Alas! It Was a Snowy Day. I Missed You!

 Dear Luca,

    It was bound to happen sooner or later, especially since it's winter in Colorado,  and today was that day It snowed most of the night and into the afternoon, and your dad stayed home from work to be with you, and I'm pretty sure your brother Legend was there, too, because all schools were closed and many events were canceled.

    I came up to our mountain house on Tuesday before the snow started and stayed until today so that I could shovel, which I did. I love this mountain house, and it was good to spend time here.

    But I missed you. 

    I'm going to work for the next few days in getting your birthday book put together, because in just three weeks, you will be one year old.

    So this will be my final entry for your first year, and our Wednesdays together. 

    

Happy Birthday, Luca!

 

It Was a Regular Day: Eat, Drink, Play

 Dear Luca,

    Yes, a regular day. 

    Eating: I'm pretty proud of the way I can manage the high chair, and the way you trust me to do that: no fussing when I strap you in; going right after your food, when I put it in front of you. The serving this week was frittata and Cheerios. Here is my photo series:

    

You are a very careful eater. It was fun to see you finish off the entire miniature frittata, tiny bit by tiny bit.

 

    Drinking: It's an interesting routine. You have a way of letting me know you want your bottle, and it's a little hard to explain. You get a little, but not much, fussy. You reach out to your sippy cup of water, which I give you. You push it away and look toward your bottle on the  counter. You get a bit impatient as I wait for the water to get to be the right temperature. Then, I put the formula powder in and shake it up. You're ready. But there's a next step.

I strap you into your stroller, and pull the cover over it, and I walk you throughout the house: bedroom, living room, TV room, turn, repeat in reverse order. I sing softly, Why aren't we outside? Snow and ice, of course. It's been a while since we could do that.  Most often, you don't fall asleep. I occasionally peek through the cover, and there you are! Staring back at me.You finish you bottle, I unstrap you and lift you up, and then:

    Playing: There has been a change recently.You are no longer content to stay in your room entirely. Yes, we do the usual with the musical toys, emptying our the bottom drawer of your chest, looking at books, throwing some things around, but you want to broaden your horizons, so off you go into the TV room for a while, then off to the living room. You like to rearrange the dining room chairs, moving one in front of your high chair and another into the living room. This takes a lot of effort. 

    When your Daddy comes home, the dogs start barking and barking. That startles you, and whatever you're doing, you rush to me and crawl into my lap and hug me tight and I hug you back, and we're perfectly safe until he walks in that door and the dogs and you are just aglow with the joy that he has come back home!

Kisses and Walking!

 Dear Luca,

    Kisses! There is no way I could get a picture of it, but three times when we were playing music music on the stand up musical thing that has keys and numbers and all things to punch, you reached over to kiss me on the lips. For the first one,  I thought it seemed like a kiss, but I wasn't sure. But since it happened two more times, it was clear. You were giving your Grandma Kay a kiss! 

    It was a great thing, especially since you weren't feeling all that well and were a little low energy and sometimes, but only sometimes, a little cranky. We did have a good time with that push cart with all your toys in it. It's become one of your (and my) favorite toys. It gets you where you want to go.

Just look at that look on your face!

    We had another first today as well. I know you parents think that I never put you in your high chair, and that's because I don't.  There are so many changes since your papa was a baby 45 years ago, and a major change has to do with all those buckles and so-called "quick-release" ones, that require a lot of finger strength. For me, they are more slow-release, if you can get them to release at all.

    But today, why not? Your mom said you weren't eating much, and we know that you're getting some new teeth, so she set out some things that I might offer you to encourage you to eat: Cheerios, some food in a tube, and teething biscuits.

    Is there any mom in the whole United States who hasn't carried a packet of  Cheerios around in the house, in the car, in her pocket, anywhere they might fit? So we started with your Cheerios, and you were really interested, but I was holding you and you were picking them up off the counter.  You're getting a little heavier, so that's when I decided enough is enough! I'm going to try that high chair with the quick-release buttons for the straps and the lever for the tray that, for me, is counter-intuitive. 

    Success!

And finally, you and your Pooh Bear. And you are standing up, on your own.

It was a grand day of firsts as you are getting closer and closer to your first birthday.