Walkin' man

Check me out...I can walk on my own! I'm getting steadier and steadier every day, but now and again I hit my bottom. That kiddo in the Charmin ads back in the day may have been on to something with the toilet paper in his diaper.

A stick me situation

Well, I was able to avoid shots at my nine-month visit, but doggone it, Dr. L. busted out the needles AGAIN at my 12-month visit! I hear there will be no shots next time though...yay. Of course I'll give you the info you are interested in...weight: 24lbs. 13oz. (90th percentile), length: 31-3/4 (95th percentile) and head: 48.4cm (95th percentile).

Birthday pictures!

Here they are! We had a great time decorating cupcakes, eating barbeque and seeing friends! The best part though, was listening to everyone singing happy birthday to me. I love music and I totally knew it was all about ME! Wheeee! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

Mommy and Daddy help me with the cake, which I didn't care too much about eating.

Ellie decorates a cupcake while Jacqueline runs by and Jack discovers the goodness of gummy bears!

Wow, all these people sure are tall!

Well, hello there Dianne!

Zoe popped by for a quick hello while Grandpa was holding me....

Here's the scene under the big top!

...and finally here's part of the spread. We had chili-rubbed ribs with espresso BBQ sauce, BBQ brisket, green beans in lemon dressing with walnuts and parmesean, cornbread, ruby applesauce and scallopped fennel and potatoes with gouda. The birthday cake was sour cream and banana with cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm...

One year and one century

Hey folks! I had a birthday today! I'm a whole bunch of days old...365 and one quarter to be exact. Can you believe it? I've survived Mom, who didn't even have much babysitting experience...and Dad, who is, well...a dude. Mom and Dad had a party for me and for our house since it turned 100 in the same year that I turned one. Grandpa was a huge help with finishing up the ribs on the grill and bringing an extra table and chairs...he also shot a bunch of video which we'll be posting soon along with some video of me WALKING that Mom took the other day! We had lots of good friends here to help me celebrate. Our buddies Jim and Amy made pictures and video for us, too, which was GREAT since Mom was so busy in the kitchen and didn't have time to pick up her camera. Stay tuned! Thanks again everybody for helping me celebrate!

Sleeping the day away

I had a super long nap the other day and Mommy and Daddy figured out that sometimes it might be best to wake me up. Soooooo, after not seeing me asleep for a very long time since I'm so good about putting myself to sleep in my own bed, Mommy snuck a few pictures before she woke me up from a deep slumber yesterday. Oh, by the way, I heard that my REM sleep can look a little freaky...cool! Just click on my picture to see me bigger!

Tabled issue

Mommy and Daddy had to buy a new highchair for me since I figured out how to make my old one back and forth. It scared them to see me do that and they would come running if I did it just after they stepped away to fill my sippy or something. Of course I thought their spaz outs were hilarious! Anyway, my new chair lets me sit right at the table, but it's not nearly as much fun since it isn't my own personal bucking bronco. The upside of the deal is my placemat tastes nearly as good as my food. Oh, and if you forgot, that's my nanny Christina helping me keep things organized.

Super baby!

I'm well on my way to becoming Superman with Daddy's help!

Scaling great heights

I am fascinated by the iPod, and I'm big enough now that I can actually touch the bottom of the sound dock if I stretch really, really tall. Note my ability to multi-task, as I have my raspberry teether in my mouth. Who needs hands to hold things when you have teeth? Anyway, I hope Mom and Dad don't get any ideas about moving the iPod up another shelf. What a bummer that would be...though it might be only another month before I could reach that since I'm growing so fast!

Bottoms up!

I've recently discovered that looking upside down is a hoot! Mommy looks so wacky upside down. Well, she is wacky anyway, but I think you know what I'm saying.

The more that you read...

... the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!

Story time with Daddy is the greatest. He has just the right size lap for me to fit in.

A ham I am

I'm starting to figure out that I'm the star of the show, the main attraction and the celebrity of the house...particularly once mom points that big lens my way. I don't want to disappoint her, so I throw her a bone now and again with one of my giggle fits.

Doggone it

Grandpa's dog, Lucky, loves to kiss my face, and I think he is the bees knees, but since I've gotten to be a fast mover, he looks like he might try to herd me occasionally. Just to be on the safe side, we had him wait in the hallway while I was getting my groove on with my Learn and Groove Musical Table. Hey, that might have been my first product plug. Can we get some ad revenue here, people? Anyway, I'll be so happy when I'm bigger and can hold my own with him a little better! He's fun!

A room without books is like a body without a soul

If you've been to our house, you know we have a lot of books! One of my favorite things to do lately is to pull up on the window seat in the living room where a bunch of my books are. I pull them down one by one and have either Mommy or Daddy read to me. Sometimes we make it through the whole book, but other times I get too excited about pulling up again and moving on to the next one! So much good reading, so little time!

The sultan of swing

Today Mommy took me to the local playfield to test out the baby swings. It was pretty cool to check out the kiddo on the swing next to me. He sure looked funny going back and forth. I'm sure I didn't look that silly! We found out that the play area is super cool. They even have a nice wading pool that will be perfect for me next summer!

Beach boy

Yesterday Mommy and Daddy took me to Alki Beach! I thought the sand was pretty neat, but I thought the water was WAY too cold. Daddy did a good job getting me all slathered with sun screen. It'll be so great when I'm big enough to get into building sand castles! As always, just click on my picture to see me bigger!

Target practice

I really have gotten the Cheerio thing down, but I had a little mishap today. Just click on my picture to see me bigger!

Fanny ribbon fun

Today I discovered the extra toilet paper roll. Good times!

It's summertime and the living (room) is easy...

After we got home from the zoo, I thought I'd check out what was underneath not only the rug, but the rug pad, too. Then I talked to my fish for a minute. I would have liked to have done more this afternoon, but Mom said I had to go take a nap. Oh, point of interest for you guys, I must be getting ready to get another tooth, because I'm drooling like a champ.

Getting my goat

Today Mommy and Daddy took me back to the zoo since it was a beautiful Seattle summer day. We stopped by the "contact area" which is a very sterile sounding phrase for "petting zoo". I got to pet a goat, which I LOVED, and Mom is hoping this love will translate into a passion for goat cheese so she's not the only one in the house who likes it. We also saw a few hippos, lions, giraffes and more, but I won't keep you. The only bummer of the day is that we lost my groovy sun hat.

Sorry I haven't posted more this week, but I've been on the go! I hung out with new little friends on Wednesday, and yesterday we went over to see Beth and her kiddo, Jack, to go on a walk with them. Of course Mom didn't get it together to take the camera, and she's still working on posting video! Stay tuned!

Bath time goes big time!

That's right, kids...I've moved to the BIG tub! I still fit in the kitchen sink, but it's just not deep enough to contain all of the water from my splashing antics. I think Mom was tired of wearing about half of my bath water, and she and Dad were both thinking that the regular creation of an 8th ocean on our kitchen floor wasn't such a good idea.

Sleepless in Seattle

Ok, you had to know that headline was coming from me sooner or later. Grandpa came over to help us celebrate the 4th of July, and he also brought over a cool new video camera to take pictures of ME! So just as soon as mom figures out how to get the files on here, you'll be able to see me in action. Thanks, Grandpa! It was a big day for me, and in fact, I decided to skip my afternoon nap, so this nice, big yawn and eye rub was the result.

Feeling independent today!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I certainly felt free to express my opinion about being set down in the grass for this silly picture. Mom had to rescue me from the front yard wilderness just after these were taken.

I'm a simple man

Despite having truckloads of cool toys, I prefer to whack a diet Squirt bottle against the grocery bag to playing with those fancy things. When that gets old, I just roll around and see what kind of cool noises the bottle will make when I hit it with my hand. Good times!

Three Cheer...ios...for Rowan!

Ok, so there are four on my tray, but you know what I mean. Now that I'm 9 months old, I've gotten to start finger foods! This is my second go at Cheerios. We would have had pictures from the first go, but Mom got all paranoid about the possibility of me choking or something, so she wanted her hands free...whatev. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure about the whole crunchy thing, and I can't quite get them in my mouth on my own yet, but it's just a matter of time. I'd better get on board though because Daddy bought about 35 lbs. of Cheerios from Costco.

By the way, I went for my 9-month check-up yesterday, and I'm fit as a fiddle. No shots on this visit...woohoo! I'm 30 and 1/4 inches long, which puts me in the 95th percentile, and I'm 23 lbs. which puts me in the 80th percentile, for those of you keeping score at home. Just call me a lean, mean, crawling machine!

Do NOT try this at home

A professional stunt baby was used in the shooting of this picture. It takes a lot of skill and talent to drive a truck over your own leg, so don't head out to your driveway to fire up the Chevy with this trick in mind.

The upside of upside down

...is that it's really fun! I love looking upside down at people, especially when I'm wiggling around on daddy!

You can't top this!

Grandma brought me a super-cool, old-fashioned top from the Toymaker in Williamsburg, and I love it! It whirrrs and spins and delights me to no end! As always, you can click my picture to see me bigger!

A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines

That Ben Franklin was a smart guy to come up with such a wise little saying. I've got the shadow thing about nailed down since it continues to fascinate me. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for those false friends though...I certainly don't want to be sharing my blocks with somebody who shows up only when the sun shines...especially in this town!

My future's so bright...

...I've gotta wear shades!

Check Seattle and me out! There was so much sun today that I got to wear shorts, shades and a sun hat!

Walk this way...

And here Grandma and I are on that walk I was telling you about. We had a great time talking to all sorts of people in the neighborhood and visiting the local poochie-mutts that happened to be outside. We even met a man who used to work at John Deere in Canada, so he thought my hat was tops! The sun has finally come out in Seattle and Junuary seems to be coming to an end. Thank goodness!

I look good in John Deere green!

This is the first time I've worn a ball cap, so I thought it'd be appropriate if I busted out my John Deere hat. I love it! I'm ready for a visit out on the farm with my cousins, but first I'm going to head out on a walk with Grandma while Mom works.

Me and my shadow

I started out with being intrigued by my toy, but then I saw something following me...my shadow! He's a tricky little bugger to catch.

One way or another, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha

Lately I've become intrigued with the camera, so Mom is going to have to get with the program if she wants to catch me doing anything without being camera aware. Hey, I just want to make sure I look good for my close-up!