And this:
Actually, by the 17th of May we were back at our apartment, and he was doing things like this:
And this:
Oh my he was small!!
It's amazing to me how much he's grown and changed, but when people say, "hasn't time just flown by!?!" I don't know what to say. I mean, since I got pregnant, we got married (twice!), Katie started law school, Henry moved to Africa, we went to New York, I graduated from San Jose State, we had a baby shower. Since he was born, Brian got a job, finished his previous job, I finished my job, we moved to Atascadero, Brian started his new job. We celebrated multiple holidays and birthdays, many people visited us, there was even a funeral. My best friend Rachel sold her house, moved to a new house (to a new city!), and got pregnant (yay!!). My cousin Wendy got married. A bunch of friends had babies. A bunch of other friends started new relationships, ended old ones, or both! We house hunted, put a bunch of offers on places, and bought a house!! And since then we've been working on the house. It's been a crazy 1 year + 9 months!
Before talking about the BIG PARTY, I want to talk about the new fun stuff he's been doing!
This month has been all about communication. He's been talking more, understanding more.
Besides "daddy," which is crystal clear, his speech doesn't exactly sound like words, more like sounds made in the rhythm of words. I guess that's what speech really is anyway.
On May 2nd, we were finishing dinner, and he said what sounded like "all done." Imagine an "a" sound but the rest of the words said without moving your jaw or tongue. He kind of sounds like if we were trying to talk with our mouths closed.
Anyway, back to "all done." We weren't sure he was saying it, but he made the "all done" sign and tried to take off his tray, and we got the hint. He's said it repeatedly since then.
This "speech" made me more aware of his desire to communicate, so we've started naming more things and pointing to things.
He can say "car," "clock," and "light," which all sound like the sound of the first letter followed by a vowel like, "caw" or "luh." He tries to say "Grandpa" and "Grandma," but they either sound like a muffled "daddy" or like "gah gah."
He's really good at pointing to things to identify them. "Daddy," "Grandma," "Grandpa," "Dan," "car," "light," "clock," "tea kettle," "moon," "bird," "shoes," "socks," "nose," "tongue" (nose and tongue are from a book he's memorized!). He also catches on really fast to teaching. He can identify "Auntie Katie" even though she's only been here since Thursday. And Phil only taught him what a tea kettle was yesterday.
But if he identifies something, he always expects to be applauded. "Yay! Everett!"
He also dances sometimes when you say "dance," and claps when he hears clapping.
A little while ago he started making the "uh oh" sound. But again, it's more like if you said "uh oh" with your mouth closed.
He's also started saying "mmmmm" when he eats or when we eat and look like we're enjoying our food.
He's still not walking unassisted (thank goodness), but he's doing everything else. He can stand from a seated position, stand with a toy, examine the toy, push things around to walk with them. I'm afraid that when he starts walking, he'll be an instant pro . . . and then start running!
He's still eating well, but he's become a meat boy. Last month he was more of a bean guy, but now it's all about the chicken, beef, and eggs. Although he'll still eat everything, and he's been enjoying the ripe strawberries we've been bringing home.
He's been working hard on growing teeth. His molars still aren't all the way in, but a couple of them are almost in all the way, and I think they've all broken through a little. It's obviously been bothering him. He's been chewing on things, drooling, and his sleep has been interrupted. He usually wakes up at least once a night. If it's early enough, we can usually comfort him back to sleep. But if it's too late, he's been ending up in bed with us, which is hard because it means I'm not as rested. Hopefully the teething will calm down soon and he'll be able to sleep in his bed uninterrupted again.
It's just been an amazing month of communication and understanding.
Now on the the PARTY!!
This Sunday the 15th (his actual birthday) we had a party at the Atascadero Lake Park. It was windy and quite cold, but it didn't rain!! And that's what we were afraid of.
Besides the cold, it turned out exactly how I imagined, but better . . . because that's what happens when friends and family gather to celebrate.
It was your typical 1-year-old's birthday party. Food and socialization, then cake and presents for the baby.
I made Everett a gluten-free blueberry muffin with blueberry cream cheese frosting for his "cake." Even though I did test batches, the muffin still turned out more crumbly and dry than I would have liked. I wanted to make a yogurt frosting since yogurt is the only dairy product he eats on a regular basis, but I couldn't get it to be thick enough. But I was happy that I only used half as much sugar as the recipe called for, and I used maple syrup instead of half the sugar and yogurt instead of milk in the muffins. Not too shabby.
It was a great time. People had fun and were so generous. This boy sure is loved!
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