Yay for packages from Gram!

I have been trying to encourage friends and family to give Kalani less plastic and electronic toys, and more wooden and natural material toys. Kalani does love his noisy, musical, brightly colored plastic, and I do plan to keep the ones we have around. I try to remember to keep moderation in mind about almost everything in our lives, Kalani's toy's included :)
So... we got a HUGE package in the mail the other day from Gramma Ilo and it was full of really cool, new, wooden toys!! And a big plastic fire hydrant, that Kalani adores and points to and says "dai-ya-ya!". He learned how to say his version of fire hydrant a few weeks ago, so when he pulled this one out of the box he was just ecstatic! There was also a cool wooden fruit set that goes perfectly with Kalani's new kitchen (that we finally put together last week after rearranging the living room). The pieces of fruit velcro together and you can cut them apart with the cute wooden knife that came with the set. Everything in the package was awesome, and is so what Kalani is into right now! Once he pulled all the new things out of the box, he really enjoyed playing with, and crumbling all of the packing peanuts. He played in the box for at least an hour!! I was asking him to please NOT crumble the peanuts all over the floor... ummmm, ya. He really does usually listen to me :)

The HAIR

I've got to write a little something about Kalani's hair here, because I think we are going to get it trimmed tomorrow! Kalani's hair is long and curly and beautiful. I love everything about it. It was trimmed a while back, six months ago I guess, but it has grown very long and lush again since then. I love it long and messy, it is the essence of Kalani more than a short, cleaned up "do" would be. I know little girls everywhere, and their mom's too, look at his hair enviously. It is long enough to clip back or put in a pony tail, but he is a boy, so we can't do that. The dilemma right now is "what to do with this head of hair?" His bangs hang down in his eyes and the back tends to get a little snarly throughout the day. So with our trip to San Francisco and Oregon quickly approaching, I have decided it needs a trim.
These pictures are a memento of Kalani's long hair. I will miss it.
so curly...
and cute
he likes it too
with the bangs a little more tidy
ummm, ya
I'll miss you, little tail

Just because...

I love this picture. Don't know what he was doing exactly, but I love it!

Friends and "big boy pants"

Kalani has become quite a social butterfly. He loves playing with all of his buddies and he loves meeting new friends too. He is so kind when he plays and has such a gentle demeanor. He always approaches kids at the playground and when they snap at him or yell "mine!" when he tries to play with their toy's, he just carries on. We visit our friends Angela and Aiden every week, Aiden is one of Kalani's best buds, they wrestle together which is hilarious! I'll have to post about that, with some pics, another day :) While we were there the other day Kalani got to try on some "big boy pants" for the first time! It was soooo cute and I wanted to get a really good picture, but he was not in the mood so I tried my best...


Another of Kalani's best friends is Kaley. Kalani really likes Kaley!


Yet another girlfriend ;)

Concerts in the Park

Our new, favorite, Sunday afternoon! We have been going to the free concerts at Bluebird Park in Laguna Beach for the past few weeks now. This is my favorite park to take Kalani too anyway, and these concerts have just been such a fun and relaxing thing to do at the end of the weekend. It is sometimes a bit challenging to find an activity that Kalani, John, and I all really enjoy doing; but this has been just that! My mom comes along sometimes too, and I think she enjoys it just as much as we do... if not even more :)

Obsessions...

We all have them, but I think we try to hold back or something... it seems like our own obsessions, as adults, are not so well known. Kalani's, on the other hand, are! He Love, Love, Loves "agua" right now. He says agua when referring to any sprinklers, showers, the ocean... but NOT drinking water. In Kalani's mind these two things are still very different! He picked up this Spanish word from all of the gardeners at our complex, and at the nursery across the street, Roger's.

Enjoying some "nana time" at Roger's


Normally the sprinkler system at our apartment complex comes on late at night, but once every week or two they turn them on during the day to test and adjust them. We were getting ready to head out of the house for the day when Kalani heard them come on, so he HAD to go out and check them out for himself.

I was about to get him dressed which is why he is naked!


This morning exploration only made us a little bit late to where we were headed ;)

Yesterday at the beach was one of the first times Kalani really got into playing in the waves! The pictures don't quite capture the sheer happiness he was experiencing, or how hard he was laughing as each wave splashed into his little naked body. But they do show how much fun he was having! Nana was holding his arms and lifting him up as each wave came; lifting him up high for the big ones and not so high for the little ones. One wave came and splashed him in the face a little, but he didn't seem to really mind, his body was shivering and his teeth were chattering though, so we decided he was done for the day. He will have so many more days to play in the waves!




Kalani's other obsession these days is candles and fire. Nana has had quite an influence on this one ;)