Having my cake...and eating it too

Yesterday was my first birthday. I'm one now. Finally an age that's above zero. I had a lovely party yesterday complete with a birthday cake. This was my first chance to eat birthday cake, and I made the most of it smearing it all over my face, my clothes, and especially in my hair. I did discover one thing though---birthday cake is not all that good in your eyes. Everywhere else it's great. The usual suspects were rounded up to come to my party and, as a special treat, Mommy bought all of us pointy party hats to wear. They all looked funny with pointy hats on their head. Mommy also bought these streamer things that you blow through and they unroll. These I found to be incredibly scary as they turned everyone into hideous mutants. I made everyone stop using these horrible devices.

My best birthday gift was from my Uncle Jack. He got me a pony! Well, it's not a real pony, but a big plastic and fur covered pony. Much like a real pony, this one has motion-activated pony sounds. Unlike a real pony, my pony doesn't eat grass, only batteries. Now how to get a pony to California?

I also got lots of other good stuff. My Auntie Max and her friend Hugh got me a bunch of college-wear, but I'm not sure who to root for. Auntie Max got me a whole Penn State ensemble, whereas Hugh got me a couple of Notre Dame outfits. Up until now, the only college-wear I had was a Cal hat that my Daddy's friend from work got for me. Now I'm confused as to who to root for.

Back East

I've been back east for several days now. It's a while different world here. For one thing, it snowed and snowed on Christmas Day. I haven't seen snow like this (or indeed any snow at all) since I was in Lake Tahoe last spring. On the day after Christmas, I went outside to "play" in the snow. It was pretty scary at first. I didn't like how it felt on my feet or especially on my hands. Eventually, I got a bit more used to it and tolerated being outside as my Daddy built me a baby-sized snowman. One thing that's definitely true about snow---it's cold.

I've learned some new tricks since I've been back east. Perhaps the one that is most delightful to everyone is my ability to clap. While I was able to figure out how to take tw toys and bang them together in a clapping-like manner, until very recently I never clapped without stuff in my hands. Well, I figured out how to do it. I like to clap along when people sing or chant as well as when I do something really fun like play where's the baby. Clapping is good.

Colds and Flu

Oh no. I've just learned that tomorrow at 4AM (!) we have to leave the house to fly on an airplane. While I don't mind flyig at all (makes me sleepy), the last time I flew, I got a cold that had me taking two rounds of antibiotics and lasted until about 1.5 weeks ago. I do NOT want to get another cold again. I hate having the cold, and I hate taking the antibiotics. I'm scared that the sick people in the plane are going to give me their germs. Yikes!

Catch

I'm learning all sorts of new tricks these days---like playing catch with my Daddy. When he first started rolling balls towards me (some months ago), my reaction was to slap at them with my arm, sort of like a hockey puck. Since that time, I've gotten much better at picking stuff up and now I'm quite good at it. Now, when my Daddy rolls a ball to me, I stop it, pick it up, and here's the best part, I sort fling the ball back in his general direction. He seemed delighted at this turn of events. In fact, he's not really that choosy about the direction in which I fling the ball. I can fling it about anywhere and he's delighted.

Christmas in California

One of the best benefits of livingin California is that I get Christmas *twice* a year. Yesterday, I received a bunch of gifts for first Christmas. My biggest gifyt was my LeapPad Learning Table. This table is the perfect hieght for me (short) and has lots of interesting levers and buttons to press. Whenever I press one, a lady who lives in the table sings me a song. My favorite is the alphabet song. I like this one so much that I sway side to side during it---dancing to the music.

I got some other stuff too. One toy consists of a whole bunch of gears that spin around when I press a button. The two best parts about this toy are that the gears are the perfect size to pull off the toy and put in my mouth. (They're tasty too). The other great thing about this toy is that when the gear spin around, I can press down on them with my hand and stop them from spinning. The toy makes an interesting grinding noise when I do this.

Of course, the toy I like the best ends of costing the least. Mommy and Daddy got me "snap lock beads" which are made in a very tasty plastic. This toy costs about $3. Naturally, it is my favorite (second only to my $1.99 stacking rings).

Vocabulary

I'm learning a couple of new words. While I still most enjoy saying "Mama", which is useful for virtually all occasions, I've added two new semi-words to my repertoire. Whenever I play with my stuffed piggy, my Mommy or Daddy will always say the word "piggy", so I decided to try it too. It didn't quite come out as smoothly as I might have liked, more like "peeegeeegeee" but close enough to be recognizable by Mommy. The other thing that fascinates me is a rotating fiber-optic tree that's in the family room. I can just stand and stare at that tree for hours. Again, Mommy and Daddy always say "tree" when they see me looking at the tree, so I decided to try it myself. Again, it didn't come out quite right but my word was recognizable as tree.

Head-butting

I mentioned earlier that one of my Daddy's favorite games is to kind of nudge me onto my back by butting his head into me as I was crawling along. Well, last night as we were rough-housing, I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. As he was crawling towards me, I charged forward and butted into him. While I didn't quite manage to bounce him onto his back, he seeme delighted at the gesture. Eventually, I'll flip him over.

Chase the Baby

I used to not like having my diaper changed. All this fuss getting into and out of clothes was really annoying and unpleasant. Now I've found a way to make it fun---I initiate a game of chase the baby. Here's my strategy: I let them get me out of all my clothes so that I'm completely naked. Then I crawl away as fast as I can. As they try to catch me, there are shrieks of delight from them and from me at the fun of chasing a naked baby around the room. I find that I crawl faster at these times---I think because I'm more aerodynamic. They especially enjoy this game when my bottom is covered with Desitin and I randomly decide to sit and rest on the carpet while I wait for them to catch up.

Wheee! Chase the baby!

Teething

Seems like my difficulties are never over. Just as I have finished my round of antibiotics (I HATE them!), I have my fourth top tooth coming through and diriving me nuts in the process. I have several coping mechanisms for teething. First, I like to hit myself in the mouth over and over again. This distracts me from the specific pain with more general pain. Second, I like to crawl along the floor and drag my face along the ground. This has nearly the same effect as the first. Third, I like to whine. Happily, my Mommy gave me some nifty orajel (on my mouth not to play with) and this made me feel a lot better.

Some new tricks

Last night, I showed my Daddy some new tricks I learned. First, I got to go on a supervised visit to see my friend Licorice. She has a bright red plastic ball which is a lot of fun to play with. I pushed myself up to a stending position on the ball and looked down on my "domain" -- Licorice, her cage, the ball, and so on. Then I showed Daddy a trick. I lifted the ball up off the ground while still standing. I didn't really mean to do this, but I ended up standing on my own power for a little while.

My other trick was to play hide and seek. I crawled behind my ultrasaucer and hid behind one of its thick plastic posts. Then, as Daddy kneeled on the ground to peek in at me, I darted my head out from behind the post to surprise him. There he was peering back! This was tremendously funny. I laughed and laughed (in my unique way).

Piggy Back

Lately, one of my favorite companions is my big stuffed pig. While the piggy used to be bigger than me, I've grown faster than she has, so now I'm bigger. I like to wrestle with the piggy. One of my other favoriate things is to go for piggyback rides. These aren't the usual kind of piggyback rides you might think though. Instread, the piggy perches on MY back and we crawl around the room together. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if she's still there and sure enough she is.

Arizona

My Daddy went hiking in Arizona last week. He asked me to post the link to his pictures, so here it is.

In other news, I had my Christmas pictures taken by a professional photographer. Unlike our earlier attempts at this, for this session I (a) smiled and (b) was awake. My Mommy thinks the pictures turned out quite well and she ordered a bunch of wallets to give to you guys.

One of my least favorite things to do is take my antibiotics. They're cold and yucky. While the last time I had them, I didn't like them but couldn't figure out what to do about it, now I have a solution to this problem---I spit the yucky stuff out of my mouth. This way I don't have to ingest it. Ingenious huh? Mommy somehow hates this solution.

Update

I'm pretty much all better from my cold. In fact, my Mommy is so happy with my progress that she has reinstated my social calendar. Today, I am going to have a zillion wallet size xmas pictures taken of me. That way, all of you can carry a Christmas picture of me wherever you go.

This weekend, we went Christmas tree shopping. I learned an important fact during this trip---some Christmas tree needles are sharp. As we were browsing around amidst the Christmas trees, I would reach out from my stroller and try to grab each of the trees. Some of them were soft, buyt some were really sharp. Ouch. Happily, I persuaded my Mommy and Daddy to get a soft-needled tree, a Fraser Fir, which now adorns our sunken room. Mommy and Daddy put lots of lights and decorations on it, and I must admit it looks pretty. Still, I felt excluded, I wanted to help with the tree, but they wouldn't let me.

Wheels are a fascinating thing. In my younger days, I used to find wheels frustrating since when I tried to pull myself up on them, they rolled. Now I think the rolling part is interesting. While Mommy and Daddy were tree decorating, I contented myself with playing with my stroller wheels. Who nvented these things anyway?

Picture Time

My Daddy took these pictures of me posing with one of my favorite stuffed animals, a big floppy piggy. When I was first born, I was a little smaller than the piggy. Now I'm bigger and like to hug and play with my pig. These pictures were taken before my most recent illness (so I'm in a generally happier mood). You can see the photos here.

Another visit to the doctor

My lingering stuffy nose and cough worsened quite a bit around Thanksgiving, and I have been a pretty miserable little guy for the past few days. The coughing fits are the worst problem. I start coughing and cough harder and harder and can't stop. This scares me, and I wind up crying. I also wind up spitting up much of my most recent meal. Mommy took me to the doctor first thing this morning. The doctor says that I have sinusitis and has prescribed a new antibiotic along with a decongestant. Ever since my first dose of the decongestant, I have been very, very sleepy. Mommy is very sad because I have not been my usual happy self and don't even smile these days. We all look forward to my feeling better and getting back to my normal, happy self.