Wednesday, August 24, 2011

James walking!

This is by far my favorite video clip so far of James walking. He had a strange nap day where he didn't wake up from his afternoon nap till 7:30pm (when I woke him up for dinner). Thus, he was still awake and ready to roam at 9:30pm. And, since it was 79 degrees in the house, I decided to let him hang out in his diaper, which he loved doing!

We have a curtain in our hallway set up to direct some of the air conditioned air from our room to his during the day to keep his room cool... James just loves playing with it and thinks it's great fun (as you will soon see)...



And yeah, he was ok after that fall at the end. It didn't even phase him!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

James is 14 months old!!

James is officially 14 months old! And boy, is he starting to be more of a toddler than a baby, let me tell you!

It's been awhile since I've updated about James's progress and new skills, so I thought I'd mention a few.
He has 5 teeth, and possibly more coming since he's pulling on his ears like CRAZY, so much that he sometimes bruises them.

He LOVES books and will bring them to me to read to him. He also likes to bring me his toys so we can play together.

James is walking maybe 7-10 steps in a row a few times per day. I have yet to catch it on camera, since he's often running towards
something dangerous and I have to catch him!

He often falls down while trying to walk. Today he conked his head on the side of the coffee table and got a big goose egg. I tried to put a cold pack on it, but he wasn't having it. Oh well...

James thinks the following things are hysterical: Daddy playing the fiddle, Mickey Mouse, old toys found in new and unexpected places, peekaboo, and stuffed animals that talk.

He likes to wiggle around when he hears music. Sometimes he "sings" with me in the car.

James says dada for a lot of things, but most specifically for "daddy." He still hasn't said mama, he doesn't really have a word for me yet but he knows me as mama if I say "give it to mama" or something like that.

James doesn't say any other words yet, but he does know the sign language for many things. Most recetly he does "Airplane" since I am teaching him about planes before we go on our trip! He moves his hand back and forth in front of him trying to imitate us. It's darn cute. He did it all by himself without me doing it the other day too when I said airplane!

He loves the sign for hat, and always pats his head when I put on a headband or put my sunglasses on my head.

He is shy when first presented with a new thing or person, but quickly warms up to investigate.

James is obsessed with opening and closing things. He loves cabinets, doors, and anything with hinges, including my phone and a little toy his grandma got him that is a box with cow colors that has two hinges that open up to reveal a small cow inside. He loves that thing. He also loves buttons.

He has developed "likes" and "dislikes" in the food department, which is frustrating. Most of the things he dislikes are sour or strong tasting foods, like onions. He also hates the texture of real meat since he's only had pureed stuff really. He likes peanut butter and jelly (made with all-fruit no sugar jelly on 100% whole wheat), and these zucchini blueberry waffles I make him with cream cheese. James will pretty much eat any fruit or veggie you put in front of him... he especially likes cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden!

James sleeps 12 hrs or so at night. He likes to get up at 6:30 and cry for the pacifiers he threw out of the crib, but he goes right back to sleep after we give them to him. He is transitioning to one nap a day, which is not easy but necessary I think. He's been taking a long nap from 10-1pm, and that's too early in the day to get him to 7:30pm. So we'll have to try pushing it back, bit by bit...

James points at things or holds objects up when he wants to know what they are. And for some reason he's learned to say "more" by holding up one finger. One more? Who knows.

Oh, and he throws little tantrums if you take him away from something he wants. But he's easily distracted, so show him something interesting and he'll forget all about it.

That's all I can think of for now... here are a few pics for your enjoyment!








Busy book!

With all our travels coming up (Mt. Rainier, Disneyland, etc), I decided to look for some things to keep James occupied in transit when he's stuck in his carseat. Besides some rolls of masking tape to stick to things, flash cards, and some books, I also decided to make this busy book for James to teach him some basic skills (buttons, colors, matching, zippers, lacing/tying, buckles, counting, telling time, textures, shapes, etc) and keep him happy!

This book was a labor of love, and though some of the things he won't really appreciate for a few years yet, I am hoping that way we'll get more mileage out of it since it took quite a long time to complete. I also decided (after a test run) to attach the small pieces with clear thread so that James wouldn't throw the pieces all over the car or plane and lose them.
So here we are! The completed busy book!

Cover
 

Hang the laundry
 

Stoplight and textures (You velcro and unvelcro the stoplight circles and put them in the right order)
 

Buckle the collar and Tuck me into bed
 

Lace the football and match the shapes/colors
 

Telephone and Dress me (and yeah, the whole time I was making the phone I realized James would likely never see a real telephone in our house, let alone a rotary!)
 

What time is it? and Sports
 

Zip the tee pee and Count with the abycuss (there is a picture of the three of us in the tee pee)
 

Match the baloons and Put your hand in the mitten
 

Button the flowers (the flowers tuck into the flower pot)
 

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

New shoes!

Since we have a soon-to-be full-time walker around now, it was time to buy him some shoes for him. James though the shoes were funny and couldn't figure out why they didn't come off when he kicked his feet!

Here are a few pics of his new shoes!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Just FYI, there are some more pics of James's antics and adventures in the 14th month album that I don't have time to post.
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A tale of a boy and his crab...

For some reason, James has really taken to this crab cushion I picked up at a Ikea a few years back. He likes to carry it around when he plays...I'm afraid we'll have to take it on vacation with us since he loves it so much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meeting Max

James had the opportunity to go see a doggie up close the other day... our friend Jodi's dog Max. He was wary of him at first, but then he went over and grabbed his leg! Luckily, Max is a good dog and tolerated James's exploration. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Raccoons!

A family of raccoons ran through our front yard yesterday for some reason, and we decided to show them to James (from the safety of indoors, or course!)
 

 

 

 

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Scandinavian festival, take two!

Today Eliot came with us to go back to the Scandinavian Festival for Finnish day. We saw some traditional dancers, watched a polka band, and enjoyed some corn dogs, salmon pockets, elephant ears and ice cream. :-) James did really well, bouncing around in his stroller and then walking around a bit while we watched the dancers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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