The Bug is 1.

Today is a big day, its my BIRTHDAY! I am ONE! Can you believe that??

It started out like any other day. Mommy came in and got me out of my bed. We got dressed and went downstairs. Then Daddy made us all a special breakfast of biscuits, fake (or real for the actual meat-eaters staying with us) bacon, and fake sausage. Here is what I think of special breakfast:


Then I went out shopping with Mommy and Daddy, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara.


I opened up all of my cards. Thanks everyone!


When I woke up from my nap, everything was different in my house! There were balloons and streamers everywhere, and everything had duckies on it.


It was time for my party!! My friends Isaac and Carson and their Mommies and Daddies came, and so did our friends Gil and Patrick. And, of course, G-G, Sky King, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara - and Mommy and Daddy!

Daddy gave me a sip of his beer because I am almost old enough.


I found some of my presents in a pile. I always wanted a fire safe!


Pretty soon it was time for me to eat my birthday cake. We had two cakes, one was just for me, and one was for everyone else.



Mommy put some candles in my cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday.


Nan, Grandad and cousins Zoe and Lauren were there too, watching me on Skype!


Hm... what is this?


OMG! MY HANDS ARE BLUE!!! WAAAAAAAAHHH!!


GET IT OFF, MOMMY!!!


Wow. I don't know about cake. That was terrifying. I think I've had enough. Its time to do something else.

Lets play Guitar Hero! Thats what Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara got Mommy for Christmas. I think that would be better than eating the terrifying cake.






Everyone played Guitar Hero, except me, because the guitar is taller than me. Oh well. Mommy decorated her guitar with stickers and she put 'OC' on it, just for me. That is almost as good as being able to play myself.

After a little while, I was hungry and Mommy got some dinner together for me. She gave me some pita bread and indian chickpea dip. Yum! She also gave me a piece of my cake, but this time she took the blue frosting off first. Still, I'd rather have the chickpea dip. But I did try a few bites of frosting.


Then I opened my presents from my party. I got some cool books (I love books!) and toys and clothes. Yay! I also got an "iPod" of my very own from my friend Julianna. I love it! It plays classical music and lights up when I press the buttons.


I posed for some pictures with Mommy and Daddy and with Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara.





It hasn't been than long, but look how much I have changed! Next stop, TWO!

Merry Christmas!

Well, I just finished my FIRST CHRISTMAS. I know I would have had a first Christmas last year if I had just gotten with the program and come out sooner, but oh well. Too bad for Mommy. I think I enjoyed my first Christmas more this way, because I actually know what is going on. My G-G and Sky King came out on the 22nd, because Daddy's birthday was on the 23rd and they wanted to be here in time for that. Mommy and her family usually open their presents on Christmas Eve, so they gave me some presents that day too, one of which was this wagon!


We went for a walk around the neighborhood in it.


The next day was actual Christmas. I sat near the Christmas tree, hoping that presents would appear. And they did!


My next present was my OWN SPECIAL CHAIR. I sat in my chair while I was opening presents.


I got lots of neat presents, like these books. I love books, especially ones I can touch, or that have flaps or something.


I also got my OWN SPECIAL KITCHEN. It goes in Mommy and Daddy's kitchen, so I can cook and wash dishes with them.


I got a bag of vegetables from the Farmers' Market ('Owen's Farmers' Market' it says!) that I can put in my oven or sink or whatever.


I also got a fun rocket toy from my Aunt Melissa and Uncle Matt. I am slightly too short for it right now so although I can sit on it, I can't push myself around. So instead I push the toy around the kitchen.

I got a little bit overwhelmed by all of my presents so I got a little bit grumpypants.


Then I took a nap and it was all good.

We had dinner later that night. I had Yorkshire pudding, Quorn cutlet, roasted vegetables and salad. Yum! I liked the Quorn the best. Yay, fake meat! G-G and Sky King had real meat, but Mommy and Daddy had Quorn too. You can see Mommy and Sky King wearing their hats from their Christmas crackers. G-G and Daddy's had broken before they even put them on, which was a bummer because that meant that the annual "Big Head Contest" could not take place. I think a rematch will occur tomorrow after Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara arrive...




Here is a video of me sitting in my special chair and reading a book.

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

I have a video of me pushing around my rocket too, but that is going to have to wait until tomorrow because Mommy is helping me post this, and she is tired and wants to go to bed, and it is not even uploaded yet.

I had a nice Christmas, and I loved all of my presents. Hope you did too!

And I'll be 1 on SATURDAY!! OMG!!

Yeah I know....

I haven't been updating my blog lately! I have been soooo busy. I mean, I had to get my Christmas cards out, my shopping done, it was crazy. All of that and I go to school every day, AND I go to bed at 7pm. There are only so many hours in the day, people.

By now you've probably gotten a Christmas card from me with a cute picture on it. Well, Mommy took lots of pictures of me that day, and they weren't all that good. Thijs and Riley have posted some funny Christmas card bloopers, so here are mine.

First word?

Well, I may or may not be saying my first word. It may or may not be 'hi'.

Mommy is really overanalyzing this whole thing. First she thought I had a word for 'cat'. It was not "cat", but it was some high pitched squealy sound. I do not, in fact, have a word for 'cat'. I just like cats! I get happy and excited when they are around, thus the squealing. But every time the cats would come by, I could see Mommy's ears perk up. I could almost see her thinking "Is that the same high pitched squealy sound he did last time?? I don't know! Maybe! Aaaaaargh!'

I'm just messing with her.

But this 'hi' thing, thats a little bit different. I started saying "hi" to her when she would come into the room. Yesterday when she came in to pick me up at school I said "hiiiiiiii". Mommy asked my teacher whether she thought I said 'hi', and my teacher agreed. She also agreed with Mommy that I had said it a few other times in the correct context. Mommy is hesitant to label this as my FIRST WORD (like I said, Mommy totally overanalyzes), but its TENTATIVELY my first word.

Alternative uses for train tracks

I don't know if you've ever ridden on Amtrak, but it kinda sucks. At least this is what Mommy tells me. She rode the train from Boston to Oberlin, Ohio when she was doing her auditions for college and it had several major, major problems:

a) arrival time in Oberlin was like, 3 AM. Who wants to pick you up at 3 AM?
b) it was full of crazy people
c) it was full of possibly drunk crazy people who were fighting with each other
d) some of those people were also preaching
e) since you're a captive audience, you have to pay an arm and a leg for food, which sucked.
f) it took longer than it would have to drive

Anyway. Mommy is always surprised that Amtrak still exists, given that they have no one to compete with them and thus force them to improve. I have been coming up with some plans for what we can do with all the old train tracks if Amtrak ever goes bust.

Mommy and Daddy always put the train track together for me, but I am eager to get started on my plans - perhaps too eager! - so I begin by removing all of the cars on the track.


Then I start dismantling the track.


I find it helps if I shake the track pieces vigorously before I try to dispose of them.



I'll give you five bucks if you can guess where I'm going to put this...


Duh! Everything in the mouth!
Finally, I have to find alternative uses for some of the other parts of the train system. Like, for example, the little ramps that allow the train to drive from the floor to the track. The best thing I've come up with so far is this:



I like to call this 'Pacifier/Duckie Face'.

I'm 11 months old!

11 months! Practically a year!

Here are some of the things I can do:

walk
use things as they were intended to be used (i.e. brush my hair with a hairbrush)
wave (sort of)

Still working on talking, but no real talking action yet. I am a real boy in this respect. Walk first, then talk!

Dinner conversation

Dinner, yum! Chomp, chomp, chomp. How was your day, Mommy? How about you, Daddy? Do you want to know what I did today?


Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

The much anticipated walking video

Walking: The sequel from meandertail on Vimeo.

En fuego!

Walking is progressing crazily! I toddle along quite a bit now - I can make it several feet before I fall. And I do it more often than I used to. I'm getting to be a real kid instead of a baby!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Steps on film!

Today I walked three steps towards Mommy when she had her video camera on. Obviously I waited to do this until it was dark and thus the light and video quality was crappy. I'm not going to make it tooooooo easy!

Also in this video I am doing another thing I have been doing lately, which is trying to chew on the thing in the middle of my toy table that spins around. Yeah, I don't know either.


3 steps from meandertail on Vimeo.

Oh and also? If you notice, I am wearing my 'Baby's first Thanksgiving' outfit. You might be thinking, 'Huh? It is not Thanksgiving yet, is it?' No! It isn't. But today Mommy and I went to a Thanksgiving PARTY at her friend Gil's house. It was fun.

Nothing is open on Veterans Day...

...including my school! So I got to stay home with Mommy and Sky King (he was flying through on his way to Florida). We wanted to go to the museum, but it was not open. We wanted to go to a park, but it rained! Instead, my friend Ike came over, because he didn't have school either!
He played with my train.


We did some reminiscing about the Exersaucer (I don't play in this much anymore because - why sit still when I could move around??). Look how much taller he is than me. He is only 9 months older than me which, in the grand scheme of things is not that much, right? But in baby time?? That is HUGE!


We went in the Buggletrail.



And we played with my ball table thingie.



It was fun. Later that day I went for a walk with Daddy, Mommy and Sky King and the two doggies. I talked to everyone while we were walking.

Walking... coming soon!

Yesterday, Mommy and I went over to my friend Juliana's house to play. Mommy wanted me to show Julianna's Mommy how I could stand up all by myself. So Mommy put me down on the floor so I could show her. Sometimes Mommy thinks I am a performing pony or something, just here to show off all of my tricks. Geez.

Anyhow, I thought I'd mix it up a little bit, so I took two steps towards her. The Mommies both almost had a heart attack, I think. I don't know what the big deal is - I've been walking with my walking toy for a while now. Didn't she think I'd figure out how to do it without it?? Here are a few videos of that that I have been meaning to put up.

This one was the first time I really went crazy with the walking toy, about 3 weeks ago. Up until then, Mommy or Daddy had been slowing it down for me because they thought it was too fast for me. I guess I showed them!


Big trip around the house from meandertail on Vimeo.

As you could see in the first video, I am able to steer if I want to, or get unstuck when I run into things. However, my ability to do this is severly compromised when I am tired. This video was taken a couple of days later, but right before my bedtime.


More walking from meandertail on Vimeo.

Mommy has been trying to get me to take a few steps again but I'm not going to cooperate. I am my own boss!

I've got this pillow and I know how to use it

Mommy and Daddy have a couch that has little pillows on it. Clearly they do not grasp the concept of pillows, because pillows are for sleeping on! I had to show them what to do.


Pillows are for sleeping on from meandertail on Vimeo.


Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

Buggle = Gerbil

Mommy and Daddy bought me a new toy a few weeks ago. Its a Playhut. Mommy says it looks like a Habitrail gerbil cage. It is a little house with two tunnels that go off of it. I love to crawl in it!

Ooh! Here I am looking into one of the tunnels.


Got in!


Hey, wait! Someone else likes my Habitrail!


I'm going to get her.


Oops! I think she got me instead! Ow!


(She actually really got me in the face with her back claw and Mommy happened to get a picture at the exact moment of impact!)