Bday in NJ

Attison and his Aunt Carolyn did a whole lot of playing when we went to visit the Raufers in New Jersey!

playing with Jenny and walking around

12 month appointment

A and I went to his 12 month appointment this month.  He had a blast playing with the paper from the table. 

Here he is throwing some paper on the floor and saying "uh-oh!"

Then he would look at me. 

One of the standard developmental questions at the 12 month appointment is "Does the baby play peek-a-boo and patty-cake?" To which I responded "Well, we don't really do patty-cake, but he high fives."  She laughed and said that she thinks the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) is going to have to change their standards to high-five/pound instead of patty-cake to keep up with the trends. I don't know any babies who patty-cake, but a whole bunch who are high-fivers!

naked playtime

I don't know why babies hate wearing diapers, but sometimes we just don't bother fighting it (usually until it is too late). Here is A playing with his birthday tow-truck from his Great Aunt Sal.

Standing

lentils

I spilled some lentils in the office/laundry room/guest room/kitchen.  As I was picking them up, I decided they would probably be fun for Attison to play with for awhile, because they have a unique texture when they are uncooked.  I thought maybe I'd find a way to keep them contained while he played with them, but then I thought "Our house is completely torn apart and I have to vaccuum anyway, what the hell!" So he just threw them all over the floor for about 30 minutes until they were so scattered and mangled in the carpet he couldn't get a handful anymore. Then he crawled in the hallway and tipped over Jenny's water bowl (which is gigantic because we never remember to fill up the small ones.)

Best distraction of the day.  I don't think there was any other 30 minute period where he did one thing, in one place, that I knew he was safe the whole day. He is an adventurer. 

I plan on making a big rice box for him to play in this winter.  (What is a rice box? See here)

not baby toys

Sometimes we play with things that aren't baby toys. 

Like when he crawls in this basket of work-out dvd's and equipment to bang on the ball and chew on the jumprope.

 Or when he takes the sock basket and dumps it on his head. 

...but then decides to read a book instead of continuing to play with the socks.