Party time...

We went to Scott and Tiff's son Greg's first birthday party today-- fun time! Jack's favorite thing was the water spigot. You can see him hugging the 4x4 it is attached to, above. He also eventually figured out how to turn on the water himself. He was one damp baby. Then he crawled around like a banshee and became one damp, muddy baby. He was quite the BOY today.


Other party highlights-- the Grover puppet (and thebirthday family...)
And, Greg really enjoying his new balls! :)

Pictures!

In an effort to remedy the lack of pictures of my one year old son, we have taken a few this week...Being idyllic at Holden Arboretum. We found a lovely little hidden pavilion to have our picnic lunch...

Jack REALLY really likes this pink Easter egg. Note the schnazzy new car seat. And, Grampa Jon, the dentition.
Jack is very serious about play-dough. Very serious.
You can't really tell here, but he's putting that toy AWAY. I love this kid.

Independent reading. And, that's his handiwork on the ring stacker. I am very proud of his fine motor skills.
Big dog little dog!!! hee hee hee. Woofstock at the Holden Arboretum...

11

That's the new total number of teeth! Tooth 11 has come through, a big nasty molar on the bottom left side of Jack's mouth. He was amazing in that he gave no real sign of teething except for a shocking amount of drool and a teeny bit of excess emotionality the evening I noticed the tooth. And by that point the entire front edge was already through... He's really becoming a much tougher kid these days. He doesn't get nearly as weepy when he bonks his head on things, or when he loses his balance and falls onto his bottom. This is a good thing, as I fear we have many more bonks and falls to come.

He is increasing his mobility bit by bit. As of about a week ago, he could stand on his own for a couple of seconds (once he'd already pulled up on something), and he could walk around the loop of the downstairs pushing his scooter (with just a little help to steer). He is more secure on his feet these days when he is standing and is coming close to officially "cruising" on furniture. H still much prefers to crawl or, better, climb; he does the stairs at a great rate and also enjoys climbing over the dog and up my torso. He also loves the couch. Sitting on it, standing against the back and looking out the window, crawling from one side to the other and pulling up on the armrests... he looks quite pleased with himself the whole time he is up there. Now he just needs to show a bit more regard for edges so that I can feel more comfortable with his love of high places!

On the talking front-- he is saying both more and less these past few weeks. He is jabbering more, with more intent, but he is not saying as many single "words" as he was using a few weeks ago. For instance, its been a while since we've heard "stick." Dog, dada, and dat (that) remain constant, however.

It is crazy that this little man is almost 13 months old. Time has flown since his party. Being back at school certainly doesn't help matters-- I now see the boy for approximately 2 hours a day, on weekdays. It's a rough change. It also means that I have taken virtually no pictures of him since he's been a year old. Poor baby. It's like he's "old news" all of a sudden now that he's passed the big 12 month milestone. He IS still very very cute. We just don't seem to be as compelled to record every second of that cuteness, these days.

One thing to record-- when I get home from work, he has been greeting me with squeals and great big belly laughs as he crawls to find me. It is so endearing. I like my little muffin a good deal...

Night-night..

A description of 1-year-old Jack's nighttime routine:

Right around 7 o'clock, Jack lets me know he's tired with some eye rubs and a little whine. He reaches out his arms towards me when I come near and when I pick him up his face goes straight to my chest. He's a very subtle guy. We head into the nursery and settle into the glider. He nurses and I sing a few lullabies. He sometimes grabs my nose and likes it when I "honk" at him. That will make him smile and giggle with the boob still in his mouth which is, I must say, just about the cutest thing in the world. At one point Corydon wanders into the room and quickly lands one emphatic lick on the top of his head. This makes Jack want to sit up and enthusiastically pat her on the head. Once they two kids finish their little love fest, its back to nursing for Jack while Cor curls up at our feet. When he's all full Jack sits up and we look through one or two books, depending on how tired he is. A new favorite is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He is fascinated by the holes in the pages where the caterpillar has eaten through the food.

Then, it's off to the changing table. Jack doesn't much like diaper changes these days, but at bedtime he relaxes and seems to enjoy chatting with me and playing while we change the dipe, wash off dirty legs and and sticky fingers with a wipe (if its not a bath night), and rub on his baby oil. He loves to play "this little piggy" and this evening he really got into a spirited rendition of "Shoes, glorious shoes" (a mommy original), brandishing one of his Robeez and even singing along with carefully chaped vowel sounds. On with the PJ's and a few kisses later I pick him up and we say goodnight to the room. He loves to grab and play with random items on his changing table, such as his thermometer, his Fluff dust deodorizer, his diaper creme... the best way to get him to relenquish his item of choice is to tell him to say goodnight to it. Tonight as we put the Fluff dust away he gave it a little wave, and then continued waving and vocalizing something that sounded a bit like "night night" as we said goodnight to his lamp, his radio, the window, the door. Tonight when I asked him for a hug he leaned right in and wrapped those little arms around me, and gave two little pats, before leaning towards his crib. I lay him down and snug him into his sleep sack and he stands up at his rail for one more hug and a couple of kisses. Then I give him his bear or his blanket and say goodnight. As I leave he is standing and giggling a little bit at me. He'll be asleep in a few minutes and will stay that way til around 3am...

Rain, Rain...

It is definitely Cleveland-ing out today. It's been raining for the past 36 hours and the whole world is very damp. The house is sticky inside... yech. I am in walk withdrawl, and we were forced to go shopping and spend money we don't really have, as our family outing today. Sigh. It's supposed to last through tomorrow, too...

Jack and I have big plans for when he gets up from his nap, though-- making playdough! Updates and pictures from his first experience to follow...

The little talker

Jack has added a couple of new words to his vocabulary in the past week: Door (do-oh), inspired by his obsession with opening and closing every door in the house, and No, said with intention at times, and just for fun at others. He also jabbers away constantly with great intent. Thus far I have been unable to translate just what he's trying to say but it usually sounds something like: "digidigiridididigigigrirgllgrrigee. Ahhh." He also growls, especially when he wants something. He is an effective communicator these days, using an combination of pointing, reaching, grabbing, growling, and saying "dat." And, he is understanding more and more of what we say. He will stop what he's doing when we say his name and "no." (not to say he won't start up again a moment later..) He puts things "in" when we ask, comes over when we ask, gives hugs and waves on command.

One of his new favorite activities is to put lids back onto things-- the blender, tupperware, his crayon box. Speaking of crayons, he is now making attempts to draw when we present him with crayons or a pen. He holds them in his right hand and he is so very careful about how he places the end onto the paper. He continues to be a very deliberative little boy, in whatever he is doing, be it putting things in, putting my headband on his head (I can't begin to describe how cute he is when he does this), or looking for a piece of food that has dropped in his high chair. Oh, and thinking of food-- he loves to feed the dog, and will call her over ("da! da! da!) in order to give food to her. She, it seems, is liking Jack more and more these days.

Come to think of it, so are we! He is a wonderful one-year-old. And tonight he treated me to sleepy snuggles, falling asleep in my arms after nursing. Sweet innocent face, long lashes against his cheeks, busy hands soft, relaxed, curled against my chest. He smells very, very good.

12 month Doctor visit...

Jack had his app't this evening. 4 shots! Youch! He screeched mightily but calmed down quickly with the help of some boob, and was playing happily a few minutes later. He was fascinated with the sparkly band-aids and peeled one of them off within moments of noticing it.

Here's hoping he's not up all night with sore arms and legs, poor little guy...

His stats:

height-- 31 in (85%)

Weight-- 23lbs-- 55%

Head-- 55%

The doc was a little concerned that his weight has dropped a percentile section on the graph so we have to go back in a month for a weight check. Nothing like that to make you feel like a crummy mom. :( I am already so frustrated with how picky of an eater he is... but how do you force a kid to eat!! And, since I have been back to work, he is refusing bottles, still won't take any form of milk from a sippy-- so he's dropped 2-3 breastfeedings a day, overnight. In a lot of ways, I feel like he must be just fine-- he drinks water during the day, nurses 3-4 times a day, he does eat some yogurt and cheese... but now I get to "officially" worry about this. Just what I need!

Other than that, all was fine. The not-yet-walking is no problem, and I was very pleased that the doc seemed impressed by our list of the words Jack can say. :)

I still can't quite believe that I am the mom of a one year old.

Party on!

The cakes...
The "shrine to Jack"-- all his albums. I also printed out the first year of the blog!
The whole present table..
Poor sick baby, relaxing in the hammock...The yard getting all set up...

The balloon tent!


Cake time! We were WAY more into this than Jack was!

Hanging out with a buddy and the ever-popular red car..

The "haul". It's so sad this baby has no toys...

The much anticipated birthday party has come and gone and I must say everything went perfectly-- as long as you don't count the one small hitch that the birthday boy was sick with a cold. :( Poor munchkin woke up the morning of his party all snuffly and sneezy and got drippier as the day went on. To prove what a trouper he is, he was the best baby in the world for his party-- no breakdowns, no fussing even. He was just a little out of it, and as you can see above, he had the charming "I can't breathe through my nose" expression on the whole time. Sigh. No good pictures... Seriously though, we couldn't have asked for a better day. I had been worried about our ever expanding guest count all week-- wonderful that Jack has so many friends! But I could not imagine having all of them inside our house. So it was a huge relief that the day dawned sunny and warm. We were very prepared, I thought, and Nat's mom and niece Lauren were a huge help in our prep work (Lauren even did the honors of the cake decorating, which kept me from obsessing over doing it myself). The food was great, the guests were great, and it made me so very happy to see everyone relaxing and conversing in our yard. Jack's favorite events of the party were:
* Hanging out in his (very cold) baby pool. He was the only intrepid swimmer of the day, but as that was the case, he did go skinny dipping. (Actually the kiddo never got dressed for the party. He was so snotty and miserable I didn't want to put him through the trouble...)
* Playing in the "balloon tent." He was there for quite a while, with a rotating stream of visitors.
* Being pushed around in his red car.
* Sitting in his green booster chair to open presents. He seemed to feel like quite the big boy in it.
* Opening presents. He actually got into this, really looking at his cards, getting excited about the contents of the packages. He got a ton of great toys...

Overall the party was lovely and went very fast! There were so many guests I wanted more time to talk with... We'll have to do it again sometime...!