Show Me Near: August 2011

Owen is one year old!

This month he's learned so many new things and had so many experiences. Where to begin.

On July 7th we departed for the Great Mid-Atlantic Tour 2011. We visited friends and met lots of little kids...

went to Marv and Michelle's wedding...

Visited JoMom's family...

Visited Pops, Nonnie, Uncle Dan and Aunt Meg...

and celebrated Owen's Great-Grandma's 90th birthday...

Owen also proved his worth as a world-class traveler. This was a crazy trip with many, many destinations (he slept in 5 different pack-n-plays in 9 nights, if that gives you any perspective). He did really great. He adjusted to the 3-hour time change literally overnight. And we even had wonderful weather!

Two biggies this month on the development front! While we were away, Owen encountered stairs for the first time and immediately pushed up to standing on a lowest step. It wasn't for a couple more weeks that he started pulling up to standing wherever he was and finally, just about a week ago, he started cruising.

Also, COMMUNICATION! He learned to give high-fives just before we left for our trip, and he started using a few baby signs this month. But in the first week after his 1-year birthday, his communication development has exploded. He has started to really use signs to communicate "milk" and "eat" and especially "all done." He is waving and clapping is hands.

And, drumroll please... FIRST WORD! The official first word is: Balloon!

It is possible that he is also saying "Enna" for "Makena." It's a bit hard to pin down whether he's really saying that, or if it's just coincidence. One thing is sure though. He loves that cat. Ever since he learned to be "gentle" with her, she has been amazing with him. Never in all of creation has a cat been so nice to a baby.

He also says "Da-da" while pointing at his dad, and "Ma-ma" while pointing at random objects which are sometimes his mother.

Owen got another upper tooth just after we returned from our trip, making for 5 teeth. This 5th one has come in extremely fast, and it's now longer than the first incisors. And there's no sign of it's partner on the other side, either. I guess this tooth just had places to be and got ahead of schedule.

Gramma and Gramps arrived for a 6-week visit at the end of July. They are taking care of him while Noah and I work, and everyone is very happy with this arrangement. Owen loves having two grownups to play peekaboo with,