Maya and Dexter's Amazing Adventures: 09/01/2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

"Happy First Birthday Dexter!" video

Dexter gets hears his birthday song for the first time and samples his first ice cream...

Dexter Loves To Party

We had a few friends over to celebrate Dex's first birthday. It was a super hot day and we decided to have an ice cream social. A fun time was had by all!

Waiting for the party to start.

Birthday boy.

Party time.

Some of the babies from Momma's mother's group.

The ball pit comes outside.

Big kids make sure it's working.

My, what big eyes you have!

Babies' turn.

Birthday fun!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

School is really sparking Maya's interest in writing. Maya decided to write a little something for Mom and Dad (in this case she did ask how to spell a few of the words, but we didn't tell her what to write). We're trying to relish this period of Maya's life where we are the recipients of love notes.

Summerfest

Today we went to Summerfest which is a fundraiser for San Rafael schools. Riley's family met us there and fun included jumpys, a dunk tank, and other games.

Summerfest at San Rafael High.

Dexter approves.

Maya approves.

Maya, Laura, Riley, and Owen watch kids dunking grownups in the tank.

Maya takes a turn.

Success!

The fabulous prizes.

Maya picks SPIDER!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Dexter at 1 Year

Here are the latest stats:

Weight: 23lbs 8oz (around 55th percentile)

Height: 30.5 inches (around 65th percentile)

Teeth: 4 (2 upper, 2 lower)

Dexter is a happy, energetic little guy. He's a little explorer. He loves crawling into drawers, dumping everything out of them, smiling and crawling away. He likes climbing up stairs, chairs, pillows, anything you put in his way. He's VERY close to walking. He loves walking around with someone holding on or both hands. He loves to push his little wagon walker. His very favorite favorite person continues to be Maya. He happily follows her around and she is remarkably good at entertaining him.

He is becoming willful and knows what he wants to do…like eating the cat food out of Lily's dish, or climbing up the stairs, or opening the cabinet in the bathroom and pulling out all the toilet paper. It is becoming harder to distract him when he gets his mind set on something.

His sleeping is still very consistent. He continues to take 2 naps although we are having to limit their length and he is beginning to show signs that he's close to being ready to switch to one nap.

We are winding down with nursing. A couple weeks ago we started the weaning process and now he is only nursing twice a day. Very soon, he will be completely independent of Momma. He doesn't seem to mind much once he got used to using the cup.

Dexter now has 4 teeth and uses them with amazing skill. He barely will touch a puree anymore and likes all real food. He loves fruit and vegetables cut in pieces, meat and fish chopped up, couscous, black beans, as much bread as we will give him (not much), waffles, yogurt. His two favorite dishes are a bit exotic. He loves lamb moussaka (from our local organic grocery) and pupusas (from our neighborhood Mexican place). His only current dislikes are cheese, eggs, and avocado. We think he has an issue with the slimy texture. Otherwise, he loves to eat.

Communication is coming along slowly. Dexter is making signs for 'all done,' and 'more' inconsistently. He makes a meow sound for the cat. He says 'nana' for bananas (or any food). He is waving, clapping, and giving people high fives. He seems to be in love with grunting which he does frequently. He's starting to like books more. "Pat the Bunny" is a real favorite. He also like other interactive books. He still isn't that interested in just hearing a story and looking at pictures.

He is now playing with things more. He likes to take things in and out of containers. He loves to carry things around. He loves pushing buttons on toys and finding out what they do. He loves playing with balls and balloons. He seems like he's getting to the point where he's beginning to try to understand the 'purpose' of various objects. We saw him stirring with a spoon in a toy pot the other day.

This year has been densely packed but has gone by quickly. We can't believe that our little guy is graduating into toddlerhood. It seems like only moments ago he was a newborn.

Happy Birthday, Little D!

Dexter's First Birthday!

In a flash, Dexter has gone through his first year. It's been a fun, challenging, beautiful, crazy year for all of us. His birthday party is happening this weekend, but today we had a nice mellow family celebration.

Maya and Dexter enjoy some thumb-sucking together in shirts which say '5' and '1'. Both shirts were gifts from Nick Noll, boy wonder.

Birthday love.

Dexter summits this bean bag chair.

Dex enjoys his first cupcake. He looks suspicious as Momma delivers the goods.

I don't think you could have asked for a better reaction. Dexter grabs the cupcake and stuffs it in his face. His eyes widened as he tasted how sweet it was and then...