Seven and so Responsible

Tryn has been wanting to get her ears pierced for such a long time. Years. Which is saying something because she is only seven.

Steve and I were never opposed to ear piercing, we just...I don't know, wanted it to be special for the girls. Not just a, "Hey! It's Friday. That seems like a good enough reason to do something big like pierce your ears!" Haha!!

We have some good friends who use a rock/jar system for encouraging good behavior. You have one jar filled with rocks, in our case 34 (not sure why it was such a random number), and one empty jar. We told Tryn that each day that her stuff was cleaned up in her room she could take one rock from the full jar and move it to the empty jar. If she didn't clean her room that day then one rock would be taken out of the goal jar and put back into the first jar.

We thought it would take her 6-8 weeks or more to get her ears pierced. It took her 34 days. Not once did we have to put a rock back into the first jar.

This girl was serious about wanting her ears pierced.

I am so proud of her. I don't think she gets her dedication from me. I definitely would have skipped a few days. :)

Of course, I had to take pictures. Although Steve took this picture of the pre-piercing excitement and I am not sure what Kye is doing here...using Superman as a microphone? Haha! It makes me laugh though. 

Picking out the earrings!!

 The boys watching ever so carefully.

Getting a little nervous, although there is just ear cleaning going on here. There are no pictures of the actual piercing moments. I was doing mom things, making concentrated eye contact, and making sure we weren't going to have a meltdown. She did great though. She didn't even cry! 

First look at the new earrings!!

 Learning how to take care of everything with some help from daddy.

 And what was Berlin doing this whole time? Exploring every item in the entire store and staying away from Tryn because watching made her nervous. :)

I am so proud of you Trynie!!

The Belated Man Child Update

Kyeson is one lucky dude, everybody loves him. Adores him actually. Even his big sisters. Tryn and Berlin are constantly saying, "Oh, he's so cute! Kye is the cutest boy in the whole world. Don't you just think he is the cutest?!"

Well, yes, I do think he is the cutest boy in the world.

What's new with Kyeson? Hm. Well, instead of just existing as a member of this family, I would say that Kye is now old enough and developing enough to be adding his own personality and dynamics to The Haines Family unit. He has his own opinions, he is starting to like and dislike certain things. Things that Kyeson loves are trucks, emergency vehicles (especially the noise of the sirens), watching the helicopter land at the hospital across the way, playing outside, the moon, Superman, animals, the Zoo, reading books, Curious George, going on walks, the park, the beach, playing with his sisters, singing, 4-wheelers, loading up his pockets with rocks, playing instruments, and his dad. He loves his dad a lot. Favorite foods include Greek yogurt with honey, berries, toast, peanut butter sandwiches, Oatmeal Squares cereal, and sausage. Although he will eat other things, those are the main foods he will eat on a regular basis. Everything else is eaten based on whether or not he is the mood, which he is not a lot of the time. 

Things that Kyeson dislikes are things like feeling left out, vegetables in general, dinnertime (not kidding, he rarely ever eats dinner), being sick (my worst sicky for sure), and loud noises. If you are too loud he will put his little finger up to his lips and tell you, "Shhh." The 4th of July was classic. He sat in my lap during the fireworks and wouldn't let me take my hands off of his ears, not even to scratch my nose. He almost fell asleep watching the fireworks with my hands pressed up against his ears. He did then fall asleep in his carseat with his own hands pressed to his ears...while there were no fireworks going anymore. Haha!

Kye doesn't talk much yet, though he seems to get his point/wishes/desires across when he needs to. He has gone from having just Mr. Monkey, who he has now named OoAh (monkey sound), and has adopted a Pound Puppy and Kitty that my mom saved from my childhood. He loves animals so much that as soon as he saw this 20 year old little kitty he promptly claimed it as his own and called her Meow Meow. The Puppy doesn't have a name yet.

Something that Kyeson is famous for in our family is expressing his excitement over things. This is what happens: We will be playing outside and suddenly Kyeson will notice the moon. Or hear a siren. Or...whatever. Then it's, "MA!!!! AHHHHH!!!" [Insert loudest and highest pitch scream you can imagine a two year old little boy making.] This is how he expresses excitement about everything. Like we will be in Target and he sees a toy that he recognizes, so in the middle of Target, "AAHHHHHHH!! Ma, Ma, AHHHH!!!!" Or we see a monkey at the zoo, "AAAHHH!!!! OoAH!! Da, DA, DADA!! ZOO!" Totally embarrassing sometimes but one of my most favorite things ever.  Because he doesn't talk much he especially loves if he feels like he is having a conversation with you - which, because he still doesn't like people that he doesn't know well, only happens usually with me and Steve - but he gets so serious and earnest if he feels like he is communicating at our level. So cute. 

Some of my favorite Kyeson words:
Guitar - Gee
Tryn - TT
Berlin - B
Kyeson - KyeKye
Love - Sus (not sure how that came to be, but that's how he says it)
I love you - Eye-eye-oo.
Thank you - Taint too
Oh, and if you ask him who Superman is he puts his little fists up in the air and sings the first few notes of the Superman theme song, "Da, da, daaaa, da, dadadaDA!" I taught him that. He will actually try to sing and hum tunes more than he will try to say new words. 

He still uses signs as a regular part of his communication too, which is so helpful. Kye is also super interested in all things bathroom right now too, so we are thinking about potty training. However, I am not sure if I am ready for that yet because I don't think it is going to be an easy process. We might wait awhile...can't decide.  :)

Dear Kyeson,
I know this is a little late, but Happy Birthday my dear sweet boy. I can't believe that my baby is two and I really don't have a baby anymore! You are getting to be such a big boy. I am so glad that you are a part of our family, you bring so much joy and life to our household and I can't imagine life without you. You are my special boy and I love experiencing the world through your eyes, it's a pretty great world from your view. You are my best boy and I am so thankful for you. I can't wait to see how you grow and change over this next year.

Love, Mama