All at Once!

It seems that the past week or so marks a lot of milestones or highlights for you.  

• You appear to be done nursing
• You are walking (for real and all by yourself)
• You threw up and continued to throw up for the first time

I am so sad that you are done nursing.  When you turned a year, your dad asked how long I was going to continue nursing.  I told him then that it depended on what you and I wanted.  He didn't seem to think you would have a say in the matter.  Well, guess what, you did!  You have taken to scraping my nipple across your teeth and full on biting me.  I would say you're trying to tell me you are done!  If I offer to nurse you look away, go play or otherwise you show you aren't interested.  I can't believe how special our relationship has been and I worry that without nursing I won't mean as much to you.  It was the one thing I could do for you that no one else could.

The walking thing has been a long time coming.  You've been pulling yourself up on the couch and other things since you were at least 9 months or so.  And, your dad and I tried to encourage you to walk.  But, you have a stubborn streak (so not sure where that came from) and would throw yourself on the ground if we tried to help.  In the last week or so, you finally decided you want to walk and are now walking more than you are crawling.  I'm afraid of the running stage!  Although I'm not sure it can be worse the the climbing you've been doing this month.  Just remember the dining table is not Mt. Everest!

And, lastly, the throwing up.  We have been so grateful for how healthy you've been in your 17 months of life.  I can honestly say that today is the first time you've thrown up.  This afternoon you seemed better so we are hoping it was just a 24hr flu bug.  I didn't "get" to deal with it because I was at work so you had better be nice to your dad in his old age.  However, I did come home early and snuggle you all afternoon/evening!

On the Cover of Rolling Stone...or Maybe Just a Rodenticide Presentation

Rose used this cute picture of you on the title slide of a recent rodenticide presentation for work.  It's not Rolling Stone but it's a start.

You Continue to Amaze Me...and Make Me Laugh

You and I went to a meeting for my dragon boat club tonight. Part of the meeting was a potluck.  You had no problem entertaining yourself and Brynna Gritter enjoyed hanging out with you too.

During the potluck, I grabbed a little orange for us to share.  I hadn't peeled it yet so I sat it on the table.  You walked over and grabbed the orange right in front of Weisha and I and started to eat it...WHOLE.  We watched to see what you would do and you just kept going for it.  I know you actually consumed some of the peel.  After a couple of minutes, you decided maybe it wasn't so great and spit a bunch of peel out.  We all had a good laugh.

Thanks for showing me that perhaps we can all learn to look at the world a little differently!

From Weisha Mize

Bear with me...

I used to make fun of girls I knew in college who were in the "mommy" classes.  I think their major was called Human Development and Family Science.  I was taking REAL science courses.  Right!  Isn't it nice when stuff like that comes back to bite you in the butt (you'll learn about that soon enough I'm sure).  I wish now that I had taken a child development class or two!

Your father and I are still learning everyday.  You provide us with ample opportunities.  Neither one of us wants to see you struggle too much.  And, I hate cleaning up huge messes.  Needless to say, we haven't let you feed yourself as much as we should.  I've been trying to let go of those things.  As I type this, you are "eating" rice Chex and yogurt out of a bowl yourself.  It's probably a good thing I gave you a lot...there is probably half of the yogurt on your face, hands, and high chair.  But darn it, you're doing it yourself!

It only went downhill after I took these photos :)

Needless to say, you enjoyed tub time soon after breakfast!

Christmas at the Coast - 2011

This was a fun-filled Christmas weekend.  We drove to Bandon on Friday to stay with Grandma Colleen and Grandpa Bud.  Grandma made us venison stew and corn bread.  Then, you, your Dad and I and Grandpa went to Shore Acres to look at the lights.  I forgot to charge my camera battery so I only got a couple pictures.  It was beautiful...both the night and the lights.

Then, on Christmas Eve, we went for a walk with Grandpa at the mouth of Sixes River.  What an amazing day!  The wind usually is screaming out there.  That day there was almost no wind, the sun was shining, and it was warm.  The ocean was rough and the waves were pretty crazy crashing on the beach.  You kept pointing at the waves and looked like you were thoroughly enjoying yourself.

That night we had Mexican food with Gordon and Carolyn...pork carnitas that Grandma made, tamales we brought from a bakery here in Salem, avocado salad (which you ate almost all of), beans, rice, tortillas, and salsa.  After we ate dinner, we opened presents.  You finally have this opening presents thing down.  Grandma and Grandpa Jones got you a rescue truck (they brought it over early so we could take it down with us and open it in Bandon).  You were literally vibrating with excitement waiting for your dad to get it out of the box for you.  I have never seen you so excited about something.  It was pretty crazy!

For Christmas Day, we went to Bob and Jerene's to spend time with the Shaffar family.  I fell down on the job there and didn't get any pictures.  Maybe Jerene will send me some!  Anyway, you had fun interacting with everyone and it's always fun to see you together with Ellie.  You got a billion clothes, a pop-up tent thing, and a few other things.  

Today, we came home.  On the way, we stopped in Florence at our favorite coffee shop.  You love the whipped cream they put on the top of my drink!  Then, we put you in the Ergo pack and walked around downtown.  We didn't buy anything but had fun looking at the toy store and all of the art galleries.  We came home through Corvallis and had waffles for dinner.  Seems like a lot for such a short weekend!  I'm glad I only have to go to work for three days this week.  Then, we get to have another long weekend for New Year's!  

By the way, you are the best Christmas present a mother could hope for!  Thank you so much for being my son and for showing me the joy there is in the little things in life.

Fun with Auntie K and Annie

Today, Aunt K and Annie came over to play with you so your dad and I could go out and celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary.  We can hardly believe we've been together this long.

They were feeding you dinner when we left.  Apparently, you had fun knocking towers down.  One would build a new one while you were knocking the other one's tower down.  When we got home, all three of you were snuggled together on the couch watching A Christmas Carol on my laptop.  Auntie K sent me a picture of you throwing a fit on the floor but I think I deleted it.  Other than that you were pretty darn good.

I think, perhaps, you had more fun than your dad and I.  We went to Northern Lights and had dinner and watched a movie.

Thanksgiving with the Lougees

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma Lougee's this year.  Your Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Uncle Donald, Dennis and Cheri's family, David and Shelley's family, and Bettie Rae and Scott's family were there too.  Your Dad gets nervous about driving over the pass in the snow but this year was perfect for it.  We had a great time.  Of course, you were well loved there!  Holly was sweet enough to watch you Friday night so we could go to dinner at the Ranchero with the "adults".  Not sure how we became adults but it was fun.