Stony Brook!

I only have a minute, but I thought I'd post a quick video from our trip so far. David has once again proven himself to be quite the beach boy. He just loves it! He is also a real walker these days, so here's a video of him walking on the beach. (I promise I"ll start writing real entries again once we're back in Jena. With all the little cousins running around, it's hard to spend time on the computer!)

So, David's beach walk :)

David Conquers the Stairs

(Two posts in one day!) David is all about the stairs. If we let him, he'd climb the stairs in the main apartment building all day long. In fact, if we leave the apartment door open, he's out the door in 2 seconds flat, racing for the main building.

Going down stairs, however, is a lot trickier than going up them. A few days ago, we took David to see the ducks in the river. The ducks were OK, according to David, but the steps down to see the ducks--now those was something worth seeing. After a great deal of effort, David started to get the hang of going down the steps, as long as he started from the top landing.

Anyway, here is a pretty humorous progression of videos...

First, David tries to come down from the second step...



Next, he tries from the top...


And, finally...success! This last video is the best. It's got it all: David's doing his best to get down the stairs but, of course, one has to acknowledge one's fans...so all of David's efforts are punctuated by greetings. For whom, you ask? The older German woman who is, unsurprisingly, giving us all sorts of warnings and advice about how to keep David safe. Finally, note the ending. Yes, it's got it all :)

David's Birthday Party

Last Sunday, we had some friends over for cake to celebrate David's first birthday. Actually, we celebrated David's birthday and the birthday of a little girl we know from church, Sophie, who was born three days after David. We met Sophie just a few minutes after she was born, and it was wonderful to get to celebrate together a year later! (This is also the Sophie that David has tried to kiss at playgroup :)

The timing was perfect, because my cousin Kate was in town Saturday to Sunday and was able to celebrate with us! She was also there to talk me through my mini-freak-out as it became clear that (1) the 2 layers for my layer cake were nowhere near the same size, and (2) the buttercream frosting was a disaster due to the heat, and there was no way it was going to hold up for any caterpillars, or anything of the sort. (Hooray for chocolate letters and pre-made decorations.) Still, the nice thing about using Magnolia Bakery's recipe is that, no matter how the thing looks, the cake is always delicious. And really, that's what matters most! (To me at least :)

David, again, liked the cake :)


We were so happy to have so many friends join us! The hinterhof (backyard, sort of) is the perfect place to host a small get together in the summer. FAR better than the inside of a one bedroom apartment.

We have a little slide that belongs to our neighbor, but since his son is now 9 years old he said we could use it whenever we'd like. We hadn't tried before, but I cleaned it up for the party and it was a huge hit!

David, of course, needs a little help on the way down.

Emmanuel is a whole 3 months older, so he got to go down on his own. Although...

He couldn't QUITE stick the landing!

As David's Great-Grandpa noted in the last entry, David is a real people person. He was just thrilled to have so many people over, and showed his gratitude and affection by blowing kisses from Michael's shoulders.

The boy really seems to think he's a king, or at least a mayor or something of the sort.

There was only one minor hiccup in the day's festivities. The birthday boy and the birthday girl had a little tiff. Well, that's putting it nicely. Really, David decided to be a little bully for a few minutes! You know me, though, so I managed to capture some of it on camera. The progression:
Sophie, happily playing with her bike helmet.

David: "I'll take that, thank you very much."
Sophie makes a valiant effort to take BACK the bike helmet. At this point, David pulled the helmet back, dropped his chin, furrowed his brow, broke-out the index finger and gave Sophie a lengthy, stern talking-to! (At THAT point, I gave the helmet back to Sophie and gave DAVID a stern talking to.)

Sophie's mother, Dagmar, saw what was going on and very generously offered David a second bike helmet to play with. David gladly accepted the helmet...
...and then, storing it safely behind himself, made a play for Sophie's helmet again.
Little Stinker!

Belly Laughs

I wanted to share a video of David giggling in his swing yesterday. I will warn you though: it's a bit much. I mean, if you're prone to motion sickness you might not want to watch it. I love his laugh, though, so I just had to post it anyway!

David is One!

I can hardly believe it! I thought it would be fun to write a post about what David is like these days. First, though, the usual birthday cake pictures :)

(Warning: There are a lot!)

The cake--I have to admit I'm kind of proud of this :) I am so very unartistic, incapable even of a respectable stick figure, so this was a big deal for me. And it's Magnolia Bakery's recipe, with their buttercream frosting. Delicious! (Even when baked in a mini oven.)

David made a grab for the candle but, fortunately, was not fast enough.

Smart boy--RIGHT for the mounds of frosting.

AND he knew exactly what to do with it :)

No point messing around with little bites, let's just shove the whole thing in there.

I think it's safe to say he liked it!

No idea what he's doing here. Just none at all.

Taste my fingers, Dad! They're delicious!

We had a great day with David today. This afternoon, the three of us went to GalaxSea, which is a nearby indoor pool and water park. There is a huge baby pool, a pool with a big lazy river, a wave pool, hot-tubs and some giant water slides. (Too big for David, just right for me :) David had a blast! He just kept grinning, clapping his hands, and blowing us kisses as if to say "This. Is. AWESOME!" He really liked when we'd hold him and drift, all three, around the lazy river. He liked to try to swim, too--kicking his little feet and splashing with his hands! After that, we came home and had dinner and cake, and David got some play time before bath & bed. We had to skip his afternoon nap today, something we never do, so he fell asleep before I even got him into his bed!

At one year, David is just a ton of fun. Really, you would not believe how friendly he is, and how skilled he is at getting the attention of passersby. College girls, other children, Harley Davidson aficionados, and toothless men who have probably had too much to drink by 11 am, all are fair game as far as David is concerned. Yesterday, I paused in the Goethe Gallery to look at a menu while David sat in his stroller. Seconds later, I heard laughter. I don't even know what he was doing, exactly, but at least 3 groups of people were watching--and David was eating it up. The funny thing is, this happens daily! He is such a ham, and just loves seeing people--especially if said people are watching him :)

He is also, however, getting tired of me taking pictures of him. I love this shot:
"Seriously? Another one? Don't you have something better to do?"

He is so active, and pretty easily bored, so we try to spend as much time out of the apartment as possible. We go to the playground around the corner every day, and sometimes twice a day. These days, David's favorite activity is climbing the stairs that are built into the hill:

He could climb all day long and be happy!

He also likes playing with sticks:

I'll end with some fun facts about David.

He loves to drink bubbly water, or Ginger flavored Bionade (a bubbly, not so sweet beverage that I love.) He will not, however, drink Apple juice.

He loves bananas and yogurt, but the typical baby tastes end there. He will eat string beans, provided they have been sauteed with a little garlic and olive oil. Otherwise, forget it. He loves curry, loves Michael's chilli, loves Indian food of all kinds--he's had Pakistania and Afganistani food and loved it. He will not eat plain rice. He will play with, but will not eat, Cheerios. He ate a giant bell-pepper and brocolli crepe for lunch the other day, but steamed carrot sticks are a no go. We discovered a few days ago that he LOVES roasted red peppers. Michael made spicy pork chops for dinner last night, and even though the first bite almost gave me the hiccups, David loved them!

So he's quite the adventurous little eater. The only things he won't eat are things that are bland! (And, oddly enough, Apples. He has just started to eat tiny bits of Granny Smith apples, and that's huge progress!) We love that he likes to eat a variety of foods, but it does make it difficult to get vegetables into his daily diet. I don't really always have the time to whip up a fancy side dish. Sometimes I'd like to be able to just steam some broccoli and leave it at that!

He is a sweet and affectionate little boy, but he has no time for snuggling. A quick cuddle, maybe, but that's really all he can muster before squirming away to get back to climbing and crawling!

He is a talker! They don't all sound exactly as they should, but he now uses all of the following words: Yeah, No (Nanana!), Mama, Dada, Echo, Dog, Duck, and Hi. He can repeat other words when prompted, but these are the ones he really uses on his own. He's also doing the signs for More, Drink, All Done, and (thanks to Moira) ceiling fans!

OK I'll stop rambling now. It's been a great year, and we just love him like crazy!

OK last picture: David, a year ago today!