First Tooth! New Playroom! Grandpa's Birthday Boat Trip! Goofing Around!

Kyra's new playroom!

Playing with a present from Grandma Linda

Playing with her Julius sock monkey from "Auntie Amanda"

(Amanda, thanks again for that! Kyra loves it!)

Practicing her not-quite-crawling skills

Celebrating Grandpa's Birthday on a boat cruise around Balboa Island

Kyra loved the boat ride!

Playing around with Aunt Jen!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Chewing on her first cucumber!

Modeling one of her many adorable knit hats!

Kyra LOVES licking the condensation off of cold drinks!

Napping in her "Girl About Town" stroller

(for quick walks around the neighborhood)

Kyra has been a busy girl!

FIRST TOOTH!
Kyra finally cut her first tooth a few days ago! I've been trying to get a picture, but it's so tough! Her very special first tooth has set up camp on her bottom gums (the bottom left, specifically), and it'll probably have a few friends joining soon! I have a feeling she's going to get some more teeth soon, but we'll just have to wait and see. Luckily, Kyra hasn't been too cranky or uncomfortable, but she really doesn't like it when Mommy tries to open her mouth to check things out!

NEW "PLAYROOM"!

In anticipation of Kyra crawling soon, we had been wanting to set up a gated play area for her. Well, it's all set up and she loves it! We've been filling it with toys and activities, and the space is big enough for a couple of adults to sit or lay down in there with her. Kyra likes to sit up and play with her toys (we have to put her in a seated position - she's still figuring out how to pull herself up to a sit on her own). She can also roll around freely and move around the space quickly. She'll have plenty of room to crawl around in once she actually starts crawling. And thankfully we'll have a safe place to put her once she's really on the move!

GRANDPA'S BIRTHDAY BOAT CRUISE AROUND BALBOA!

Yesterday afternoon, Kyra got to go on her first real boat ride. She's been on the Balboa Ferry a couple times, but this was her first electric boat ride around the island. We were celebrating Grandpa Phil's Birthday, and Kyra had such a great time! She got to play with her cousins Mia and Maddie and her Aunt Jen, she saw (and heard!) a gathering of lounging sea lions on a docked boat, and we even saw an adorable swimming golden retriever who repeatedly dove off of the dock and then swam back to shore.

FIRST CHUNKS OF REAL FOOD!

Kyra loves to eat her baby foods (except for peaches, which she has decided she's not too fond of), and we're hoping to follow the "Baby-Led Weaning" technique of teaching her to feed herself and make her own choices when selecting healthy foods. This method is thought to get babies interested in a wider variety of foods, particularly healthy foods, and helps them decide for themselves what they like and don't like, and it also helps them learn when they're full and ready to stop eating. We're starting out slowly, letting Kyra munch on slivers of cucumbers and steamed green beans. She has enjoyed both, particularly the cucumbers! Mommy gets a bit nervous when she quickly bites a chunk off and swishes it around in her mouth, but it's easy to see that she really enjoys this small accomplishment in her newfound world of eating!

DISCOVERING COLD DRINKS!

Kyra has discovered something that most of us don't pay much attention to at all: condensation! She has figured out that Daddy's ice-cold Diet Coke's have condensation surrounding the can/cup/bottle/etc., and she has become completely enamored with sucking up the cold liquid on the outside of the drink! A couple of times, she's actually almost pulled the entire drink right down on top of her (those of you who know Geoff know that he doesn't typically opt for the "small" when it comes to ordering beverages)! Luckily, we haven't had any spills yet.

STROLLER NAPS!
All of this playing and excitement can be pretty exhausting! Kyra still refuses to nap in her big stroller, but she has been known to catch a few Z's in her smaller "Girl About Town" stroller. We named it that since, so far, we've only taken this stroller out for shorter trips around our local neighborhood. The bigger stroller gets carted around all over the place, but I store the smaller one in our coat closet and it's quick and easy to pull it out if the bigger stroller is still in the trunk of the car. Apparently Kyra is quite comfy in her "Girl About Town" stroller!

MORE FUN IS COMING UP!

Kyra is looking forward to a big celebration next weekend - her friend Jake Balice is turning 1 year old and his parents are throwing him a big "pumpkin patch" party! Jake's Mommy (Kyra's "Auntie Amanda") has been working very hard on this party, so we're all excited to see it finally come together! I'm sure there will be some cute photos to share with you!