Birthdays and Better Hearing

William had his first birthday on January 29th. Omi joined us for a small celebration. We had a great time singing "Happy Birthday!" and eating cake. We found out that Will has a ferocious sweet tooth and he consumed the adult-sized piece of cake we put on his tray with a concentration and deliberateness that Dave and I had never witnessed before.








Omi and Will had a great time playing together and they even completed their first artistic collaboration. They worked together to create a very nice piece that explores the states of form and plasticity with cool, organic colors dichotomously paired with abstract expressionist techniques. The green paint tasted kinda gross though.


At the beginning of February we took William in for his ear-tube surgery. We all got up at the crack of dawn and waited far too long for the surgeon to arrive at the Surgery Center. She finally did and Will was whisked away briefly for his procedure. He was a little disoriented after, but calmed down as soon as we got him home. He slept like a champ and recovered nicely.

He hasn't recited Shakespeare yet, nor has he completed his marathon, but he's taken a few more independent steps and stands unaided for longer periods of time now. He's much more agile at getting on and off of his sit-upon toys and he just seems more actively engaged and responsive to us.


Will is almost completely off of formula now and we're working with a sippy-cup now. He gets incredibly excited to see the cup. So excited, in fact, that we can't give him his drink until he's finished eating.


Additionally, Omi bought him a ball. He loves the thing. He rolls it around, bounces it up and down and most of the time can roll the ball back if you roll it towards him. We have a jillion light-up, rolly-squeaky and talking toys but Will, in addition to pushing a bowl around on the floor, opening and closing doors and playing with spoons and his tambourine, has added bouncing the ball to his repetoire.


We are looking forward to him walking and soon saying his very first words. In the meantime, he's been healthy and joyous and delights us every day.

The Year of the Ear

It's been way too long, time for a blog update!

Will is turning 1 in a couple of weeks. It has been a year of amazing changes (well, duh). Dave and I can't believe how much has happened. We occasionally go through old pictures just to look at how much he has changed and grown in the last year.


And a lot has happened in the last six weeks too. Will is regularly cruising around on things. He's even stood on his own for a split second once or twice.



He's clapping his hands and shaking his head "no" when he doesn't want anymore food (he shakes his head for the fun of it too). He kind of bounces up and down to a beat. We've found out too, that he is a very good traveller- on the plane or in the car and when he's feeling well he eats like a champ.


We all went down to San Francisco for Dave's Nana's memorial service this last weekend. It was a lovely event, where Nana was laid to rest and her friends (so many friends!) and family celebrated her life during a lunch at Joe's Westlake Restaurant.



William met his all of his cousins for the first time and all of his aunts and uncles too. He accepted introductions and coo-ing with great poise and smiles, as is his way. He and cousin Danny got along famously. Danny was very generous to share his puffs and he even let Will touch Orangeguy briefly! (Orangeguy is Danny's blankie). I predict much troublemaking with the two later on.


On Sunday, before everyone went back to their homes, we all went to the beach. Will experienced his first sand and waves. Dave and he had a great time running from the surf.





And we even got a picture of the three of us together.



Unfortunately, Will must have been incubating some kind of cold because he puked both nights in the hotel, spurring Dave and I into a sort of Keystone Cops routine running around peeling off sleepers and t-shirts and mopping up baby barf. Will's appetite went downhill as did his sleep schedule and he visited the doctor on Monday. He's brewing yet another ear infection and is just sleepy and snotty and poopy all around.

So we've scheduled an appointment with an enterologist next week to see how to more permanently resolve his ear issues.

Thanksgiving

William and Dave and I took a trip to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Joel's for Thanksgiving. We were a little nervous about traveling with an infant for the first time, especially in light of potential full body scans or TSA gropings. But Will was wonderful! We left Reno at six am for a completely uneventful flight to Phoenix and had Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon.


Grandma and Grandpa were DELIGHTED to see us (and mostly William). We all had an amazing dinner that Grandpa cooked. Will enjoyed gnawing on the turkey leg.


Grandma and Grandpa took Will to see Santa (I still have to scan in the photo) and Dave and I went to Sedona. While Will was giving Santa his Christmas list (tupperware, newspaper and electrical cords please) Dave and I were driving around trying to find Sedona's famous energy vortexes. I think we got close, but I'm not sure.


It was a lovely trip and everyone had an amazing time. It's good to know Will is a chill traveler.

HIYA! And a short trip

Will's really got the crawling thing down now. And he's standing propped and even cruising along on things. He earned a new nickname with this new found mobility: "Livingston The Explorer." Our baby proofing continues and adapts and changes as he does. We haven't found a baby gate long enough to block him from parts of the room so we've placed chairs and boxes in his way (a temporary solution, I know) and spend a lot of time with one eye on him, listening for his chatter. When it's quiet is when it's time to check on him.


Along with his mobility is a completely different energy level. As Alicia said to me about Danny (Will's cousin), "he never, ever stops." And really, Will doesn't unless he's napping. After a day of watching him I'm as tired as I was when he was waking up every three hours. He's pretty independent- can play and explore for extended periods, but we still play a LOT of peekaboo and crawling here and there and removing cords and other inappropriate things that he gets in his hot little hands.


This week he's a lot more open to new foods- soft solids. He's tried cottage cheese, eggs, mashed potatoes and broccoli, mac and cheese. He's having solids three times a day consistently now. He still drinks formula but the solids come first. He loves those little Gerber snacks- the yogurt drops and puffy things which are easy for him to pick up and stuff in his mouth.


We went to Donner State Memorial Park yesterday and it was a little chilly. We stuffed him into the jacket Ashley R and Emmett sent to him and stuck a little hat on his head. He looked adorable but was reminiscent of the baby brother from A Christmas Story.


I think Will enjoyed the outing as much as we did, although I think he missed the irony of such a beautiful little park made for camping and barbecue from a place where people were so hungry they resorted to cannibalism.


This week is Will's 9 month check up. We'll post stats as soon as we get them.

And a video of William not quite getting the purpose of the sippy cup. It is for drinking but shaking is way more fun.

How Baby Socks Are Made

Dave took William to Grandma Veronica and Grandpa John's on Saturday and I had 24 hours to roam the quiet and empty house. So I made a little animated short (research for my Foundation Arts class).

I call it: How Baby Socks Are Made.

Enjoy.

Mobile William

I edited a movie with some "special effects" to try and describe what it's like now that William is consistently crawling and pulling himself up. I removed the audio because it was just weird....

Happy Halloween!

Who knew having a kid could be so much dress up fun?