Fourteen is for Fun!

As of March 29 you are fourteen months of FUN!!!

3/4
Your Papa left today for Atlanta for work. We've had breakfast. You had Os, raisins, sweet potato fries, hippie pancakes and grapes. You ate the Os and grapes. Then came around for my yogurt and granola. Right now you are alternating between practicing your basketball pass and crawling through your caterpillar crawl thingy. I'm excited for and totally intimidated by having you all to myself while being on call. This is a new deal for our family. While it may be a logistical nightmare, it's necessary for two reasons. One, we need to figure it out! And, two, Mama really wants to do this, so it  needs to happen. We will continue our usual routine of daily gym visits so we can get your muscles nice and big. And hopefully have lots of play dates which we both enjoy.

3/11
You hear music in everything.  You found a rhthym when I was brushing my teeth. You danced when the water hit the bowl. When we are driving and a loud bus goes by you start to bop your head. Yesterday Auntie Aimee came to visit and she said she thinks you'll be a drummer. I agree. We did the Flirty Fitness work out video, the three of us. You usually like to try to do the moves on the workout videos, but you just wanted me to hold you while I did it.

3/12
I'm about to leave to go attend a birth. You're eating breakfast in your high chair, trying to stuff as many Os into your mouth AND take a sip of water at the same time. Birth partner should call at any moment to ask me to come in. I feel so much excitement to go serve, and I already miss you. You woke up a few times last night, as teething has been really tough. You've gotten two teeth in the last two weeks, and I can see another on the way. You slept until 8am, a rarity, and it allowed me to shower and put the finishing touches on the house before I disappear into birthland. You will be with various permutations of aunties and uncles; shuttling to and fro, out of your comfort zone. So thank you for going with the flow. Thanks to Brandon, Aimee, Johari, Jen and Gayle for taking the best care of you. And I thank you for entering the world the way you did, inspiring me to do this work.

3/13
You are fast asleep on a beautiful sunny day. I missed you sooo much yesterday, more than I thought I would. I got to watch a new soul take her first breath yesterday, and it just made me so grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for thriving while I was away. You never cease to amaze me. Lovin you!

3/15
Daddy was being spontaneous and taking care of mama and bought us tix to come visit in New Orleans yesterday. So today we flew to Nola and you were great on the plane. We somehow lucked out and had an empty seat next to us, so you squirmed and climbed and crawled and played peek-a-boo with anyone who would make eye contact with you.

We missed Daddy soooo much, so when we got close to the hotel I started saying, "We are going to see daddy soon, Phoenix!" And you said, "Dada!" Over and over. Until we got to the hotel. Then when you were face to face with Dada you didn't say it. You were so excited to see him, you smiled, laughed and clapped. You finally said "Dada" so he could hear it when we went to set that night. It made him so happy to hear you call his name.

3/17
We tore New Orleans up! We walked all over and ate and, most importantly, snuggled and visited with your father. We both needed some QT with him, so grateful it worked out. Sadly we missed beautiful Bandit's birthday party. Auntie Khali said it was wonderful, and we were thinking about them all day on Sunday.

3/18
You started saying BOAT last night. As you stepped out of the shower you brought your tugboat along with you. I wrapped you in your duck towel, then took your boat from you and placed it back in the shower. You stepped out of your towel, walked to the shower, picked up your tugboat and walked back to your towel and waited for me to drape you in it. I said, "Oh, you need that boat?" And you said, "Bo." I said, "boat?" You said, "bo." And there you have it, another word!

3/19
You love giving hugs. You like to hug babies your own size. And when I ask, "Can Mommy have a huggie please?" you bury your little face in my chest and smile and my heart explodes. Your Dad melts when you give him huggies.

3/29
We are in a nice little groove, and are really enjoying having Papa home. We are pumping iron most days and hitting up the park in Culver City and WeHo a ton. You are happy, happy, happy! You are really into your Dad right now. When he comes into the room you immediately start tapping your little foot, dancing and shrieking. I'm so grateul for the blinding light of love that you are.

13 Months

Dear BoyBoy,

Your love is my drug. It's true, I am madly in love with you!

Every day you become a little more of yourself. I suppose we all do. But what a miracle it is to witness.

This rollercoaster of parenting continues with each day a little more rich than the one before. Some days I'm exhausted and wondering just how people do it; some days I'm inspired but can't find a spare second until your middle of the night feeding to write down my ideas. It's just a whirlwind, but I'm learning little ways to find moments of peace.

We've found that you take an awesome and massive 2 hour nap in the late morning if you "work out." This means we take you to gym day care, where you run, climb, play and socialize. By the time we get home you are screaming for your nap. It's brilliant.

Your Dad is super busy these days with pilot season. Hard to believe that this time last year he was going to three auditions a day with barely any sleep and coming home to marvel at you.

With every passing day I swear you are taller. And cuter. You are growing up so fast, of course I want to press the slow down button. But it's so exciting to see you grow more confident and learn so many things. And as I get a daily glimpse of the big boy you're becoming I'm so grateful my sweet and cuddly baby boy remains. You still love to hug and cuddle and "be on me." I will cry many tears when that changes, but I have to focus on this present moment, crazy and fleeting and full of love and laughs.

System Update
It seems as though your squirrel body and mind uploaded the latest version, because you certainly are "harder, better, faster, stronger."And LOUDER. Boy, we are in for it! You are crying louder, laughing louder, shouting louder, talking louder, singing louder--your volume is turned way up. And you are walking faster, almost a run towards whatever has captivated your attention for a maximum of 10 seconds. I'm thinking about canceling my gym membership--chasing you all day is about as intense as a spin class. And since we like to dance, it feels pretty close, too.

Play
You like to pick up as many blocks and toys (fake cookies, your SKWISH) as you can and rush around the living room just wobbling and dropping stuff. You've been playing fetch with your new balls. You toss the basketball and then chase after it, often unintentionally kicking it right before you pick it up. So you end up playing "soccer/fetch!" When you can't reach a toy you look at me and shriek. It's pretty funny. Soon you will be talking and we won't even remember these pre-verbal days; hard to imagine.

Sign
You started signing "more" while your grandparents were here. And boy, do you want more!!! What's interesting and clever is that you used it when we were leaving the park, ha! I had to tell you that the park was "all done."

Fete du Anniversaire
What a blast we had for your birthday party! It was a bit of a rager, but we still really enjoyed it. We had lots of help from both of your Grandmas and Grandpa, couldn't have pulled it off without them. Auntie Aim came early to help out, and Titi Rix and Tio Mike flew in from out of town. Lots of friends and love were in this place, for you and it was a very special day.

Get down on the boogie
Your groovy moves get upgraded every few days. The foot stomp was version 2.0, followed by the deep knee bend groove which was inspired by Abuela Grandma.

Ballin
Your Auntie Hope and Uncle J got you a sweet set of balls for your bday, and you love the basketball. You love throwing, kicking and carrying it all over the house. And you started saying the word, "ball!"

Eat it! Just eat it! No one wants to be def[eat]ed.
Mealtimes are an exercise in patience for everybody involved. Your preference is to take your meals "to-go," cruising by your high chair tray, swiping some tidbits and continuing whatever it was you were doing. You want to eat what your Dad and I are eating if you have an option between that and what's on your tray. Even if it's the same thing ;) When we are out and about you love trying new things, and it seems to be "variety is the spice of life." Although you do seem to consistently accept yogurt, "Os" and anything swathed in almond butter. The few times I've gotten creative and made you huge batches of healthy kiddie treats, like Blueberry Banana Flax Oatmeal Buckwheat Pancakes or Spinach Sweet Potato Lentil Quinoa Cakes, you try it once then indicate you are not feeling it. So we continue this adventure of trying new things and trying to be patient when you refuse to stay in your high chair after 30 seconds of meal eating.

California Dreamin'
Your sleep has improved sooooo much! We can expect one night feeding, and you now know how to put yourself back to sleep. Let me pump the brakes before I get too excited! As with everything related to you, nothing is permanent, and we have had some wild nights with you as I prepare to publish this post. Two new teeth have popped through, and it was no easy feat! Your smile is officially snaggle-toothed, my favorite!

All You (I) Need is a Little Patience
You want to be independent. It's a bittersweet thing to witness. We are proud of how strong, smart, creative and CURIOUS you are. All those things mixed with being a baby (and a sensitive one at that) we find ourselves in an ocean of salty, healing baby bird tears when you don't get your way. It's a hard time--we need a lot of patience and sometimes we fail, but we are learning on the job as I often say to you. Reading the child development book chapter on your age range I thought, "Oh no, Phoenix isn't a big crier. He cries a little bit, but nothing close to what Brazelton describes as indicative of one year old behavior." Well, call me Naive Nancy, because the baby expert nailed it, and you are in a phase of learning and development that is very frustrating for you. You have the world at your fingertips, you can move easily to get what you want, but you don't always get it and we often get in the way of these desires for safety reasons.

You are constantly testing boundaries. A look at one of us before you touch something you shouldn't. YES, WE KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO. A roar of victory when you go somewhere you're not supposed to go.

When I remember that YOU are also my teacher I can pause, take a breath and dig a little deeper for that patience. It's hard to stay patient all the time, and I often tell your Dad I wish we had some grandparental presence in a permanent way so we could have that extra support. He reminded me that  we have a unique situation, and we have to lean on our unconventional family or modern day village of aunties and uncles. We are so grateful for everyone who's helped in caring for you so we can catch a moment of rest and quality parent time.

We love you sweet thang.