One highlight was a trip to Chicago, Champaign, and Burlington, WI for our friend Aly's wedding. You were great on the plane, though we had a few rough moments trying to get you to fall asleep in a nest on the floor of random friends' houses and hotel rooms (first time traveling without a pack and play). You'd just get more and more wound up and it would get later and later until one of us would basically tackle you on the floor and hug you until you'd stop squirming and almost instantly fall asleep. Naps were also a bit tricky with full days of travel and activities, but we made it through. I think the low point was getting behavioral coaching from Uncle Joel, who's just spent the last year working with high-needs kids with autism. You were basically throwing a tantrum, I put you in a time out, and you proceeded to yell and scream and flop around on the floor. I looked at Joel and he just shook his head and looked at me like, "good luck to you". Great.
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| Downtown Chicago |
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| You loved holding Uncle Joel's hand. At all times. |
It was super fun to hang out with Christie and Colin at the wedding, and Colin was a big Ryan fan. We went to the WI State Fair, and also met up with Becca and Finbar in Chicago. You were a big fan of Finbar, and Finbar was a big fan of Joel.
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| Riding the bull with Finbar |
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| Creampuff assembly line at the WI State Fair |
My work is sponsored Bike Commute Month in September, and so I felt like I needed to participate. Too bad they don't give extra points to parents who bike commute their kids to daycare. Anyway, I borrow a friend's kid seat for the back of my bike (thinking it will be easier than hauling the trailer around), dust off my paniers, strap your diaper bag to the back, and off we go down the driveway on the first day. We make it 5 feet. 10 feet. But, we're swerving terribly. It's getting worse and worse, and then...we CRASH! You poor thing, you were crying and so scared (though the bike seat did its job and I couldn't find any scrapes on you!). But, my knees were all scraped up, and we were both pretty shaken. The short version is that I adjusted some weight, and we rode on, but I had so many moments cruising down Tucker Rd. with my shaky legs hoping that we wouldn't crash again, thinking to myself, "what the heck am I doing right now?!?" If you grow up to hate bike riding, we'll know why. Every time we hit a little bump in the road, you yelled out "Ah! No! Bumpy! Falling!!!" Luckily, we made it without further incident, and you rode in the Chariot every day after that.
We had a birthday party for you in Hood River, the theme was box fort and pancakes. Nana and Papa came up with their trailer full of furniture boxes (I think they spent two full days driving around to places in Bend, The Dalles, and Hood River collecting boxes for us--thank goodness, otherwise the box fort would have been more like just a box). Noni and Victoria and Ivan also came up to celebrate, and we had a great party with a bunch of friends, cupcakes, and fort fun.
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| Fort Fun |
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| Dress up |
You got a little baby doll for your birthday, which you (of course) named Baby Toben, and it's so cute to watch you care for him. You carry him around, cradled in your arm and bounce him up and down, carefully wrap him up in little blankets, sit him on the potty, and take him everywhere. One time, I heard you pick him up out of the little stroller and whisper, "Hi, Baby Toben, you nice nap?" and then you hugged him.
After your birthday party, we packed up and headed to Timberline Lodge for an overnight backpacking trip. We did one overnighter last summer and I remember it being a little bit like survival backpacking the whole time. But this year was completely different. It was so much fun. I have great memories of hiking down the trail, you in the backpack over my shoulder singing out, "Mama! A big tree coming!!!" The next morning we day hiked from our camp, and you hiked a lot of the way on your own, running up and down the trail, checking out the flowers and bugs and critters. It was one of the first times that I've felt like you were enjoying the outdoors, too, not just being drug along by your parents.
- Goofy voice--you have this kind of deep, scratchy, silly voice that you use when you're being funny or telling jokes.
- Potty trained (mostly)--right before your birthday you spent a few days naked around the house and that was pretty much the end of diapers during the day. You still have accidents now and then, but you're doing great with it.
- Pretends to read and says, "I love you, Mommy"
- Counts "3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9!"
- Based on the video, it seems like maybe I'm pushing your limits a little with giant slides and spinny playground equipment. Woops.
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