Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Practicing walking on the MN trail at the zoo

It was such a hot day, and I just needed to get some walking in, without
getting rained on, or baking up. So we went to the zoo. Noah has really been
working on his walking. He likes to take the stairs with help, too. He wants
to take them standing up like an adult and lifts his legs high to the next
step.

Noah and Genevieve playing the staring game

I don't know who blinked first.

New shoes


New shoes
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Shoe shopping for baby


Shoe shopping for baby
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
We went to Nordstrom to get fitted for baby's shoes- I figured they really
knew what they were doing since Nordstrom knows shoes like nobody else. Noah
proceeded to "trash" the kids shoe department, and took most of the shoes
off their displays and ceremoniously relocated them to the floor. I asked if
there was a particular order to the shoes as I was willing to put them back
and clean up after my child, but they said they'd take care of it.
As we were about to pay, Laura, our friendly sales clerk was telling me the
reasons why Noah didn't like his Nike sandals. She said the sole on them was
too thick for a new walker, and that he couldn't sense the ground well in
them. That made sense to me. It's why we selected these "See Kai Run" shoes,
since they had rubber treads but flexible soles. Not to mention, but they
are super cute!
My only concern is that he was fitted for them minus socks. I went to put
socks on him with his shoes and I couldn't seem to get the shoe on then. I'm
going to have to figure out if that is a problem or not.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

To uncle Dan


To uncle Dan
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
In San fran, thanks so much for the bright orange shirt and coordinating
toddler socks. I really like to pull socks off my feet and sometimes tip
over doing so. That means that they will be lots of fun! My mom will not
lose track of me anywhere in that bright orange shirt even if I start
running away!

The card was really nice too. I said, "da" and pointed at the dog over and
over. Mom wanted me to point to the monkey too, and go, "ooh ooh oooh
ooooh!" like I have done when I saw the monkeys at the zoo, but I had had a
big day and was getting tired and ready for bed.

Thanks so much! I wish you could have been here!

Happy birthday


Happy birthday
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

Party time!


Party time!
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
We had an excellent birthday party in our city park's picnic shelter. It
wasn't windy, or rainy, and it was a hot sunny day but we were well shaded
by the trees and shelter roof. The only thing that would have made it better
would be if I had composted the plates since I had special ones. I think
they were called Earthshell, and sturdy as styro counterparts, but made of
corn and plant matter.

Other eco- considerations were:
Cloth Treat bags- with a coloring book, or sticker book, a little boat
squirt toy, and reusable sandwich wraps that I sewed out of a camo canvas
fabric

Collected lots of food for the food shelf instead of gifts wrapped in
one-time use paper

Cake baked in ice cream cones instead of wasting cupcake wrappers

Brats and hot dogs that go in buns

Used only plastic forks (which was a slight disappointment to me, I thought
about using all real stuff but didn't have enough)

cloth sheets for tablecloths

Drank out of recyclable cans and bottles

Kids did crafts/art projects using Art Scraps materials

Decorated frames made of mat corners for framing

Made crowns out of big paper and stickers

Planted perennial flowers in planters that were reused meter covers that the
kids decorated

At a park, so it was outdoors in the woods so we didn't use air conditioning
or electricity

I was really amazed how well it went, it was such a great party and
memories.

Noah napped for a bit in the car parked by us in the shade, then joined an
hour into the festivities. He especially enjoyed playing in his
personal-sized chocolate cake, playing in the kiddie pool filled with cold
water and ice and cans of pop and bottles of water, and taking the donated
food out of his new Radio Flyer wagon from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents).

Oh, Genevieve came too, and I hooked her up to the wagon and she helped haul
a load up to the picnic shelter. She ran out to the end of the leash and
seemed proud to have a real job.

I plan to take a pic of all the food he "raised" with stats, and I will post
that Monday.

Love the twisted waistband walking pose

He's really active. So much that at his 9 m appt. (which we went to 4 weeks
ago since we were behind partly because I didn't want to risk exposing him
to swine flu) the nurse weighed him, then left with the scale. She returned
a moment later to reweigh him, since he'd only gained 3 or 4 oz. in the last
few months. Then the dr. proceeded to ask me if he eats alright, and if he
eats solids besides breastfeeding, which he does. Sometimes he eats a ton of
food! So she decided it was since he was such a busy boy that he wasn't
packing on the weight. He's 31 inches long too, so his 24 lbs or so, are
getting well distributed. I have him wear some of his 9 and 12 month pants
and some are nearly falling off at times. Most of his shorts are 18m size,
and way too big.

Can he walk yet?


Can he walk yet?
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
I never know how to answer this one. Are we looking for proficient, or
amateur walking? He's taken more than a few steps, but it's definitely not
his transportation mode of choice. He also has this great ape walk, where he
will walk on his feet, and use his hands. It's got to be great exercise!

He was standing on one foot on top of my mom's ceramic sandicast yellow lab
figurine to look out the window. He climbs on everything!

All sprawled out


All sprawled out
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.

12 months of photos on the blanket, completed

He turned 1 yesterday. Yes, I did haul out the wool blank on the 80+ degree
day and had him lay stretched out as much as possible on it. And, since he's
such a big boy we did it shirtless. His other shirt was really dirty so
rather than put on a different one (my idea) DH suggested a sans shirt pic.
So we did that, which was fine with me.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Planning a birthday party


Planning a birthday party
Originally uploaded by CorgiMom.
Noah has been practicing using a spoon, and he gets it to his mouth each
time. Once he's nearing the end of eating however he rubs food into his
hair, right behind his ears. It doesn't matter how often I wash his hair in
the tub we are pretty much guaranteed that his hair will be dirty the next
time he eats.

He's also becoming a climber. He stood on top of a rounded toy the other day
and reached his teething medicine from the top of the changing table. This
morning he grabbed ahold of the tub faucet handle and pulled till his feet
were off the ground and he was leaning against the tub.

He likes toilet paper too. He's really good at unrolling it quite rapidly. I
don't know how he does it. At least I am finding a way to still take a
morning shower! I just put some books in the bathroom (which he does look
at) and check on him periodically by looking over the top of the shower
curtain.

Another thing he does is share. He hands us a ball, scrap of paper, or piece
of fuzz he found and smiles as we take it from him and say thankyou. He even
talks back and makes some type of sounds when we give it back. It's a game
that can go on for several minutes.

Birthday boy- Saturday will be his party in a city park. We rented a picnic
shelter at a really nice park with a playground, paved trails, and a disc
golf course. To top that, it's an eco-friendly birthday party and we
specified to not bring a gift, but bring food for the food shelf. I figure
he has plenty of time for gifts for his other birthday, and we don't need a
bunch of things to fill our house. Plus, he seems to think non-toys are
often better than toys. That's my boy!

We are using sheets for tablecloths, special biodegradable plates from
Linden Hills Co-op, and having cloth treat bags and art projects using
materials from ArtScraps in St. Paul.

I will have to make some art project mock-ups tonight and post them later.
We will be making crowns, planters, and decorating frames.