Chase is 13 Months Old!

Sunday, 27 July 2008

Chase is 13 months old today! So, the question is: When do we stop counting in months? When is he officially a toddler? And, just when is he going to slow down??? (HA! HA! Yeah, right!)

His favorite foods at the moment:

* eggs - He chows down about 2 scrambled eggs (in about 5 minutes) in the morning.
* cheddar cheese - He's over the Cabot cheese and is into cheddar now.

What he's into now:

* Whacking his head with his left forearm repeatedly.
* Grabbing Mommy's face and lips with his sharp fingernails and laughing. (Naughty boy!)
* Throwing food on the ground when he's not into something or when he's done or just to get a reaction. (Naughty boy!)
* Elmo - He loves playing with the two stuffed Elmos he has and hearing them talk to him.
* Books - He loves having Mommy or Daddy read the same books to him over and over again. (He'll bring us his favorite ones.)
* Walking and throwing balls all over the house.

What he's tried (but is still unsure about):

* avocado - He eats it if I mix it with poi, but he's not too crazy about it.
* salmon - He ate a whole salmon burger in one sitting, and then ever since won't have anything to do with it.


Since he started walking a couple of weeks ago, he is ALL over the place! He walks carrying and throwing toys and balls all over the house. If he falls down, he picks himself right back up. He still uses his one legged crawl, but walks more than crawls. He'll walk holding my hand, but much prefers to walk by himself. He's got the Asian squat down, and can stand right back up from the squat without any assistance (must be all that practicing from his one legged crawl - he's definitely got open hips and a strong back!).

This morning, we had our neighbors' yardmen weedwack and cut down and clear a lot of our trees and stuff from three sides of the house..It WAS a jungle out there! But, not anymore. After 3 hours of their hard work, clearing the invasive vines, dead trees, and stubborn, thick cane grass, we can actually see the ground and start brainstorming about what plants and trees we can plant on our slope of a yard.

We took Chase to the Honolulu Zoo this afternoon. He actually wasn't too interested in the zoo. He loved the elephants and the giraffes though. I think those were the only animals that really caught his attention because they were so big. He also loved running around in the grassy lawn, looking at all the birds (not the ones in cages, but just the ones around) fly all over the place.

Went to Suzette's baby lu'au tonight for Lili. Lili actually turned one the week before Chase so this is a belated birthday party. She had her party at Star of the Sea cafeteria, a private school near our neighborhood. She had a bouncer for the kids (though Chase was too young for all the crazy bouncy action), airbrush tattoos (Chris and I actually got ones, but none for Chase), and shaved ice. Hawaiian entertainment, food, and two cakes for dessert. Art activities for the kids. Chase enjoyed running around "like a drunken sailor" (as Chris described it) all over the open lawn. He would just run in circles and fall down and laugh. I think he's still trying to figure out how to run in shoes, since he's so used to walking barefoot all the time. The best part was catching up with old friends....friends from high school and friends from elementary school. We actually took two group photos of our elementary schoolers and our high schoolers. It's amazing that some of us have kept in touch for so long! Chase's favorite part of the night was getting countless kisses from 2 year old Meliah. She was just as cute as can be. Her affection made Chase smile and got him out of his grumpy mood towards the end of the evening. Chase was so tired trying to keep his eyes open, and crashed out by the time we made it home after 9 pm....Straight to bed!