On Sunday we took you to the Minnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul. Our walk through the lobby thrilled you with it’s bright colors, wooden wall mural and big oversized fish. But when we took you to the Habitat play area, you got pretty shy and frightened. Once you realized that the other toddlers around you posed less of a threat, you warmed up to the large, spinning flowers and the butterfly decorations.
We also saw Grossology (an exhibit about the gross things bodies do) and walked through a tiny town where you played with some blocks and took a picture with daddy. Your favorite area though, was a series of water stations where you could float balls, race boats and ducks, and you could splash away. We finished by having a snack in the snack area and you fell fast asleep on the way home.
Mommy took off tonight for a class, so daddy had to come home from work early to take care of you. It was pretty fun for the first couple of hours. You showed him how you could bash your cup on the side of the table like a drum, how you could fling your pieces of toast into the floor after you had them in your mouth and how you could spit our your spinach, tear it apart, then gleefully reconsume it.
Later you were pretty cranky, but you and daddy read lots of books until you fell asleep. (Which you do much better now that mommy bought you an LED “Monkey Tree” night light)
This weekend we took you to Stillwater, Minnesota. It was only 40 minutes from our house but felt like a world away. Our intention was to spend the night, get up the next day to see the frozen St. Croix River and do a little window shopping on it’s charming streets.
The Water Street Inn and Stillwater Lift Bridge
We stayed in a great hotel called the Water Street Inn with a large bed, a fireplace, a setee which looked like it came from the 1930s and three large, tall picture windows. The TV was in a cabinet that we barely even opened. And momma and daddy’s bed was a large, carved relic from an earlier age (or perhaps, made to look like one).
Our amazingly big room
But it was too cold, so it became a little jaunt to a tiny local brewer, a mexican meal at Nacho Mama’s (which, as it turned out, was far too spicy for daddy’s palette), some Saturday shopping and staying near our hotel.
Eating at Nacho Mamma's
The Inn was very charming though. There was a pub downstairs, a formal receiving room and a great set of dining rooms. And there was a tub in our room! Mamma wanted to get into the whirlpool jaccuzi, but the jets were far too loud to allow you to sleep. We still managed to have fun. You got to see an Irish band play a couple of songs (you watched from the door), ate at the restaurant twice and absolutely shocked your mother by saying “hi, da da!” very plainly when I joined you at the table.
Just after saying "Hi, dada!"
You did wake up fussing in the middle of the night, which turned into screaming; we weren’t sure if it was your teething or if you were just scared at being in a different place. But after about a half hour, daddy rocked, sung and snuggled you back to sleep (and pulled his back in the process). On the way home, daddy stopped to shoot some pictures while mommy guarded you in the car and you slept all the way back. It was a fun weekend, even though it didn’t exactly turn out as we’d planned.
We had a really great day with you today. Daddy got up and fed you a much bigger breakfast than mommy usually does, but you didn’t complain. You ate a light lunch and then your regular afternoon snack. After that, we went to Mall of America so daddy could get a haircut and you went with mommy to see the aquarium instead of just waiting. You slept on the way home and while mommy was at the grocery store. And when we got home, you fell asleep pretty quick.
Then, you woke up. And when you did, you cried for a bit, so daddy brought you into the living room where you could fall asleep on his chest. But you didn’t. Instead, you got into a crazy bout of the giggles which made it REALLY hard for mom and dad to keep things low key and quiet. And for some reason, your pacifier was the funniest thing on the planet.
After your laughter, you became very irritated and remembered how tired you were, so sometime around 10:30 pm (and much crying) and a bottle, and a change of pajamas, and many songs, you finally fell back to sleep.
(footnote: And again at 1:00 am. Maybe this is gas?)
You’ve started doing some funny little things. In fact, it’s almost hard for us to document them fast enough, so I thought I’d leave you a little list here:
You think Zydeco music is awesome.
You have started babbling with intonation, so sometimes it really DOES sound like you’re asking us a question.
You sometimes do a little “dance” when music comes on the television.
You’re able to identify the characters from YO GABBA GABBA! (You have little stuffed toys of them).
You actually crawl to the bookshelf and pull books for us to read to you. And if we don’t do it fast enough? You begin to open them as if you’re reading to yourself.
When you sleep, you sometimes wake up, stand up, grab the long stuffed dragon on the back of your bed, wrap your knees around it and fall back to sleep.
Unquestionably, your favorite food is applesauce. The mere mention of it lights a fire behind those already sparkly eyes.
You had a good New Year’s Eve. It consisted of you sleeping as mommy and daddy watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin goof around on CNN in Times Square.
We did a lot of shopping and running around this week. One evening (as you will see in the pictures) you decided to wear your evening snack rather than eat it.
And unfortunately, you had your first “throw up” experience. Didn’t seem to bother you much at all, but it scared mommy & daddy and really shocked the patrons in Noodles and Company; not much of an appetite for anyone after that. You gave us a couple more repeat performances because it turned out to be a stomach virus.
We had to give you Pedialyte so you wouldn’t dehydrate. Our doctor suggested we give you the frozen kind and you seemed to take to it VERY well. Here’s to starting a “frozen treat” trend, but not too often.
What a fun day. You got up early and opened presents with mommy and daddy. You got lots of fun stuff: A kitty that lets you chase it, an alphabet train, a pirate ship, books, clothes and lots of other useful things.
Later that afternoon, when you had played with nearly everything, we decided to go for a walk. You had a great time swinging, we said Merry Christmas to everyone we met (there we lots of people out), and then we came home so you could nap while mommy made Christmas dinner.
And oh what a dinner! We had hazelnut cranberry (vegan) roast “en croute” (that means in a crust), sauteed spinach with lemon & sea salt, and the best mashed cauliflower we ever tasted. We were all stuffed. It was a great Christmas.
Today you and daddy went out for a little walk because it wasn’t too terribly cold (it also gave mommy time to clean up your room so she could make room for the new toys).
Mommy and daddy have different traditions; in her house, Christmas gifts were always opened on Christmas morning, but at daddy’s house, we did some presents on Christmas Eve. So tonight we decided that we could all open one gift (well, for you it was one from mommy & daddy and then one from Grandma and Grandpa Yo).
Your gift from us is an Elephun Play center; loud, but a little fan that pops up plastic balls and plays circus music. The other toy you’re playing with is a farm activity cube. Tomorrow, expect even more fun.
((unfortunately, this video drops sound at the end, but you gave an enthusiastic “ooooooh” over your toys))
A week or so ago, we went to a party thrown by the lady that found us our apartment. You got to see Santa again(!) and I just got the pictures today. With two Santa visits, you’ll surely be top of mind for him this year.
WOW. We can’t believe it’s been a whole year, but today is your birthday! We had a party for you at the Minnesota Zoo, themed “Sea Creatures” since it seems to be your favorite part of the zoo.
Many of our new friends attended:
Jack, Emmet & Ollie Wilcox
Joy, Audrey, Molly & Maddy Himmer
Steve, Carter & Charlie Crane
Todd, Gracie, Adi & Gavin Dexter
Jud, Katrina & Luna Kilgore
Jason Johnson & Rachelle Traut
Molly Murphy & Ben
Of course Grandpa Boyd and Grandma Belinda. And joining us via Skype were Mimi & Doc.
We started with some activities while you ate your lunch, then the rest of the crew had pizza. There was coloring, a little talk about dolphins and finally CAKE (Although your cake was made up of many cupcakes). You were a little reluctant to eat the cupcake at first, but mommy and Grandma Belinda finally coaxed you into it.
After that we all went into the Tropics section of the zoo, the Minnesota Trail section and finally, the Undersea section. Our guests had to leave, but the family remained to take a tram ride around the park.
You also got a few things from the party, but we asked that people bring toys for Toys-for-Tots (for kids not as lucky and fortunate as you). You even stayed up in the car and hummed all the way home.
I hope you had a good day! We love you. Happy First Birthday.
It's Campbell Time! 