Today we celebrated Isaac’s first birthday! He must have known what an exciting day this would be, because he woke up at 6:00AM to get an early start. Luckily, he maintained a most excellent mood all day long. We went to the park with cousin Lila, where he climbed the play structure (just one step), ate wood chips, and nearly froze his fingers off (it was really cold). Then we had his favorite dinner of fish with sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. Okay, the brussels sprouts were for us, but he ate everything else. Next came the cake and presents. Be warned: these videos (and this entire post, come to think of it) are really long and probably only enjoyable if you’re his parents or grandparents.
Isaac started off with presents. Here he is opening Lila’s gift. He definitely tried to get to the actual toy before it was unwrapped. Luckily, Lila was there every step of the way to “help” out.
After presents it was time for CAKE! Ever the responsible and conscientious parent, I made a pumpkin cake with caramel cream cheese frosting (hey, it’s healthier than chocolate with buttercream).
Then we sang “Happy Birthday.” He got pretty excited about himself halfway through. And yes, our kid did blow out the candle by himself. I think he’s just a heavy breather…
And the best part: EATING the cake! I guess my kid isn’t all that keen on dessert…
Happy 1st birthday, Isaac! I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by, and I am so proud to be your mommy!
Last night I slept without waking until this morning. This morning, I felt for the other tooth and it had come out - hallelujah!! Thanks for listening to my whining, everyone. Or at least thanks for not telling me to just suck it up and get over it.
And sorry for all the lame puns, but I just couldn’t help it.
Isaac is a creature of habit and routine. He’s the kind of kid who wakes up at the same time each day, regardless of when you put him to bed. He typically sleeps about 11 hours at night. Wait, did I say typically? I meant to say that that’s his habit when he isn’t teething. However, seeing as he’s always teething these days, the norm is more like going to bed at 8, waking up (and staying up) screaming for several hours at night, then waking up (crying, again) at 6AM (he used to wake up at 7:30 or even 8, which is much preferable to my taste). He just got over a set on the bottom last month and was doing fine for about a week. Then the time change hit and he started his up-in-the-middle-of-the-night routine and has been doing it ever since. We thought he was just not taking the time change very well, but yesterday I finally found yet another tooth (its companion soon to emerge)! Seriously, when does it end?? I feel like the walking dead most days lately. I don’t know any other kids who seem to have as difficult a time with their teething as Isaac. We’re talking weeks of misery per tooth! Basically, this means that he has spent the majority of the latter half of his life teething and awake at night. So can you still legitimately say that your kid sleeps through the night if this is the case?
Sorry for the pity party, but I’ve heard some people complain that blogs only highlight the fluffy moments in family life. Well, kids, allow me to illuminate the darker side of parenting, your child’s sadistic schemes designed to keep you awake all night. Yeah, well, at least Isaac has 7 (going on 8 ) teeth now. Can’t wait for them molars!
Isaac took his first real steps yesterday. We’re pretty excited about it. Since we haven’t managed to catch it on camera yet , here’s another clip of my child’s idea of a good time:
And yes, he did all of this himself without any prodding from us - He head-butted the ball until it was under the seat, then he crawled around and helped himself up for a fun little ride. Collin got there just in time to catch him. The fun never stops around here!
What do you do when your kid is playing behind you and suddenly grows quiet? Like the naive and inexperienced first-time mother that you are, you savor the moment by reading someone’s blog, of course not questioning the silence. Then you turn around and see this:
Yes, that fluffy pile of white in the background is about half a box of tissues. I’m still trying to figure out how he managed to get the box down from the table without my hearing it. He can’t even reach the table! At least he had a good time with it.
On a different note, here’s my delayed Halloween post. We had so much fun taking Isaac and Lila trick-or-treating! Lila was an ’80s rocker and Isaac was an ancient Chinese Kung Fu master. Though he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the experience, he tolerated it well enough. He just held onto his little candy bucket the whole time with his kung fu grip of death.
When we got home, Isaac set right to work sorting out his candy - he was so focused on moving his loot in and out of his bucket that he couldn’t be bothered to look up at us for even a second. It was a perfect first Halloween for our little buddy!
I’m prone to the occasional implulse/panic purchase, especially when it involves really cute Halloween costumes. For nearly two years now (pregnancy plus post-pregnancy), I’ve been dreaming of what kind of cute little torture I would subject my child to for this holiday. I love all those poofy little animal costumes at Babies R Us. You know the ones - my kid could be a cute little lamb, or a cow, or a lobster. Providence seemed to hit when I saw the monkey outfit on sale at Old Navy. Alas, on sale is still more expensive than free. When we realized that we already had a perfectly good costume for Isaac sitting in his closet, I couldn’t justify keeping the monkey suit. So, here are the pictures to prove just how darling it was. I might still pretend that this is what he wore on Halloween.
Isaac started off loving it (surprisingly). Why, I believe that’s a thumbs-up you’re seeing there:
He didn’t even mind the mittens over his hands, though it did make it a little harder for him to grab anything:
Things started to go downhill when he realized it was hot and stuffy in there and he couldn’t really do a whole lot:
He finally gave up after about 15 minutes and just went limp:
Then he got excited about himself and started clapping:
Here’s the costume we’re actually going to use. Isaac is going as… A FULL Chinese kid!
Isaac turned 11 months this week. We can’t believe how close he is to his first birthday! It seems like he learns something new every day. This week, Isaac learned to use a walker toy. We borrowed Lila’s toy, and he just looked at it the first night. The next morning, though, Isaac was walking around like he’s been doing it for days:
Isaac loves to mimic us, especially when he gets to copy our “ew, gross!” face (that phrase and corresponding facial expression get used a lot in this house). He’s growing a few extra teeth, too. You might spot them in this picture if you look carefully:
He and cousing Lila LOVE playing together. Their latest craze is actually wanting to be in the playpen together. The adults don’t mind one bit!
And this is one of my new favorite pictures - I love these quiet moments with Isaac.
