Baby on the Beach

We made the most of our Memorial Day. While hiking to Clayton Beach, Chris and I told Jamisen all about Memorial Day (This is a moving narrative about the emotional costs of war). Jamisen listened quietly and seemed to appreciate the gravity of the message. After all the talking, he was delighted to be let down to crawl around the beach. It was his first experience wit the sand and he went for it - crawling all over and generally showing a fiercely independent streak. (Email subscribers, remember to click through to the blog to watch the videos). This video is the story of my life right now: There is lots of hobbly walking in our home. Guiding Jamisen around is rather fun though; it's pretty entertaining to see where he's going to go next. Jamisen has also mastered the fine art of stair climbing. Thank goodness for the baby gate! Jamisen LOVES his Bear Pillow from Jody Bergsma (thank you for such a sweet baby gift!) Such a sweet baby boy ....

Jamisen's First Year

PS - Best year. Of. Our. Lives.

Memorial Day. One Third In.

Having the best weekend thus far - and it's only 1/3rd of the way through! We hosted a wine tasting party last night and learned a lot about Washington State wines. Our experts actually made the Gold Medal 2012 Cabernet Sauvingon for Washington State so they had a lot of great information to impart based on real-deal experience. Before we filled our house with people, my Mastermind Group (or at least most of them!) got together for paddleboarding. It was such a great workout and absolutely a soul-enhancing time. My smart, business owner girlfriends have all got it 'goin' on' and they inspire me. Paddleboarding is all about the core - and I am SORE today! My legs hurt. My abs are wondering what hit them and my shoulders are protesting. We went to the park today and Jamisen absolutely hated his sun bonnet (or is it a manly cap? Isn't it all semantics?). He did LOVE the slide. He kept climbing up the slide (it's a small, slightly tilted piece of molded fiberglass) to his Daddy. Chris would turn him around and send him the 2 feet back to me. There was a lot of smiles, giggling and grunting. Jamisen loved it! And he took the LONGEST afternoon nap. All the climbing, walking (with Mommy's help!) and crawling tuckered our little boy out. There's no photo but we brought Mr. Jamisen to an afternoon party where I made salmon (fresh) en papillote and adult macaroni and cheese (cambozola cheese plus farmhouse cheddar) We're planning on walking the baby into Fairhaven tomorrow for Ski to Sea. He is going to be in his element with all the people (our baby is a people person!). Hopefully he'll sit still enough for a few photos. Also, I realize I was remiss in not sharing this lovely photo from last weekend. We took Jamisen to the sculpture garden and he loved the giant pieces of metal, rock and wood. Our baby boy is interested in everything. We're certain this is a clear sign of his genius and not just a normal developmental stage.

Videos of Jamisen

Jamisen saying 'Mama'. He's clearly a genius. Jamisen has become a real dare devil on the playground. Today, he went through all three tunnels and down the steep slide (in Mommy's arms of course). He also really wants to play with the 'big' kids but they are not very receptive. He did get a hug from a little girl today that was very sweet. Of course, the little girl's Mommy had to say "Gentle with his eyes!" a few times, in a panic-stricken, tight voice. Don't worry though. No eyes were harmed in the course of our playground foray.

Curly Long Hair

Jamison keeps getting mistaken for a girl, everywhere we go. I think it's as beautiful curly hair he's getting. We're still not ready to cut it. So imagine my joy, and today the grocery store and woman walked up to us and said, "Even though I have children of my own, I have to tell you that your baby boy is the most handsome baby boy I've ever seen." Not only did she figure out that he was a boy (something not very many people have been able to do lately), she thought he was handsome. What a nice complement.

Sunny Saturday Fun

We had an amazing day today. Chris had household chores to do at the lake house today. Jamisen and I spent the entire day together. It was a joy! We spent almost 5 hours outside (yes, he had sunscreen on). We walked to the Farmers market, and bought some yummy homemade spinach linguine. We also got orange rhubarb lemonade. I didn't dare give any of it to Jamisen lest he get addicted to sugar in one tiny taste.

Then, we went to the park where Jamisen played with some very big boys. They were probably four or five years old, and they were were irritated to have a little baby hanging out with them. They started kicking dirt close to Jamisen (in his general
direction - that pesky baby infringing on their space!) and I (with a friend on hand to provide back up moral support and lead the way) had to tell them it wasn't safe to kick dirt in Jamisen's direction. It was a momma bear moment.

Jamisen also saw a giant wolf dog at the park, and immediately took off at a fast crawl chasing after it. Thankfully the wolf dog was friendly and allowed Jamisen to squeal, drool and otherwise show delight in the general direction of the dog. But, he wisely stayed a few feet away from the dog and its long teeth.

Jamisen still is not walking. He is showing major signs of being close to it. I'm leaving on a business trip for next few days, and Murphy's Law says that he will undoubtedly walk on his own unassisted while I'm gone.

He loved his first taste of bread pudding. Naturally, it was made with whole wheat grains and blueberries. It was fairly healthy. He also enjoyed his Kale smoothie for breakfast this morning. He very much liked helping me sort his edamame beans for his vegetable snack today. He was quite industrious at the task.

Getting Rid of Binky

We have been trying to wean Jamisen off his pacifier. It's been a slow, gradual progression from no binky during the day, to none at naptimes and next is no pacifier at night (eeek!).

He's been finding other objects to use in the pacifier's place. A toy duck. The sippy cup lid. But this morning's choice of binky subs was a classic: the freezer latch.

I watched him try to suck on the latch on and off all morning (in between playing with the ice).