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We celebrated Francisco's first birthday last week. The big numero uno. We had a little party at Ballard Park, and with the breeze, the weather was just about perfect. It was bright and beautiful, and I barely sweat at all. I ended up going with a "monster" theme, sort of, so his cake was a big, blue monster face, and we did little monster cupcakes for the other guests.
Well, I didn't do them, the girlfriend of this guy I work with did them.
I did, however, carve this monster melon, which was kind of effed up, because everything I do turns out badly, but it still attracted the attention of passers-by who thought it was awesome:
We had to rush and do the cake after everybody finished eating and I realized that Francisco was getting tired, so cake-time hit just about when he really should have had a nap. As a result, he had himself a little meltdown:
It wasn't all tears and woe, though:
As soon as I saved him from the evil blue monster that ruined his birthday, he passed out. It was chilly with the wind, and I had no blanket, so we had to cover him with two sweaters I had in his bag. I'm not sure where that pillow came from, but someone was nice enough to tuck it at his side for extra comfort:
Here's the birthday boy in his special, birthday shirt, right before we did the cake:
This picture is from the day before his birthday, where he's showing off his brand new bike from his Gran and Nana:
Another highlight was little Lily falling into the river, which was obviously a huge hassle for her parents (I wouldn't have wanted to be the one dealing with that with my kid, that's for sure), but she apparently thought it was big fun, as she said she wanted to do it again, and her emergency change of clothes was a big, hot pink tutu, so that's what she ran around in for the rest of the day. It was pretty adorable.
I was worried about inviting people and who would show up, because, again, I don't know that many people with kids, and a one year old's birthday party isn't a big idea of fun for the childless, but I was happy with the turnout, and it seemed like Francisco's "best" adult friends that came had a mildly amusing time. I hope so, anyway.
So, we've kept this child alive for one full year, and he's no worse for wear. The Friday before his party, he tumbled on the step to the back patio where I'd left the door open as I made his breakfast (stupid mistake, I should have known better), and he smacked his head on the concrete, leaving a nasty scrape. That was probably the worst thing that's happened to him on my watch, and I was like, great, all of his party pictures will feature this reminder that his mother was remiss. Fortunately, the scrape faded quickly, and wasn't visible at all by his party on Sunday.
The week before his birthday, we went out with my mom and Gran to get his first haircut and his first pair of big boy walkin' shoes. The hair cut was just about the worst thing that ever happened to him, from his perspective, and I'd dare say it went even more poorly than the time I had to take him for a chest x-ray and to have blood drawn for his allergy tests. Seriously. hated it. Here's a collage my mom did of the traumatic experience.
Hair cut sure came out cute, though. That son of mine had some wild and crazy hair before the cut. I took some before pictures that I'll have to get off of the camera.
He's walking now-- he started that about the first week of November, and he thinks he's hot shit for sure. He still gets all giddy and screechy when he gets going really fast. He knows lots of words now. I feel like he knows more words than the average one year old-- I thought I read somewhere that they should say 5-7 words at one year, and he definitely says more than that, but I just looked it up and saw something that it should be 10-12. Also, of course, it's more the beginning of words that he says "ba" for bath (he says that every night after dinner when it's time for his bath) and "du" for duck, but that counts, right? I guess I'm pulling this all out of my ass, but he seems like he's moving right along with his language development. We read a lot of books, and he loves them, and I've also been one to speak to him in sentences as opposed to baby babble, and I have to believe that this has all helped him progress.
Let's see, what words does can he say...
Mama
Dada (he just started saying this a lot, it's pretty cute)
Nana
Mow-mow (which is for "cat")
Mouse (mou- he has a book with a mouse in it and always says "mou" when we read it)
Bath (ba)
Bottle (ba-ba)
Book (boo)
Duck (du)
Up
Oh dear (seriously, he says this, and quite clearly)
Hi
Uh-oh (still the favorite)
Moo for cow
Hat
Poo-poo (he surprised us with this one just the other day)
He kept going "me, me" when I was telling him to eat his meat last night, so maybe this counts, too.
My mom says that he's said "all done" on more than on occasion during feeding, but I haven't heard that for myself yet.
He also does a lot of pointing and grunting at objects that he knows, but for which he can't say the word yet. It's like he wants to, but he just can't spit it out.
So, he's smart and handsome.
His favorite foods are broccoli, fish, eggs and puff cereal. Every time I try to give him a "treat," he hates it, so he's not so fond of sweets. That's good, I guess.
He's not really "into" anything, too young for that, I suppose, but his favorite activity is, without a doubt, opening and shutting doors. He's also, as I said, very fond of books. He'll sit and read as many of them as you'll do with him, so long as they're the right ones. He also loves his stuffed monkey.
The teacher in me is loving the way he's developed to a point where I can interact with him as my own little pupil. We went on a walk this morning out onto the gazebo over the lake and watched the ducks and the turtles swim by, and counted the ducks, and I realized how happy it made me feel to enjoy the privilege of interacting with him in this way. He's a lot of fun. He's a lot of work, and sometimes he's not so much fun, but when he's fun, he's lots of fun. Kind of like his mother, maybe.
I still find myself occasionally feeling like a stranger in this role. You know, me, with a kid. It's kind of weird.
Well, I didn't do them, the girlfriend of this guy I work with did them.
I did, however, carve this monster melon, which was kind of effed up, because everything I do turns out badly, but it still attracted the attention of passers-by who thought it was awesome:
We had to rush and do the cake after everybody finished eating and I realized that Francisco was getting tired, so cake-time hit just about when he really should have had a nap. As a result, he had himself a little meltdown:
It wasn't all tears and woe, though:
As soon as I saved him from the evil blue monster that ruined his birthday, he passed out. It was chilly with the wind, and I had no blanket, so we had to cover him with two sweaters I had in his bag. I'm not sure where that pillow came from, but someone was nice enough to tuck it at his side for extra comfort:
Here's the birthday boy in his special, birthday shirt, right before we did the cake:
This picture is from the day before his birthday, where he's showing off his brand new bike from his Gran and Nana:
Another highlight was little Lily falling into the river, which was obviously a huge hassle for her parents (I wouldn't have wanted to be the one dealing with that with my kid, that's for sure), but she apparently thought it was big fun, as she said she wanted to do it again, and her emergency change of clothes was a big, hot pink tutu, so that's what she ran around in for the rest of the day. It was pretty adorable.
I was worried about inviting people and who would show up, because, again, I don't know that many people with kids, and a one year old's birthday party isn't a big idea of fun for the childless, but I was happy with the turnout, and it seemed like Francisco's "best" adult friends that came had a mildly amusing time. I hope so, anyway.
So, we've kept this child alive for one full year, and he's no worse for wear. The Friday before his party, he tumbled on the step to the back patio where I'd left the door open as I made his breakfast (stupid mistake, I should have known better), and he smacked his head on the concrete, leaving a nasty scrape. That was probably the worst thing that's happened to him on my watch, and I was like, great, all of his party pictures will feature this reminder that his mother was remiss. Fortunately, the scrape faded quickly, and wasn't visible at all by his party on Sunday.
The week before his birthday, we went out with my mom and Gran to get his first haircut and his first pair of big boy walkin' shoes. The hair cut was just about the worst thing that ever happened to him, from his perspective, and I'd dare say it went even more poorly than the time I had to take him for a chest x-ray and to have blood drawn for his allergy tests. Seriously. hated it. Here's a collage my mom did of the traumatic experience.
Hair cut sure came out cute, though. That son of mine had some wild and crazy hair before the cut. I took some before pictures that I'll have to get off of the camera.
He's walking now-- he started that about the first week of November, and he thinks he's hot shit for sure. He still gets all giddy and screechy when he gets going really fast. He knows lots of words now. I feel like he knows more words than the average one year old-- I thought I read somewhere that they should say 5-7 words at one year, and he definitely says more than that, but I just looked it up and saw something that it should be 10-12. Also, of course, it's more the beginning of words that he says "ba" for bath (he says that every night after dinner when it's time for his bath) and "du" for duck, but that counts, right? I guess I'm pulling this all out of my ass, but he seems like he's moving right along with his language development. We read a lot of books, and he loves them, and I've also been one to speak to him in sentences as opposed to baby babble, and I have to believe that this has all helped him progress.
Let's see, what words does can he say...
Mama
Dada (he just started saying this a lot, it's pretty cute)
Nana
Mow-mow (which is for "cat")
Mouse (mou- he has a book with a mouse in it and always says "mou" when we read it)
Bath (ba)
Bottle (ba-ba)
Book (boo)
Duck (du)
Up
Oh dear (seriously, he says this, and quite clearly)
Hi
Uh-oh (still the favorite)
Moo for cow
Hat
Poo-poo (he surprised us with this one just the other day)
He kept going "me, me" when I was telling him to eat his meat last night, so maybe this counts, too.
My mom says that he's said "all done" on more than on occasion during feeding, but I haven't heard that for myself yet.
He also does a lot of pointing and grunting at objects that he knows, but for which he can't say the word yet. It's like he wants to, but he just can't spit it out.
So, he's smart and handsome.
His favorite foods are broccoli, fish, eggs and puff cereal. Every time I try to give him a "treat," he hates it, so he's not so fond of sweets. That's good, I guess.
He's not really "into" anything, too young for that, I suppose, but his favorite activity is, without a doubt, opening and shutting doors. He's also, as I said, very fond of books. He'll sit and read as many of them as you'll do with him, so long as they're the right ones. He also loves his stuffed monkey.
The teacher in me is loving the way he's developed to a point where I can interact with him as my own little pupil. We went on a walk this morning out onto the gazebo over the lake and watched the ducks and the turtles swim by, and counted the ducks, and I realized how happy it made me feel to enjoy the privilege of interacting with him in this way. He's a lot of fun. He's a lot of work, and sometimes he's not so much fun, but when he's fun, he's lots of fun. Kind of like his mother, maybe.
I still find myself occasionally feeling like a stranger in this role. You know, me, with a kid. It's kind of weird.