peek my head around the corner. As soon as our eyes meet, this is the face I see. He starts wiggling his legs and laughing. He didn't cough again for a week.

 

This is an actual picture from that morning. I ran and grabbed my camera. He was so cute and it was such a unique moment, I knew I needed to memorialize it. Remembering your baby's first steps is way overdone. The cool thing now is remembering your baby's first lie.

Kessler Kisses

Kessler's started this new thing in the past few weeks where he grabs your face with both hands and pulls it toward his. We call it a Kessler kiss. It feels sweet, even though he probably just thinks a human head is a more lively version of an O-Ball. Still, the guy is one of the coolest dudes ever. I'm not even kidding.

Sitting Up

Six Months

This past Monday marked six months from the day Kessler let out his first cry. To celebrate this extremely momentous occasion, Kessler got the pleasure of having some puréed butternut squash. Mmmmmm.

 

At first he was a little wary of this mushy orange goodness.

But he eventually warmed up and finished the entire serving.

He was a full, happy boy by the end.

Other than having his sixth cold in as many months, he remains a wonderful little guy. He sits up pretty well and is full of smiles and squeals.  He loves to play in his exersaucer. He tips the scales right at 17 Lbs. and is a little longer than the average sixth month old. And cuter than the average bear.

Livy Reads To "Baby Keser"

This was precious.

NIcknames For Kessler

I love to know the back story to things, so here's a little history lesson in odd/useless knowledge:
The term "nickname" originated as an Anglo-Saxon word: ekename. In the Anglo-Saxon tongue, "eke" meant "also" or "added." The term seemed just a bit awkward to pronounce; so, it became slurred, converting ekename to nekename and finally to become nickname.

The idea of a nickname didn't come from English origins, though. They were originally common in ancient Greece and Rome, especially when used as terms of affection, which the Greeks called hupokorisma, meaning "calling by an endearing name."

Nicknames are powerful. When you call someone by a nickname, you immediately feel closer to them. They come from one's personality and can't be fabricated. Nicknames just need to sort of happen, though they're most likely to stick through ease of pronunciation, accuracy, familiarity and repetition.

A new human I'm very close to made my acquaintance a little over 5 months ago and I had a clean canvas to paint with my nickname brush. But so far, I've mainly just called him by his first given name, Kessler.

Here, though, are some other nicknames he's been called since his arrival:

• K-State
• Kess
• KESSLAH
• K-Money
• K-Weezy
• K-Love
• Booboo bear
• Punkin
• Cute to boot
• Little guy
• Little man
• The boy
• Little boy
• KSH
  
• Drool Buckets
• Saliva Factory
• Marshmallow
• Bean
• Beaner
• Snorty Snorterson
  
• Sweet Cheeks
• Cheeks
• Pumpkin Pie
• K
• Bubby
• Booboo
• sweet boy.
• Baby Keser
• Baby boy
• Schloz
• Kessler man
• Buddy
• Doodle
• Baby
• Son
  

Five Months