You walked a city block a few weeks ago. It was insane. Not just any city block, one of the long Richmond blocks. You walked from Fulton to Cabrillo all on your own, and you got pissed that we didn’t let you walk further.

Why didn’t we?

Well, it took you 20 minutes to walk that block. Let me elucidate here:

• Your legs are little. You take teensy steps that are cute and adorable but aren’t exactly fast transport
• You are experiencing so much as new, you want to look at everything. And point at everything. And smell everything. And touch everything. Including things you shouldn’t touch.
• You didn’t realize we had a destination, so you backtracked, a lot. It was cute at first. Really, it was.
• You apparently really want to break into other people’s homes, and kept on trying to climb up to their front door. This is troubling - please do not become a criminal in the future.

The videographic evidence:

We took these at the park on Lincoln near 19th Ave. You were so tired you were dilerious. But you still didn’t want to let us take you out of the swings.

It’s hard to time a picture on the iPhone, the shutter speed is terribly slow. I took some 20 pics of you, and these were the best.

Hugs,
-Oz

• Casey is now knocking on closed doors.  Makes a little fist and everything.  Not entirely sure why.  Lesli believes this is because Casey noticed Lesli knocks on the door of the people she nannies for and they open the door.  It does make me wonder, though - what does she expect to happen there?  Who does she expect to open the door?
• She knows how to turn on and off her CD player.  She has one that is loaded with a CD that plays lullabies, and has learned how to press play, pause, and increase the volume.  Which is about as much fun as you can imagine.
• Speaking of doors, as I mentioned before, she’s actually gotten quite good at closing doors.  Which can turn into quite the fruitless exercise.

That is all.  I’ll post some videos soon, I swear.  Good times.

This is a less interesting post than the last one, if only because the point of it is only to put another one of our little web cam videos on this blog, so that others who aren’t on Facebook can see it (e.g. Lesli’s mom - hi Lesli’s Mom!).

So, without further ado, here’s yet another video of you being silly.

You are…  a little ham.

In this video, you and I, we just, I dunno.  You’re my foil, something I’m sure you’ll be for the rest of your life.

The craziest part is that, well, I’m not the one who stops the video rolling.  You are.  And, your mom watched the video, and while she was, you actually managed to do all of the tricks I was asking you to do, when I asked you to during the video.   That’s not fair - in fact that’s actually kind of devilish and cheeky.

I assume this’ll be a trend in our future dealings…

-oz

Seems one of the only consistent ways to get you to sleep in the middle of the day is to put you in a car and drive.

This means all of our days’ errands are based around your nap schedule. Fun.

You are officially now one of ‘those’ babies. Or toddlers. You know what I mean.
-Oz

In what is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever, ever seen, you managed to turn one right beneath our eyes.

We looked at your baby pics, the ones we’ve kept on our mantle; there’s this frame we have that has a holder for a small-ish picture for each one of your months along with a larger one for your year old picture.  Your pictures look amusing from birth till about three months: but each one after that looks pretty much the same.  Your face fills out, then gets a little more “normal person” looking.  Your hair grows further from a  nest-like ‘fro to a mop of curls that would be four times their length were they straight.

Your four teeth haven’t been joined by any others quite yet but you are certainly teething.  And drooling.

You say a few words but they’re not quite there yet.  You know who I am and call me “dadadada” and you call Lesli “maaaaaaaaaaaaa”.  You know new baby tricks like dancing when we ask you to, blowing kisses, and walking all over the place with reckless abandon.

A year.  It’s hard to believe it went by so fast.  More pictures soon.

Love always,
-Oz

I think at this point, it’s safe to declare that the word, ‘the’ is not your first word, irrespective of your constant use of it.

Instead, I think it’s ‘mama’. You say it to get Lesli’s attention. You say it to call out to her when she’s no longer in the room. You’ve pointed while saying it, directly at her.

So I guess, first word slightly before 10 months. Not too surprised at your vocabulary, all things considered. Your mom is your world. And you are hers.
-Oz

It’s been a while and I have a ton of things to bring up but nearly no time to do it. I sometimes feel like that song, I think it’s by Harry Chapin - ‘Cats in the Cradle’. Lots of work and little time for my cub, my little baby bear. But the time I do have, I have so many projects to finish it’s ridiculous. Meantime I’m too exhausted to really play.

You are teething. A lot. Your bottom teeth are coming in and you hate it. Very much.

You eat solid foods a lot - at least as solid as one can refer to the jarred mush we feed you. You appreciate the more complex foods - the Mango Chicken Resoto over the mashed carrots. I’m not sure who you got that from.

Also, your hair would be past your chin if only it were straight. Of course with your mother and I as your parents, you were all kinds of screwed, and your hair seems to be getting even more impossibly curly.

Sucks for you.

Here are a few pics.
-Oz

There’s really no reason for me posting this, except that you’re absolutely adorable right now.

-Oz