First Sushi

On Sunday, Karsten took a nap after church, then we went to have sushi for lunch. In the past I kept a jar of baby food in the diaper bag in case we were somewhere without kid friendly food - like a sushi restaurant. No more of that - Karsten wants to be eating whatever we are eating. Luckily he's a fairly adventurous eater and likes most things.

This was a bit of a challenge last time we had sushi because he wasn't supposed to have shellfish until he turned one and he can't have raw fish for a long time. Now that he's one and can have shellfish, we decided he could try a sushi roll with cooked shrimp and veggies.

We pulled the roll apart into Karsten size pieces. He enjoyed the rice, veggies and shrimp. Looks like we have a sushi fan...whew!

Our sushi order - YUM

Karsten enjoying his sushi

Happy Birthday to us

Since Jen's baby is scheduled to arrive on my birthday and we haven't had a chance to celebrate her birthday yet, we decided to celebrate together. We met at Frontera's for mexican food - Jen and the baby got to choose, I think they chose well. You can't go wrong with Fronteras!

The birthday girls...how did this happen...didn't we just turn 16, then 21. Time needs to SLOW down.


This was Karsten's first trip to Frontera's and he is a big fan! We brought carrots and mangos (not mixed together - ick) for him to munch on while we waited for our food. We ordered him a chicken enchilada and he loved it! He ate 3/4 of it!!


Our waitress brought oreo ice cream for Eden and Karsten - it was a big hit, with all of us, not just the kids! :)


Eden helping Jen open her birthday present.


Our happy family


What a beautiful family!


After dinner we stopped at Borders and Karsten found a few new books that he liked. He's a huge fan of books that have peek a boo flaps or things with texture that he can feel.

Talking to Gaga

Gaga called tonight and I was sitting at the island talking to her. Karsten was sitting on my lap so I put Gaga on speakerphone so Karsten could babble at her. He was very chatty - I think she enjoyed hearing him talk.

While Scott was talking to Gaga, Karsten decided he wanted to hold to phone.


So when we finished talking to Gaga, we gave Karsten the phone. He put it right up to his ear and started babbling. He very intentionally held it in this direction - if you handed him the phone the other way, he would carefully turn the phone like this.


Then he started pacing back and forth on the island while he was babbling into the phone. (Note: don't panic, we were watching him closely, he was not in danger of falling). It was hilarious - I never noticed that we pace when we talk on the phone, but he must have learned that somewhere.


Notice he still has his spoon in hand while he talks on the phone.



See a video of him pacing while talking on the phone.

Happy Haircut

Karsten's hair is growing so quickly that he needed yet another haircut. I think this is his fourth haircut! His hair grows as quickly as Scott's - Scott has to get a haircut every three weeks!!

I think his hair turned out cute - I don't like it to be too short and I think she did a great job. I tried to get him to smile but settled for him simply looking at the camera. We haven't quite mastered smiling on que.

Doesn't he look pensive...wonder what he's thinking?

Opinions

While Karsten has been exhibiting his opinions for a while now, this week he started to become visibly frustrated when something wasn't going his way. I'm sure this is just the beginning...it's going to be interesting. :)

Tonight he seemed to be in a good mood and was playing while we were getting dinner cleaned up. Then he threw his wooden spoon on the floor and plopped down on the floor crying. I walked over to see what was wrong and then he bent over and banged his head on the floor. What the heck? So I read online that this can be common as little ones have frustrations and they don't know how to deal with them. He has been doing it quite a bit this week when something doesn't go his way.

Here are a few other tidbits from our evening.

Still cooking


Say CHEESE!




'Reading' my Creating Keepsakes magazine. Maybe he could find a few favorite layouts so I can have a head start for the the next crop?


Then Scott got out two cups and put something under one of the cups. He moved the cup around to try to see if Karsten would find the cup with something under it. When Scott stopped moving the cups, Karsten grabbed both cups and lifted them up. LOL - I guess that's one way to solve the problem!


Then he realized he could stack the cups - he had a great time putting them together and pulling them apart.

Cookin'

Each day when we get home from work/daycare, Karsten likes to help Scott cook dinner. He's very interested in what Scott is cooking on the stove, what he has on the grill or what he's mixing up.

After dinner when we are doing dishes, Karsten always tries to get out a mixing spoon then walks around the house with it. Tonight we gave him a tupperware container and he had a great time using his spoon to 'cook' and stir things.

As soon as we gave him the tupperware container, he started to stir. We were surprised that it was his first reaction or instinct.


Scott helping him stir the tennis ball.


Then Madison got to taste what Karsten was cooking.


Scott and Karsten are tasting what he cooked.


Telling us something important...


Cooking is hard work...must focus.


Balls and shapes are also good things to stir.


I think I caught him mid sentence here.


Uh-oh, the container fell overboard.


Whew - cooking can wear a guy out. Taking a quick break.

Hats, Blocks and Bolts

We went over to my parents house for dinner tonight - my mom had made another one of her famous peach pies. We love peach season!

Before we left I thought Karsten might like to wear his hat - it would have looked cute with his outfit! He had other ideas, and his ideas did not include wearing a hat.


This look says "fine mom, take a picture"


No. More. HAT!


When we got to my parents house, my dad showed Karsten a new toy they had made for him. They took an empty spice container and filled it with nuts and bolts - it makes a lot of noise when you shake it. Karsten loves things that rattle and make noise so this was a huge hit!


My dad also made Karsten a set of wooden blocks. We had a great time building towers for Karsten to knock over. Karsten thought knocking over the towers was pretty fun. He also liked walking around with two of the blocks in his hands banging them together. Simple pleasures....


Thanks for the fun toys grandpa!


Showing us the two blocks he can bang together.


I thought this was too cute - they were watching Madison outside. Normally Karsten is very 'busy' (aka constantly on the move) and he stood there for several minutes!