Get the pokin' stick

Mommy got tired of throwing stuff at the kitties when they tried to eat the Christmas tree, so she taped two wrapping paper cardboard rolls together to make a long stick that she could poke them with. It was much easier than having to constantly pull throw pillows and my shoes and and cell phones out of and from behind the tree.

Mommy and Daddy thought that I wasn't paying attention when we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, but I was, and I've been vigilantly on the lookout for tree squirrels ever since. Yesterday I took it a step further.

Today, the tree came down.

Budding Picasso

Santa gave me bath crayons in my stocking. I've been drawing pretty pictures in the tub, and on myself.The best part: it all washes off!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was exciting this year. Last year I was just a tiny new baby and didn't get to really celebrate it, so this year I made up for it. Here's a recap:

This past week, I've been having a growth spurt (or so Mommy and Daddy hope!). I've been eating so much food every day! For example, on Sunday for lunch I had 4 chicken nuggets. Mommy only eats 6 before she's full! And on Christmas, I had 2 1/2 pancakes for breakfast, the same amount that Daddy had!

All the growing and eating is good for me though, because on Christmas Eve I took my first step! Mommy and Daddy were so proud of me! They tried to get me to take more, but I found that it was more fun to just stand up, no-hands, and clap. Yay me!

On Christmas morning, we woke up and opened presents. Here are some pictures.
Santa Claus brought me animal crackers in my stocking, probably as a way to keep me occupied while Mommy and Daddy opened presents. It's really fun to shove handfuls in your mouth, especially when you already have about seven in there already. I really enjoyed opening my presents, especially ripping the paper.Like all babies, I enjoyed the box more than the actual toy.I also enjoyed playing with Mommy's presents, such as the new spatula she got. However, once Daddy changed the batteries in my baby Palm Pilot/magic screen annoying song thing, that became my favorite. Nothing beats hearing "Let's learn our ABC's" over and over and over and over! Thanks, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dan, for that one!

All-in-all, I had a lovely Christmas. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Interesting milestones

I forgot to mention. Last week:

1. My second top tooth came in. I now have four teeth.
2. Mommy gave me my first haircut! She trimmed my long cowlick that just wanted to stick up in various directions, and she trimmed around my ears because she's sick of tucking my hair behind my ears.

Busy time of year

Sorry for the lack of updates, but we've been really busy! I'm feeling much better now, although I still get really tired, and my pediatrician said my nasty cough (from the RSV) should last another month or so. I spent a whole week at home recooperating, so I had to play extra hard at daycare, even though I really needed the rest. A new baby started this week. He's the same age as me, and we've become best friends already.
Here's a picture of my class at daycare. Christopher, my new friend, is sitting to the left of me (my right).

We got our Christmas tree last weekend. I've enjoyed watching the cats eat it, and listening to Mommy and Daddy yell at the cats for eating it, and trying to pull off the lights.

I always was really busy helping Mommy finish her holiday baking. We made thirty types of cookies: white velvet cookies, black and white slices, chocolate marzipan cookies, spiced-nut palmiers, cranberry and chocolate squares, brandy snaps, coffee sponge drops, chocolate almond torrone, toffee bars, lemon squares, citrus spice bars, chocolate crackle tops, cocnut macaroons, chewy apple brownies, bee sting bars, duck sugar cookies, fudge brownie tassies, pfeffernüesse, shortbread, viennese brownies, marbled brownies, fudge, peppermint swirl cookies, gingerbread cookies, sablés de confiture, cinnamon refrigerator cookies, glazed sugar cookies (spritz cookies), seven layer cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and jam thumbprint cookies. Next year Mommy and I are going to start at Halloween, instead of Thanksgiving, and make 45.

I've also been busy wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. I love an excuse to talk on the phone!

Worst sleepover EVER.

I have asthma and I go to daycare, so I usually have a runny nose and/or cough, and Mommy and Daddy don't think much of it. If I wheeze, they nebulize me and that's that. Well, Saturday night I wasn't feeling so good - fever, wheezing, coughing, etc. Mommy and Daddy nebulized me so that we could all go to Mommy's office Christmas party. Sunday I wasn't doing much better, but I still had an appetite and was playing. Monday Mommy stayed home with me, and I was clingy and whiny and lethargic and not at all hungry or thirsty. Mommy still thought it was a normal cold.

When Daddy got home, he thought I should go to the doctor because I was burning up with fever, coughing really hard, breathing very rapidly and shallowly, and not at all in the mood to do anything but lay on him or Mommy. The doctor nebulized me and said she thought I had RSV. I was still having a hard time breathing, so she sent us to the ER at Duke Children's Hospital (Daddy would have prefered Durham Regional since it's right by our house, but apparently they don't admit from the ER or something).

Waiting to be admitted at the ER, Mommy thought I sounded better and wanted to go home, since it's a $150 copay to use the ER. But Daddy said we were already there, so we might as well have my checked. After tons of waiting and a chest x-ray, the doctors concluded that I have pneumonia! I also had a low oxygen count (ranging from 90-95; 100 is normal), so they wanted me to spend the night for observation. They were worried about me becoming dehydrated, so I had to have an IV in my hand for fluids. Yuck! I was very good though with it and only cried a little when they put it in. Mostly I was frustrated that I couldn't pull it off! They had to wrap it in tons of tape and a splint to keep it on.

About 10:30 they moved me up to a room. It was WAY past my bedtime, so of course I wanted to play! Mommy was at a loss as to what to do, since usually when I won't sleep away from home I either get a car ride or have to cry it out - neither of which were possible at the hospital. Finally I fell asleep, but I was hooked up to a couple stupid machines that would beep loudly and continuously whenever the sensor was bumped. So whenever I rolled over, the IV would twist and the machine would beep until a nurse came in to reset it. And since I was up, I'd pull the oxygen sensor off my toe and then IT would beep until it was reset. That one was attached with tape that lost its stickiness very quickly, and it had to be replaced several times.

Fortunately the night respiratory specialist was very quiet. Whenever he came in to adjust my oxygen (the machine also beeped whenever I rolled over and didn't have it blowing in my face) or nebulize me, he didn't wake up any of us - Mommy, Daddy, or me. The pediatrition on call was nice about that too. The nurses weren't though.

In the morning, after we'd each gotten about 4-5 hours of sleep, we were really excited when the nurse said we'd be discharged soon. Naively we took soon to mean within an hour. After four hours of bugging the nurse who bugged the doctor, we were able to leave. Just as we were leaving, Miss North Carolina came by my room, delivering books as a holiday treat/mandated community service project. I got my picture taken with her, but I wasn't very happy about it.

So now I'm at home for the rest of the week, recovering from pneumonia and RSV. The doctors said it'll probably take several weeks before I'm back to normal. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to daycare on Monday. Until then, Mommy and I get to stay home and make cookies!

Cooking

We've been working hard in our newly-painted kitchen. Mommy was sick of the ugly brown cabinets, so she painted them white. Pretty, huh?I spent last weekend helping Mommy make cookies. She made me do all the cleaning up.

When I got too tired of being Mommy's servant, I watched football with Daddy. Carolina actually won their game against San Francisco, but I didn't find it very exciting.

Here are about a third of the cookies Mommy and I have made so far. They are all yummy!

We'll give you a goody basket if you can identify all nine!

Sick. Again.

Last Wednesday I had to go home from daycare early because I had a fever of 103. Thursday I stayed home, with Mommy in the morning and Daddy in the afternoon. I'm getting my two front teeth (one of them has acually broken through!), so Mommy and Daddy just assumed the fever was related to that. Not so, as today I wass covered in little red spots. Roseola. Again.

Civilized eating

Last night at dinner, I used a spoon to eat my applesauce. Mommy gave me a spoon to play with, and I stuck it in my applesauce, then ate it off the spoon. Granted, I was holding the spoon upside down so not much stuck to it, and a lot of the applesauce fell onto my shirt and pants, but nonetheless I did it. Yay!

Thanksgiving break

This past week has been really busy! On Monday Daddy pulled a muscle in his back, and he hasn't been able to really walk (or pick me up) until yesterday. Tuesday I went to the doctor for my one-year checkup and some shots. I weigh 20.75 lbs (25th percentile) and am 31 inches long (90th percentile). I've dropped some on my growth chart in weight, but the doctor says it's ok, since I'm just long and skinny.
Grandpa was here this week for Thanksgiving. We put child locks on the dining room buffet and some kitchen cabinets. Apparently Mommy doesn't appreciate how I reorganize everything.
I helped cook Thanksgiving dinner this year! The stuffing recipe calls for bread torn into little pieces, and tearing things up happens to be my specialty (although I left all the bread I tore up and didn't eat on the floor, so none of it actually made it into the stuffing). Technically this is my second Thanksgiving, but since I was only about three weeks old last year, I made up for it by eating about my weight in stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course turkey. Yum!
I also pigged out on cookies. Mommy has this insane goal of making thirty different types of cookies this year, so we have tons of them at our house right now. I helped Mommy by getting out pans (that she didn't need), poking things with spatulas (that she did need), rummaging through all the ingredients, and trying to get into the oven to see the cookies. Together Daddy and I helped by eating as many cookies as Mommy would let us. I love helping!

Degustation adventures

I like to use utensils while I eat. Spoons, forks, spatulas, pens, paintbrushes, it doesn't matter which. I don't use them to eat, of course. I use them to poke at my food, or brush it, or sometimes just to keep my non-eating hand busy. And if you try to take them away, I squeal like a stuck little pig. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I also like drinking from my Take 'n' Toss sippy cups, which are so aptly named. I drink from them, take them, and toss them over the side of my tray.

Needless to say, mealtimes are fun at my house!

It runs in the family

Remember my bad hair day a few months ago? Here's what I looked like.
Well, turns out it really is genetic, as evident by this picture Mommy found of my great-grandpa when he was a baby.
But at least Mommy and Daddy have never put me in a dress!

Tidy baby

It may not be evident from all the food and snot and grime encrusted on me and my clothes, or from my daily outfit change following meal time, but I'm actually a pretty neat baby. I like to tidy up. I put my bath toys in the hamper. I put Mommy's vitamins down the heat vent (I took the cover off first so they would fit). I put my juice in my dishwasher in my kitchen, along with my pacifier and a couple cat toys. I'm helpful!

I also try to clean my face, which is why I unwound the toilet paper this morning (I'm now banned from the bathroom - although I like to stick my hands in the toilet, which probably contributed as well). I also pulled all the tissues out of the box. And the travel pack in Mommy's car. I'm helpful!

Birthday celebrations

Mommy and Grandma made a snack for me to take into daycare for my birthday - bumbleberry pies.

Yum! David, Tyler, Henry, and I sat at the table to eat them.

A couple other babies had some too, but they're not big enough to sit with us. Daddy said it looked like a baby board meeting, although he's never seen one where everyone ate pie and ice cream.

None of us can use utensils yet, so we ate with our hands and made a big huge mess. After we were done eating, we had entertainment.

Mommy hit us with balloons, while Tyler danced.

Grandma made me a birthday cake for home.

I had a huge piece. Mommy likes it when I eat cake because I smell nice and sugary. Maybe I'll get it more often?

After we ate, I played with my birthday presents.

Daddy's coworker Alejandra and her family gave me a really cool car to ride on. It has levers to pull, so I think it might be my favorite right now. I can't wait till spring to race my baby friends around outside on my fleet of cars!

Grandma gave me a kitchen. It has lots of doors to open and close and put things in.

For example, you can put the cat in the stove. And then you can poke him with a fork to see if he's done.

A big thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and cards and presents and cake/pie-sharing. I had a wonderful birthday!

Happy birthday to me!

I'm one today! I've certainly come a long way!

(I'll post pictures of the b-day festivities later.)

Hi, I like you now.

After about two months of crying whenever I saw someone new, I'm now over my stranger anxiety. I made friends with a random dad at a playdate on Saturday, and I'm letting Grandma hold me whenever she wants. I guess other people aren't so bad after all.

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate Halloween today, we had a party at daycare. We all dressed up in our costumes. The day was full of sugary goodness, even for us babies - cupcakes, cookies (which Mommy made), full-strength juice, and even some candy (most of which was sent home for the parents to eat). Needless to say, I crashed when we got home, but not before raiding the bowl of trick-or-treaters' candy.Mommy and Daddy dressed me up to take pictures.

Mommy was going to have me be either a duck or a dinosaur, but then she figured what little boy doesn't want to be a dinosaur, and what little boy wants to be a duck? So this year, while she still has control, I'm a duck. Quack!

8 Things

Owen tagged me to tell 8 random things about myself, so:

1. My first word is officially "boom." As in, "I threw the diaper rash cream on the floor and it went boom." "I fell down and went boom." "I knocked the fan over and it went boom."


2. I'm getting more teeth! My two top front teeth are about to pop through, but based on my previous teeth's track record, I might be four before they come in.

3. I enjoy yellow and orange foods - mac 'n' cheese, cantaloupe, grilled cheese sandwiches, and mandarin oranges.

4. I don't wave at people; my "bye-bye" wave (the same wave all babies have) is actually my way of trying to grab things that are out of reach, like the windchimes on our front porch or the tower of onion rings at the table across the restaurant from us at dinner.

5. Three of the funniest things to me are when Mommy shivers and says "brrr" really loudly, when she imitates a chipmunk, and when people fake cry really loudly. These all bring on big belly laughs.

6. Mommy is on a genealogy kick right now, and so far she's found long-lost cousins in Belgium, as well as discovered that I'm a descendant of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Bow down to me!

7. Instead of being a plumber, I think I might be an electrician when I grow up. I'm practicing now by playing with power cords and trying to stick things in sockets whenever no one's looking.
8. If I fall asleep in the car in the evenings while we're out to dinner or running errands, I'll scream and throw tantrums when it's bedtime, so Mommy or Daddy has to sit in the backseat and entertain me.

Good cop, wanna donut?

This morning on our way back from getting donuts (at a new place at Briar Creek called the Fractured Prune), we were driving through the Park when we actually saw a Durham cop pull someone over for a traffic violation! The guy had pretty much run a red light, and the cop turned on his lights, ran the intersection too, and pulled him over. This NEVER happens here, since all the cops are too busy twiddling their thumbs to do anything (an amazing feat, since they simultaneously have their thumbs stuck in their tushkusses). Mommy and Daddy considered pulling over behind the cop and rewarding him with a couple donuts, but they thought better of it. Maybe a change is coming to Durham's streets? Red-light-runners, watch out!

Developments

Yesterday was a teacher workday at daycare, so I spent the morning at work with Daddy, happily pounding away on an old keyboard and mouse, and the afternoon at work with Mommy, happily drawing on myself with pen (two of the marks are faintly visible on the side of my head).

Today at the library, I walked out the door with Mommy holding one hand and Daddy holding the other. Yay me!

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!

When we were in Kansas City last week visiting Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dan, they decided to celebrate my birthday a few weeks early. They got me this really cool ride-on car.
It has lots of loud noises and music and the Mickey Mouse song, plus a big huge storage area under the seat where I can keep my cellphone and calculator.

We also celebrated with cake! I wasn't too sure of what to do with it when we started.

But I quickly figured it out, and dipped the plastic Winnie the Pooh figure in frosting, then licked it off.

I ended the night by trying to eat with my toes.

When I grow up

I like to splash in the toilet.
Maybe I'll be a plumber when I grow up.
A ninja plumber.

Midwest tour

We just came back from a week-long trip to the Midwest. Here are the details.

We flew into Indy last Saturday morning. Mommy and Daddy are too cheap to get me my own seat, so they packed me in a checked suitcase. After they claimed me and the rest of our stuff, we drove to Bloomington, where we had lunch at the Trojan Horse, one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite restaurants when they lived there. We ate lots of yummy cheese par'er. They made us wait for a table because the only empty tables were in the bar area, and you can't sit there if you're under 21, even if you're only a baby who's obviously not going to order anything. Sheesh.Then it was on to Washington, to Daddy's cousin Ashley's wedding. Here she is with her husband Josh and their son Devin. I met tons of aunts and uncles and cousins, but I also had work to do.I inspected the tables for structural stability. Check! I also ate a lot of potatoes.

The next day, we drove to St. Louis. We stopped by Mommy's friend Heather's cute new house and met her parents. Then it was over to Mommy's aunt Mary's house for dinner with her kids and grandkids (and Heather too).

Aunt Mary had some cool toys to play with, including this Playschool school. I really liked spinning the merry-go-round and opening and closing the bathroom door and toilet lid.I didn't spend all day playing though; I had to check in with the office occasionally too.

Tuesday Grandma came down to visit, and we went to the St. Louis Science Center. It was so much fun!

I pretended to be a floodplain.

Daddy and I played a harp with infrared laser strings.
Mommy's a math dork, so she took a picture of the pi sign.I tried to build stuff.And Daddy tried to feed me to the animatronic tyranosaurus rex.

On Wednesday, we drove over to Kansas City to see Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dan. We went to a science museum there too, Science City.

Daddy and Aunt Debbie built an arch, because they're tall enough to reach the top.

Daddy and I consulted on how best to destroy the train set.

Daddy's legs magically disappeared in one of the exhibits.

Mommy and I flew a helicopter.

And Daddy tried to put me in a trash can (well, not really - it was actually a drumset, and he's helping me bang on it).

Friday night we went out to dinner for my birthday. I couldn't believe how expensive dinner was - and that they expected me, a little baby, to pick up the tab! We also celebrated my birthday with a cool new present and cake, but that'll be its own post.

Saturday before we left we played at Penguin Park.

All in all the trip was nice, but it was overwhelming! So many new people wanted to hold me and play with me, but I have a serious case of stranger anxiety right now. Plus, even though Mommy and Daddy tried, I was seriously off my schedule. Trips like this are nice, but next time we're just going to spend a week at home!

Oh yeah, and we're never again flying Southwest because their family policy is STUPID. No preboarding, so you better hope you're in group A or your family won't be sitting together. Stupid stupid stupid.