Kieran's first trip to the dentist

Well, Kieran survived his first trip to the dentist. He was really cooperative and everyone in the office was so impressed with how happy he was to show off his teeth (they got lucky - the pediatrician can't even get within 3 feet of Kieran before he freaks out.) Kieran has 8 teeth now so we thought we'd get him checked out. Those of you who know me are probably wondering why I waited so long since I truly love going to the dentist myself.

Since Kieran's favorite things to play with are his toothbrushes, it's been really easy to get him to brush. Once he sees the brush coming - he opens his mouth as wide as he can. Oddly enough, Durban also loves brushing his teeth. I think he'd eat all of his turkey flavored toothpaste if he ever got hold of it.

It's just so rewarding when you can see your child (and your dog) starting to develop the same obsessive compulsive habits that you have yourself. As everyone knows, I'm really particular about teeth so it's been my hope that Kieran would be as dedicated to this as I am.

Kieran is now standing up by himself without holding on. This only started about a week ago and he doesn't even seem to realize what he's doing. He'll be holding on and then start playing with something or staring at his hands and then he's just standing without holding on. We get so excited but he doesn't understand why so he sits down right away and claps.

Don't forget to check out his fleece lined boots. They are so cute and they make his feet look tiny (that's a first for this little guy in his 2-3 year old sized shoes.)

Four legs good - two legs bad

Kieran's been concentrating on talking a bit more these days. He's often saying 'momma' and he's working out lots of other sounds. Unfortunately, he's still absorbing more of Durban's verbal skills than ours. I'm assuming this is the case since Kieran really enjoys making growling noises and Santosh and I rarely insert growls into our every day conversations.

Walking is not high on Kieran's list of priorities but he does love to climb the stairs - good thing we have several. I was hoping it would take him a bit longer to learn to climb them but it wasn't long at all. Kieran will go up a few steps and then turn around to clap his hands or to make sure you are watching. It's adorable but of course it means we have to hold on pretty tight. He has no fear.

As soon as Durban sees that we are trying to help Kieran go up and down the stairs, he runs up and down and circles around him as if to show off that climbing stairs is something he has already mastered a long time ago. Durban is definitely not the most patient teacher and I suppose he doesn't recognize the advantage of his four 'legs' in all of this.

Otherwise, I see very little sibling rivalry at this point. Kieran also loves 'peekaboo' as I'm sure most babies his age do. Santosh will sometimes hide behind a pillar or a cabinet. Once Durban hears him yell "PEEKABOO" he runs over with his tail wagging and "finds" Santosh (not that it's all that tough since 90% of his body was in full view.) I think Durban is confusing this with the 'find it' game we used to play with him. Either way - it's very cute and Kieran loves all the commotion.

No luck with shoes for Kieran. I've bought a few but I think most shoe manufacturers assume that anyone with feet this big are really in the market for a pair of wing tips rather than baby shoes. Even the softer baby shoes won't accommodate feet that are as wide as they are long. (Once again, Durban probably finds this all incomprehensible since he has his own hiking boots.)