First Birthday

Ronan is one year (and two days) old! I'm generally lucky if I can remember what we did yesterday, but here's my best reconstruction of the day:

In the morning Ronan came to class with me and was a big hit. We'd been talking about language recognition the previous day so nominally he was there to see if we could figure out what words he knows (he loves showing off where his nose, head, ears, and mouth are, but also knows clap, wave, dance, peekaboo, uh oh, milk, cheese, and a few others). He then happily slept through the rest of the period in the Ergo while I gave the students background information for an upcoming lab.

At three I picked him up from daycare to go to the park but he fell asleep in the car for his second nap. Afterwards we had a skype chat with Aunt J, then walked next door to look at the horses before it got dark (so early now...like 4:30!). Back at home we went up the stairs and he invented a new method of getting down: after he crawled away from them at the top he crawled back, put his hand on the top edge, turned around, lay down, and pushed himself sliding backwards over the edge. Once he's in place like this he's good as scooting down the stairs but how to get in position to go down has been evading him for the few weeks he's been climbing stairs. (Now, two days later, you'd never know this was new thing). While he was on the stairs I took some pictures for his granddad's birthday card (since they share a birthday).

We read a lot of books and for the first time Ronan started pointing at the animals in the books. I asked him where the kitty cat and doggie were and he could point at each. I taught him chicken and then he picked out each one of them for a long time! All the art in his books is different but he recognizes the dog and cat in one of his german books too. Learning words... generalizing concepts... It's all starting to come together and it's amazing how fast it happens.

Ro likes to play with pots and pans in the kitchen while we make his dinner and for his birthday he started drinking cow's milk out of a sippy cup/bottle hybrid. He probably ate something like sweet potato mashed in yogurt, a cracker, some fruit, and then his birthday (carrot-cake) cupcake! He enjoyed taking his presents out of a basket and putting them back in and we measured him on his new height chart and he is about 28 inches tall!

For his birthday he got lots of cozy, adorable winter clothes, a height chart, bouncy balls that light up when bounced, a set of large balls, some stacking blocks that also nest, and a swing to hang from our tree!

Happy Birthday little Roneo. We love you!

12 months of Ronan

November * December * January

February * March * April

May * June * July

August * September * October

and *November* once again!

We've moved!

Ronan isn't quite one yet so here's an update on our move instead...

First photo in the new house:

Ronan woke at 5:30am so we played with the didgaridoo in the guest room/office. Faced with a choice between a desk and keeping the awesome spare bed I opted to ditch the desk. Thus the office nest was born! (I still hate 5:30 though.)

This week we moved again and while we never would have chosen the timing, the move was okay. Which is to say amazing for a move! Much less difficult than our cross-country trip. We're actually pretty moved in and settled, thanks to lots of help from movers and a crew-team fundraiser.

One or another science study this year (oh yeah, this one) made the news saying if you believe you are resilient you tend to be happier and less stressed. (Which sounds a lot like what we refer to as the science of the "no-duh" except I found it interesting that belief of resilience was more important than optimism). In this case we managed to have that belief (what's a cross-town move compared to the last year?). It was actually nice to see how remarkably not awful it was. It helps that we like our new house: a cosy place that feels much homier than the last. We're next to the college equestrian center so I look forward to introducing Ro to horses, and there are two other college rental houses as neighbors. I don't get to walk to work on a gorgeous wooded trail anymore, but at least I can still walk to work (I consider that to be a pretty awesome quality of life feature).

Tomorrow Ronan will be one! In the morning he is coming to my research methods class with me before daycare which I'm hoping he'll love. There is at least a nominal educational rationale for this based on a discussion we had last class, but I'm also hoping it will be a treat for students who come (since the Tuesday before thanksgiving is evidently not well attended). We'll see how it goes!

Baby sign sentence??

Ro took his second nap of the day early today at daycare, so when I picked him up he came along to the polling place and then we checked out the kid park (about a 10 minute drive from town).

I'd been a bit turned off of going previously by the (admittedly not steep) entry fee for lots of features I thought Ro was too young to appreciate when we moved here. What won me over is that they have a swing-set there which Ro has been lacking. So it was time!

Turns out the park is enormous with multiple playgrounds, picnic areas, a water playground (summer only), a train (not sure when that runs), and a petting zoo. Ronan got to scratch the side of a goat which he liked quite a bit, and he was fascinated by the chickens, turkey, and peacocks. He started laughing immediately in the swing which was lovely, and then we tried the slides. I sat him at the top and held my fingers out for him to grab. When he did I'd guide him down to the bottom. He liked it so much he made what I consider to be his first signed sentence -- he would point at the slide and then make his version of the sign for more. Over and over! Good fun.

We didn't make it out for any evening Halloween activities this year, but I did grab a couple photos of Ro in his bear snowsuit romping in the Fall foliage. Ronan 9-12 mos on Picasa.

Baby sign

As of this week Ronan makes the sign for milk unprompted when he wants his morning bottle. His versions of signs are very sweet. For "more" he points one finger at the opposite palm. For "food" (which he just started doing but probably just in imitation of our signing it) he points one finger into his mouth. Every now and then he will point at something in the room too. I think his versions are actually better than the official ASL from the perspective of someone with a little less hand coordination and a predilection towards using his index finger. He is clearly starting to understand more and more too. Language is cool.

11th monthday!

[Chilly morning, warm bear suit]
Ronan is 11 months old! People said the first year would fly by, but that must be in retrospect. There was that blurry early period I can hardly recall except that there was no sleep and constant nursing and too much moving prep (that lasted forever). Then from when Ronan learned to laugh at 3 months until about 9 or 10 months there was a long period of steady but slow change. Sure, being able to grab things was a really big deal. And sitting up, discovering the joy of emptying containers, feeding himself cheerios. Somewhere around 8 months he developed strong opinions. But Ronan kept on being slowly advancing baby Ronan.

[Sitting in a basket by the fire, still trying to imitate Tante Jenny's mouth popping sounds]
In the last month Ro has started to seem more like a boy than an infant. He clearly understands things now, and interacts so much more. Today I watched him pull up to standing two or three times completely on his own. It's like the baby is vanishing before our eyes, and suddenly, finally, time is slipping by faster than I can say "wait".

Features of month Ten
Ro said mama for a few days, then dada, then mostly abandoned both for the first word he says with clear meaning attached: “uh-oh.” He likes to say it first…and then drop something. He says it tonally too -- with rising, then falling pitch (almost the way seat two in a racing canoe calls the side change). Ro also makes two signs – the fist flexing sign that means milk, and his version of “more” (he points one finger at his opposite palm). But it’s not really clear that he understands what they mean yet.

He is obsessed with buttons, to the point that it’s hard to video him anymore because there’s a big red button on the back of the Flip videocamera and he can’t stand to see the device (even the front!) and not get to push it. He’s an equal opportunity button pusher: if it turns on a light or plays a sound that’s cool, but thermostat buttons, car key fob buttons, and buttons for electronic devices powered off are basically as interesting. He had his first encounter with our new Roomba the other day (Ro, meet Roo) and predictably activated and deactivated it continuously.

Finally, just two days ago, he crawled on all fours. He’s been scooting on his butt, spinning and sitting, and even doing this undulating wormy thing to creep across a floor. Now he is starting pulling up on things too. The end of an era.

We have given up on trying to baby proof this place beyond obvious hazards because we will move again so soon (either in 2 weeks or in 6) so soon this will mean much more chasing!

[iPhone shot on the way home from campus]
Fall is in full swing and it's been lovely to have family here for most of the month (it made it seem much homier here). It's eerily quiet now, as if it were already winter and getting dark early.

We miss you all, and send many virtual Ronan snuggles your way!


Love,

A+D+R

P.S. Coolest unexpected baby quirk? Ronan deliberately holds still for the snot-sucker bulb. He understands that it helps him when he's stuffy, and remarkably doesn't fight it.

Oh No!

We have to move *again*. I need a "dripping blood" font for that word to really emphasize how that makes us feel. The picture above appears to be Ronan channeling that sentiment, but actually he was trying to play peek-a-boo and missed.

This week he started following instructions in an obvious way for the first time. I asked him to clap and he clapped! We say wave bye-bye and he waves. He also understands "peek-a-boo." In the past he has done some of these things but often only when we do it first, or haphazardly enough I couldn't be really sure what he did and didn't understand. But it's starting to be pretty unambiguous!



The moving thing is because our fancy dancy certified child-safe de-leaded house is actually completely full of exposed lead paint. Oops! Not sure exactly when said move will take place but we are currently investigating options.