Thanksgiving and First Haircut

Dear Sadie,

Whew! The holidays are over and it's time to catch your blog up on all the fun we've been having.

First, Grandmama Ruthie, Grandpa Steve and their dog Thorley came for a visit. We had a nice few days with them going on walks and cooking food and watching you toddle. We made a spicy Cuban fish for Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out very good even though I forgot the plantains. The day after Thanksgiving we met up with my cousins, Randy, Barbara, Lindsey and Hannah Burton. It was really good to see them and we hope Lindsey has more soccer tournaments in San Diego.


I decided you needed a haircut. In your first year your hair grew into a very complicated arrangement, with some short curly bits on the back of your head, long and floppy parts on top, and a ring of very long hair around the bottom of your hairline. I decided to trim it into more of a bob shape to even things out. I knew that even with Ruthie working to distract you, I only had about 37 seconds to wield the scissors. It turned out a bit shorter on one side, but all in all, it looks pretty good.

Before:


First I cut off a lock to save in your baby book:


Then I got started:




After:


We had a bath to get rid of all the itchy hair bits.




When it was all over you checked yourself out in the mirror and decided you liked it.


And then all too soon it was time for Grandpa and Ruthie to pack up the purple truck and drive back to Colorado. We miss them.



It was a very nice Thanksgiving weekend.

Love, Mama

13 Months

Dear Sadie,

You are a proper toddler now! On November 5th you took your first consecutive steps and since then you have been getting better and better at staggering around the house. At first it was a novelty for you, a new fun thing to try out when you felt like it, but your main mode of motoring was still crawling. But after a few weeks, you now prefer to walk. You take your share of tumbles and your dad and I cringe and run to pick you up, but so far no bruises or blood.

On the move in your pumpkin shirt:




You still love books. You will thrust one at us demanding to be read to, or sometimes you like to sit and read on your own. Here you are reading a big book your Great Aunt Pat gave you:




Time to clean out the too small clothes again. You like to help.



You are a very sweet baby who likes to hug and give kisses. When you kiss, you press your lips together and lean in making a ''mmmmmm" sound but your forehead arrives first so you don't actually plant your lips on anything. When you hug, you grab tight with both arms and lay your head down on us which is also very sweet.

You now have two proper teeth on the bottom and one that has just barely broken through the gums on the top. We can tell they are very sore and lately you've been getting grouchy spells which we blame on your teething.

Although your food choices have expanded, it is tricky to get you to sit still and eat very much. You hate being pinned down in your highchair and will only tolerate it for a few minutes. So we prepare little cups of food and pop morsels in your mouth as you toddle around and play throughout the day. You gave guacamole another try and decided you like it. You are a California baby after all.

You love to dance! You just start wiggling whenever you hear music or anything rhythmic like the wash cycle on the washing machine. You also like to climb on anything low enough to the ground for you to get up on top of. You like to climb all over us when we sit on the floor.

We think you know about 10-12 words that you use in the right context. When someone leaves you wave and say "bye" and you wave and say "hi" when you see someone you know, or the cat or the dog. You wake up in the morning and say "hi Larry" or "hi Daddy". You still don't say "Mama" very often but I think you know that's what to call me.

You are going through a bit of a shy stage right now. You used to smile at strangers we'd see in public but now you are more likely to frown and hide your face. When we first arrive at a play group, you want to cling to me for a while instead of crawling around with the other babies. I've learned to let you decide when you feel it is safe to go exploring. If I put you down to play before you are ready you'll cry, but if I hold you until you wiggle, you'll eventually go off and have fun.

Your Grandpa John saw how much you like to play in the sand at the park and made you a sandbox in the back yard. We spend some time out there playing almost every day.








Here's a video of you toddling around



We love watching you toddle around. I just hope I can keep up.

Love, Mama

October Babies/Halloween Party

Dear Sadie,

We had a baby club Friday afternoon party in the park on October 30 to celebrate October birthdays and Halloween. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and you dressed up as a flower. I tried to make a cake for the event, but somehow I forgot to put baking soda in the batter and instead I made an inedible rubbery chocolate door mat. A quick trip to VG's Bakery solved that problem and the moms all enjoyed cake and beer that was left over from the party at our house.

We had a good turnout:


Nana and Grandpa came:


You haven't walked yet on this day, but you can crawl really fast!


Little flowers love to swing:



And play in the sand. Grandpa is getting ideas ...

Sweet little Cole:

Rolling around in the grass with Ella:





Leuc the fireman:

Annie and Cole:

And lastly, Phoebe in the setting sunlight. You can't tell, but she's wearing her pumpkin shirt that I made for all the babies as favors. I was up sewing very late the night before, but they all turned out really cute and the moms loved them. I was so pleased that I didn't really care that I had to scrape my cake into the garbage.


It was a nice way to finish up your first birthday celebrations.

Love, Mama

Party!

Dear Sadie,

We had a party for your first birthday and invited all of our friends. I found out your dad is a talented balloon animal artist, although the balloon swords were pretty popular.

























We all sang Happy Birthday to you in the yard. At first you weren't sure if you liked all those people looking and singing at you. But then you smiled and clapped and kicked your little feet excitedly. To my relief, really, because you could have just as easily cried. You seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the people in your house for most of the party.





Then we gave you a cupcake. You poked at the icing and decided you did not like it. You would not even try it!



Oh well. I'm sure there will be many cupcakes in your future.

Here's some shots of the decorations:






Your dad set up a photo booth in his office and took studio portraits of everyone who came:

































It was a fun party. Thanks for coming everybody!



Love, Mama