A Month Chock Full O' Milestones

I can't be the only one who has always wondered why on earth there is a coffee named "Chock Full O' Nuts"?  That doesn't seem like a desirable quality for coffee.  But that is neither here nor there. (I just can't stay away from Google. Before Google, I would actually call reference librarians and have them look things up for me. Oh yes. )

What is going on in the P-K household? 
Big happenings. Muy grande. 
 

I. And then he was One

Saints alive, how can a whole year have gone by already!  
Where, oh where is my little baby?!  People, I am lodging a complaint.  I want my baby back. 

one day old

 four months old


One year stats: 24.5 lbs, 32" tall, 50 cm head. 13 teeth (4 molars, one eye tooth, 8 incisors). 

Uncle Josh is always insisting he should wear a helmet. Done.

His birthday party was a hootenannie.  Our tiny house was chock full of friends and family, and we have never felt luckier and more loved. The Virginia grandparents flew out for the celebration, and for the first time in 22 years FRK's parents were in the same room together. It was very moving, and a momentous occasion for FRK and my sister in law. 

Our friend Jennifer, Mamaji, longtime family friend Dr. Hopner, Gigi, Amanda, and Grandma Joanne. Grandpa Richard not shown, due to critical photographer obligations

Surrounded by friends, enjoying his loot 

Grandpa Richard and Grandma Joanne bought a 'smash cake', so that he would have his very own cake to destroy and eat.  We had no idea how he would feel about it; though to date he has proven to be a cheerful omnivore, he's never really had any sweets or pastries. As evidenced below, he was a bit non-plussed initially, but soon became an enthusiastic convert.  Eventually I just cut him off; I had no idea how so much sugar would affect him.  It turns out, not at all.  He went down for his nap and then to bed as per usual.  What a weird and delightful kid. 

aftermath

cake covered boy and Mepher

 Smash cake! from Sue Ann Peng on Vimeo.
This is a bit long...at 3:39 there is a triumphant arm in the air, and at 5:50 he really gets down to business


I also worried about how he would do around so many people, who were soooo excited about his birthday.  Would he be overwhelmed and clingy?  Would he remember his grandparents, or would he think them strangers?  No. Yes. No.  There's something elemental about his Grandpa Richard that Bunting recognizes and is attracted to; he thinks he is the bee's knees. 


Why I worry about things like this I don't know.  For a solid year this child has proved time and again that he is an extreme social creature, a hambone and a showman.  And true to form, he took his first steps at his birthday party, surrounded by cheering masses.  He walked toward my sister and our little friend Marie, who was sitting in Mepher's lap.  I have known Marie since she was in utero, I was one of the first people to hold her beside her family.  And my sister. Well.  Words are woefully inadequate to express how momentous and powerful the moment was.

II. Bipedal Locomotion
So! He is now a walking guy.  And how.  He has simply given up crawling.  Completely. He was an Olympic caliber crawler.  Fast and efficient. But he's done with that now. 


As you can also see, he's a babbling brook now. All day long. 


He loves our pal Herbie

Their album cover


III. Fruit Bingeing

We eat a lot of apples around here, and I almost always have one in my handbag and my lunchbag. And I don't always remember to keep them zipped. 


Mepher has always been crazy about fruit. When she was a little girl we had to keep all the fruit on top of the refrigerator- if she had access to it, she would just eat until it was gone. We refer to this as 'fruit bingeing'. This was particularly tragic when it came to stone fruit. Her favorite. Do you know what happens if you eat too much stone fruit? It's not good. (you have to eat A LOT of it). 


Bunting takes after her in so many ways. And like her, is a fruit maniac. 

Yes, generally apples are not recommended for one year olds. However- Bunting has 13 teeth (4 more on the way). And we supervise closely. It's so cute. We can't resist.


Mepher love

first fish tank

chillin' with Uncle Josh

He has also figured out how to climb into things. So- he walks, talks, steals fruit, climbs things. Send help! 

 



Bunting's Mamaji is battling brain cancer, but is doing quite well. And getting some delicious snuggles with our boy.

She has always referred to him as the Joy Boy, and that is precisely what he is. 

He is a nugget of sunshine and joy, and we are so lucky, so proud, so delighted that he is ours. 

 
 

Playing Catch Up

Hello Friends! 
I figured I should get my rear in gear and write an update on what our little hybrid boy has been up to lately.  We are gearing up for his First Birthday Celebralooza, which will be fully documented of course, so let's play catch up, shall we? 

I am quite busy, organizing my mother's handbag and whatnot. 


Busy, busy is our Baby Bunting. On the go every waking moment, absolutely obsessed with remote controls. He loves hanging out at Gigi's house, wandering around with an old remote control, climbing up and down the stairs. Toys?  Bah. 




We love books in this house, and we have storytime before bed every night. (FRK it turns out has a real flair for it)  Recently Bunting's attention span has dramatically increased, and he has become interested in looking at books, as opposed to just chewing on them.  This makes me very happy, and he looks so cute while he is doing it (note that the 'things in the mouth' fixation has not waned). 



Oh, how we love this boy.  He has become so interactive and chatty. The energy, it is copious.  He putters around non-stop, babbling to us and himself,  unearthing random items to play with. 

I did not add the music in post-production. This is what we do. Listen to "Yes" and watch our baby play with rattan sticks. Jealous much? 


Despite two gates and constant surveillance...well, the photos speak for themselves. 





Oh- and he loves the gates. Thinks they are hilarious. 

We thought perhaps he would be frustrated by them, or upset at being cordoned off. 
Uhhhhhh. No. 



We spent Thanksgiving this year with Mepher and Josh and their friends in San Francisco.  We usually host, so it was a luxury to just make a few dishes and just show up and enjoy ourselves.  Our cousins from L.A. came to visit for the holiday, which was a blast.  FRK's first cousin and his wife have a 4 year old daughter, and are expecting a son in January (!!!).  Bunting absolutely adored his cousin K. FRK was amazed, watching our baby play with his cousin; he has not really ever had the opportunity to see him with other kids ,while I see him with kids at the park, My Gym, story time. The kidlets thought that the Aerobed was the best thing since sliced bread, and spent all of their time frolicking about it. 

The frolicsome twosome. Visible in background, the gate that protects FRK's precious audio equipment.  I searched high and low for something not made of white plastic. 


K is an unusually composed 4 year old, and like all 4 year olds, very funny.  We went for a walk around our neighborhood, and saw a large American flag attached to a house.  I asked her if she knew The Pledge of Allegiance.  She regarded me with her big blue eyes for a moment and replied, "No.  But I do know what a sphinx is."  Which is quite something, I think you will agree. 


We were very sad to see them go, but foresee many visits and lots of cousin fun in our future. 


This time of year is always very difficult for me.  The crash that led to my father's coma and ultimate death occurred in December, and of course we miss all of our dearly departed loved ones always, but most acutely at this time of year. And this year we are also worried about Bunting's Mamaji, who is battling a serious illness. 


In the midst of this sadness, we have our Baby Sunshine (dubbed thusly by his pediatrician Dr. H). 

We are so thankful to have been blessed with this sweet boy, and to be surrounded by friends, family, and so much love. 

Bedtime with Gigi

Playing with Mamaji

Talking!

Today he said "All Done" clearly for the first time after dinner. 

And then at bedtime Daddy put him down and gave him his ribbit scribbit (his lovey) and he said "thanks". 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much to share!

Hello dear readers! 

Guess what!? Mepher and Josh got married. 
[I don't have any photos yet, but Josh's cousin Mike took some lovely ones]
 Clicky here for photo of the newlyweds

Bunting was there, wearing a 5 piece navy suit.  Oh yes, you heard me right.  Behold! 


ugh. When can I get out of this thing!? 

It was a fun, joyous wedding, in a gorgeous locale.  Mepher looked stunning, and we were all just beside ourselves with excitement and happiness. Observe: 
Some very happy people  


This is about how excited we were


Can we discuss for a moment how incredibly blessed we are with our amazing friends? 
Bunting was in loving, capable hands (not mine) while I was assisting with last minute set up and troubleshooting, and FRK was setting up the fabulous, very complicated audio/DJ system. The Owyeung and Hayes families helped dress our darling in his suit and kept him entertained and happy, despite missing his second nap.  Just when he nodded off the hair and makeup people arrived, and the shrieking began.  He was no worse for the wear.  A special shout out goes to our friend Pilar (you will recall her from previous episodes, notably The Baby Shower and The Bridal Shower, which were both hosted at her home), who had baby duty during the ceremony, which meant toting around 22 lbs of baby and being drooled on. 


For the drool is epic around here.  Teeth #9 and #10 have made their appearance, but teething or no, this boy loves having something in his mouth. All the time. 



He is a busy, busy boy, constantly in motion, searching for new and ever more interesting items to add to his collection, and put in his mouth. In his wake he leaves a trail of items and debris. Observe: 

Not staged whatsoever. Sort of like Hansel and Gretel with the breadcrumbs. 

This is such an incredibly fun age. He explores and 'plays' by himself for extended periods of time, but also loves interaction and new experiences.  When it is just the two of us at home he is quite clingy, and weeps piteously the moment I am out of his sight; when we are out and about in public, he is Mister Personality, smiley and outgoing, totally fine with being handed off to friends. 

we are not hunters, but should be we ever change our minds, Bunting has the wardrobe for it. 


 Milestone: first rainy day fort


Walking is on the horizon, not as distant and fuzzy as we thought it would be, but instead looming and imminent.  This inspires both great excitement (almost everyone) and wistfulness and mild dismay (me). I just want to keep my little baby for a little while longer.  I'm not ready for him to make the leap into toddlerhood. Alas, I have little say in the matter- though Mepher and I did speculate that if we stopped giving him proper nutrition and held him all of the time, we might be able to delay the inevitable. Kidding! (sort of). 


[author's note: Yes, the frame is totally black. Do not fret, the action will being imminently. The author is an idiot who cannot consistently remember to open the lens cap, and lazy to boot, so she also cannot be bothered to edit out the proof of her idiocy.] 
Bunting discovers vertical locomotion from Sue Ann Peng on Vimeo.


This pre-walking development has cranked up Bunting's physical activity level once again. 
He continues to sleep like a log at night, but naptime-- well, let's go to the tape, shall we? 
Naptime!? We don't need no... from Sue Ann Peng on Vimeo.
Mama: would have laid him back down and reiterated that it is sleepytime! 
Daddy: grabs the camera 

We introduced a sippy cup a while ago, but it was something of a disaster; Bunting quickly figured out how to get the contents out, alas he was not interested in actually swallowing any of it, would simply acquire a mouthful of water, and then gleefully dribble/spit it back out.  We persevered, and now we have achieved about an 90% success rate of actually drinking. Yet another 'big boy' development that has his mother misty with disbelief at how quickly her little Bunting is growing. 
Smiley boy with sippy cup from Sue Ann Peng on Vimeo.

 
Our bro-in-law's cousins founded the "My Gym" chain, and very generously gifted us a membership.  Bunting absolutely adores it there. The entire space is padded and designed just for little guys, so you can just set him loose and not worry.  This week he wore his Halloween costume. Prepare yourself for the cute:



Our little duckling brings us so much joy. Life can be so challenging, but every day we marvel that we have been blessed with this boy.

Things I want to remember

- The sound his tummy sloshing, full of milk after nursing.
- The way he pats his head while he nurses

Day before yesterday, figured out how to click his tongue

Check Ups, Milestones and Partytime!

Hello Friends! 

Our hybrid baby is now 9 months old! We cannot believe what a big boy he is- little evidence remains of the infant we thought we would have around for a while.  He is a tall, babbling, smiling, belly-laughing, standing, cruising, toothed, opinionated little boy. 




I. Check up: 


We went to see Dr. H for a 9 month check up.  She still calls him Baby Hercules, and was delighted with his animation and his fast hands.  He swiped her otoscope and tongue depressor, and didn't utter a peep when she had to prick his thumb to take some blood.  This is to test for anemia; the iron stores he was born with are significantly depleted at about this age.  All is well in that regard, he still nurses and happily eats all manner of table food.  This week he tried kiwi fruit and Daddy's homemade Thai yellow curry for the first time, thumbs up to both. 


Here are the numbers: 

Weight: 21 lbs, 2 ozs (75%)

Height: 30 inches (97%)

Noggin: 48.5 cm (100%)


He has leaned out a bit, no doubt due to the level of physical activity he engages in every waking moment.  Busy busy is our Baby Bunting.  He creates a remarkable amount of noise when he crawls around the house.  It does not sound like one baby, but rather two or three hefty toddlers. 



Our nanny L put him in the box. As evidenced above, he thought it was fab. Also, note fauxhawk hair-do. Also L's work. 


He has begun to point to things, and say "dat!".  He adores his Daddy, and when he sees him or hears him in his office he says very clearly "Dahdahdah", while I am the recipient of a single, screechy "Ma!!" first thing in the morning if I am too slow on the uptake when he wants to nurse. 


II. Partytime! 


September was a very full month, with lots of parties and socializing. 


Firstly, our friend Pilar and I hosted a wedding shower for Mepher.  You will have to take my word for it when I tell you it was lovely, and a good time was had by all (except for Tucker the Golden Retriever, who watched with increasing horror as we moved his bed and toy basket, and rearranged almost every stick of furniture in the house).  Many photos were taken, but not with my camera.  Pilar's house is gorgeous, and it was a glorious, quintessentially California afternoon.  Everyone mingled and visited, and Bunting was passed from person to person, delighted with the attention and goings on. 


Auntie Amanda came down from Seattle for a few weeks; she and Bunting get along like peas and carrots. 



Meanwhile, our canine friend Logan (whose human is Auntie Jen) turned One. He had to have a birthday party, of course, complete with doggie safe mini-birthday cake: 



The party was at a park near our house that has a large, nicely appointed dog park.  Two sections, one for little dogs and one for big dogs.  Bunting loved sitting on the bench and watching the dogs frolic; in turn, the dogs love licking Bunting's toes.  He must smell and taste delicious, for every dog we meet simply cannot stay away from his feet. 


Auntie Jen is from Hawaii, and recently returned from a trip home bearing gifts for Bunting, so of course he had to wear his new shirt to Logan's party: 



III. Wedding Shower, Part Deux, and Milestones!!


When we were in L.A. for Mepher's SoCal wedding shower (more on that in a moment) Bunting decided that it was time to stand unassisted.  One moment he was cruising along the coffee table, then suddenly-- hands free!!   JKH was sitting across from him, and we gaped at each other for a moment, in disbelief.  "Did you see that!?!?!"  


The video below provides just a brief glimpse of solo standing, but gives an excellent illustration of how powerfully this boy wants to be vertical: 



Gone are the days when he would pull himself to a standing position and then not know how to get down.  Up and down, up and down all day long. Side note: I recently found Mepher's baby book.  Guess how old she was when she stood solo for the first time?  9.5 months.  How old was Bunting?  9.5 months.  Freaky!  Side side note: Mepher took her first steps at 10.5 months old.  Aaaack!!!

Enjoy it while it lasts, ima gonna be walking soon. 


While in L.A. he also sprouted his 8th tooth (the fourth one on the bottom, he is now balanced, four on top and four on bottom). This combined with us sharing a room resulted in a largely sleepless night for me, which I did not deal well with.  He was absolutely furious that I was in the same room, but not picking him up IMMEDIATELY!  He made it clear that he found the service to be severely lacking. Bunting has been sleeping through the night for many months, I am a wuss and a crankpot when it comes to being up in the middle of the night. I agonized so much over moving him into his own room way back when.  Well- it turns out sharing a room with him is hell.  


Thank god for sisters!  Mepher came and fetched Mister Fusspot Whinypants at 6:00am, she and her FMIL (future Mother in Law) and Bunting schmoozed and visited and had a nice leisurely breakfast while I slept for another hour and a half. Man, that extra 90 minutes of sleep was a game changer.  Hallelujah! 

I am an angel always and have no idea why you are lying to these nice people. 


We flew to L.A. for a wedding shower hosted by good friends of Mepher's in-laws to be. 
Bunting loved the airplane, lots of interesting things to look at, and as always-- he and Mepher make their own fun. 


I love to bounce! 


The shower was beautiful. The weather was warm, L.A. was in the throes of a heat wave when we were there, the day after we departed it was 113 degrees.  It was wonderful to meet so many friends and relatives who in many cases have known and loved Josh since before he was born, and are so very excited about the wedding. They adore Mepher (so they have good taste as well!) and were of course smitten with Bunting, who is something of a sneak preview of potential coming attractions, as it were.  


I got a chance to properly visit with Josh's parents, who graciously hosted us at their home.  They are wonderful people, funny and warm, and we are so excited to welcome them into our family. 

Four Horns and a Horn to be 


As we were preparing to depart, Bunting was staring out of the window intently.  Windows are one of his favorite things nowadays, so no big surprise.  



He was patting the window and babbling, so I peeked outside. 

He had made a new friend.  This fellow waved enthusiastically until it was time to depart.
Airport tableau: 

Neither is a fan of waiting at airports


*********************************
As the wedding draws nigh, the excitement and anticipation are slowly building to a giddiness inducing level.  I am so very happy for my sister, she deserves every drop of happiness that this life has to offer, and I am so delighted that we are big fans of her future husband.  This is not always the case, especially when siblings are as close as we are. Plus, FRK and I eloped, this is the first wedding I have been a part of. 


Concurrently, my general state of subsonic sadness has recently morphed into brief but acute bouts of overwhelming grief and mourning for those who will not be there. Sometimes I feel like it is all just too much- but then I see this sweet face, and I feel like I can breathe again and my heart once again fills to the very brim and then some. My cup doth runneth over.