Steps!

I'll let the video speak for itself.

It's Good To Be #1

Photos of Jonie's first birthday extravaganza are long overdue! Yes, our girl turned one on November 7. Hard to believe, no?

Anne worked her magic on Jonie's cake(s): a family of porcupines. Anne decided to make porcupines because Jonie loves them. At least we say she does. When you ask her what a porcupine says, she says "Ouch!" Here are the stars of the show.


We had 45 people in our home for the party. That's right: 45. It was a bit insane, but great to have so many people celebrate the day with us.

Jonie handled the crushing crowd very well. But she wasn't quite sure what to do when she came face to face with that baby porcupine cake.


Later on she managed to get a good face full.


The days leading up to her birthday were bittersweet as we remembered the amazing experience of her birth, and the terribly scary 10 days that followed. But look at her now. Look at all of us. What a year.

Happy first birthday, Jonie Tunes. You have changed our lives in ways we never imagined possible. You are such unabashed joy and wonder, waving to everyone we pass on the street and laughing all day long. May all your years be filled with such thrill.

Fearsome

Have you ever seen a more terrifying giraffe. Ever?


About a month ago, Anne and I had big plans to make a fabulous costume from scratch. You know, totally homemade. The kind that demonstrates just how much we love our kid, and just how committed we are to bucking corporations in favor of good old handicrafts. This is our kid's first Halloween, after all. If we couldn't get it together this year, what would that say about us? What would that mean for Jonie's costumes going forward?


And then on the morning before Halloween, we found ourselves at Babies R Us, grabbing the very last thing on the rack that would fit our kid. It worked out alright. Jonie's cuteness far outweighs our feelings of inadequacy. We do have that going for us.


Soak it in, people.

Bathing Beauty

Thanks for the robe, Auntie Megan and Uncle Jonathan.

Go Giants!

Jonie and I watched the opening innings of Game One and cheered for the hometown team. Anne has been traveling for the past few days and we're excited that she's coming home tomorrow.

Fancy Haircut

We took Jonie out to the kid salon to have her first haircut with a 'stylist.' The place was great. She got to sit in a little car and watch Sesame Street. (Come to think of it, she'd probably rather live there than at our house where there are no little cars and no tvs.)

We (and by we I mean Anne) decided to go with a wedge bob and extra short bangs. She is the height of fashion.

Heat Wave

We are rounding out a very warm stretch down here in Oakland. Even though we're going on our fifth year living here, we just can't get used to October as the hottest month of the year. Jonie is taking it all in stride. As usual. (don't you love the frog posing in the background)



Most of our play time consists of her handing me book after book. Sometimes patiently, sometimes not so much. (now the frog is being tricky)

We've been trying to beat the evening heat by cooling off with a pre-bedtime bath. She has become a pro splasher and no longer minds when she splashes herself in the face. Ah, the good times.

Just Try to Stop Me

Jonie is an unstoppable force of movement. This very food oriented kid has even lost interest in eating because she doesn't want to sit in her high chair when she could be trucking around the house—gripping furniture, flinging clothes out of the laundry basket and foraging the floors of our apartment that I used to think were pretty clean.

As for Anne and I, things have been very hectic. I have applied to three jobs (yes, full time faculty positions) and one postdoc in the past few weeks. Anne has been working like crazy on proposals and client deliverables. Tonight we dropped Jonie at a friend's house for a few hours so that we could enjoy a meal together. It was wonderful, but over too soon. I have to put together two syllabi for another job application (a fun but time consuming task). And, as I type, Anne is sitting across from me reading a large stack of stapled office papers. Jonah is resisting sleep. We're debating whether and when to go back into her room to soothe her and help her lay down--she is no doubt standing in her crib, gripping the rails like the bars on a jail cell. What a trouble maker. An absolutely joyful, ingenious, indefatigable trouble maker.