It's my blog and I'll mope if I want to?

Sometimes it just sucks being so far away from family. Jim is at SUCH an awesome stage right now, and I hate that none of his people are here to share it. He'll stomp back and forth in the kitchen, yelling uproariously because he has a kick-ass piece of paper or some shit. In the middle of that, he spots something awesome on the ground (a particularly cool cat hair, say), immediately drops what he's doing to squat down and check it out. Then he stands up and lets out a triumphant "DOH!" while holding it up to make sure we all admire this great thing in his possession. I can't describe it adequately, but it's kind of hilarious. He is so fucking smart and so fucking funny, and it just kills me that no one else is going to remember him like this.

One whole year.

(I'm posting this without pictures, because I can't find the damn card converter to load them on the computer - I'll add them soon, hopefully)

Well, geez. That went fast. Jim is a whole year old, and he is active and adorable and a total pain in the ass to chase around, and I'm not entirely sure I remember what life was like before him. I suspect there may have been a lot more sleeping in.

At a year old, he's walking EVERYWHERE. Being my own blood, he's naturally rather accident-prone, so I feel like I'm on the constant verge of a heart attack watching him stagger around drunkenly, banging into everything he encounters. He's hurt himself to the point of bleeding 3-4 times in the past week - I've got some gruesome pictures to post up later. The indoors is no longer satisfactory, of course, so we spend a lot of time outdoors, where he can stumble around the grass, attempt to bash his head on the garden boxes, and practice tackling roosters nearly his height. Grocery shopping, etc., is also a trial now, because riding in the cart is not at all acceptable. Apparently Jim is a grown man now and must walk.

As far as communication goes, he's doing pretty well. He can say 'dada' (means lots of things, including Daddy and AWESOME!!) and 'mama' (means Mama and HELP!!), and he can sign 'milk' (one hand flapping at the wrist) and 'all done' (same, sometimes two hands) and sometimes 'kitty-cat' (two hands waving at chin height). Sometimes he makes his signs when he doesn't really want anything just to show that he can do them and be part of a conversation. He just likes to know that we know what he's saying. "Yep, Jim, you like milk!" = instant grin from Jim. He also understands a lot of words - cheese, banana, outside, splash, kitty-cat, STUPID CHICKENS, milk, etc. He thinks his nose is called a 'boog' (rhymes with 'dude', hard g, means 'beep' or 'honk' in Farsi) because we always say BOOG when we poke it. Sometimes after we BOOG his nose, he'll reach up and touch his nose and go 'buh!'

Emotionally, he's getting complicated. Used to be that we could say whatever we wanted and laugh at anything and he'd just be delighted to be included. Now, though... The other day he was grinning at Noah in a particularly amusing way - chin down, eyes up, mouth closed. It was creepy and hilarious. So, naturally, we started to chuckle at his silly creepy grin, and immediately his poor little face just crumpled up and he started sobbing. Of course we felt like the two biggest assholes in the world (don't picture that, thanks). Poor Jim! It's no good when a baby gets his feelings hurt. It just takes some adjusting, because a month ago he NEVER got his feelings hurt, but now he's terribly sensitive.

As far as other things go, he's developing about as one would expect (which is to say, very impressively). He can stack a couple blocks on top of each other, and he helps me put things away. He likes to play with his giant legos, and he gets a great deal of pleasure out of banging on things. He really really REALLY wants to eat off a plate instead of his tray, but we can't let him because he will throw it on the floor. He knows how to turn on the Xbox, and he knows where the batteries go. Buttons (both the electronic kind and the clothing kind) are the best things ever.

All in all, this age is REALLY FUN.

12-month check-up!

Full 12-month update + birthday pics coming soon, but I just wanted to jot down the details of Jim's 12-month doctor visit today before I forget. It went really well, overall. I was afraid he'd be terribly cranky, because we had to get him up about an hour and a half early so I could drive Noah in to work and keep the car. Damn the Navy and their weird work hours. But no, Jim finished his night's sleep in the car and was pleasant and chipper all morning. It helps that he's old enough now for the toys in the pediatrician's waiting room. One of those spinny-bobbly-spoke things (great description, yes? I are articulate) kept him busy for a good ten minutes.

He's up to 21 lb even (22nd percentile, up from 14th percentile last time) and 29.125 inches tall (30th percentile, up from like 20th last time), so he's moving on up in the growth charts. His head is, of course, gigantic - 98th percentile. The main part of the visit was pretty uneventful. Doctor walks in, says he looks good, walks out. Er, says Jim looks good, I mean. Be kind of odd if he poked his head in, announced "I am one handsome fellow, right?" and immediately departed.

Anyway, the scary part was the shots. I was rather upset that Noah couldn't be there (he's MUCH better at calming down a wounded Jim than I am), but I managed to pull it together and be properly supportive for Jim. I was astounded at how tough the little bloke was. He didn't even flinch when he got the finger-stick for the blood test (11.2 hemoglobin, if that means anything to you). I think he was more interested in checking out the nurse's ring than in his poor bloody finger. He did like the bandage, though - he had it off before we even got home. The shots themselves weren't terrible. He cried for about ten seconds, and it was more the insulted "Oh, woe is me! Betrayed by all!" sort of melodrama than actual pain.

Best part of the whole event? 2.5 hour nap afterwards. Sure, I had to lie in bed with him for the second half of it, but still, we oughta get shots every day.

Celebratory face-making.

Jim is ONE YEAR OLD today! Please excuse me while I go pass out in disbelief. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures (these many, many, many pictures...) of Jim making a variety of Jim-like faces.


Being charged.


Doing some charging.


Looking sly.


Looks sad, but actually perplexed.


Exaggerating his displeasure.


Impressed with himself.


Dunno what the hell he's doing, but it's pretty funny.


Caught in the middle of making his escape.


Showing off his chompers.


Diabolical.


Uncertainty reigns.


Hahaha, gross.


Yeah, I'm eating cheese. What of it?

Whew. Okay. That pretty much brings us up to date with Jim pictures. Expect to see his 1-year update soon, accompanied by lots and lots of pictures (but probably not as many as in this post).

Jim goes went to the zoo!

Let it be known that I don't see the point in taking pictures of animals that countless wildlife photographers have already taken better pictures of, but there are a couple.


Monkey-thing that Jim liked.


Jim liking monkey-thing.


My favorite animal.

Noah and Jim were actually not nearly as interested in the animals as I was. Ostensibly the trip was for Jim (zoos are for kids, yes?), but mostly it was me oohing and aahing and the gentlemen humoring me. Jim was interested in a few animals, though. It was always unexpected ones, like some ordinary-looking bird. Sparrow eating breadcrumbs by vendor? COOL! Ostrich? Meh. Stupid ostrich. Let's find more sparrows.


Noah and Jim ignoring cool birds.


Cool birds being ignored.


Some kind of terrifyingly invisible viper.


Jim looking hilarious while getting a drink in the reptile house.

Said reptile house was, by the way, HORRIBLE. The reptiles themselves were awesome and interesting, but the place was hot and claustrophobic and PACKED with shrieking shoving rude children. Is it normal to hate other peoples' kids? Because I totally do.

So we left the reptile house and went over to the botanical gardens, and they were WAY nicer. Apparently all the kids wanted to stay and howl at the animals, so the plant-only side was quiet and lovely. Jim liked it too.


Peace and honeysuckle.


Looks nice, yes?


Random and empty cotton mill museum. We let Jim charge around on the floor since there was absolutely nobody there except us.

In which Jim goes to the park.

You know a baby is getting big when he gets to go on the swings like a Real Live Kid. We took Jim to try the swingsets for the first time about a month ago, and the whole thing was quite a hit.


Turns out Jim loves swings, but you'd never know it by the only clear picture we got that day.


This one is actually a much more accurate depiction of Jim's feelings, but alas, he looks like a out-of-focus demonspawn.

Jim would've been happy to stay on the swings for ages. Unfortunately, the day was a bit chilly, and Jim was only wearing a onesie, so we had to leave early before we felt all judged by the other parent-y types in attendance. Noah did insist on stopping for a proper manly picture before we left, though.


Jim is clearly humiliated by wearing a hoodie and no pants.

Easter!

So, Easter totally happened. We weren't actually planning on doing anything, but at the last minute we decided to color a couple eggs and see if Jim wanted to smoosh them or something. Observe!


Our bounty.


Our Easter 'chicks,' right in the middle of the ugly stage.


Jim has no idea what to make of this unnatural orb.


The hunt is on!


SIEG!*


Posing with Remington Hat of Triumph (also, +2 Dandelion of Finding).


Hands full, what to do?


Eat the wrong side, of course. Bonus points for creepy eyes.


Death from above! If I were a brightly-colored boiled egg, I'd be terrified.


And this one is just because his face is funny.

*Victory.