We first celebrated in Mexico with Dan's brother and his family. We were on the beach at a lovely villa, enjoying the beach and warm weather. Our sister-in-law got some lovely cupcakes and Julian experienced the "happy bday" song for the first time and a candle. It was a wonderful trip.
We came home to warm weather and then ventured to Wisconsin via car. Dan and I both picked up a stomach bug in Mexico, but I was mostly better. Everytime I tried to drive, Julian was not happy. Eventually he slept and I drove. We left after Dan was done teaching (4pm) and it was perfect timing for Julian to sleep for the last half of the drive. We made it in less than 10 hours which I thought was amazing since we stopped a lot.
His party was fantastic! My brother, SIL, and nieces hosted the event in their lovely house and it couldn't have been more perfect. We had amazing pulled pork and other great food. Julian was a ham and tolerated all the people so well. He loved the attention. I only had to remove him from the event a couple of times to de-stim a bit. My nieces doted on him and gave me a huge break! An old highschool friend made his cake into Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". I loved it. The head was red and was his smash cake. He didn't eat any, but we had a mess on our hands!
The next day we visited my biological dad and family. It was a 45 min drive to meet him and it was snowing. After our brunch, we headed back because it was snowing so much. It was a whiteout blizzard and we could only go 30 mph on the interstate. Wisconsin winter is not my favorite, nor is the Wisconsin spring when we can have 70s and 80s in southern Indiana. (Today it's low 30s here...just like Cinci...80 one day, 30 the next).
We are now home in Bloomington, selling our possessions on Craigslist, and preparing for our move to New Zealand. Julian is growing by leaps and bounds physically and mentally. It's amazing to see a baby grow into a toddler!
Tricks:
- At his bday party he took 4-5 steps. This has continued and he does so when there is something in his hand. He likes to walk while holding onto us, so I guess if there is an object in his hand, he has a sense of security and will take a few steps. He's been cruising the furniture for so long, it seems like he'll never walk on his own, but I can seem him venturing out more. He likes to stand for long periods without leaning on anything.
- After Mexico I was playing with him and his toys and he put the rings on the post. He mastered it in 3 days and now loves to put them on it. He also can stack his blocks, put objects into a box and is obsessed with removing lids and putting them on again. My baby is growing up!
- My dear friend got him a hammering block, it's AWESOME! He started pounding on it right away. I'm not sure if he thinks it's a drum though. The kid LOVES music, but I'll speak more about this.
- I brushed his hair and he took the brush and brushed his own hair and then I asked him to brush mine. Dan wasn't a fan of him growing up to be a teenage boy who brushes his mama's hair. I told him to relax a bit and that he's only one.
- He likes to sit and use his feet to spin himself around in a circle. It's hilarious and I need a video of it.
- He loves being outside. The tops of his feet broke out after wearing sandals. I don't know if it was the grass or the dirt with fertilizer that caused the reaction.
- Obsessions: music (guitars and drums), dogs, and balls.
- Dan has to hide his guitar because J would love to play with it all day. We were at a friend's house last night and her son had the cutest little guitar and J played with it for a LONG time. (This link is not the exact guitar that they have. I'll have to search for it on amazon). He still plays with the 99 cent little tykes electric guitar everyday and rocks out to the music!
- He love classical music. Public radio plays it every morning, so I turn it up and he conducts or "rocks out" to the melodies and rhythms. He also rocked out to the Beatles "Hello, Goodbye" when I couldn't find anything on the radio. The hey-la part at the end was his favorite.
- Drums are awesome (I never thought I'd say that). I never wanted J to play drums, but it's the only thing a baby can play. I can get him to stop crying by "beat boxing" or making some drum noise with my mouth. He does it and is so cute doing it. He played with my friend's toy drum yesterday for a long while too.
- Julian loves dogs. In Mexico, the chef had a shih tzu with a great temperament and he played so well with J-man! When we go for walks, we always see dogs and people are pretty kind and let Mr. Julian pet the dogs. Julian has actually been quite gentle with the dogs. Our neighbor's in-laws are in town and they have two BIG dogs. J was standing and holding one around the neck (hugging him) and patting him like a baby. It was so cute and I should try to get a picture or video of him doing it before they leave. It was so sweet. J man can be such a brute, but he is so good with dogs. NO...to answer your question...we are NOT getting a dog!
- J's vocab is bursting. His friend who we visited yesterday is named Jack and today I asked Julian if he could say Jack. He said "Dack". ha ha. It was cute. I think I've stated before all the animal noises he can say and the car noise and a siren for the fire truck.
- He can say mama, but prefers dada or daddy. BALL is his favorite word for anything round. Yesterday he said "boon" for balloon.
- His comprehension is just amazing to me. I can say, "where is the ______" and he points to it. I talked about this before. How can they do this, but they don't form real memories until after they are two years old? He was given a word book for his bday and it is awesome seeing him point to things that he wants me to say or point to the things when I ask him, "where is the ____?" What a joy!
Well, that's enough of me bragging about my baby...I mean toddler. Yes, he'll always be my baby, but he's almost a toddling toddler. For now we'll bask in beautiful Bloomington, then we're off to spend a few weeks in Portugal and Spain and then the big move to New Zealand is in June! Please come and visit us here or there!
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| the duck turned into a big chicken. 1 on his shirt for being the big 1! |
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| nieces doting! |
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| the boys who are 1 week apart |
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| family photo |
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