An Unexpected Visitor

This is Stella. She lives behind us one block over and decided to drop in this morning to say hello. I saw her out of the corner of my eye while I was sitting at the computer and she was snarfing around our driveway. So I hurried her through the house and onto our back porch. Stella has visited us once before (also unannounced - she just has no etiquette). And though the picture on the bottom makes her look like a good candidate for a Cujo movie, she is a very sweet girl. But we are ill equipped to host a big dog. Besides that, Roxy is never all that thrilled to have another canine in the house. She is guarding that door with the full force of her 17 pounds. Outside however, they are buddies.

The Boy is also not a fan of Stella. I thought that having a dog would keep him from being afraid of them. Not so. He saw her and was terrified! Would you just look at that pitiful face.

Luckily Stella does not even come close to fitting through that doggy door, but it is not for a want of trying. Poor pooch picked the wrong day to get loose- she must be freezing! I hear her whining outside as I type. I hate to call Animal Control, but I think it's better than letting her become a popsicle.

It Got Very Quiet

Yesterday, prior to the big step, I was in another room when I realized the Boy had become very quiet. This is not usually good news. So I peeked my head into the living room and saw this...


Anyone who knows me at all probably knows that I don't find much pleasure in reading. But I badly want my kids to love it, so this was a proud moment for me.

We'll Call it Official

The Boy took his first step yesterday! And I do mean step in the singular. He may have done more (but I doubt it) had I not gotten so excited at the first one that I gave him a big kiss preventing any further forward travel. I still think it will be a while before he walks. The Boy is a fairly cautious kid and generally does not attempt anything until he is certain he can do it right. But he is more willing to stand on his own now. Incidentally he can do this with a rubber duck in his mouth, which is good since that has been its permanant home since it was given to him by our friends, the Silva's.

Cheery-O

In my opinion, the Cheerio step is an important step in a baby's life. If he can eat Cheerios by himself, then we are on our way to many more independent eating habits. It's also the beginning of many a Cheerio being left in piles on the floor, all around the house, in his car seat, on the pew at church, etc. I bought a box of Cheerios a little while ago but still have not felt comfortable giving it to the Boy. However, some sweet little girl was kind enough to share hers with him at church on Sunday. Okay, she didn't so much as share them as she left them on the ground and little buddy became a human vacuum cleaner. But he did quite well with them. So Monday morning I thought we would give them a shot for breakfast.



The first round went pretty well.






But then something went horribly, horribly wrong.





Have I ever mentioned the ridiculous gag reflex on this kid?



The Cheerios are going back into the cabinet for a while.

Do I Need a Hair Cut?

Someone please tell me what to do with my child's hair!

Chug-a-Lug

The Boy had his one year check up today. He's a little guy as you all know by now. Today he was 17 pounds 14 ounces. This is barely the 3rd percentile. We decided that we should try and bulk him up before the weigh in... Maybe this wasn't the best way to go about it.

Boy oh Boy!

If it wasn't already official, I think it is now. The Boy is definitely a boy. Today I found him eating the dirt out of one of our orchid pots. I'm sure this is just the first of many things he will ingest that will make my stomach churn. Talk about a dirty mouth!

Sweet Baby Boy

This has been a one year project. I love you, baby boy.

(Scroll down and pause the site music before playing)

The Fine Art of Head Butting

I've talked before about Roxy and the Boy. Now that he can get around more, their relationship is.....evolving. He finds Roxy to be an endless source of entertainment. If they are in the same room, he kicks into turbo crawl in her direction. On occassion, Roxy will treat this as "playtime". Especially if one of her toys is near. I love this picture because it yet again shows his cute patootie. I could have taken this from the other angle, but trust me, the boy's hiney is much more pleasant than Roxy's.


Most of the time, however, little dude just irritates her. Particularly because whenever he gets within a foot of her, he squeals in delight. I'm not a dog, but from what I can gather, squealing hurts the canine ears. The Boy's new favorite way of relating to Roxy is by head butting her. As soon as his head comes into contact with her fur, he cannot contain his jubiliation. Roxy hates this.

Her least favorite part is when the Boy sneak attacks from behind and head butts her in the rear. I have to say it's my least favorite part too. Hopefully little guy will start to be a bit more discriminating with where he puts his head.

Happy Birthday, Boy!

Yesterday was the boy's first birthday! We weren't planning on having a party, but then I was guilted into it by some close friends. Really I had enough of my own guilt, all I needed was a little push. So we celebrated with some pizza, cake, and ice cream. I am not sure whether or not I have previously mentioned that the boy is a magnificent eater. I am daily in awe of how he still has not managed to break 18 pounds. In any case, here's a little play by play.


Cake approaching. (The name on the cake and bib have been smudged to protect the innocent.)






Testing...






Shoveling by the fist fulls.






Big mess for mom to clean up.






But oh well. We all enjoyed it! Even so, I have to mention that while I was running around town yesterday running errands like a crazy woman, I got all hormonal and weepy in the car. My baby is already one. It's not like I long for the days where I was getting up every three hours at night or cleaning spit up off my shirt - I just felt like it went so fast and that it's never going to slow down.

Let's end on a happy note though. And what better way to do that than with MORE PICTURES! Happy Birthday, Boy. We love you!