Saturday Morning Play Time

Patrick and I generally take turns sleeping in on the weekend which means that I get to spend Saturday mornings playing with James. This morning we had a spectacular time. First, James was excited that I had on my Veggie Tales shirt as he is a big fan of Bob the Tomato. He kept turning me around so that he could see all sides of Bob. Then, he turned on and off all of the lights in the house repeatedly. Next, he flushed the toilets for a while, after which he ate some prunes and apples with oatmeal. Finally, just as he was winding down for his first nap, he sat down for about forty five minutes and played with the truck my dad made him. He rolled it back and forth; he put his blocks in it and then took them back out; he dumped the dumping part of it and flipped the flap at the back around in circles. It was tremendous fun. In fact, he was having such a good time that I even got a video of him without him immediately stopping what he was doing to try to eat the camera. So I thought I'd share it. :)

As nice as it is to sleep in, it's a treat for me to get up and play with James when he's at his happiest. Saturday mornings are pretty great.

Talitha's Tree

Two years ago today, our Daughter died.  Last year, when James came along, we were very happy and very relieved, but we still miss our first child.  Today, to remember her, we planted a tree in the yard.  It doesn't look like much now, but hopefully it will eventually be a pink cherry blossom tree.

The second first birthday party - wait, does that make any sense?

James had his second party for his first birthday this past weekend.  The Augusta side of the family had a party down there for him at a really fun park.  James ran around on the playground, watched some kids play basketball, and found a very nice stick, all before the party even started.  Eventually we got him to come to the table and have some cake.  He 'had' some cake; he didn't really eat it, as you can see.  

Birthday toys

James is enjoying all the fun stuff he got for his birthday.  This is one of his favorites, a stacking game from Great-Grandpa Lundberg:  

James went to the doctor today for his 12-month checkup.  Everything went well, but he had to get 5 different shots.  He was not very happy after that, so to cheer him up, we went to the park.  This particular park has a big playground, some walking trails, and a big pond where ducks and geese congregate.  James forgot all about the shots when he was chasing ducks around.  The ducks there are pretty tame and not very fast, so James could get quite close to them.  They are a little faster than James, though, so (thankfully) he did not actually catch one.  I don't know if ducks bite, but I would rather find out from the Discovery Channel. 

Happy Birthday James!

James is a year old today!  Here are some highlights from his birthday party yesterday: 

Grandpa made James a fully-functional dump truck.  It is an amazing piece of craftsmanship, with lots of really detailed parts.

  

Grandma made Freddy, a panda that is just like the one she made for Mommy when she was a baby.  James likes it as much as Mommy did.

 

James and Aunt Kristin are playing with new toys.

His first cake (cupcake, actually)

pulverizing his first cupcake

Here are the (non-pulverized) cupcakes that Mommy, Kristin, and Grandma worked very hard on.  The animal pairs go along with the "Noah's Ark" theme of the party.  

The Noah's Ark cake

James had lots of fun at his party, and Mommy and Daddy did too.  We also enjoyed visiting with out-of-town relatives who came for the party: Great-grandpa Lundberg, Great-grandma Wallace, Papa Wallace, Uncle Dan, Aunt Cindy, and Auntie Kristin.  Min, Grandma, and Grandpa aren't exactly from out-of-town, but we're glad they came too.  And James gets another birthday party next Saturday in Augusta.  He might start to expect a party every weekend at this rate.