Birthday Boy!

Xander turned One Year Old yesterday! Chris was away at work, but called me in the morning to ask if I was crying yet. I said no, but I was reminiscing about how I was stuck in the bathroom the morning of X's birth.

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate as the big celebration is coming up this weekend. I did randomly sang "Happy Birthday" to Xander. After dinner we took a bike ride to get ice cream. But our ice cream place was closed due to the fair. So we made it into an extra long ride to find ice cream during which Xander needed a diaper change but we didn't think to bring the diaper bag. Hey, it was supposed to be a short ride!

I feel like I should be writing some inspiring and touching letter to Xander about how he's changed our lives and how much we love him. But I think the blog in general does that. And anyone who knows us can see that.

So here are a couple of new things Xander has learned:

Clapping - he started out banging two toys together but it has progressed to saying 'Clap' and he puts his hands together a few times while grinning. Particularly fun is if he holds a finger on each of your hands because he'll clap your hands together.

Almost walking - he loves to push his Retro Rocket around. He's not too comfortable sitting on it just yet. But he will get one hand on the handle and one on the back fin and push it around. But it's really annoying when he gets it stuck and he starts screaming.

Stairs - Xander has been going up the stairs ok (with close parental supervision). We had to teach him how to go down a couple of times, but now he's pretty much got it. If we're upstairs and he sees the gate 0pen, he will rush over to the stairs. Then he'll stop and, keeping his hands in place, scoot his butt and legs around until he hits the edge. Then he'll tentatively stretch his foot down to the next step. After that, it's pretty much one leg back at a time. And lots of excited panting.

Splashing - he's ok with baths, but gets tired of them pretty quickly. Now he understands when I say 'Splash' and he gets water everywhere. He also does this thing where he tries to lay flat and put his face in the water. It freaks me out.

Things we are working on include, but are not limited to: hugs, kisses, high fives, peek-a-boo (which he can do with a blanket but not with his hands yet) and pointing.