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.
 

You, Your Brother Legend, and I

 Dear Luca,

    If I am to be perfectly honest, which I almost always am, it was actually Legend, your brother, who took care of your today. He is in 6th grade, 12 years old, and absolutely loving and equally proficient in taking care of you. He knows how to play with you, prepare your bottle, put you in your high chair, offer you food, walk you to sleep. He stops at changing your diapers. I don't blame him, but even then, he occupies you while I struggle to take your diaper off, clean you up, and put a new diaper on, while you are tumbling, turning over, and trying to crawl out of my space.

    This is no easy job, Luca. You are constantly on the move! You love your world and want to know more and more about it. Everything, everywhere. 

    In this picture, you are playing with one of your favorite toys, Legend's earbud holder and charger. We both offered you little cars and other toys, but you remained insistent: the earbud holder!

    

Legend, Luca, and Rio looking on.

In this picture, you have gravitated to one of your favorite spots, the dogs' beds, although Legend and I agree that it's not really the greatest place for you to be. We're keeping a pretty steady eye on you here, so that you don't start rolling around in the dog hair.  The little car in the left corner keeps you fairly well occupied, although I have to be frank: Legend and I enjoy punching the buttons on those little cars and watching them take off across the room.

    And this is you on the go! I love your little cart, and I love watching you learn to navigate it. You are walking just fine with it, and you are also letting go and standing alone from time to time. You're about to put it all together, and take off walking. We're waiting for that to happen. 

 

When your daddy came home the dogs, Legend, you, and I greeted him at the door. Legend took off to this room for much needed down time, and I headed down the mountain in the snow, as you and your dad waved goodbye.

Christmas Eve Sushi! You Become Part of Our Tradition.

 Dear Luca,

    For about 30 years now, we have been celebrating your Daddy's birthday--December 24, 1977--with a sushi dinner.  This year, when he turned 45, was your first year to join us. I hope you like sushi, and I'm pretty sure you will.

    The pictures below were taken at HAPA in Boulder. Over the years, we have frequented many sushi places. Let me tell you about your father's birth-day and how this tradition started.

 

 

Grandpa Richard, Legend, Daddy, Mommy, Luca

Daddy, Mommy, Luca, Grandpa Doug, Uncle Steven

     

    Your daddy, André, was born on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1977, in Cabin #23, Chautaqua Park in Boulder, Colorado. It was a cold, clear day, and I had a wonderful midwife. It was a fairly easy birth, but I did have to do a lot of hard work to get him here. Your Grandpa Richard was there, along with my good friend Ellen, who held your dad while I went to get some stitches. Ellen had never held a newborn before, so, I learned later, that she prayed your dad would keep breathing--which he did. I remember staying up all night in awe of his birth.

    It's both a blessing and a curse to be born on Christmas Eve, but I think your dad has been quite proud of his birth date.  But from the beginning, we wanted to make it a real birthday and not a Christmas celebration. Also, from the beginning, his birthday has always been about family, although when he was in elementary school, we would celebrate his "fake birthday" with his schoolmates before school let out for the holidays.

    When he was about 15, we decided that we wanted to start a tradition of eating out for his birthday.  We began to search for places that would be open on Christmas Eve, but in 1992, Boulder was pretty much shut down. There were two sushi places open, Sushi Tora and Sushi Zan Mai. Actually, sushi was just beginning to be popular in Boulder, and I didn't know much about it, but we booked Sushi Tora just to have a place to celebrate.  And that's how it began. It turns out your dad loves sushi as do all his friends and your mom and your brother Legend. 

    Welcome to the birthday tradition, Luca!

     

You're a Problem Solver, Luca!

 Dear Luca,

   I'm posting this picture first. I really like it. I don't get much of a chance to take pictures because I have to keep my eyes on you all the time. But here it is,  you and I in a magic moment:

 

When I came to your house today, you had woken up from a two-hour nap (a bit of a record for you, I'm told) and had had your lunch, so it was pretty clear you were ready for some action. 

    And here was a first.  When your mom left, you didn't cry. You do cry most of the time, because, of course, you don't want her to leave. It doesn't last for long, because you have an active mind and get interested in something pretty soon, something usually musical. So I ever worry when you cry. It'll be over soon.

    But this time, the three of us were in your nursery playing on the floor, and then your mom got up and left the room. You and I kept on playing.  But then, while we were in the middle of banging on some musical keys, your mom passed by the big window in your room on her way to her car. You looked up and watched her go. You stared out the window for a few seconds after she had passed by, but then went back to making music, or, rather, banging on the toy that then plays music.

    As I predicted, this was a pretty active day, and, after about an hour of walking and crawling all over your room, to the toy box, to your changing station, to the window, to the chair, to your crib, and starting all over again, you became ready for the larger world of your house. Yes, after looking a books, playing with the tiny orange fish, using the clackers that look like cows, listening to the frog sing "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and throwing a few things hither and thither, you were ready to leave the confines of the nursery and explore further. 

    So, into the TV room, crawling to the dining area, pulling up on your high chair, letting go, and making your way over to the pantry, you discover one of the great toys of all time--the step stool, versatile and sturdy, just made for a boy who wants to practice walking. 

    So out comes the stool and you walk in and push it back the way we came, but working hard. You get a little tangled up in the legs of the high chair because you've pushed yourself right under it. This is what I mean when I say you're a problem solver.  Most ten-month-olds, when getting stuck under a high chair, or anywhere for that matter, would give up in frustration and start crying so that somebody would come to the rescue and get them out of the mess. But you just kept on working at it. You'd push this way and that, but going forward just didn't work. You finally figured our that you needed to back out and go around. And that's what you did. I will admit that one of your solutions was to try to turn the high chair over, but I nipped that one in the bud. 

    I watched you do the same thing with your toy box, when you were trying to reach the little goldfish that was off in the corner. You tried about four times, but your little hands just couldn't reach it. Again, as I've said, this is the point where many ten-month-olds might plop down in a crying fit, but you figured it out. You edged your way around the toy box, reached in, but still couldn't get it, so your edged your way closer until you could grasp it in your little hands. It went straight to your mouth, of course. Where else?

Luca with Goldfish in Mouth

When your daddy got home, the dogs started barking, so you crawled over to the door to wait for him to come in. He was surprised to see all of us at the door when he came in. We had a big groups hug, and I headed down the mountain, frankly a little tired, but so at peace.

Lots of Snow and Your Snowy White Teeth!

 Dear Luca,

    It really was one of our best days today. You know me pretty well now, and even though you put up a fuss when your mother left--it took you by surprise because you were all happy and smiling and taking your bottle, and then...as always, I show up and she leaves. But your fussiness lasted a few minutes before we settled down to play for a full two hours and more.

    When I first showed up and walked in the door, you clapped your hands. That's the very first time I saw you do that. Also--you are trying out standing on your own. You're not afraid to take risks. But you do need someone to watch you carefully because after a while you do plop down. But walking is in your near future, I predict. 

    About the snow. We're always, almost always, grateful for it. It was a good storm, but with very frigid temperatures, so I wasn't sure that I'd be able to make it up to your house.  Tuesday was cold and snowy, but today the sun came out, the roads were clear and those that weren't were snow-packed with lots of gravel on them. I love my Subaru, and I especially love my studded snow tires that I had mounted this year especially so I wouldn't have to worry about coming to see you on Wednesdays. So far, so good. It was such a beautiful drive up and down Boulder Canyon, with the beauty of the snow capped mountains and the pine trees and the deep, deep blue Colorado sky on a sunny day after the snow.

    About those snowy white teeth. 

Just look at that! You're really proud that those upper teeth came in at last. I could tell that when you began biting my watch band. And also because you gave me a big smile, showing off those teeth.

    I think that now that winter is setting in, we will have less and less time outdoors, walking the roads as we used to when it was warmer. I do miss that, and I'll get you out when I don't have to worry about the roads being icy or when it's not too windy or when it's not too cold. 

    But we were fine inside today, as I watched you with your never ending curiosity and your love of music. We played with all your toys that make music, you crawled and stood up, and when you became fussy, you let me carry you into the kitchen, where I fixed your bottle. Then we sat in the big chair by the wood stove, and you took your bottle in both your hands and drank and drank and fell asleep until the dogs started barking, announcing the arrival of your papa, and, of course, you were delighted to see him as he walked through the door. We had a threesome hug, and then I stepped out into the snow and into my car to head back down the canyon.