Me, Eliot & Opa

Here are me, my cousin Eliot and my Opa in the tent we got Eliot for Christmas. (At IKEA of course!) We had fun playing together. Eliot is fast, but I tried to keep up with him. Neither of us took a nap, we just called out to each other from our separate rooms. (Mom said it was like whales calling each other.) He gave me a hug, and even helped me walk by holding my hand.

Up North

I made it! We hit three airports in one day, and two airplane flights (one of which I slept nicely in dad's arms). Here I am in Grand Island, NY. It's cold here. And lots of snow. Mom and Dad decided it would be fun to dress me up in a snow suit and see if I could still move. I could, but I look like I must be in the 120% for baby weight. Did I mention we took Opa and Oma to IKEA? It was pretty fun. (Of course mom was loving it.)

Buffalo or Bust!

I can't wait, tomorrow will be so exciting. I get to ride in an airplane. I get to see and feel and maybe eat (please mom) real snow and best of all I get to see Opa and Oma. Today is a busy day, mom is packing and she doesn't want my assistance. (I tried, I love emptying my drawers, but I guess we are not taking all my clothes.) Dad's mowing the lawn, and turning in dvds to the library. I got to open another toy. It was this awesome paper and cardboard box. There was some stuff inside, but I can't remember much about that. I still see another box under the tree, that hopefully is mine, maybe they will let me open it later. Last night we drove around and went oooh and ahhh as we saw pretty Christmas lights. Maybe we can do it some more in Grand Island?! (I think my dad's favorite part was spotting a little tikes car in a garbage pile... with slight repairs I will be cruising in it.) Well, I need to nap, and I'm not sure I'll get to blog at Opa & Oma's house so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

8th Tooth

That's right, I managed to pop out another tooth! I now have 4 on top and 4 on bottom. It still needs to come up more--dad didn't even notice. (I'm pretty resistant to having people look in my mouth, or even try to brush my teeth.)
On a different note, I thought I'd include this pic of me and mommy with our matching sweaters. I wanna be just like mommy: able to walk to the mailbox by myself, have free access to the fridge, stay up late and cuddle with daddy.

This weekend

Yesterday we went for a nice bike ride on the Little Econ trail. Mom let me swing while dad was unloading the bikes and assembling my chariot. I really like to swing, unlike going down the slide. I practiced what my parents say is my first word, "hi," on several strangers, some said hi back and smiled. It was a nice day, dad even wore shorts.

Today I tried blueberries for the first time, yummmmy! Tommorow we have a breakfast with dad's work, and mom told me she'd let me try anything and everything except for the syrup! I can't wait.

Dressed to Impress

I'm getting more excited for my second Christmas, but the first that I'll really remember. I get to eat real food this year and open gifts, and wave to people and check out the lights. I went with mom and dad to the DVAT party (people at our church who help with the services). It was pretty cool. I, of course, looked awesome in my holiday apparel. I even scored a VeggieTales DVD and placemat in the white elephant gift exchange. (What's a white elephant? I don't think I saw any that night, and we didn't give an elephant away.) After mom choose the DVD I made sure to keep it close and chew on it a little, cause who would take a present away from a baby?! 11 days till I get to go on an airplane!

Get around

Today mom and I walked to the mailbox. Not mom pushing me in a stroller, or carrying me to the mailbox...WALKING. It was a long trip--I'd say I took like 200 steps at least. And of course all we got in the mail was junk (not that I wouldn't mind ripping it up or chewing on it if mom would let me). Along with my newfound mobility, I have added a few new communication tools to my arsenal of cuteness. I can do the baby sign for "more," "all done" and "bottle." Trust me, with my little fingers it's pretty cute. Lastly, mom got a "Bear in the Big Blue House" DVD from the library for me to watch. I have fun dancing to it. (I got to see Bear and his friends at MGM for my birthday.)

These feet are made for walking

Today we did a little Christmas shopping and I walked and walked and walked. I love to walk, especially when I can hold someones finger. Even though I can walk some by myself, I hold on really tight, 'till mom's finger turns purple. I probably walked like at least a mile in baby steps. We got a little something for my cousin Eliot. And we went to Target and I used the gift card that Uncle Peter, Aunt Michelle & Cousin Eliot got me. I got this cool Christmas outfit and a nice warm hat and mittens. I can't wait to see some real snow! Just a few more weeks and I get to go on an airplane and see Opa and Oma and lot of cool relatives!

Juice-drinking one-year-old

Mark it in your calendars folks, today I sucked apple juice with a straw, and most of it stayed in my mouth. I mean I've had mom and dad give me water from a straw, (see Lessons from my highchair blog Aug 19, 2005) but it wasn't really sucking it. I was there when the doctor told mom and dad that I should start drinking from a sippy cup instead of the bottle. Other than that it's been a pretty normal day--flirted with people at the grocery store, took two naps, messed a few diapers, walked around holding mom's finger and took a dip in the ball pit. We'll see how mom's new recipe works for dinner.

Check-up

Tuesday I had my 1-year check-up. It was ok until they gave me 4 shots. I screamed quite a bit, cause they stung! I had shiny band-aids on my legs (my bling-bling). They did say that I was over 75% in height and around 25% for weight. Later that day we went to the store and they put me in the big section of the cart. I tried to climb out, and ended up on my back on the floor--it kinda freaked me out. But no harm done. Things improved later that night as we went to Mimi's Cafe (a restaurant). The waiter was great; he gave me my own plate with Cheerios and crackers! Grampa gave me water from a straw and I sampled some pasta and chicken. Then we went to show my gramparents a cool hotel that had a tree that was like, 20x taller than me.

Today we took grampa and gramma to the airport so they could go back to Michigan. Guess they needed to get back to the dog and cat. It was so nice to have them here, I will miss them. Love you gramma and grampa!