Monkey Birthday

Baby on a rock

Morningtime

This is what we did in the mornings:

Wake up.
Ask really nicely to please come into Mummy and Daddy's bed by only making a soft squeak.
Squeak a little louder because they didn't hear the first squeak.
Squeak really loud, because they didn't hear the first or the second squeak.
Mummy and Daddy both jump up at the same time and say Shhhh, Finn! Which makes me laugh.
Then they look at each other and Mummy says, oh, ok Finn, you can come up.
And I do.
And we are all happy.

The End.

Mummy's big sun hat

Baja

We tried to get Finn to take a nap next to the pool with us, but he was not having any of it. Why the heck would I sleep when there is a pool to be swimming in? he would say with his dark eyes. Besides, Dad gets to.

Baja

It was our first day in Mexico and the first thing we did (after taking a dip in the pool and starting book number one) was go to a local taqueria for some fresh fish tacos and local beer. Finn flirted with the meseras, tried on his Auntie's glasses and had a sip with Dad. It was a good first day.

Baby in the kale patch

This Sunday we spent the day at our dear friends Lana and Scott's organic farm in Sequim. We pressed apples, ate fresh-picked fruit and veggies, played with some babies our age and frolicked in the kale patch.



Finn is a decided hater-of-shoes. So much so that if he cannot remove them, he would prefer to crawl, thankyouverymuch...


Now the games begin! Finn was playing hide-and-seek in the kale patch with us... can you spy the baby?


What about now?


And now?


It was a magical day that made me want to move my little family to the countryside where we would spend our time with wonderful friends, eating amazing food and letting babies play at our feet. Or in the fields...

My first Fall

Amazingly, it is the middle of October and we are just starting to see the first fall colors in Seattle. Although Finn was born two weeks shy of a year ago, this is his first official Fall and certainly his first interaction with the beautiful colors that Fall brings...

Me and Uncle Ben on the same warm day

Planting daffodils with Daddy on a warm fall day

Walking!

I came home from work today to a very excited little boy who squealed when I walked through the door and walked(!) to me to give me a big hug and kiss! He spent the next 20 minutes showing me what Daddy had been a witness to all day: Finn is officially a walker and not a crawler!

Walking some more

Due, in part, to Finn's new status as toddler, we are rearranging our house so he has more space to move and walk around. Out with the hard-edged coffee table and anything that can be pulled over, off or down. In with toddler-friendly furniture and clear surfaces! Our life as a single couple with nice things on display is officially over, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.

Walking, walking, walking

Just so you know, our house is not so cold as to necessitate a woolly hat. Not only does the little bug look cute, but we were on our way out for a walk with Inca as this video was shot...

First class baby

This is just a teaser of some pictures and stories to come.

Our trip to Mexico was fantastic. Finn spent 80% of his waking hours in the pool learning to swim (he mastered holding his breath and dunking but couldn't quite figure out what to do after that). He also started walking and now can walk up to 10 steps on his own. By next week I wouldn't be surprised if he gives up crawling altogether. He is also eating more solids at each sitting and drinking less from the bottle during naps and bedtime. His vocabulary is increasing daily and the new favorite word is 'wow' drawn-out in a whole breath so it sounds really exciting.

On the homefront, Nick is busy planning upcoming meetings with ad agencies in New York, Boston and Washington DC, while myself and Snopac prepares for two months without the Chief (Dad leaves for his motorcycle trip around southern Africa on Sunday). We are working on some home-improvement projects and putting the garden to bed for the winter, which all feels really exciting because this is the first time since we bought our house that I am home (no business trips, weekend getaways or anything) for more than 2 months consecutively!

And of course, we are planning the little tiger's One-Year Birthday Party, which may not be more than a handful of family and friends, but is exciting nonetheless. I am still in awe at how quickly time passes.

We have a walker!