Kiera likes the phone... probably a foreshadowing of things to come! Uncle Charles gave her a toy phone to play with, but she figured out pretty quickly that it wasn't the real thing, and she'll always pick the real one out to play with :)

In one of our favourite games, I ring the phone and say, 'Hello? Oh! Kiera, its for you!' and pass it to her. Her eyes light right up and she happily holds it to her head with the brightest smile.

Then she'll wander off with it in hand, pressing the buttons and listening to all the keypad sounds. Since it keeps her busy (and quiet), this is a Good Thing.

We work hard to make sure that Kiera and Kit get along, but I'm the first to admit - we've not paid as much attention to him. He has lost out on his walks, a lot of his playtime and she has pulled more hair out of him than he cares to remember.

Its not all bad though! Dinner means plenty of discards raining down from the high chair, and patience during snack-time yields crackers and cheese. He does a pretty good job cleaning after her messes!

So, as you can see, they're both learning to get along just fine :)

Kiki really likes spaghetti. She likes it so much, she puts it all over herself, the walls, the dog... you name it, it has spaghetti on it.

It was such a huge mess that I put her straight into the tub after dinner, and all the noodles in her lap (and face, hair...) fell in.

Her face lit right up when she realized the bonanza she was sitting in, and she started in on her second dinner right there!

It snowed today.

This being Canada and all, you might think that's pretty normal, but we're on the West Coast and snow in November is pretty irregular. What makes it even more unusual is that its going to keep snowing - right through the weekend and well into the middle of next week!

Days like these, its just nice to stay at home, make some hot chocolate, and watch the fluffy stuff float gently down...

We've stopped getting birthday cards for 'My Beloved Wife' or 'The Best Husband In The World'. Now its 'Best Mommy' or 'Most Loveable Dad', and they're all from Kiki, even though she has never picked up a pen. All I can say is, she writes real well for a one year old!

How else has life changed? Oh yes. We get an evening out to celebrate and all we talk about at the restaurant is how cute Kiki is. We even hurry home because we miss her.

So on The Bestest Mommy's birthday, the favouritest present is a warm smile from her little baby girl. Happy Birthday Annie, we love you!

Kiki started playing a game today at dinner.

She grabbed a hanky, flapped it over her head, held it there for a few seconds, and whipped it off.

"Peek-a-boo?" Ann said to her. "I see you!!!"

Kiera's face lit up as she laughed, she was just so pleased that Mommy understood what she was trying to do!

Vancouver winters can be cold, but with Kiera in our hearts, these are summer days at home.

We strolled through Metrotown after our misadventure with Santa, and it didn't take long for Kiki to return to form.

Its fun to watch her discover new things. From mall fountains to bath bombs, racks of purses and shelves full of shoes - everything is new to her, and she takes it in with such wide eyed wonder!

I just love spending this kind of time with her.

As it turns out, we had slightly more than 5 seconds, but you can see that the results don't really reflect the effort.

I had time in the lineup to socialize with other parents, and we had discussed all the tactics and tricks used to get your little one to smile.

Some were enlightened. Some involved bribery. Yet others involved threats and Grievous Violence. All I know is, when it actually came to crunch time, it all went out the window and we improvised. A lot!

"Don't worry," said the elf as she we left Santa's Torture Chamber. "It just takes practice. See you next year!"

Sorry for having been away for so long! I'll try to stay current and catch up with previous entries, and you'll get an idea of what's been keeping us busy :)

In a nutshell, we renovated the kitchen (and stayed with my parents for a month), Ann has gone back to work, I've started a new job and during all that, Kit ran away... and came home again.

So its been interesting! But thank you for your patience, I'll start things off with a couple of recent pictures of Kiki in our new kitchen.