We're less than one-month from Roosevelt turning one and on the verge of navigating toddlerdom. Which, actually makes me quite nervous to think about what we'll encounter there. I have yet to feel completely confident that I know what I'm doing. Oh Ro, you poor thing. I'm sorry you're your parent's lab rat. Please forgive us for our mistakes.
I am LOVING this age! Ro is such a fun baby to be around. We like to play "Cat and Mouse," which is where I "chase" Ro around our coffee table. He squeals with delight when we play. And it's so cute to watch his little feet move as fast as they possibly can. Sometimes he gets ahead of himself and stumbles to the floor. We also like to "adventure crawl" around the apartment. This is just me crawling ahead of Ro and scaring him around the corners. Also one of his favorite games.
Ro LOVES the fridge! If he is in the vicinity when we open the door, he b-lines it in hopes to get a closer look. Sometimes I indulge him and prop the door open with the drawer so he can explore to his heart's content. Yesterday he helped me put the groceries away, and while doing so helped himself to handfuls blackberries from the giant bowl on the shelf (I picked a ton for jam). I took a video but I foolishly took it vertically and it's difficult to watch. He has also been into blackberries lately.
Ro's second favorite destination...the dishwasher. I will remind him of this when he's older and wants nothing to do with it.
A few other things Ro likes: pushing things with his head (i.e. the trash can), throwing things into things (i.e. legos into the lego bin, and clothes into the laundry basket), dancing, kids/babies, and animals...especially dogs. He always gets super excited when he sees them on our runs.
We attempted to take Ro kayaking. Ha! My concern before we went was him sitting still. That wasn't the problem when we were on the water. Ro sat still just fine, he just hated his life jacket. I know the picture makes it look like Ro is relaxing and basking in the sun. Uh-uh. He fussed and then cried nearly the entire time. Of course the "entire time" was a whole 15-minutes since we didn't want to deal with a fussy baby. Maybe there'll be a Take Two down the road...
Some friends of ours were visiting Cannon Beach and invited us to join them. Full disclosure: I'm not fond the Oregon Coast. Sure it's beautiful. But it is usually cold and almost always windy. I seriously feel like a little piece of me dies each time I wear my sweatshirt in July/August. I have a lot of growing up to do.
Despite my poor outlook on Oregon's beaches, we had a really good time. And that's not just me putting on a front for the ol' blog. Ro's grown quite accustomed to the sand and enjoyed feeling it funnel through his fingers. And we made a second attempt to camping. This time the temperature didn't plummet in the night (which is ironic since the daytime temps are lacking) so we all slept comfortably. I didn't bother with the Pack-n-Play and just had Ro sleep in my bag from the get-go. It was a tight squeeze that I didn't want to maintain the entire night, so I transferred him to Wyatt's bag in the middle of the night. That proved to be better since Wyatt unzipped his bag and it was more of a blanket. It's fun to co-sleep once-in-a-while, but I have no desire to do it every night. Sleep is waaaay to precious to me.
Ro with Aunt Thu and cousin Bao
Wyatt's family had a picnic on the river beach. It was hot. We didn't pack for playing in the water so finally before Wyatt melted to nothing, he striped both his and Ro's clothes down and jumped in. Granddad Wilson was also playing in the river, so all parties were happy.
Ro's still too little to float the river. Someday, little man. Someday...