Anson: 1 Year!

(I'm back from hiatus! Look forward to many posts in the next little bit...and no, Sister Calder...you haven't missed any blogs. I just haven't posted for over a month. I did write this the day before his birthday though. That has to give me some points!)

Happy Birthday, dear Anson, happy birthday to you!!!!

How is this happy kid already one? At the same time it feels like he's been part of our family for years. This last month has been a great month for Anson.

Anson LOVES to eat (still, as if it would change). Funny eating stories: when I give Anson his plate he scarfs immediately. After a couple of bites, he looks at June's plate, back to his, back to June's, etc. until he recognizes if there is osmething she has that he doesn't. He generally finds something. The most recent one was celery. He stopped eating his food and pointed at, reached for, grunted, etc. at the celery. I knew exactly what he wanted as this has happened several times. I've started to give in and just give him everything June has. He bit of little bites of the celery with his 4 front teeth, gummed it almost to death and spit out the chunk. Repeat. He loved the celery, finished the rest of his dinner. Another funny one was I started peeling a banana and broke off half of it. I put the other half out of his reach and kept preparing the rest of the meal. Seconds later I look over and pieces of banana peel are on the table and floor and the entire banana was devoured. He really enjoys his food and goes to any extent to get more. 2 waffles, 3 pieces of pizza, big bowl of cereal, etc.

He is sleeping much better than ever. He still sings himself to sleep, sometimes wakes in the middle of the night but most often goes right back to sleep, takes 2 naps per day, etc.

His favorite songs are If You're Happy and You Know It and maybe The Happy Song? That's hard. He just loves any music. In Sacrament meeting he stops doing whatever he was when the organ starts, stands on my lap, twists or jumps and waves his arm(s). I hope he keeps doing this for a long time. He is quite the dancer and can't resist when he hears any tune.

Anson's getting closer to walking. He'll take 3-4 steps now and again (unassisted) and cruises everywhere pushing things or furniture to furniture. At his 12 month appointment he measured in at: 31.1" (81%), 23lbs 1 oz (50%) and head 47.3cm (72%).

He jabbers more now and especially likes to growl / roar. He'll mimmick monkey and doggie sounds as well. He also says "June," and it melts my heart. It's almost always paired with "hi." "Hi June" is so sweet. I'm saying that's his first word. I think he gets Dada and Mama...but they don't count as first words in my book. He does wave hi and bye sometimes (increasing in frequency) and also gives high-five.

Anson likes to sit and listen to stories, climbs to no end--and he is frighteningly good at it, enjoys swinging, saying hi to strangers, playing with June's toys, clapping his hands...and eating. He also likes to put lids on anything that could appear to need a lid and also carry around anything like a basket he can drop things into.

This guy is still so happy that people can't resist talking to him. He gives our doorman high-five when we leave the building most times too.

Anson: 11 months!

Where to begin?? I was actually really excited to write this post because Anson has grown up so much and does so many entertaining things.

He continues to be cheerful- constantly. He smiles, giggles, laughs and babbles. He mimics sounds a lot and does monkey sounds, duck sounds and doggie sounds. He also purposefully says 'mama' and 'dada,' which makes us happy. As most kids, 'mama' has turned into the "I need anything" sound. He also waves and has even blown kisses a few times. My favorite thing this past month is Anson now gives hugs! If you pick him up and say "hugs," he squeezes your neck so tightly. Sometimes he even will pat your back. He's such a great snuggler.

Anson's favorite song is "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." He also really likes "You are My Sunshine." He dances anytime music plays (or anytime someone says "dance"). He crawls around and is getting faster. On occasion he reverts to army-crawl. He prefers cruising (holding on to things and walking) more than anything. He'll stand up for about 5 seconds balancing and then sit down. He loves climbing and exploring. When we go to parks he is very adventurous and LOVES to swing and go down slides on his tummy. He'll also play in the sand for a long time, and thankfully isn't eating as much sand as he used to. He still loves to pick up (and eat if possible) rocks and leaves. One more thing-if he has something he wants and you take it, be ready for a reaction. This is the one thing that's not so congruent with his personality--he sure screams and gets red (and purple sometimes).

So yes, he eats anything and everything. When it is time to eat and he doesn't have food, he gets pretty worked up. The sight of food makes him bounce and "ooooh" and "aaah" and still gets his hands rolling quickly. I am usually shocked at how much he eats. Basically an adult serving of food every meal. He'll eat an entire peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch. Another surprise was that Anson naturally weaned himself. His last 'meal' was his 11 month birthday. He drinks cows milk and continues to grow and grow. He has 4 teeth still but it looks like the next top two teeth will be on their way in soon.

Anson has been a better sleeper this last month (yay!). He's also getting better and going down for naps and bedtime. If he does cry, it's usually only one good whelp. He usually sleeps from, say, 8:30pm-6:00am and has 2 naps / day (a long one and then a shorter one...but if we're out and about and he naps in the stroller he'll have 2 or 3 short ones. Poor guy....I am not a respecter of nap times like some moms. We choose fun over naps quite often...).

Anson: 10 Months!

He just keeps laughing and smiling! Everyone around us knows this kid and adores him. People always ask, "Is he always this happy?" Yes. He is. We struck gold. Someone asked me what I ate while I was pregnant with him so she can follow the recipe. This boy is made of calcium: milk, hummus and broccoli to be precise. Hummus with carrots and matzo really got me through a lot of days.

Anyhow, Anson still eats like a tank and loves to feed himself. June also enjoys feeding him and is pretty good at it. There have been a few times she has been a big help and fed him his dinner while I make dinner. He gets so excited about food he grunts and laughs and chuckles and gets his hands and feet moving.

Anson really only cries when he's tired, poopy or hungry. Sometimes he wakes in the night, and I'm hoping this will stop. He seems to go in a lot of phases of sleeping, just like any other baby. I'm grateful for the nights he goes down and doesn't wake up until it's time to eat. He takes 2 pretty decent naps per day. Sometime he adds a 3rd one on, which is never a great idea because then he stays up quite late which means there isn't really much down-time for us parents.

He cruises around and likes to be on his feet. His balance is improving, but he can only stand independently for a second or two. He likes to do downward dog yoga position all the time and is very into climbing up things - more than other children his age I'd say. It sort of scares me and I have had to do a few other child-proofing things.

Anson babbles a lot and has been 'singing' along with me more the last month. It's so sweet I sometimes want him to keep singing as much as I want him to go to sleep. He also does this little chuckle/laugh thing when he gets excited. This is another thing people love about Anson. I need to get a good one on video because it's adorable. It sounds like a minion or something similar. In church last week he would do it anytime I handed him a toy. I had to stifle my laughs (as did anyone in the 5-pew-radius).

He's a joy - and it is now obvious to me how each child can be a parent's favorite child. I always wondered if a parent would favor a child - but now I get how I really love them equally. Curt bought me a cute book in Switzerland about this, and it's true. (Vous Etes Tous Mes Preferes).

When you have a car....drive

Since it cost $0 to keep our car for 2 days after the Connecticut trip, we decided to use it. We parked it for free by the South Street Seaport and made 2 adventures: Costco and the beach at Far Rockaway

The beach was nice - except there were a TON of jelly fish. I don't know a lot about jelly fish but I was hesitant to swim after seeing so many you almost couldn't walk on the sand to the water. Didn't seem worth getting stung (am I dumb, do they really sting people?). Well I just googled it and learned they are moon jellyfish. Apparently sometimes they are often dead when they are washed up on shore and if not, their sting is mild. Oh well. We mostly played in the sand. I wish I had taken a photo of them. There were hoard of the moon jellyfish.

June wanted to feed Anson some sample at Costco. We loaded up on food and then drove it home. Woo hoo!

Connecticut

We made a vacation out of a BYU game up at UCONN. We rented out a house with 4 other couples and enjoyed fun, food and the football game

At the beginning of the game June was a bit nervous and scared of the crowds. I did a good mom-thing and told her about Cosmo the Cougar...and then told her about Cosmo the Kitty. Her eyes lit up and she jumped up to look for the Kitty. Game. Set. Match. She was in heaven the rest of the game: watching the football, looking for the kitty and dancing to the music.

Anson, on the other hand, was immediately electric with the buzzing crowd. The louder the crowder, the happier he got. He would "cheer" and "yell" along. It was pretty hilarious. We had debated bringing the kids and were so glad we did in the end. It was a late night, but we all had a blast.

[Sadly] these are the best seats I've ever had at a college football game.

June still talks about "the kitty" and giving the football players high five at the end of the game.

Swimming at the house we rented was a highlight

As was the trip to the orchard. Apples, peaches and blueberries.

Daddy and June enjoyed sleeping in (hint, hint, Anson!)

Harvesting in Manhattan

The "Battery Urban Farm" is a 1 acre garden in southern Manhattan that has been made for educational purposes. School students plant and harvest in the garden--which many of them have no idea this is how food comes about. After summer is over they use the produce for the local school lunches. Since it was still summer, though, we got to go harvest. There are 30 spots each week and I was lucky enough to get one. It is a free (donations encouraged) event.

We picked a lot of cucumbers (this little patch has produced over 700lbs so far this year!). June's favorite part was using the scissors and cutting.

Yummy greens for salad, kale, swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, thyme, lemon thyme, peppers, etc.

Around the house

Had to take this photo of June sleeping

June LOVES turning on the flashlight on my iPhone and also taking photos (functions that don't require the pass-code). My phone is FULL of photos June has taken of herself and Anson.

On a walk

Working on a project (yes, circular saw in the kitchen....I held the board and vacuum and Curt cut). We chopped a closet in half and it's a great cupboard now.