Happy Halloween!

Last year, I dressed up as a beach ball for Halloween. At least, that's what I looked like from the outside, via Mama's belly. In reality, I was dressed as Indiana Jones, but no one could see that.

This year, for my first Halloween outside the womb I dressed as a pumpkin. You've already seen my costume, since I wore it to the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago to help Mama and Daddy catch some pumpkins for us (if I'd known then what I know now -- did you know they disembowel, mutilate and set fire to them?? -- I wouldn't have been so willing to help). What you haven't seen is Cowboy's matching outfit, which he is considerably less happy about wearing.

Today was a super fun day. I got to wear my new trick-or-treat shirt from Gramma Hill all day long. Mama thinks she's going to let me wear it even when it's not Halloween because it's so cute. Then Cowboy and I put on our costumes and we had some pictures taken by the poor abused pumpkins. Mama put the pumpkins out on the front porch to scare away other pumpkins and we all left for Oliver's Halloween party. Oliver was dressed as a cowboy (maybe next year, Cowboy can dress as Oliver) and our other yoga friend Wyatt was a dragon! Our parents tried to take a picture of all three of us sitting together, but Oliver and I had things to do and places to go so it was hard to get a good shot. We partied late into the night (until 7 PM) and then we headed home so I could go to sleep and Cowboy could bark at the trick-or-treaters. What a great day.

Here are a couple pictures, and Mama posted more on Flickr: Halloween

Travelin' Man

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've just returned from travels. I went to Colorado for a wedding and to visit with the Colorado side of the family, and then I went to Utah for another wedding. All in all, I was traveling for 10 days, which is an awfully long time for a little guy like me! But since I'm such an easy-going guy, I had a good time and maintained my charming personality.

We started off in Colorado, where we stayed with my Uncle Patrick and Aunt Kimberly for a few nights. We went to Daddy's cousin Kazy's wedding (where I took advantage of the quiet "vow" time to loudly express my opinions) and reception, and we even had a pre-birthday party for me! That was fun. My guest list included my uncles David, Patrick and Brendan, Aunt Kimberly, Jenny, Papa and Gramma Hill, Gramma Hill's cousins Jeff and Darren from Kansas, my great-uncle Ray and Paul (all the way from New Zealand)! I must be a pretty popular guy. Or maybe most of them were already in town for Kazy's wedding.

*** Slightly off-topic meandering ***

I've spent a bit of time pondering about what I'm supposed to call my various relatives. Gramma Hill's cousins are technically my "first cousins, twice removed". That doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily as, say, "uncle". And then my great-uncle Ray -- he's Gramma Hill's brother, my Daddy's uncle. Why is he my great-uncle instead of my grand-uncle? Apparently "great" and "grand" are interchangeable in this case. And that's just a few people on the Colorado/Kansas side. I won't even go into what I'm supposed to call all of my relatives on the east coast and in Taiwan and Germany. But even though it's confusing, I'm just happy that I have so many people to call family!

*** Back to the regularly-scheduled post ***

Anyway, as I was saying, we had a pre-birthday party with a killer guest list. Gramma Hill made me a cake and some cupcakes, but for once I was not interested in mashing my hands into my food and smearing it all over my face, even for a Kodak moment. Mama and Daddy tried to get me to taste the frosting or a bite of the cupcake, but I wasn't into it. I kept taking the cupcake out of my mouth and furrowing my brow at everyone as they watched me expectantly. After they finally stopped forcing the cupcake on me, I got to play with boxes, wrapping paper and ribbons! Oh, and there were even toys inside of the boxes! It was really cool. I could get used to this birthday thing.

I'm realizing that at this rate, this post is going to be about 10,000 words long. Which would be cool if I got paid by the word, but I don't. So I'm going to try to be a bit more succinct.

After the pre-birthday party, we spent the rest of our trip taking it easy. We stayed at Papa and Gramma Hill's condo for a couple nights, and Mama took me to Castle Rock to meet her good friend Kym. She's known Kym for something like 25 years (she can't remember precisely how long they've known each other...it's been that long)! Kym said that I'm the newest CACO, which apparently is a good thing.

We left for Utah on Thursday morning. Luckily, the plane was really empty so we got to take my car seat on board. It's SO much more comfortable (for everyone -- including Mama, Daddy, and any nearby passengers) when I get to ride in my car seat.

We were in Utah for Mama's friend Kristy's wedding. Kristy is Mama's best friend from high school, so she was really happy to see her. We went to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but I didn't last long enough for the reception. My 6:30PM bedtime can make socializing a challenge.

One thing Mama and Daddy didn't think about when they put me to sleep in my crib in the hotel was that the last time we did this, I didn't know how to stand up. So they could just push the crib into a corner of the room and turn out most of the lights, and I'd go to sleep. This time, however, I'm a master puller-upper and stander! So once they put me to bed, I stood up and stared at them, trying to get their attention. They tried to ignore me, but c'mon...who did they think they were kidding? They were right there. I know they saw me. I finally went to sleep around 8:30PM, and the next morning Mama built a little barrier of furniture+sheets+luggage around my crib so that I couldn't see them.

Utah was really pretty, and we drove around the mountains to visit some of the resorts. We saw Alta, Snowbird, Deer Valley and Park City, although it's too early in the season for any of them to have snow. I hope we get to come back when they are open for skiing!

We left for home on Sunday, and were lucky enough to bring the car seat on board again. Originally, they said we had to gate-check it, but apparently it was too heavy to put under the plane so they had to bring it on board. They were planning to strap it into an empty seat, so Mama and Daddy asked if we could just use it instead. Oh, and I had to take my shoes off when I went through the security check. Because you never know what someone could hide in the non-existent leather soft soles of my Robeez baby shoes.

I'll try to post a couple pictures soon, but in the meantime, Mama's posted a bunch on Flickr:
Colorado
Kazy's wedding
My pre-birthday party
Kristy's wedding
Utah

Here fishy fishy fishy

I had fish for dinner last night (poached cod with veggies) and Mama wasn't sure if I'd like it. I loved it. So far, Mama hasn't found anything that I won't eat, although I'm not a big fan of dry bread. I used to like the cream cheese sandwiches she made me, but for some reason I refused to eat one in Colorado (Mama thinks the bread was too dry) and I've refused to eat bread ever since. Mama has to tear it up and mash into into the sandwich spread to make a bread pudding for me. I'm also cooling off my love affair with bananas. I'll eat a couple pieces, but then I take them out of my mouth and try to bury them in the palm of Mama's hand (I scratch her palm to dig a hole, then mash the banana into it).

My upper left tooth finally broke through this morning, so Mama's hoping that I won't be quite as on edge as I've been the past couple of days. Those two front teeth are tough to cut! The right one still hasn't broken through, but it's not far behind. It might come in by my first birthday (six days from now!), so I'll be the proud owner of FOUR teeth when I turn one!

Lots to report...

...later. I just got back from a trip to Colorado and Utah for two weddings and to visit with some family and friends. I'll write about the trip in a little bit (after Mama downloads all of the pictures so I can pick out a few to share), but I just wanted to pop in to say:

Mama, thank you for not feeding me lentils, barley, sweet potatoes and avocado for dinner tonight! I like those foods, but that's all you've been feeding me for 10 days. Enough, woman! Tonight, you made me your homemade spaghetti-o's (pasta with ground beef and cheesy tomato sauce) and I couldn't get enough.

Now I need to go try to catch up on my sleep after being so rudely awoken at 6AM to catch the plane.

Dinner conversation

Dinner time is lots of fun. Mostly because it means I get to eat, and I love to eat. Especially yummy things like tonight's lentil barley stew! I can't get enough of it.

Another fun part of dinner time is our dinner conversation. Normally I'm way too busy throwing things over the baby gate or trying to open the closet door or putting my blocks inside of things or taking my pants off to chat. But at dinner time, when I'm strapped into my chair and anxious to get my next bite, I don't mind taking a few moments to share my thoughts about the world. Tonight, one of the things we talked about is how I think it's funny when Mama pretends to be Cowboy. We also talked about other very important things, but those were in my secret baby language. I'd tell you what we talked about, but then I'd have to bite you.

In-n-out

Today, in addition to figuring out how to de-pants myself, I got the hang of putting things inside of other things. Well, I've always been an expert at putting anything inside my mouth, but now I can do such clever parlor tricks as placing my shapes blocks inside my stacking cups. And then shaking the cups so that the blocks bang around and make lots of noise. I can even put my stacking cups inside of each other, stacking them just like their name implies! It's really quite exciting. My toys are suddenly twice as fun, since now it's not just about taking everything out. Now I can take things out, then put them in, then take them out...

Who needs pants?

My newest trick to to take off my pants while I'm supposed to be napping. Since I throw all of my toys out of the crib within the first 5 minutes of being in there, I need something to chew on.

Heart-breakingly handsome

C'mere you wascally pumpkin...

Mama and Daddy took me on my first pumpkin-hunting excursion today! I was under the impression that hunting requires a bit more than simply dressing up like your prey, but apparently that's the best way to lure those sneaky pumpkins out of hiding. Obviously it worked really well, because there were pumpkins as far as the eye could see! I camouflaged myself among them for a bit to get their guard (gourd?) down, and then we picked out two big ones and two little ones to take home. I had a pretty good time, although I was tired after a while (hunting is exhausting) and just wanted to go home for a nap. However, since I was one of the only babies smart enough to bring my pumpkin costume, I stuck around long enough to rustle up a whole slew of pumpkins for those other, less prepared, families.

My newest game

Clapping is so last week.

Welcome to the Pacific NW

On a walk last weekend:


On a walk this weekend:

Happy 11 months to me!

I'm 11 months old today! Only one month until I'm a whole year old. It's hard to believe that my first birthday is coming up so quickly!

Mama says that my first birthday is SO special, the entire country will be celebrating with me! She and Daddy have already called everyone to tell them the theme: red, white and blue, lots of stars and stripes and flags, elephants and donkeys...it's going to be so great. That day, everyone will go to these places called "polling places" to cast votes on who loves me the most and who thinks I'm the greatest. But Mama says that she and Daddy will win both races because they will stuff the ballot boxes.

Anyway, that's next month. Right now it's all about me in my 11-month-old glory! I have learned so much in the last month, and I'm even more fun to be around, if you can imagine that.

• I crawl really well, although sometimes I still get ahead of myself and then army crawl for a bit.
• I like to pull myself up to my knees or to my feet, where I wobble around and bang on whatever I'm holding myself up on. This makes Mama nervous, but so far I've been pretty good at sitting back down without hurting myself.
• I still just have the two teeth, but they are nice and sharp and I sometimes use them to try to bite Mama's nose or chin.
• I like to pull Daddy's chest hair out whenever I can get my hands on it.
• I finally dropped one of my naps and lengthened my night sleep. I sleep from 6:30 PM - 7 AM and take 1-2 hour naps at 9AM and 1PM.
• I eat more than my body weight in solid foods. I like to eat pretty much anything, and Mama usually makes me some pasta, barley or rice with steamed veggies and chicken or beans. I get fruit (I love peaches, bananas, blueberries and pears) for dessert, and I eat oatmeal for breakfast every day.
• I finally kicked my milk-drug habit about a week ago, and then Mama and I had a few struggles as she tried to figure out how to keep me hydrated and healthy as I refused to drink any fluids. After a couple days, I finally gave in and went back to drinking water out of a cup during meals. Then I agreed to drink 3 bottles of formula per day, since the Dude said I'm not allowed to go straight to whole milk yet. I hated the taste and smell of formula at first, but now I'm getting used to it. I still won't drink it out of a bottle, but I'll drink it from a trainer cup. Mama was a little sad that she has to give me formula after nursing me exclusively for 11 months, but I wanted to try it out while I could.
  
• I've moved past "ba-ba-ba" and now I say lots of "m's" and "g's". I say "mum-mum-mum" when Mama is holding me or if I want something, and I like to say "guh-guh" and "EH!", which is how I call Daddy.
  
• I clap all the time, and I wave both hands back at you if you wave at me. I haven't figured out that I can wave just one hand yet, and I kind of put my whole arm into it, but I get the idea across.
• I'm still enamored with balls. At Gymboree, I'm surrounded with a room full of fancy climbing, sliding and rotating play equipment and toys, but I'm only interested in the balls. Or with the picture of Gymbo the clown, which is imprinted on one of the floor mats. I crawl right over to him and try to eat his face.
• I love to play in my playroom, and my primary purpose there is to take everything off the shelves and throw it around the room. The first thing I do is get my blocks and make sure they are properly strewn across the floor. Then I pull out my stuffed animals, my favorite toy Sophie, and my Tonka trucks and leave them scattered around. Lastly, I head to the bookshelf and pull off every single book, leaving them in a heap under the window. Mama and Daddy insist on putting things away and I'm not really a big fan of that.
• When I crawl around the house, my favorite play things are Mama and Daddy's shoes (I like to try to chew on the bottoms), Cowboy's water dish, and any books I can reach. I always make sure to pull out Mama's "Filipino Lovers' Cookbook". I'm trying to hint to Mama that I'd like her to make me some adobo, but she hasn't caught on yet.
• I'm starting to learn what I'm not supposed to do, but that doesn't necessarily stop me. Mama doesn't like it when I sharpen my teeth on the dining room table, so I lean down, open my mouth and line up my teeth, and wait for Mama to notice me. I do that sometimes when I'm about to put something yucky in my mouth too (like Cowboy's leash). I don't really want to put it in my mouth, but I like the reaction I get from Mama.
• I've grown out of all of my baby clothes and now wear 12-18 month "big boy" clothes. I've also grown out of all of my shoes.
  
• When I'm hungry, I smack my lips really loudly. I'm also learning how to click my tongue. It makes me laugh when Mama does it, so I'm figuring out how to do it myself.
• I like to talk or sing to myself. I do it in the car seat, when I'm playing, when I'm going to sleep or just waking up, or when I'm hanging out in my high chair. Mama and Daddy like to listen to me, so I must be quite talented.
• I get a little shy with new people, so I bury my head in my Mama's neck. But I still smile.
• I really like to bang things against each other, the floor, or the table so that they make really loud noises.
• Today Mama asked me where her nose was, so I tapped it for her. Silly Mama, can't find her own nose!
  

Those are just a few of the things I've been doing the past month. I'm a very busy boy and I discover new things to do every day. I don't like to sit still, so I won't let anyone hold me for too long. I've got places to explore and things to bang together!

Baby talk

The visuals need some work, but the soundtrack is terrific:

Translation:
"Errr...hello? If you haven't noticed, I'm finished with my nap. Anytime you want to come up here to get me would be great..."

Roy G. Biv, and then some

Warning: Looking directly at my outfit may cause dizziness, seizures, or inability to operate large machinery

Say Uncle (and Aunt)

I had some fun visitors this week! My Uncle Patrick and Aunt Kimberly came to stay with us, and I had such a great time playing with them. I haven't seen them since Christmas, so it was really nice that they came to visit. Uncle Patrick let me pull on his nose, gave me horsey rides on his legs, and gave me my bath. Aunt Kimberly threw me up in the air the way I like, gave me hugs when I decided that I was getting cranky, and snuggled with me when I was tired and ready for bed. Back when I was just a little baby, they gave me Mister Blue (my blue dog without whom I cannot sleep), so they have played a critical role in my amazing super-baby sleeping skills. I'm going to see them again in a couple weeks when we all go to Colorado and Utah for a couple weddings, and I can't wait!