Happy Birthday, Canaan Kirt!

Canaan is ONE YEAR OLD! We celebrated his birthday Monday night with family and friends. Canaan was wonderful. When kids are one, it is so hard to predict how they will act at any time, let alone on that 'big day'. Right before his party started, Canaan started rubbing his eyes and acting grumpy. But, no worries, he was great! Canaan was a little clingy during parts of his party; I think all the people and excitement just got to him a bit. Overall, though, he was a great partier! He even did spectacular opening his presents. He helped peel the paper off the gifts, played with all the toys (didn't look twice at the clothes), and only cried when we took away one gift to open the next. So, we learned to do quick transitions between presents.
As for eating the birthday cupcake- he wasn't so impressed. He took a few bites of it; either he didn't like it (it was chocolate- could he be related to me and not like chocolate???), or he was too tired from all the other activities to properly enjoy it. Who knows. We got a few pictures of him eating it, but when we went to take a family picture, he started crying. Mommy and Daddy were smiling, but not our sweet boy-he was in a full cry. Poor thing.
All the other kids did excellent too. Malachi (Rob and Denyce's boy), Noelle (Matt and Vanessa's girl), and Grant (Russel and Alison's little boy who was born on the same day as Canaan) were all great sports throughout the festivities. It was such a wonderful night; we all had a blast!
Our theme was TONKA Trucks. Canaan is stuck on trucks. He LOVES them. So, I was giddy excited to find Tonka truck plates and decor at Party City. I called Dougle (who was in Dallas for support stuff) and told him excitedly about my find. What a silly MOM I am!
It was just perfect!
At his party,Canaan came away with blocks, trucks, trains, clothes and more! What a blessed little boy he is!

We thank God an awesome first year with Canaan Kirt. We also look forward to an amazing new year with Canaan Kirt!

The Boy in Him

Canaan is definitely all boy! He has always loved making lots of loud noises. One of his favorite pastimes is to take two toys and bang them together. If they don’t make much noise, then those aren’t his favorite toys. Now Canaan is starting to play with a ball (since we finally found one for him). We will roll it back and forth, only he doesn’t roll the ball- he picks it up and hands it to me to roll back to him. It is great fun and way too cute! The other new boy thing is his obsession with trucks (“ucks”). Dougle and I bought him a Tonka truck to stand behind and push. It also has a cool steering wheel where each thing (blinker, horn, key) makes different noises then turned or pushed. He just loves his truck! He walks behind it everywhere. It really just goes in a straight line, so when he ran into things that stopped him, he would grunt for us to come over and turn it around for him. Now he has learned that he can just walk to the other end, and push it right back the way it came- all by himself. He is so cute to watch! He also recognizes real trucks (anything from a riding lawnmower to a big vehicle he calls a “uck”). He especially loves it when they drive by making lots of noise! So now, his two favorite words are “book” and “uck”. That’s our boy!

The Tonka Truck

Mommy and Daddy bought Canaan a Tonka Truck. It is really cool, because pre-walking babies can stand behind it, hold on, and walk. Then, when they get older, they can sit on it and ride. It also makes the coolest sounds. It has a blinker, a horn with four different sounds, a gear shift, and a key to start it up (the engine makes a sputtering noise when you first turn the key and you have to turn it again to make the engine rev and run). I thought it was the greatest thing and was hoping it would be a nice substitute for all of us holding Canaan's hands and walking him around the house. We brought it home, got it out, and set Canaan up behind it to walk. He did not like that idea! So, for a few days, it just sat in the living room. Canaan played with it while sitting down, especially enjoying turning it over with the wheels in the air and spinning them. (He is such a boy!) Finally, a few days later, we got it out and tried letting him walk behind it again and he loved it! He wanted to walk all over the house with it. He can't turn it on his own, so when he runs into a wall, he grunts and we run over and turn it around so he can walk across the room again! He has the biggest grin when he is walking with it. It is adorable to watch him, and Canaan thinks he is "big stuff" walking behind the Tonka Truck!