Spending time with my two favorite Apples and one little appletooth

This post is beating out Thanksgiving because that's just how happy I am to have seen these three faces on Saturday.

It's funny how life goes in stages -- different phases filled with different faces.  I've never been very good at "keeping in touch" I guess, but nowadays with our cell phones and facebook and this blog we can stay somewhat connected without keeping in touch at all.  Pity or blessing?  Whatever -- that's not my point anyway.

There are some people you can go without seeing for ages, yet you think of them fondly and when you dream of reuniting, you imagine yourself wrapping your arms around their necks and giving them awkwardly long hugs, and then when the reunion finally occurs, that's exactly what you do.  And now we're finding my point: these two apples (Mallory on the left, Bailey on the right) fit snugly in that category for me.  It was awesome to spend a little time with these two great friends of mine from the Pittsfield region of life and to meet Cohen, Mal's little offspring.

Cohen was all about having his photo taken.  Or, staring into my camera lens...

... then he chose this pose by the window:

How flippin cute is he?  Bob got a little jealous, I suppose.

Puzzle time!  Full disclosure: these photos of the boys playing nicely side by side are not all that indicative of how their socialization actually went.  More often, Cohen was taking his toys away and Bob was being a cry baby.  Sorry, guys, but I can't lie.

I think they had some good times, though.  Like during their drink break for instance.

We smiled, we laughed, some of us cried...  So so fun.  I vow to see these three again sooner rather than later.

And can I just say: this picture makes my heart really happy.

Random notes on One Year Old Bob

Before the holidays sweep through and since I'm still thinking so much about Bobby turning into a kid, I wanted to jot down a few random things I've learned about my baby boy over the past fast but infinite year.

Bobby's tiny adorable self is just filled to the brim with sweetness and sensitivity.  He says, "heeey, hiii," to himself in the mirror, to other babies, to stuffed animals and dolls, to pictures of animals in books -- to anything with a face, really -- in the sweetest little voice I've ever heard.  He loves to snuggle his blankie and all his "buddies" and even some pages in his books that he particularly loves.  Sometimes when he gets anxious or whiny crawling around the house I'll say, "Do you need a hug?" and he makes a beeline over for his "huh, huh, huh."  He loves to gives kisses -- big sloppy ones.  When I tell a sad story or point out that someone is sad or hurt, Bobby gets sad, too.  When he bites me and I say, "ouch!" he bursts into tears.

The second thing about Bob: he is a thinker.  He understands almost everything we say now.  When I teach him a new word or concept, he stares at my face and really concentrates on what I say.  He "says" quite a few words, and he can "read" far more.  We've been working on words with Bobby for a while now; "working" really isn't the right term because looking at words is probably his all-time favorite activity.  He's very proud of how much he knows.

Bobby's play has recently reached a new level: he's finally beginning to stack and put things away in addition to tearing down and taking them all out!  He's quite good at following directions (when he wants to).   I'll say, "Bobby, I see a block over there across the room.  Can you get the block and put it in the basket?"  Or, "Bobby, can you find your hippo?"  "Show mama how you swim."  And my little pup actually follows my instructions.  He's obsessed with playing ball -- especially dunking basketballs and scoring touchdowns.  We have to hide all the balls in his room when it's time for him to go to bed or he won't go to sleep; he'll just chant "duh ball" over and over.

Some of Bobby's other favorite things include: the lens cap to my camera ("pah"), any phone ("pho"), any remote ("show"), his "baby show" (also "show"), birds ("da"), dogs ("dog"), cats ("tat"), stairs ("sta"), flowers ("fuh"), pumpkins ("puh"), stars ("dah"), cups ("puh"), bottles ("ba"), flipping light switches ("ah" for on/off), Ben ("dada"), me/my boobs ("nana").

 (reaching for lens cap)

 (trying to put cap back on lens)

We are so THANKFUL for this little one year old Bob of ours.

And just in case you're looking for a couple good Thanksgivingy reads... here are two I've particularly liked:
Thanks-Giving and Receiving
My Problem with Thanksgiving

Dear Bob, since you probably won't remember...

... here's a recap of your first birthday: November 8, 2010.

This is you first thing in the morning, at 8 am.

Here you are at breakfast, eating some peanut butter toast and bananas.  This was the last day you enjoyed the luxury of licked-clean fingers throughout your meal (and the last day I enjoyed the luxury of not having to clean up all the food you throw on the floor).

Here you are at lunch (still in your pajamas!) spitting your milk all over the place as usual; you still haven't gotten used to cow's milk, I guess.

These are two of your birthday presents from the chickens, one normal-sized and the other huge...

... a double-yolker!  We ate the eggs for lunch.

Of course I had to have a little photo shoot on your birthday...

And I had to get our whole family in a couple shots, too, so that we'll always remember what we all looked like...

For dinner you ate some extra messy chicken pasta.

In honor of your being one year old, I decided to give you your first bubble bath.  You are NOT a fan of bubbles.

Also in honor of your being a year old, we had our first family movie night.  We watched Homeward Bound 2, and you were pretty into it.  You love cats and dogs, so it was a good fit for you.

Here you are crawling up to snuggle in my lap (a dark photo, but I know what it is, and it makes my heart smile).

At 11:00 pm, the exact time you were born, I had to go in and hold you and take pictures of you sleeping, and kiss you a hundred times, and whisper in your ear how glad we are that we have you, and all that jazz...

It was just a regular day in our new home, spent soaking each other in and nothing much else -- but those are the best kind of days, aren't they?

I love you, baby boy.

Bobby's first birthday party

The day before Bobby's actual birthday, we had the traditional Sunday birthday party at Gram's.

That morning, since he was practically a one-year-old, I gave Bob some extra-peanut-buttery peanut butter crackers, which he thoroughly enjoyed.  (I've been feeding Bob peanuts since he was about 10 months old, because I'm quite sure the experts are going back on that business about allergies, and I never really bought it anyway.)  I couldn't possibly choose just one picture to share.

Bobby got some really great gifts at his little party, including...

...a singing bouncy turtle from Uncle James.  It's like having a new really friendly friend in the house.  Bob loves it.

...a singing firetruck from Pepe.  Actually I guess it's not the truck that's singing, but rather what appears to be the firegirl.  "Are you ready, Smoky?"  (Smoky is the dog.)  Bobby loved one of its songs so much that he played it over and over again for days.  He also loves when we whip him around the house like he's on his way to save some lives.

...some really wonderful books and new pj's from Grandmother.  I'll have to add another photo of the books because they are all so great.

...lots of new stuffed animals and other goodies from Uncle Dave, Auntie Crystal, Chloe and Mason.

Bob's favorite thing of all was when his cousin Bailey showed up at the party.  As soon as he saw her he dumped himself off the firetruck, crawled over saying "hi, hi, " in his sweet little voice, and climbed up her legs to give her a hug.  Bobby is such a little sweetheart I can't even stand it.

Ben baked Bobby a funfetti cake and I expertly decorated it with frosting and peanut m&m's.

Bobby was not a fan of the cake.  This is his face right after he had his first taste of the frosting:

Then I think he got mad at Mason for making fun of him:

"Get that thing away from me."

And yet I forced him to sit in front of a piece of that cake-shaped sugar anyway, just so he'd get to.  And so I'd get to take pictures of him.

Except that he doesn't eat much sugary food, and this was probably the least healthy item ever placed on his menu... And this is as much as he touched it.

He wanted nothing of it.

This last pic is deceiving because I was the one who cleaned off the frosting and crumbled the cake in my attempts to entice Bob to eat it... Finally he says, "Mom you better get this away from me before it's all over the floor!"

And so we went outside, to enjoy the cold but sunny weather.

And here's Bob, long overdue for a nap, with Gram (his great-great grandmother!) before our drive back to New York:

Part two of Bobby's first birthday stuff (yikes, this was two weeks ago now): tomorrow.