14 Months Old and Cruisin'

Trixie, Sander, Halle, Lucy and Arcadia in Westport

Sander was able to celebrate turning 14 months old in Westport, MA amongst great friends: Nat, Rachel, Halle and Trixie. We enjoyed a couple of days at the ocean and the highlight for Sander was the boat ride Nat took us on. He squealed the entire time and is now nicknamed: seagull boy.

He moves faster and faster with each day, his walking has almost turned into running. Sander said "yes" recently for the first time when Matt asked him if he'd like more mango. No more news words but lots of effort on creating new sounds, especially when he is feeling passionate about wanting something or telling us something. Another tooth took all month to pop through all the way. He now has five! Spinning in a circle is a new talent Lucy helped him to learn. Climbing up onto everything he can has been a past time as well. I can't ever turn my back!

Ferry to Nantucket!

We took a long weekend trip that started with a trip to Boston to visit Uncle Chris for an evening and go to a Red Sox game together. It was a beautiful evening and the Red Sox beat the White Sox 4-3 in the 10th inning. We left at the 9th inning due to fear of sudden meltdowns of the children. 

Sander was most excited about the Hood blimp that circled the sky above us for the entire game.

Sander is making his motor sound with his mouth in this photo, probably referencing the blimp.

The next day we took the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket to visit Auntie Danielle and her beautiful family. The kids had so much fun together. It was a rejuvenating weekend for us and we look forward to another trip soon.

Lucy was wide awake and excited the whole ferry ride while sweet Sander snoozed for the entire ride in my arms.

The O'Dell/Toole/Kasvinsky crew. Such an adorable bunch!

Sander is enjoying his beach naps this summer. 

The last morning Sander woke up to all the kids hovering over him to say their goodbyes as he slept pretty late.

This was the sweetest bunch, all concerned for Sander. Cuteness overload.

Toddlering at 13 Months

Sander has been doing so many new things in the last two weeks so I hope I am remembering everything here. One of my favorite things he does is blow out of his cute lips as if he is cooling some food off when we do it for him. In fact, tonight, when I said he would have to wait because his food was too hot he blew on his own without me signaling. It is amazing how much babies take in at this age and understand - I constantly remind myself he understands more that I think. He signed for fan for the first time yesterday. We have a fan going in the bedroom for white noise and we have to talk about it every night when I put him to bed. He looks at it, makes his gargle sound, points at it and smiles.

Sander has been standing for several seconds at a time and he has taken one step here and there. We think walking is right around the corner. Lucy started walking at about 13.5 months and he seems to be following in her shoes. He enjoys pushing Lucy around in the doll stroller, it is hilarious!

Sander LOVES his dada. He waves his arms up and down when he sees dada, cries when he leaves for work or even when he leaves the room, and wants to be held by him every time he gets home from work, immediately, or intense shrieking occurs. Sander still says "deh" for dog and is now saying "teh" for cat. He will baby sign for any animal with the sing for dog by panting. So adorable. He makes a cute sound that is hard to spell out when he tries to say "quack quack quack", it is somewhat of a gurgle. Sometimes when I am attempting to put Sander down to sleep he abruptly sits up post-nursing, giggles and does raspberries somewhere on me. He loves being super silly. It runs in the family. Anyway, this is typically a cue that sleep is not going to happen any time soon. He will point to the door, bounce and make a cute sound that says he wants to go play. Usually he wins.

I wrote the above post last night before Sander turned 13 month old. Today he started walking right as we were getting ready to head out to Hermit Island, ME! It was quite an exciting and happy distraction.

Our Baby Boy Turns One!

Already! Our sweet Sander is one. He is such a sensitive little guy and so active. He can't decide if he wants to be held all the time or crawl and scale walls. He has been walking holding into things and getting around quite well. Sander has been doing yoga down dogs and looking between his legs while laughing hysterically. This is definitely my favorite trick of his.  It is even better when his sister joins in and we all hurt from laughing afterward. While there are no new exact words such as his "Da-Da" and "Ma-Ma" he has been saying "Deh" and pointing to the dogs when they are around. It is pretty cute. 

He weighs in at 15 pounds 6 ounces and is 29" tall. Long and lean!

Lucy had just gotten over the chicken pox just in time for Sander's 1st birthday bash. Nono and Pop-pop came up to celebrate. We had a good time.

Mama and the birthday boy.

Dada and the birthday boy with sun in his eyes. 

These two!

Nono and Pop-Pop

Lucy spent some time pulling Sander around in a sled in the yard. He giggled and love it. They even went downhill.

Always tapping on things these days.

A pull-bunny from mom and dad.

Proud Bob-Bob and Lyn-Lyn

Playing put-the-rock-in-the-hole together. This actually lasted about ten minutes!

The birthday bunch

A peach-blueberry crisp was enjoyed by all.

11 Months Old Already!

Pure sweetness.

This face is so easy to love. Sander has a gentle spirit and a happy heart and he feels things very strongly. There are so many new things to report. Sander is signing now for milk, dog (this is his favorite), and sometimes for "more" food. In fact any animal brings out an excited panting for Sander - it could be a stuffed dinosaur or a bird in the sky - nonetheless he is happy to share his admiration.

Each time we get ready to get out of the car at home he starts panting as soon as I motion to get him out of the car seat because the dog pen is right nearby. He is standing for a couple of seconds at a time without holding onto anything! There are also so many happy new sounds and squeals. His mimicking skills are hilariously good.

This was Sander's first time hanging out outside while capable of crawling and in warm weather. It actually slowed him down because there was so much to look at and touch.

Sander is waving to Lucy who is up the hill. He waves quite a bit these days.

Just a few days prior to Sander turning 11 months old, Lucy celebrated her 4th birthday. Sander was one of the only attendees to proudly wear his hat for the longest period of time!

Sander and Uncle Chris hanging at the party.

Ten Months Old and Cruisin'

Is someone teething?

Sander got a his first shiner just in time for his ten-month-old photo.

Sander crawls so fast and with such determination these days. If he is interrupted he is not too pleased. The funny thing is I don't even know which fall or bonk caused his black eye. The little guy is fearless. I believe part of it is that he wants to keep up with Lucy.

Lucy enjoys reading to Sander.

Sander tries to get at the pages, he gets excited by all the animals.

She really enjoys being able to do things for Sander.

We went to visit Uncle Chris in Boston for a few days while Dada stayed behind to get some work done. It was a lot of fun. The car ride actually went really well and I had a relaxing trip down there with happy kids in the back seat, amazing.

Waiting for Uncle Chris to get home!

At the Rox Diner

Sander's first time on a swing. He loved it!
Lucy is in the background way up in the air.

Swinging is so much fun.

Lucy drew a portrait of Sander on the fridge at home.

We had a much needed family day together a few days later and we all went swimming. Sander had SO much fun. This baby is definitely not afraid of the water!

Family swim day.

He's kicking so much and bouncing and splashing.