Second First Birthday

A few days after Witten turned one, he and I headed to Wisconsin to spend time with my side of the family.

My first birthday cake growing up was Big Bird, so I requested a similar one for Witten. His eyes are special...

Frosting is much better indoors.

Rocking a Birthday Present

Hyrum's birthday is a week after Witten's and Holli made him this beautiful (and frightening) cake

One day we went to a farm and Witten thought the "sand" (corn) box was his personal snack

The way to Witten's heart? Read him a book!

Theme Song: Your Happy Birthday, Charlene Anderson Newell

Let Them Eat Cake

Witten was born in late October. So we chose to have his birthday party outside. Naturally. Virginia can actually be quite warm that time of year, and the days leading up to the party were beautiful. But the day of the party dawned cold and windy. Not cold enough to move the party indoors to our teeny apartment, but cold enough to give Witten a red nose.

A lot of Will's extended family was able to attend and we all had a fun time on the playground, watching Witten open presents (which translates to alternately crying on dad's shoulder and trying to eat the wrapping paper), and watching Witten's discomfort over having frosting on his fingers.

The nip in the air, being overwhelmed with so many people, and being expected to eat cake proved too much for Witt to handle, and he dissolved into tears several times. Being the center of attention is hard.

But, all in all, I'd say it was a success. Nothing can go too terribly wrong if there's a swing set involved.

Is that cake?!

Gimme that cake!

Is this what cake feels like? Take it away!

He liked the taste of the frosting well enough, but the texture was not his friend.

Aunt Michelle, and cousins Megan and Aimee

Grammy and Pap Pap Davis

Grammy Breton

Uncle Randy, Aunt Trudy, and cousin Ben

Nanna and Grampop Rowley

A little love for his favorite person on earth...

Theme Song: Birthday, The Beatles

A Year Older and Wiser

My darling baby is an entire year old. I cannot believe it has only been a year [or in reality, 15 months...], and yet I cannot believe how old he is. It's an emotionally complicated time for me.

Loves: Being a total goofball. He give high fives, claps normally, shakes his head back and forth, and particularly likes to chase and be chased. He is also a champion peek-a-boo player. He will hide himself behind a pillow or a blanket and pop out with a little smile and expectant face until someone says "peek-a-boo!"

Make a Face!

Witten also spends a lot of his time bending at the waist (he still refuses to bend his knees) trying to pick things up. He can't actually reach most stuff so he has become very adept at kicking his toys all over the apartment. Especially his soccer ball.

Fell asleep on his face, but it looks like he slapped himself...

Is there anything more fun than finding people's noses? Witten knows nothing is. He points with the best of them, and will even find his own nose (more often than not he sticks his finger up his nose...but that's neither here nor there). He also likes to push buttons and point to various pictures in books.

Our favorite activity with our favorite person.

Witten and his buddy Cam bonding. They are the greatest.

Hates: Stairs. Actually it's more of a love/hate relationship. He will stand at the base of a flight, hoist his right leg onto the first step, and then stand there forlorn and stuck. If someone holds both his hands he will pull/step up and swinging his right leg to each step will climb the stairs. He has no fear of walking down stairs, however, and constant vigilance is necessary to grab him before the inevitable fall that I still live in daily fear of.

The only time he'll be on his tummy is when he's asleep.

New Tricks: Witten is in Destruction Mode these days. He removes his clothes from the drawers of his cabinet, takes off his socks, and removes toys from their baskets whenever I try to clean up his room at the end of the day. It's super fun...

He has also taken to closing doors. He will walk into the hall bathroom, fully close the door, stand in the dark for a bit, then start to whimper until someone comes to his rescue. He has also trapped himself in our bedroom and his own bedroom. If doors are partially closed he will open them all the way before closing them completely and trapping himself once again.

There is a lot to do in this wide world, so much so that sometimes Witten has to walk away in the middle of me telling him something. Sometimes he occasionally responds to a "come back" or a "come here" but mostly he does his own thing. Independence!

Theme Song: You Are My Sunshine, Johnny Cash

Eleven Months

So...blogging has officially got lost in the shuffle. Many months later I want to do a couple posts so we finally get to Witten's birthday (which was in October. yeah.) and then actually make it to the present day.

So, let's time warp back to September 2015...

Loves: Witten's absolute favorite activity is reading. He may be more interested in turning the pages then the actual story most of the time, but we still spend several hours every day reading books. It's actually to a point where he starts to whimper anxiously when I say "the end" and close a book until I crack open another. If we have to stop reading for any reason he cries emphatically until he can be distracted by something else.

He is also very interested in music. Witten has liked to listen to music his whole life, but he has recently gotten into playing the piano and the xylophone. Not only does he play the piano keys, he also likes to mess around with all the fun buttons on our keyboard. He's particularly fond of turning it into a full organ--so dramatic. We gave him a toy xylophone and he loves to play beautiful music. I love how happy it makes him.

Sometimes you have to just chill with a ladle

Hates: There's not really anything to put here--my little happy man is pretty much pro-everything these days. Except being on his tummy...don't even go there.

Witten is a champion walker. It's been about a month since the latest crash and burn. He cannot pull himself up to standing though. He will pull on our arms to stand up, but if he plops down on his bum, he is there to stay. He doesn't even seem to have a desire to pull up on furniture, or move to hands and knees, and then up to standing. It is nice when I have to do the dishes and don't want him messing in the dishwasher--if I have him sit somewhere with his toys and books, he is there for the duration.

Selfie outside Daddy's classroom

Witten has also turned into an eating machine: apple sauce, peas, pears, carrots, yellow squash, sweet potato, toast, naan, butternut squash, cheese, tomato, banana, cereal with bits, water bottle, nursing, bring it on! He's still working on chewing. He was halfway through a snack in Sunday School a couple of days ago and someone in the pew behind made him laugh and he spewed half chewed food all over them. I was mortified!

Even his sad face is precious

There are so many things to do and explore these days! Witten has to close all the doors in the apartment, but open all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom. It's important. He also enjoys going down the slide, and especially playing on swings. He clicks his tongue and pops his lips like a guppy, and will pass a ball back and forth when seated on the ground.

Fluffy Hair!

New Tricks: We're still working on some motor skills. Right now Witten claps by hitting the back of one hand with the palm of the other and alternating back and forth (moving his hands up and down). He also points at things occasionally, but doesn't really seem to do it on purpose. Sometimes, when things are so exciting and wonderful that he just cannot handle it, he waves his arms all over the place. He does, however, have the high five down pat.

Witten is still a pretty quiet baby, although he says "dada" a lot, but it doesn't really seem to have any meaning to it. He has also recently developed a habit of occasionally biting Will and I, so we always try to keep a teether on hand. He has 7 teeth right now, and more seem to be coming.

In the sleep department, some real progress was made this month. Witten went from waking four our five times at night, to twice and night, to finally being awake only once a night. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel!

Theme Song: I Wonder Why, Dion and the Belmonts