babies in backpacks

 I get such a kick out of picture sets.  And yes, I know that two out of three of these have already been shared in this post.  D is currently 26 pounds so we’re fortunate he has such a fit father to carry him around!

beach !

 

Three nights at the beach were just what we needed.  We had a really nice time.

D got to visit with his cousin.

Can you find the baby in this picture?

Imagine these jellyfish are a fleet of ships.

 

Lucky for me, I like beach trips where it’s not too hot and sunny. 

 

   

D’s 1st birthday pictures

 

We had a joint birthday party with our wonderful PEPs group, including a visit from a truckload of bunnies. 

 

   

Our boy is rich in grandparents, and I was happy to get a shot of them all together.

At the party, we forced a cupcake on him, and he eventually got in touch with his love of ice cream.

 

On his actual birthday, we enjoyed some time with just the three of us.  He practiced walking, ate sushi, opened some presents, enjoyed his new chair, rode a bus (!) to the Children’s museum and had a good nap in the carrier.

 

happy 1st birthday, darling D!

 

In sequel to the seven pictures from his first six months in the post, happy half birthday D, I’ve picked out six more monthly pictures.  We have hundreds of great pictures of thousands of great moments, but here I am trying to choose shots that record D’s growth and changing features.

 

Of course, it is tough to summarize such a life changing year in which one family member grew from a newborn to a little boy.  Instead, I’ll just give you a snapshot description of D at one year old.

He is affectionate and good-humored.  He likes books, tickling, dancing, being chased and playing peek-a-boo.  He eats pretty well and sleeps 10-11 hours, often waking up after 9 hours.  His hair is light brown and is starting to curl a little bit as it gets longer.  His eyes are mostly blue, but when we’re in the sun you can see a little bit of brown too.  His third tooth just came in.  He stacks cups, watches buses and says several words [the state of the vocabulary].  This week he started to walk and so far we’ve seen about 5-6 steps at once.  He is a joy.

I have a hobby!

 

I am thrilled to say that I’ve started sailing and will be racing regularly this season.  Setting aside the time and money for a hobby of my own has been on my agenda for a while and this week marks a new beginning.  A lot of the hobbies I imagine myself pursing are solo creative projects, however I find that it’s really hard to set aside the time to do things that are unscheduled and take place at home.  Also, sailing offers the chance to socialize and commune with nature (i.e. disconnect from computers and phones).   Sailing will be my baseball!

the state of the vocabulary

D has a pretty good vocabulary for his age (which is almost one).  His intelligible speech really picked up in the middle of March.  It’s really exciting for all of us.

Here’s a list of what he says (that we understand), in descending order of frequency:

• bus – We live in a bus-watcher’s paradise.  He’s been saying it for about a month now and I’m positive he’s using it appropriately.  Sometimes he points too.  He can’t say the /s/ yet, but then if you took away my top teeth, I probably couldn’t say it either.  We’ve recently introduced the sign [BUS] too though we’re not sure he’s noticed it yet.
• bye bye – He loves saying this while waving and revels in the delight it gives to adults.  He says it at farewells, but sometimes waits long enough that the intended recipient is already gone.  Once he starts, he won’t stop though.  He says it in an adorably throaty and confident way.  He started about a month ago and used to say it while looking out the window.  Now he pretty much only says it to people, though not exclusively at the time of partings. It makes trips to the store more interesting.
• book – This one is awesome.  About a month ago he started saying it while looking at books.  At first he said the /k/ but now he doesn’t.  Then I introduced the sign [BOOK] and now he uses it perfectly.  He really loves looking at books now.  At the moment he uses the sign more than the word.
• hi – He said this a few weeks ago and then stopped, but now is back at it and he’s starting to say it appropriately.
• baby – He said this when we visited a new baby in the hospital and now says it frequently though we can’t always tell which baby (if any) he is referring to.  We started signing songs and putting “baby Dx-xx” in the lyrics and he loves it.  He says baby and really seems to wish he could sing it with us.
• ball – This one is pretty recent.  He doesn’t say the /l/ so you have to be listening for it, but he definitely uses it correctly.  We also have introduced the sign [BALL].
• cat – He’s been saying cat (without the /t/) and kitty cat or kitty (first syllable only) for several months.  The /ki/ of kitty is adorably high pitched.  When we read a book about cats he stops to look for Emo.
• Dx – I’m not sure about this one, but when we stand in front of the mirror he says the first syllable of his name while grinning at himself.  He’s recognized his name for several months.
• dad – Along with dada, this has been in his vocabulary for months.  A few months ago he said a nice bye bye dada, but it’s rare and I think he still uses it for more than just the dad concept.
• mom – Phonetically this was a very early word, but I think he still uses it in distress more than to refer to me.  Jack reports that he says it if I’m gone at bedtime and I hear it occasionally when he wants to get out of the high chair right this second.
• more – This is an exciting one.  He’s started signing it and last week he even signed more book very clearly!

Notable for their absence are signs for food and milk, two of our more consistently used ASL signs [post: a few ASL signs].  I guess he’s just not that hungry.

For about three weeks now, he’s been pointing at things which is fun.  He also says “huh?” with very clear rising interrogative intonation.

He’s also started shaking his head when we say no and a few months ago he would stop what he was doing sometime when we said a forceful no.  I assume he still understands but just chooses to ignore us.

three money-saving tips for new parents

 

1. Get a drain cover so that when your hair falls out post-partum you can save yourself a visit from the plumber.
2. Buy books at Goodwill for 79¢.  For a little one, it’s easy to quickly pick out cool books among all the holiday and Bible story books that seem to accumulate there.  Where else can you save 95%?
3. If you’re choosing between daycare and a nanny or nanny share, don’t underestimate just how much your little one will get sick, even if they’re a healthy kid.  We are so lucky that when D is sent home from daycare with a low grade fever, we have help from grandparents so usually we only miss a half-day or day between us.  Missing several days, with no notice would be tough and expensive and I’m pretty sure nannies take care of slightly sick kids all the time. 

five days away

 

We all grew up a lot this month!  I spent five whole days away from D and Jack, when I went to Montreal for work.  The things I worried about didn’t happen and we all did fine with the separation, but I’m really glad work travel is rare for me.

It was fun to see colleagues from a few years ago and, of course I learned some important things (and some things I should learn more about).   The industry is pretty small, so there were representatives from my time in undergrad, grad school and previous jobs, all mingling together.

 

There wasn’t time for tourism, but I got to see one friend for dinner who gave D a great Montreal souvenir - a “Bonjour Hi” drool bib.

I found myself with a much greater appreciation of Montreal’s famous underground than I ever remember having during my years there.  Perhaps that was because my hotel connected to it directly, unlike the places I lived, so I could actually walk around a bit and buy some Smarties without a coat!

 

Two houses, dissimilar in size (and in dignity?)

Cari, D and I were able to go on Saturday to an open house of a project I'd done at work- a very large, expensive spec house with. Good views of lake Washington. This afforded us the opportunity to tromp up and down the stairs and lean on the railings, and imagine what the stairs may be like in our future house (since we will have so many). Also to show D off to some of the people I work with.

We were also excited to finally get an estimate back for our house this weekend (from the same GC that had built the open spec house). Inching slowly forward!

and they said it would rain…

 

Today D and I took in the St Patrick’s day parade.  Attendance was sparse, perhaps because of the wet weather forecast, but we had a great time.  A parade is the perfect place for a 10-month-old to practice his charming wave!

D agreeably wore his ear protection which I felt good about amid the drums, semi truck horns and marching bands.

The wind was fierce, making the fur on the Irish setters flow like the flags and banners of the various groups.  I always enjoy seeing the setters and the wolf hounds, but this year I was most impressed by a group of human performers, namely a group of about 40 kids on unicycles.  The youngest looked to be 8 or 9 and some were even on the tall kind of cycles!

On our walk home, this handsome gent agreed to be in a picture. 

Lastly, by having my camera in hand I was able to snap a picture of one of the elusive and elite downtown cat-walkers.  In case it’s hard to visually parse, this is a cat watching a parade, on the shoulders of his fur-hatted companion.