Party - year one

We had a big party for the baby's 1st birthday last weekend! I know he won't remember it, but we had a good time! I invited family, friends and coworkers. My parents all came, my mom's parents, too. Several aunts and uncles, a cousin or two, two nephews, and C's parents were here. My sister came with her boyfriend, and brought their new turtle! She took several little pieces of fruit and veggies for the turtle, too.

We made a very pretty cake for the baby, and he even got to eat a few bites, along with some ice cream. Strawberry, peach and banana ice cream, and a little of my coffee ice cream. The first bite was cold! he made a displeased face, but recovered quickly and gobbled up the rest. Everybody sang for his birthday, and he grinned and giggled.

Fenix did not know what to make of Grandpa Kim's beard - it was scary! But interesting. But scary! He seems to think white beard hair is troubling, whereas brown hair (on "uncle" Rusty, for instance) is OK. He enjoyed visiting with all the grandmas, though.

Baby and dad were dressed in the same outfit - green and blue striped shirt, and little gray/blue striped shorts. Very cute.

Words

The baby can _almost_ say "tickle." He burbles now, and it sounds like talking. One of his favorite phrases is ollygollygollygollygullygully etc. I wish that there were a thing that was called a golly, because he's got that word DOWN! And oddly enough, if you flip it around a little, so it's llygol-llygoll-llygoll then it's pretty close to "tickle" which is what he says when we tickle him in the morning.

First blood wound yesterday; Fenix really wanted Curtis' laptop, and so C moved it away a bit. Baby fell and hit head on table. Then once more, Fenix wanted the laptop, so C moved it away, which baby did not expect, and so he fell a bit, and busted his lip a tiny bit. Poor baby! So upset!

He's actually been cranky for a few days. And those stubborn teeth are still not in (he has four, 2 on top, 2 on bottom, and 2 more on top trying very hard for days to come in. Soon, I hope!

Black olives. New favorite baby food. Never would've thought. Even kalamata olives. Baby also enjoyed a blueberry muffin this weekend, and some corn mash, black beans and rice at the Blue Mesa at Saturday night dinner. Oh, and spaghetti - proper spaghetti, long skinny noodles, not rotini or penne or what have you - was a revelation for him. He LOVED it, immediately.

He's making progress in holding his sippy cup. He holds it fairly well, drinks from it fairly well, but prefers dropping it on the floor to any other activity. Also, the cup is overactively non-spill, so when he drinks from it for a bit, all the air is sucked out, and no more liquid will come out without some devacuuming from parents. Actually, we THOUGHT he was drinking from it pretty well, until I put milk in it yesterday. Curtis suspects about half or more of the milk went down the baby's chest, rather than in his mouth. What a milky mess.

Games

This morning, Fenix crawled over to Curtis, flopped onto his back right next to him, gently grabbed C's hand, and pulled it over his (F's) stomach. We think he meant "tickle me, daddy" because that's what happened next, and he laughed and laughed and laughed.

He has this game he plays on the way home, or in the car, or in bed now, or in the kitchen. He yells, and then we yell in synch. Over and over and over.

Have you ever called Goog-411? It's great, you call, talk as if you were inputting a command to google, and it phone-directory-connects you to whatever you like. But if you say something it can't interpret right away, the voice-recognition software burbles and blabs and tips and clicks until it figures it out. It sounds EXACTLY like the baby right now - trying out sounds, burbling, combining, whispering, playing with his tongue in his mouth. So cute. So if you want to hear what the baby sounds like now, call 800-GOOG-411, and ask for something strange, in a strange town.

Mommy's Toys

The baby spends lots of time in the kitchen now. We have failed to baby-proof the cabinets and drawers, thus far. And frankly, I don't intend to proof all of them. I like that he can come into the kitchen, open the drawer or cabinet and pull out cans of beans, pineapple and eagle-brand milk, and then boxes and boxes of pasta. I even think it's cute when he plays with an acorn squash as if it were a ball. I am amused by his interest in cookie cutters, bowls, little tartlet pans, the funnels, the tongs, and the whisk for the blender.

I do not like him eating the cheesecloth. I am fearful that he will pull the stack of ten graduated glass bowls out of the cabinet with as much force and abandon as he pulls the spatulas and plastic lids. I don't think he's old enough to play with the plastic wrap, not just because of the suffocation hazard, but also the finger-slicing cutting strip on the corner of the box. And definitely, certainly, without a doubt, the under-the-sink/chemical cabinets should be off limits. So I'm hoping this weekend we get baby-proofing gear installed in the cabinets and drawers in sink and kitchen. And then the baby will be so mad when he can't get Mommy's Toys anymore. I'll have to take a picture!

Caption - "Don't do it, Mommy. Please don't lock the cabinets!"

Bye-bye

This morning, I got baby ready while Curtis showered, as is our wont, and then brought him to the shower to say hello before we went to the kitchen. As we left the room I told Fenix to say bye-bye to daddy and waved. The baby waved his little arm, and said "bah bah." Is that a proper "first word?" Or is that saved for more proper words like mama and dada and up and down and all that?

Fun baby

The baby is recovered fully from being ill. I am 95% recovered, and I suspect Curtis is close as well. Curtis' parents are visiting this weekend, and we're having a nice time. Baby is fun, calm, hungry, happy. I am, too (or rather, was until I decided 28 Days Later was OK to watch, before I remembered it scares me). I look forward to hanging with the family tomorrow as well. I am going to Boston Mon-Tues, and hope that goes OK. Not sure how the pumping will go, as I think I might be getting another case of thrush. Just have to wait and see how it goes.

Pictures of baby to follow tomorrow.

Skill developments: baby was in big chair, crawled across a gap to the ottoman, then turned himself around so his feet would go first, and got down, with no trouble or falling. Slow, careful, effective. Good boy!

Eating: black olives with dinner - he liked them, which seems surprising somehow. Still a strawberry and canteloupe fiend. Bread remains tops. Cottage cheese loses steam but is still good (if no longer a staple). Need to push yogurt for a while to counter the thrush potential.

Sick baby?

I have no idea how we're supposed to know sometimes that baby is sick, vs. just very grumpy. He's almost a year old, he's supposed to be grumpy! But over the weekend, I think he had what I now have; aching joints, a bit of nausea, headache, sore throat and tired. I should've gone home yesterday, and I stayed home today, to attempt to recover. Baby did not tell us, as he is a baby, that he had a headache or sore throat, and if he was tired? who can tell that apart from normal baby tiredness?

I think he's on the mend, but once again feel bad that we didn't know what was wrong. What could we have done? Given him tylenol to feel better, but we didn't think he had a fever. The first time this happened was with his first little teeth, and we didn't know he was teething (he drooled and chewed on things and fussed for probably 4 months) until the little teeth popped out. Oh little baby! We would've given you cold things to chew and oragel!

We'll all live, I'm sure (though dad is now coming down with same sickness). Moral of the story? More temperature taking, even if we don't THINK it's warranted. It's hard, though, to mentally justify anal temperature-taking if he is NOT sick. But I guess that's how we'll know.

Poor Baby!