Snapshot - 1 year!

**I typed this up 4/24 but never posted it, oops**

What he is saying:

• Mamama and Dadada
• Lots of motor noises, particularly when pushing toys around

What he loves doing:

• Playing 'can't catch me!'  He giggles furiously when I call after him "I'm gonna get you!"
• He still adores daddy's mouse and has figured out many of Jason's tricks to hide it from him.
• Emptying the fridge door, though now that he can open the fridge on his own the novelty seems to be fading
• Playing in the toilets!  Opening and closing the lid, flushing, and general joyful splashing.  We haven't had him clog it yet...

What I am loving about him:

• I love watching him experiment with things, figuring out how things work.
• How patient he is when we're out running errands
• How he scrunches up his whole face when he grins

Some of his quirks:

• He loves everyone and smiles for strangers in a heartbeat, but if anyone tries to hold him, he cries desperately.  They may get a minute or two of happy baby, but not much more than that.
• When something frustrates him the throws it away from him, tucks his chin to his chest and grunts (hard to describe, but rediculously cute).

What I want to remember from today:

• The absolutely gleeful belly laughs coming from both Peter and Jason as they played together this afternoon

Tiny Tots

We went to check out Tiny Tots today just cause it was something different to do and it struck me as a good idea. It's fantastic! It's just two rooms in the basement of the community center and it's full of all sorts of toys. There were tons of cars and trucks, Peter made a beeline right for them and carried that red car around for quite a while before taking any deep interest in anything else. There was a train table and a lego table, three slides, a puppet stage, several of those horses that rock on springs (no idea if they have some fancy name but I remember those from when I was a kid). Plenty of 'appliances' for playing house, I don't think I've ever seen a plastic washer and dryer before, and lots of plastic food. Even a dress-up box with several capes! The rooms were connected by an open double door, the one with most of the toys was carpeted and the other had a little basketball hoop and some 15 or so vehicles for kids to ride in/on. I can see that room reading like bumper cars on a cold rainy day.

Today the place was empty, there were two kids there when we arrived but apparently it was time to leave for kindergarten as they left within 5 minutes of our arrival. The whole place was ours for over an hour and a half until a 2 1/2 year old arrived. His mom and grandma appeared to be meeting with a social worker or something so he was left to his own devices. Except for the trains which he hoarded completely he played really well with Peter and was a pretty friendly child. Peter had a blast going from pile to pile just checking everything out a little at a time. It wasn't rainy today but it wasn't particularly nice either so I was kinda surprised at how quiet it was. I wonder how busy it gets during the wet winter months.

Busy or quiet, this is going to be a fantastic fun place to play!

We're still here!

I've got so many cute pictures since I last posted that I know Peter will never give me time to post them all so here's just a few and I'll try to post more often to keep up with the cuteness in the future.

It's kinda hard to see in the picture but this is his first experience with eggs. He was helping me make breakfast and he started pulling eggs out of the fridge so I just put him in the tub with the two he'd cracked and let him go for it. He thought it was pretty awesome and it was fun watching his surprise when he cracked it enough for the egg to start coming out. Apparently this was all he needed as he plays in the fridge regularly but he hasn't touched the egg carton since!

Peter is playing with Peter here, you can just barely see Peter the Ferret's nose poking out from behind the garbage can.  They had a lot of fun together in the hotel room.  Shortly after this picture was taken there was a moment of insane cuteness as  Peter the Ferret did his modified weasel war dance (his back legs are completely useless) and Peter danced with him!  It was spectacularly adorable but sadly we didn't manage to really get it on camera.

This was a fun evening.  I can't remember what started it but apparently I thought he wanted to play in the sink (I was right) so I let him and he thought that was just the most awesome thing he'd ever done.  He just sat in there turning the water on and off  and played with the stream and his rubber ducky.  After a little while Jason thought to stop up the sink and then he had even more water to splash in which of course made it even better.  He is constantly reminding me how much joy we can find in the little things if we just stop to take the time and think about how cool it really is that we can pull a little knob and water runs out!  And better still, if we turn it one way it's cold but the other way it's hot!

Walking in the park.  He still walks like a drunken sailor, especially when he's trying to go quickly, but he rarely crawls anymore.  It's pretty cute when he does fall too, it's Very controlled and he looks like he's falling in slow motion most of the time, pretty funny to watch.

Daddy's out of town!

We survived our first 24 hours without Jason.  Only two more days to go.  Peter seems to be doing pretty well, there's a lot of "dadadada" going on but he doesn't seem upset so that's good.  I'm holding up so far, I don't know how single parents do it though.  I already miss having a second pair of hands and an adult around to talk to. 

I'm not quite sure how but I've been getting more housework done though so I think this place should be pretty beautiful by the time daddy gets home which will be nice.  Some days it's easier than others and even on my laziest days I'm getting better at at least doing a little bit.  It's SO much easier to KEEP house than it is to CLEAN it.  I love that distinction and I can really feel the difference in the rooms that I have perfected.

The room I have the most trouble with is the kitchen.  My biggest trouble is that I LOVE to bake.  So the minute the kitchen is clean it just calls to me to make something in it.  Anything will do.  Like today, I started off my day with some strawberry shortcake.  Then decided that I absolutely had to try out my new food dehydrator.  I ended up drying some kale chips and my first attempt at flaxseed crackers.  The kale chips are better baked in the oven but the crackers ended up being surprisingly delicious and the texture was better than I expected.  A great combination of crispy and chewy.  That's gonna be a fun toy that's going to make it even harder to keep the kitchen clean as of course, Peter only allows me so much time to work without his assistance.  Oh well, progress, not perfection, is the name of the game, and I am making progress.  And I'm making nummy food so I can think of worse ways to make a mess.

But enough babble, it's time for Petey pictures!

I love the park we live next to, it's got lots of swings and a ton of different play structures that I've never even seen before let alone played on.  Peter is still rather unimpressed by the swings as you can see in his face.

Now this is much more fun.  Yes, he's standing in my washing machine.  I was putting a load in the dryer and he REALLY wanted to see what I was doing so I thought "why not?" and set him in.  He twisted the knobs and scooted around in there for about 5 minutes before he decided he'd had enough and asked to go on his merry way.  I love watching him try stuff out.

I've always wanted to live close enough to my work to be able to come home for lunch and now that Jason does I realize it's even more awesome than I'd imagined.  When it's sunny we've been meeting him for lunch in the park that's across the street from his work and it's been so much fun.  Peter's enjoying his dessert here, chocolate chip cookies are too tasty to resist.

He's a sucker for an empty bottle of any sort so I thought I'd try to capture my little 'drunken driver.'  That crinkly faced grin is just the cutest thing ever.

I've known since I was a little girl that I was going to be a momma, but I had no idea how incredibly awesome it was going to be.

Happy Birthday Peter!

Well, his birthday isn't actually for a few more days but we had Peter's first birthday party yesterday and it was a blast. The weather cooperated fabulously and of my family only Jesse was missing. Peter had a grand time as long as no one but mom or dad picked him up and he was perfectly happy to play with everyone. Though, his favorite people were those drinking pop. He LOVES pulling the tabs off the top of pop cans.

By the time we got around to the cupcakes he was pretty tired and really not that impressed overall.  I don't remember how many times Jason offered it to him before he actually took a bite, the wrapper was far more interesting and less messy.  He's a funny little boy, he really doesn't like to get his hands dirty.  Whenever he grabs something sticky he tries to shake it off.  Of course he doesn't like to have his hands washed either but I think that's more normal.

It just occurred to me, I don't think I got any pictures of the pretty rainbow cupcakes I made!  Poo on that.  I wasn't that impressed with how they tasted (the vanilla with chocolate were much better) but they were so pretty.  Oh well, I'll just have to make them again but tastier this time.  I've got so many more pictures but I'm tired, it's been a busy weekend.  I'll post more later.

Yum!

I made homemade chocolate pudding-pops this week just cause.  As you can see in the pictures above, Peter gave his stamp of approval.  His reaction to the cold was pretty funny at first but it didn't take him long to realize that despite the cold, this was something yummy!

He's getting close to walking too.  He's taken a few steps unsupported but he hasn't realized it yet.  Both times he had something in his hands that must have just distracted him enough to not think to look for something to hold onto.  I wonder if he'll be walking in time for his birthday but I also won't be surprised if he waits a few more months.  He'll get there in his own time and crawling sure isn't slowing him down.  He LOVES playing "can't catch me!"  His happy baby squeals and giggles are just the most wonderful sound I've ever heard.

Peter sat at the table with us for the first time tonight! He was so cute sitting there like a big boy chowing down on his dinner. Some bits were eaten off a fork we loaded for him but much more was simply picked up and eaten out of hand (or out of lap). I was actually pretty surprised, he still usually just tips plates and bowls right over but he just sat right down and joined in like he knew exactly what to do.