Donny's First Birthday Party!

Well, it came and went in a flash.  Donny handled the day about the way we predicted he would: like a baby!  Presents were a bit traumatic.  He dislikes the sound of ripping paper, so he was not interested in opening his presents.

  
Once they were opened, he was semi-interested, but still unhappy enough to be a bit clingy.  But then we set up the ball pit and he had a great time with his cousin Jack.

  
Cousin Katie liked the big ball.  Great Grandma was the only one who got to hold her for very long.  The two of them got along well - and matched perfectly!

 
Then it was cake time!  I expected that he wouldn't dig in too much because he doesn't like to touch bananas or raspberries because they feel funny.  Frosting was going to be way worse!  But, just in case, I made him his own little yellow monster cake (with a little help from Grandma Whittaker) and Monster's Inc inspired buddies for the rest of the family.

 
He was more interested in his pretzel than the cake.

 

He removed an eye very quickly and looked around for help with the frosting on his fingers.  I gave him a taste of it (which he liked a lot) but he still didn't want to touch it.  He did chew on the hat for a while because the frosting on it was dried - but Grandma Whittaker had to convince him it was okay.

  

But that didn't last long.  He was much happier when he was clean and eating his cereal and beans.




Here's what the cake looked like when he was done with it.  The missing eye is all he gets credit for, the chunk of cake missing out of the top was done by his Mama who fed him a couple of bites.  Cousin Jack did much better on his blue monster.

Here are a few more shots of the day to make your day cheerful! 

          

Donny's buddy Chase came over for his party, and they had a good time together.  The second picture of Donny doing his version of a kiss.  A sitter taught him a Spanish command "Tope" which means "bump heads" or something similar.  So he gently head bumps us to say he likes us.  (Real kisses are all tongue, so I prefer this habit!)


 

His Great Aunt Kris delivered his dresser drawers which she had painted to match his bedroom set.  We really love them!


 

He ended his day sitting outside on his new homemade monkey blanket with his beautiful Grandma and Grammy.  He did not want to come back inside and go to bed!  I did... but I'm still sitting here posting.  I'm going to sleep now!

 

1:57 am

Where was my camera?

   

Today Andy and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. He's got a cold. So does Donny. So we took the stir crazy kid with us to the Rose Festival village for a walk and lunch. Auntie Jo came too. He spent most of the time with his legs kicking wildly while his hat sunk further and further down his face until it covered his eyes. This didn't seem to bother him for some reason. It WAS a cold and windy day to be outside, but seriously he could not see anything but the inside of his hat. I pulled it out of his face many times and he pulled it back over his eyes - silly kid!

Then we had lunch. I had some yummy curry chicken and fry bread which I shared with the Don (he seems to like curry, horray!), Joann had coffee from the Himalayas, and Andy had a brat with the works and his lemon shaker. It was when we were done with our freezing meal that Andy spotted Sponge Bob. He pretended to be afraid that Sponge Bob would see him, then he rolled Donny's stroller over to see him, assuming that he would be frightened of a large yellow square creature with giant eyes and mouth. Sponge Bob, too, seemed a bit afraid to approach Donny and scare him.

This is when our lethargic, sick little boy smiled, reached out, and shook Sponge's finger. He smiled for at least a minute afterwards before settling back into his hat over the eyes stupor.

He has refused to take a nap so far today besides the 20 minutes he got in the car. I wonder if being sick has made it too hard to stay asleep? Oh well! He's happily babbling and beating his toys against the floor right now, so I'm not going to worry about it.

CONTINUED...

After a late nap (4:30-6:00) we had to wake the poor boy up to drag him out of the house yet again. But it was so worth it! It was opening night of Peter Pan out in Washougal and we couldn't miss it even for an anniversary. Because of Donny's cold, we decided not to leave him with a sitter, but to try having him watch with us. I was poised at the exit to take him out as soon as the inevitable emotional outburst began.

The show opened with much anticipation and the audience was jazzed. Then the moment when Peter Pan flew into the room arrived and the house cheered. Donny was also excited and jumped in my lap until the clapping died down. Then he settled back in to watch. He made it all the way through the first act - and I only had to put a bottle in his mouth twice because he was talking. He was enthralled with the singing and dancing and seemed to even like the dialog (though Captain Hook bored him - maybe it was the booing?)

During intermission we let him roll around on the floor and shriek. It seemed like he was ready to be free. I figured I'd miss the second half. I was wrong! He settled in very nicely and watched the whole show. He got a bit drowsy at one point, but he clapped whenever a song ended (even if the actors started talking in the middle of a song which was not done and he was the only clapper!)

  



After the show Donny was clearly tired, and so were his parents, so we left right away. But Andy heard Donny beg for Sonic :) so we stopped at the brand new Sonic which has finally made it's way to Vancouver and had dinner. Our third wheel didn't spoil our anniversary dinner one bit. He sat in the backseat and talked to the lights and carhops happily while we had our romantic fast food topped with a pineapple sundae.

What a great day! And to top it off, Donny started making forward progress today by getting on toes and forearms and lurching forward to get things. Crawling can't be too far off now?

Off the charts!

At 11 months, our "little" boy is finally off the charts.  At 30.25 inches long and 28.5 pounds, Donny is now officially abnormally large for his age and his mama's back.   We did two girafferoo photo shoots this month.  The first in his retro hot dog outfit with his first McDonald's french fries, the second in the chair that he now knows how to slide out of whenever he is tired of sitting down. 

   
He is a wiggler.  He does not cuddle for more than a second, and no sooner have I picked him up (at his request), but he is climbing back down.  I feel like I have a toddler on my hands, even though he hasn't even got the crawling thing down yet.  He is rolling everywhere and scooting backwards - pulling his baby monitor onto the floor by the cord.

 
We took a family mini-vacation to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) this month. 

Donny got to see his grandparents who were there on a school field trip, watched his first OmniMax movie (Lewis and Clark - isn't Grammy Shire proud! he loved it!  bounced and waved at the screen - only the bear scared him a little), and explored the baby/toddler room.

Here he is in an eagle's nest with Daddy:


and pretending to be a dinosaur:

 
Playing in the ball pit and talking to the fish: 
   
Our big boy is the joy of our days.  Andy is at his best with his son, teaching him new tricks and playing/exploring.  I am at my most content and joyful when "playing" with him, singing to him, dancing with him.  And now he has begun to talk to me too!  Mostly babbling, but sometimes I get a real "Hi!" The babbling seems like real words sometimes.  I definitely get the emotional content of what he is saying even if I don't understand the words. The words I do understand are Daddy, Mama, Hi, Bye Bye, and Light.  And he is good about signing "all done," and "more."  He also copies us (especially Andy) when we make noises.  He has a very cute fake laugh, cough, and whistle.  

He decided he didn't want to be swaddled a couple of weeks ago, and also seems to be rejecting his pacifier when we lay him down for a nap or at bedtime.  He is an independent and busy little boy.

    
I am treasuring every minute.  What a blessing he is in my life!