Birthday!

Monday is A's first birthday! Hooray! Today was his birthday party. We had a lot of fun--TONS of people came, lots of kids running around, lots of presents, lots of food. I made chocolate buttermilk cupcakes that were AWESOME. A had the traditional first-birthday experience of squishing cake between his fingers and smushing it all over his face (and legs, and chair, and EVERYTHING). it was awesome...until he picked up some ice cream and put it in his mouth and made THE worst face and started crying...he musta gotten a brain freeze! Hehe. He got kind of overwhelmed by people at one point and L tried to put him down for a nap, but no go. Luckily, a bunch of people left around then, and by the time we gave up and got him up, he was ready to be in a better mood. He was so cute. One of the best presents he got was a collapsible 6-foot tunnel, which of course he went through with no problems whatsoever. In fact, he didn't want to come OUT of it! My little champ.

Milestones--A is now super awesome at walking while holding onto even just one of your fingers. He can stand unsupported for around 10 seconds if he is sufficiently distracted. He can cruise on just about anything--your legs, the counter, the couch, his toys...you name it.

His naps are still hit or miss. Every few days we say "maybe he's dropping a nap" and then nope, he needs two still. Ugh. So hard to figure out...luckily for the most part he isn't a super-crank because of it.

Food: he now feeds himself just about anything (see: cake). This is awesome. However. The downsides are that he has stopped wanting to be spoon-fed, and every meal takes forever. But he's a big boy! He loves having hamburger, grapes, strawberries, cheese, bread, chicken, etc on his tray to pick up and feed himself. It's so awesome. And occasionally hilarious: fruit in particular is very slippery, so watching him chase that around and try to pick it up is kind of funny. Apparently over vacation he got so frustrated by a banana that he just leaned over and picked it up with his mouth! Hehehe.

EI: he's pretty much not in need of Early Intervention services any more. All of his behaviours are at 12 months or above. However, I think they're paid through October, so we still get to go to our EI playgroup which is awesome :-) Soon we'll be starting up the fall session of our old playgroup too, and hopefully another round of baby gym as well.

I can't believe my baby's going to be a year old...and at the end of next week, I'll mark 8 months of being his nanny.

I am so, so, so blessed. I love my job :-D

Sad week :-(

I think I mentioned that one of the dogs was sick? Well, he's been throwing up and such for about two weeks now...and finally on thursday they got a diagnosis. Poor doggy has lymphoma. They'll be putting him down in a few days...cancer treatments for dogs cost  a LOT, and it'd probly just extend his suffering. As much as I have complained about this dog, how obnoxious and smelly and gross he is...he doesn't deserve this. It's so, so sad. L and M are devastated. :-(

Had a few super-long naps this week! Tuesday A napped for almost THREE HOURS. it was nuts.

M came to baby gym with us on Thursday...it was so fun. A *LOVES* his daddy, so so so so so much, and both of them had a blast. A powered through an obstacle course where he had to crawl on skinny things with a drop on either side, and then through a tunnel or two or four. He is such a freakin' champ, he makes me SO PROUD.

That's about all I can think of right now, although I'm sure there's more. I have to get moving, next week is vacation and I'm heading to North Carolina this afternoon! eek!

Oh, to heck with it.

I think I'm just gonna say to heck with weekly posts, and instead just post when something interesting happens.

Like, today (and apparently yesterday), A cruised! For people unfamiliar with baby milestones, this means he "walked" while holding onto furniture. In other words, before too long, WE'RE SCREWED. Lol. Speedy crawling baby already has taken over the world, walking baby...EEEEEEEEEEEEEK. Yeah. we have to keep all the doors shut in the hallway, or he will super-crawl to them and play with them and eventually shut himself inside whatever room. We are terrified that he will slam his fingers, although he hasn't already.

A LOVES: Doors. Wheels. Shoes. Hair.

These things are all potentially hazardous. So we keep him away from them--unless they are part of a toy.

Luckily, he also loves: looking at books. Being scared/surprised. Being thrown into the air. Being tickled. The swings. Water, as long as it isn't too cold.

All of these are good things :-)

I love his new independence. He's so big and strong, such a "boy" as opposed to a "baby" now. He'll be one at the end of the month! Eek!

The main complaint I have these days, other than the continued nap irregularity, is the WHINING. I. Cannot. Stand. It. He will whine until he is picked up, and then he will continue to whine, and then if you put him down HE CRIES. WHILE WHINING. And if you try and feed him when he is not really hungry, because he's WHINING for NO REASON, YOU ARE EVIL. and he will SCREAM. and kick. and become possessed by the devil.

Can you tell we had a frustrating afternoon today?

Anyways. It is going to be a fun-packed month, I can just tell!