Alec D Turned 1!

I have a hard time reconciling the passage of the last year. Each day seemed eternal yet fleeting. As one who may not be suited to Stay At Home Motherhood, I am irritated, humbled and blessed in every day.

Just one week before his birthday, Alec took the momentum that he had spent several weeks building, and took off walking. Seriously. Just wandered off. We were at my stepdad's ranch. Daddy and Lily (she has announced her preference for just Lily) were outside with Pops and the horses.

Alec and I were inside with Grammy. He was standing holding on to her chair just bouncing and giggling. Then he let go, pivoted away and walked off - for somewhere between 8 and 10 feet. We started laughing and clapping, then I started crying... which is unfortunately my go-to when I am overwhelmed.

He was giddy with the freedom of it all. He didn't stop walking and hooting until well after 10 p.m. This made sleeping in our hotel room a bit of a challenge. We finally turned off the lights and t.v. and let him wander in the dark. He was fine with that for a while and eventually he climbed in with me for a rousing round of If Baby's Not Sleeping, Ain't Nobody Sleeping. Then he passed out.

Side note: I have talked to several mothers since who relate tales of taking baby who seemed to be in no hurry to walk to the coast and having them suddenly stand up and walk off. Perhaps it's the invigorating salt air?

We spent the next day at the aquarium.

Lily LOVED showing all of her favorite sea dwellers to her brother. They were united in their loathing of the splash pad play area :-/ After spending at least 15 minutes getting everyone into swimsuits and sunscreen, we spent maybe 5 minutes dragging miserable kids through sprinklers before giving up and drying off. Back to the dolphins for some soothing of the senses, then we made our way home.

The vehement dislike on the part of both kids really threw me. They both LOVE water. On any given day, if things are going poorly, I can dump them both in the tub and turn it around in an instant.

Alec already shares his sister's love of the pool, and he has only been swimming once. I guess that my tiny control freaks just hated the concept of random giant sprinklers and even more random splooshes of water from above.

My big guy followed his break though with yet another one - he can now climb the ladder to sister's loft bed. I am exhausted just thinking about it! In what is becoming Typical Alec Fashion, he just walked over to it and began climbing. No hesitation. No previous tries.

It's almost as though those incoming curls give him bravery, strength and agility beyond measure...

In Small Blessings news, all of these new skills wear him OUT. While this creates extra whining, it also creates extra snuggle time, and opportunities for me to just sit still and hold him. Moments that are fewer and farther between as he grows.

I love you, my son. I am so proud of you! Happy first birthday, and many, many more.

Do-Over

I need to start 2012 over again. Mine got all messed up. Not horrible or anything, just out of whack. Since I was trying to Start As You Mean To Go On, I need to re-do the last week so that it is not replicated down the line.

There was a great trip to the aquarium:

Which somehow ended with Lily Ruth's first big skinned knee. Thank goodness for impulse-buy bandages with unicorns on them that came in a tin sturdy enough to leave in the diaper bag!

This was followed by a decent day with friends marred by a full-on face-plant and a rushing to the pediatrician's office in case of loosened teeth. Don't worry - we left without being seen as she was obviously fine after waiting for an hour... *sigh*... and now I've made my first public appearance as The Crazy Lady (in a stretched out T-shirt, old maternity yoga pants and my SLIPPERS) since we were preparing to nap when the incident occurred. In case you're worried about her reputation as a fashionista, Lily Ruth was styling in a blood-stained T-shirt/droopy diaper combo. Together, we were a pathetic sight.

The following morning (read: 3 a.m.) saw a bout of the stomach flu for my beleaguered angel. She apparently hates throwing up even more than I do. Before each round was even done, she was wriggling to get down and proclaiming "I o.k. I fine. I feel better." She's a trooper, that one. Oi.

The NEXT day, she knocked the scab off her knee, and made the sore bigger.

The next day, I had the stomach flu.

- Can you see why I ask for the do-over? We're two days out from our Five Days of Trial and Tribulation, and I just got us back in order. All of the pukey laundry is clean. All of the accumulated dishes are washed. The dog hair tumbleweeds are in the trash. Everybody is sleeping on fresh sheets (pets included - damn them).

Here's what I'll do. Since you obviously don't have the authority to grant my simple, easy request, I'll go you one better. Let's just start from here. My house is clean. My body is cleaned out (eww.). The bills are paid current. Let's just use this as the jumping off point for 2012.

Here are my guidelines:
- No more than one alcoholic beverage on a weeknight (and I must choose either Friday or Sunday as weekend nights, but not both).
- Portion control. Just slow down and pay attention.
- Keep moving. The kid and I are on a very active kick - let's keep it up.
- No beating yourself up for flubs or backsliding. Just be present and aware and move forward.

What say you?

A Day to Remember

Warning: If you are tired of looking at pictures of my daughter playing with animals, then you should skip this post!

We went to the aquarium again, ya'll! Lily Ruth's daddy had to work down there one day last week, so we went with him. Poor Daddy. We get to play, and he gets to sit in depositions...

Lily Ruth and I arrived just after they opened. It was very cool. Some of the trainers were cleaning the dolphin tank, and we got to wave at them and watch them use the same vacuum that we have for our pool. Then we wandered over to the amphitheater where they have the bird show. We watched an anteater take a sunbath for a while:

We wandered over and made silly faces at otters and pet a few rays. Then we went back to the dolphin enclosure just in time to see them come out for the morning! Lily Ruth ran along the window with them yelling 'Mama! My FRIENDS are HERE!'

Then the four of them shared a quiet moment:

THEN one of them came over by himself to smile at her!

She was terrified and ecstatic all at once. It was so exciting that we had to stay down there for a while...

We wandered back out to the bird theater in time for the show so that we could see our friend the anteater again. Lily Ruth actually ran down the steps in the middle of the show, and almost made it on stage to see her friend again! We stayed after the show, and got to know a bird:

But here's the best part - we asked nicely, and the trainers brought our friend back out for us! We got to pet her!!!

She was looking right at the camera with her darling face until I pressed the button :-/ That's Lily Ruth's hand in the bottom left corner. She's approaching an animal just like I taught her - slowly, quietly and with the back of her hand :-) Our anteater friend has an unbelievably soft nose, really rough, scratchy fur and she smelled like a ferret. It. was. awesome.

We did lots of other stuff like watching hermit crabs, yelling at otters, walking out on the boardwalk and melting down in the gift shop but our quiet, solo encounters with the dolphins and the anteater blew all of that away.

I love you, Lily Ruth. I can't wait until the day we can get in the dolphin tank together!