Happy 1st Birthday!

Oh, how your feet have grown!


Happy Birthday Adam!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Chairs!

One of Adam's new play interests is moving chairs around in the kitchen. I call him my little muscle man. No matter how many times he gets himself stuck between chairs or bumps his head under the table or scares the crap out of himself when he knocks a chair over, he won't stop rearranging them.

Look Familiar?

Last night, Adam insisted on having a try at feeding himself with the spoon. Remember a few months ago, when he was trying solid foods for the first time?

at 5 months

Lessons in Photography

It recently occurred to me that Adam knows a few odd, but complex (for a baby) concepts about his environment. He understands that shadows and bright spots on surfaces are made by beams of light. When he notices a shadow or a bright spot of light, he invariable looks for the source. He acquired this understanding after countless attempts to catch the light that came out of his little Fisher Price portable projector.

Another thing he picked up early on was the knowledge that the remote controls control the t.v. From the time he could reach for and hold a remote, he would squeeze it and look up to see what change happened on the television. He's since learned that you can go straight to the box (audio receiver, cable box, tv, dvd player) and muck things up there.

Adam has also developed a huge fondness for telephones. When someone is on the phone, he is right there, following from room to room if he has to, trying to get to the phone. He'll listen to the person on the other end and grunt back. If you share the phone with him, you become his best bud.

So, I figured it was time to start introducing him to other concepts, like photography. He is familiar with videos of him and will grunt or giggle when he sees himself on video, but he wasn't so impressed with pictures of himself.

My goal is to take him around the yard, house and neighborhood for photo field trips. I started yesterday by holding the camera in front of him while we photographed a few of his toys. We used Matt's point-and-shoot camera which has a digital display that will show the picture for a few seconds after the photo is taken (like most cameras). This is a great instantaneous way to show Adam what the camera does. He was quite taken with the activity. He even stood still and let me take his picture (blurry, because I was trying to hurry) after we photographed his toys.

The only problem: Adam cried when it was time to put the camera away.

Adam waiting patiently for Mommy to take his picture

Adam's First Photos: Giraffe

Adam's First Photos: Alphabet Book

Adam's First Photos: Learning Turtle

Adam Playing Guitar (Playing with Guitar)

Photos from Christmas 2010

Adam wrapped up and riding in his new wagon.

Standing before he was officially walking.

Matt and Adam, reading.

Still Broadcasting...

Happy New Year to everyone! We are still around and still broadcasting...

Let's start with a summary of family events since the last blog:

• In late November, we made our very first family of three trip back to NM. We spent a few days visiting Matt's side of the family in Albuquerque, followed by a few days in Magdalena, visiting Berta's side of the family. Adam handled being in the car seat for the long trip both ways like a champ. He had a small meltdown after a stop for dinner (at the halfway point to Albuquerque), when I'm pretty sure I accidentally pinched him with the buckle of his car seat. =( After taking him out of the car seat and letting him play for a while in the back seat, we secured him back in his seat and finished the rest of the drive to Albuquerque. On the way back to Tucson, Adam had diarrhea, so both Matt and I were on edge about how many stops we'd have to make to change Adam. We were lucky in that of 4 diaper changes, only 1 was a poopy. Our baby boy enjoyed visiting both families and thanks to Grandpa W, we brought home a chatterbox!
• Matt was in a smallish fender-bender in December which left us scrambling for a family-friendly vehicle for use around town and for the planned trip to NM for Christmas vacation. We rented a full-size car and found that the extra space was just barely enough to transport the Christmas gifts and all of Adam's accoutrement. Matt likes to joke (very accurately), "Oh, what's this one small bag? Why that's clothes/toiletries for me and Berta for the next nine days. And that 500 foot tower of stuff behind me? All Adam."
• A week after Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday, was my (Berta's) birthday.
• A week after that, Matt and I celebrated our second anniversary.
• Our beloved babysitter moved back to her home state. We are devastated.
  
• We made our second trip "home" in late December. The visit went well. Adam warmed up to all the family members much faster this time. I think he remembered the two homes, so he was ready to resume his explorations of other people's stuff. Our trip back to Tucson was smooth. Travel is rough and I'm always glad to be home from a trip. There was one little guy who was even happier than me to be home. When Adam saw that Matt had parked us inside the garage of our own home, he was smiling ear-to-ear. He wore that grin for days afterward. I know he had a blast with family, but he was equally happy to be back to his own bed(s), his toys, books, his relative freedom.
  
• December 31, 2010. Adam is officially walking. He'd been taking 2-3 unassisted steps, but New Year's Eve of 2010 was the day he decided to walk across rooms. Every since then, he's been moving about from room to room with increasing ease.
• My sister Shell moved in to help us care for Adam while Matt and I work.
  
• Matt's car was considered a total by his insurance company, so he was in need of a new vehicle.
  
• We celebrated Matt's birthday.
• We bought a new vehicle for Matt and a family vehicle that had been in plan for about 4 years (even before we had a family!).

We are now a week away from Adam's first birthday. People said that the time would go by fast. They were right! I remember (with mingled longing and gratitude) the nights I held him as a newborn and wondered how I would ever comfort him into sleep. He would scream every time I tried to set him down in his bassinet. I would hold him in my arms in the dark. I would have to get my face really close to his face to see if his eyes were open or shut. His large eyes would be staring up at the ceiling. He absolutely terrified me. Over the course of those nights, I learned to sing to Adam. I made up simple songs about how much I love him. We eventually fell into a pattern of me singing and rocking him to sleep. Even then, I knew that I would soon miss those nights. It's now rare that he will let me (or insist that I) rock and sing him to sleep. This first year was wanting to preserve every moment and eagerness in all the new adventures. It is wonderful to be Adam's mom.