New Hampshire October Visit

The family spent Columbus Day (Indigenous People's Day) weekend in New Hampshire. It was a brief visit, but worth the looong (14+ hours) travel time there and back. It was wonderful seeing Grandma Dixie, Betsy, Bob, Anne Marie, Greg, and meeting Hillary. The leaves were in full color, and the weather was crisp and sunny.

Before we left to fly back to the Bay Area, we visited with Great-grandma Connie. She said of Xander: "He's certainly not stupid, is he?" Nope, he's a smart little guy.

What's he doing now? He can follow simple directions, like "Come to mommy sweet baby-boo." and "No, don't pull on Bootsy's ears". He smiles all the time, especially at parties, and when offered sweet potatoes. He loves throwing balls and experimenting with gravity. He crawls super-fast, and pulls himself up on everything--pantlegs, coffee tables, the djembe drum, cabinets. The other day he said "hi daddy" (really!) and he's started to say "ma ma" very distinctly.

One year old almost!

Daddy and Xander Looking at View
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Beware of Cute Costumes

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Xander's 1st birthday a week early, and had a costume party with some of his (and our) friends. Babies in attendance included 9 month old Dahlia and Bella, 6 month old Renato, and 2- year old Kat. There were no meltdowns, so we consider it a success. Xander tore apart his birthday pumpkin muffin.

BabyHalloween 028
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Yummers Sweet Potato!

Yummers Sweet Potato!
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Upside down baby

Upside down baby
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Sumo Baby

Sumo Baby Front
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Summer Update

Oh, it's beginning to be very difficult to update this with any frequency!

Xander is becoming a big boy now. He is scooching around on his belly in a one-armed one-legged army crawl, and pretty mobile. He loves playing with boxes, especially yelling into them to hear the loud sound. He smiles at everyone, and is a regular party animal--kicking, laughing, swinging his arms when it's late and he wants to stay up with the big kids (the adults). He is eating all kinds of smooshy food that we make him--avocado, banana, sweet potato, tofu, lentils, you name it, but he still doesn't have any teeth. His hair is definitely reddish--strawberry blond--and he frequently comes home from daycare with a little mohawk. He's interested in all kinds of small items that he shouldn't play with--shoelaces, electrical cords, eyeglasses. He is chattering away--saying dada to Micah and mamamama to me.

We're having a great time watching this little guy grow up.

Click on the photo for more pictures, including some more from the Berkeley kite festival.

Mommy and Xander at Berkeley Kite Festival
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Xander Eating by Himself

Xander Eating by Himself
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Here's Mr. Boo feeding himself some oatmeal. Sort of.