Big boy stuff ...

It's so exciting to watch Kenji growing out of "little boy" play things and instead be interested in "big boy" stuff. Well, I'll be honest and say that at first it wasn't, simply because it meant having to find new things to interest him and keep him active and entertained so that I could get something done.

But once I found some new things to catch his interest it was pure joy to see him so intent on figuring out something that he hadn't ever done before. For instance there's this puzzle he really likes, but it took many tries to get him to even look at it as it just didn't look like fun or mischievous "Kenji-type" of play. But now he loves it and does it all on his own!

He's also once again picked up a great interest in soccer. It had died down a bit about 3 months ago, but it's back now! Hooray! Only this time I've noticed he's more into smaller balls --smaller then a soccer ball. Maybe it's due to it being a little easier for him to maneuver with his feet, as opposed to a normal size soccer ball. (his soccer ball popped). :(

The first time that he picked up an interest in kicking a ball was at 7 months, (ball was his first word, mind you, at 6 months old) but started kicking a ball on his own at 9 months when he started to walk a bit. And then he got a soccer ball for his birthday and oh, boy, was he in high heaven with a soccer ball of his own! :)

Another thing that he is really into right now, I think more than balls or cars, are motorcycles. He loves them, loves them, loves them. Okay, I know we're not supposed to 'love' things, but you know what I mean, right? :D There's a guy who lives down the street, about 4 houses down, who has 2 motorcycles and Kenji without fail has to go take a look at them every single day. He never tires of seeing them!

It doesn't matter if he sees 3 of them drive by our house in the span of 5 minutes as soon as another one comes by he gets all excited and attempts to run after it and get it. He'll run after it for about 15 seconds and then realize it's futile to do so, as the motorcycle is long gone. But it's sooo cute to see him run after the motorcycle each time a new one drives by.

And just the other day during our daily late afternoon walk around the block there were 10 4 wheelers' half a block away from our house! Kenji was so happy, excited, and in awe to see these massive 'motorcycles' that I had to get a pic of him on one of them huge 4 wheelers.

A dude/owner of one of them agreed to let Kenji climb up and sit on it. So cool! Although Kenji was not so sure about these 10 plus dudes drinking beer and chillin' on the sidewalk, barefoot and covered in mud. He kept staring at them, bewildered and in awe I suppose. :D They all kept trying to talk to him in English, and kept saying "Ey, guerito, you like it"? "I drive you around a bit". Ha! Kenji of course didn't move a muscle and just kept right on staring at him. :)

Well, now that I've ranted off about Kenji and his latest interests in other news the Lord has been doing so many little miracles daily for us. We've had friends coming over just about every other night from 7-10 p.m. from parents to teens and singles in search of answers to their problems. And one of our new friends just donated a new stove! TYJ! The Offensive is here! And it's so exciting!