Attention Span

We spent the rest of the weekend storing up energy for the week ahead. Oli bought potato chips and beer and we watched a movie about the New York Times Crossword and read Jon Stewart's "America (The Book)". Layden, like today, took an early evening nap (he is still asleep) and we went to bed late. Today Oli started a set of evening shifts and Layden and I went to the library. Then we watched "The Pacifier" (predictable and not that great). If you are thinking that my life is pretty uneventful, that is because it is. I can live with that.
Layden's attention span is definitely getting longer. He sat still for most of the movie. It is a good thing we don't have TV or that would be a very tempting distraction. It is much more fun to watch him wander around the house babbling, pointing, and spreading chaos, occasionally spending some time rolling around on the floor with him or playing fetch. I may start volunteering at the library if they need anything that is suitable for my skills, such as they are. Now that Layden doesn't mind me leaving for a bit now and then I have been thinking I need to find some extracurricular activities. Perhaps I will looking into volunteering at the high school, depending on how my thesis project is going.

Walker

Well we now have a walker on our hands. Luckily as yet he isn't a terribly skilled walker. He can do about 4 ft pretty well then loses his balance and goes back to crawling. He enjoys pinballing around the living room furniture. The funny thing is unless his hands are full he generally walks around with his hands up over his head. Like he wants to be sure that we can see what a big boy he is, look ma, no hands.
This morning I got up it was sunny and not too cold so I decided that after lunch I would walk downtown since I needed to go to the library. By lunch we had 2" of snow. By the time we were ready to go there was 4". We walked any way since I figured I could get the car down the hill but I wasn't sure if a) I would be able to stop it at the bottom or b) get it back up the hill. On my way into town I saw one car that couldn't get up the hill and then saw another that could stopped when it reached the bottom, however the car in front of it could. Now we have about 6" and last I heard the main road to Pullman had been cut off for a few hours because of a jack-knifed semi. The power lines have a pretty good coating of nice heavy snow and the power has already flickered a couple of times, hopefully it won't go. No power=no heat.

Sick Panda

We had a good Christmas with my family (sans Jakob, who was at the Olson's). Christmas Eve we went down to Lewiston (sans Oli, who was at work) we stopped by Costco which was the emptiest I had ever seen it. It felt like we weren't supposed to be there. Then we went to Pizza Hut for Christmas Eve dinner. While we were there Layden learned how to drink out of a straw. Then we capped off the evening by driving all around Lewiston/Clarkston in search of the Christmas lights. The park on the way into town was all lit up with lights. Every tree was liberally draped, there were lighted colonnades, and there was an old train engine lit up. It was also quite chilly but Layden loved it. We had a nice low key Christmas, opened presents, did laundry, made lasagna. Layden received many fun toys for his birthday and Christmas, the ones that made noise were especially great.

Layden got his first hair cut from Mom and Becky, the day after his birthday or so and he looks much older now.
The day after Christmas Mom, Dad, Becky, Layden and I headed up to Sandpoint, Idaho to visit with the Olsons. That afternoon, after we had arrived, Layden threw up. He continued to throw up anything that went in his mouth until 9:00 the next morning. He had stomach cramps and a fever. Eventually he started keeping small amounts of water and milk down but he had a couple of bouts of explosive diarrhea. Currently he is keeping most of his food down but tends to throw up once first thing in the morning. He is mostly better but still goes through periods when he feels pretty gross and needs mommy. He had his well child check up yesterday and is doing well, though in the past three months he has gained less than a pound (up to 20lb now). The doctor figures he just had a case of rotovirus, which generally lasts for about a week. My mom came down with the same thing a day after Layden and is still feeling a bit gross, Brita may also have come down with it but so far they seem to be the only ones.

Other than the whole people getting sick and me not sleeping thing we had a good visit up in Sandpoint. There was a veritable cornucopia of goodies, most likely resulting in a significant holiday weight gain.
We are back home and enjoying a few days off with daddy. Today Oli taught Layden "So big". To "How big is Layden?" he responds by raising at least one arm and saying "so big" (barely intelligibly).

<

Today we drove up Steptoe Butte. It is a quartzite formation over 400 million years old, 3,600 ft elevation, the view is spectacular. It was very cold. Then we drove back down and had waffles with berries.

One Year

Well we have made it one year. You have grown so much it is hard to believe. When I first held you I could not have imagined that you would grow into such a wonderful little boy. Though sometimes this last year has been hard it has also been filled with joy. So many times when I have been frustrated or down you have smiled and whatever was bothering me was no longer so important.
You have had so many firsts in your first year. First time rolling over, first time crawling, first smile, first word, first tooth, first steps, and each was more exciting that the last. When you started crawling we thought you were so talented, so precocious. Then you pulled yourself up to standing and you were so amazing, so strong, so smart. Then you started climbing up the furniture and while we were still impressed we were maybe a bit less excited. You are such a strong little boy, but I guess that isn't really a surprise. A few months of using my bladder as a punching bag, followed by squats and chin-ups would make anyone strong.
You are a very curious, investigative child. Everything is worth investigating, especially if it is a grown up toy. All of Dad's tools are wonderful, but the best thing of all is the screwdriver. Nothing makes your eyes light up like an 8" #2 flat head screwdriver, except perhaps any other screwdriver you manage to lay hands on. What is on the counter top? You don't know, but you are going to find out, drawer handles make great ladders. What's in the roll top desk? As soon as you can get it unrolled you will find out.
You are quite the animal lover, though animals don't always love you. Gentle is still a lesson you need to learn. The cat is trying to teach you but you just roll with the punches. You show up with the occasional scratch but it doesn't seem to faze you. You think Lucy is wonderful and you would love to just pet her and dig your face into her fur but you respect that that is not what she wants.
Even though you put everything from the floor into your mouth (the less edible the better) and you insist that the world is your oyster and won't believe it really isn't OK for you to climb on the table, even though it has been near impossible for me to get anything done for a year now, I would not change a thing. I don't regret a minute of it. You are the greatest gift your father and I have ever received. And now you are starting to talk. You will say Peek-a-boo, uh-oh, sometimes doggy, and maybe even daddy. You have other methods of communication, some more subtle than others. You make the sign that we are trying to teach you means milk for just about any food you want, you have found that trying to pull off my shirt is very effective at communicating "Milk, now!"
One of our friends from college recently found out she was pregnant after 5 months of trying. I remember learning I was pregnant with you, I was excited, a little scared, but excited. I though I knew what this would mean, Blah blah blah, awesome responsibility, blah blah blah, your life is totally different, blah blah blah everything will change, well I didn't know. I thought I could imagine how my life would change, but I couldn't. But I also couldn't imagine how much I would love you, how much joy you were going to bring to my life.

Gotcha!

Today the weather was clear and not too windy so we headed over to Klemgard Park for a hike. It was quite chilly but is was nice to get outside after spending the morning inhaling vinyl fumes. The glue from the floor didn't stink a bit but the floor itself is rather stinking. We have one wall of beadboard up and a coat of paint on it. Next Oli has the most difficult wall to get up, the one with pipes, and light switches, and cabinets. Then I will have a good bit of painting to do, 2-3 coats on the beadboard, the trim and the cabinets.
Today Layden was playing with the toy that has different shapes that you push through correspondingly shaped holes. He managed to push four of them through the correct hole, the first one all onhis own without coaching. That boy is smart enough to keep us quite busy. He is also saying gotcha now. If you chase him around and then grab him and say "gotcha" he will repeatedly make a noise that is reasonably close to "gotcha!".
Joy has been having fun with Layden, he never ceases to impress. She was a big help keeping him out of our hair and the glue while we put the floor down. It is looking like she will continue to have good weather for her drive home tomorrow afternoon.

Signing

As you can see Layden has been keeping busy. He is determined to leave no stack undisrupted, no pile shall remain piled! He even managed to disrupt the transfer of files from the old laptop to the new. It is a lot of fun to turn the little indicator light for the power strip on and off, it is also fun to unplug the router. This led to much not-fun for mommy and almost lost a great many photos. This Saturday Layden and I will be going snow shoeing. So today I will be going shopping for snow boots, or work boots, or something. I have been meaning to get some and this is the motivation.
We have decided that Layden is at the point where an attempt to teach him sign language has a chance of being both beneficial and successful. Please wish us luck in this venture. He is so good at imitating us already that it just might work. His current "sign" for hungry is trying to rip off my shirt. I am hoping we can work out something a bit more subtle.

Learning Curve

Layden seems to have hit that point in the learning curve where it suddenly sweeps up. He has made it past the grub stage where he would just lay where we put him, barely wriggling. Then he made it through the just barely mobile, randomly chaotic stage. Now we are at the increasingly mobile, monkey-see-monkey-do-monkey-innovate stage. In the second stage he would crawl over to a pile of dirt we were trying to sweep up and spread it about, then stick his fingers in his mouth. Now he crawls even quicker to the pile, spreads it all about, but now he dusts off his hands afterwards. He is getting very close to walking. He took a step to the microwave. He took a step all on his own, stood up midcrawl, took a step, then continued crawling. He also will dance with music on occasion. He an a paint pail were really getting down with their bad selves. He is also getting us very well trained. Oli commented that Layden seemed to be developing his own version of sign language and that he used a certain gesture so Layden knows he has something to give him "That one I learned from him".
He still really likes tools, power or otherwise, in fact screw drivers may be his favorite. Today he grabbed a screwdriver, then a screw then put them together in the correct way. Coincidence? I think not. (In case you were just realizing, yes, this is just a look-how-wonderful-and-smart-my-baby-is post.) Sadly screw drivers are rather dangerous looking so we had to take it away. We investigated the snow today and found the texture and consistancy quite interesting but the temperature left something to be desired. He saw a picture Oli had taken last night of the deer lying in the middle of our backyard in the snow and he got very excited. He bounced up and down and made happy noises looking at the picture of the deer on the laptop.
Layden is definitely his father's son. He loves tea. He always wants a sip of Daddy's. He liked Jasmine gree, green and white, morrocan mint and is currently enjoying green with lemongrass. Strange, strange family. Oli blew a raspberry on my stomach and Layden thought it was awesome. So he just had to try. At first no success, the key is to exhale, not inhale. Then success! It was so exciting. The he kept making movements like a chicken pecking for grain, rarely leaving himself time to exhale at the tummy. Good times were had by all.

Eleven Months

I missed your ten month milestone because we have lost our free internet but so much has happened since you became nine months old that I just can't skip this one. You have spoken your first word. "Pak-boo" or sometimes "Pak-a-boo". You did this for Grammy. Mommy tried and tried and then Grammy comes and her first day her you bust out your speaking skills. You are also very close to being a bipedal organism. You did one shuffling step for mommy and daddy, you did two steps for Grammy. You seem to recognize your Grammy, Grandpa and Juncle and seem happy to see them.
You had a very fun time at the bookstore with the owner's little doggy. That doggy licked your face and ears and you thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Then the doggy played tug of war with you and that was even better. You giggle and laughed and smiled and wanted to do it again and again. You would like to play tug of war with Lucy. You bring her a toy and wave it around so she will grab it but she just doesn't seem to get it. You keep trying though. Occasionally she comes and takes it from you and that is pretty darn cool, so exciting you just have to clap.
You have very impressive muscles at this point. You can do squats with and without weights, you have a six pack and very well defined arms. You could win a baby body builder competition. Your strength comes in especially handy when you are fighting a diaper or clothing change as if your life depended on it. You just don't like getting clothes put on or having them taken off. You would be happiest if we left you in the same clothes until you got so big we had to cut them off of you.

Grammy brought you some new toys which you think are pretty great. You even put small toys inside larger ones and try to put the different shapes back in the cube rather than merely looking for opportunities to create chaos. You are starting to like your baths a bit more as well and will now take them on your own. Sadly you won't be able to take any for a bit because we have been forced to replace the bathroom floor do to a toilet leak. Very gross.
You give me very good hugs now and we have some wonderful conversations. Everyday we learn more about the amazing person you are and everyday I want to know more. You are ever so terribly wonderful. So smart and sweet and terrifying.

Where's Daddy?

This is a photo from a recent hike up Kamiak Butte that Layden, Lynda, Oli and I took. They view was amazing and I can't wait to go back up at a prettier, less hazy time of year. We had a good hike, definitely burning some calories. Day before yesterday we went on a longer 5.6 mile hike over in Idaho (Little Boulder or Boulder Creek or Something Like That). The gain in elevation was as much (only 300 ft) but it took us a good bit longer. It was and hour drive over, leaving Pullman at 3:45, so by the time we were finishing the loop it was getting just a little bit dark. The hike was sorta spur of the moment so unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us.

I have a new hair cut and will hopefully get pictures of it posted at some point. Layden is beginning to need a haircut. It is growing over his eyes and ears. I will get around to that at some point. He is now up to a grand total of 4 teeth, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. He seems to enjoy them and has bit Oli and I couple of times which was not impressive, but angry no's just seem to make him smile. Layden is really enjoying peek-a-boo and was playing with daddy under the door to the basement (there is a couple inch gap underneath it). He lays on his tummy, peeks under the door to see daddy, then giggles. Then he sits up, looks at me smiles, then gets down on his belly, sees daddy and giggles. Soooo cute. Oli wanted to know how he was supposed to get work done when our baby is so cute. We have another game we like to play. When Oli is in a different room I will say "Layden, where's daddy?" Layden looks around. Not in here mommy. Then Oli calls Layden, who smiles when he hears daddy and crawls off to find him. Once again, sooo cute.
The house is coming along. Hopefully tomorrow I will get pictures of the living room with the floor done, furniture out and pictures on the wall. Also some pictures of the light and boards in the kitchen and depending on what gets done maybe, just maybe, a shelf in the kitchen.
Today was busy. I got up, showered, ate a couple biscuits, oli got up, he showered, went to breakfast (omelet with the works, hashbrowns, toast), Layden played peek-a-boo with daddy, then took a nap on my lap, Oli put up crown molding in the bedroom (big surprise, it isn't square so he didn't get too far), Oli went to work, Layden and I went to visit Dieter then got groceries, then Layden had a snack, then I had a snack, then we walked, then Lynda and I made pear crisp, then we watched "RV" (Layden sleep on my lap again), then we ate pear crisp, then we went home. Now I am typing this and waiting for Oli to get home (soon hopefully) then I will go to bed.