Please pause briefly over each photograph to read the text.
Grandma Ruth chose not to drive to Corvallis for my birthday party, but instead spent the next couple of days with me at the children's museum and getting my birthday portraits done at Sears. She got me pretty much all
to herself this
way and we all
had such fun!
For my birthday portrait, I wore the dress that my deceased Great-Grandmother, Eunice Salway, got for my mommy when she was one year old! I sure make old stuff look great!
Because every picture was so cute, grandma got one of almost every pose!
(Because my birthday is in late March, the studio still had some of the Easter decorations on hand, and I refused to let go of some of those plastic eggs, having seen what could be found within them upon getting them open.)
This was my visit to California in late February to visit with my Aunt Teonei and Uncle Rajesh and my new cousin, Dhruva. I loved playing with Austen, and decided that if HE could walk, then so could I! So I took my first steps there and was walking very soon after.
Having other children to play with is always a real treat, but I'm not always willing to share my mommy with them. I love to read and to be read to.
Austen was very generous with his toys, so I took full advantage of it.
This is one of our family pets, Nevar. He is the most fun because he gets out and runs all around the house with me. Mommy makes him be nice and play with me.
I began to walk at about 10 1/2 months of age. I did a lot of crawling and climbing even before that time. Now I can run really fast.
My mommy is pretty "high maintenance" and gets bored easily, so she keeps us really busy. I love to be involved with all the things she does. I wonder if I will learn to do that belly-dancing stuff she does when I get bigger.
Keeping up with mommy is a hard job...but somebody's got to do it! And occasionally it requires a break from the action to get a little rest, even if I try not to let anyone know what I'm up to. I take those naps whereever I can get them.
Mom has me help her with the shopping and trying on new things to check them out before purchase.
And daddy needs to have his time with me too so we can do other fun stuff. He's such fun to play with!
And in between all of the other activities, I need to be sure to go visit family and friends on a regular basis so that they can see how much I am growing up! I love Grandma's backyard!
Then of course, there's all of the grooming and other things involved in day to day preparations for all the activities. I can really make waves in the bathtub. And I am quickly learning that I'd rather use the potty than have
worry about getting changed so frequently. At 14 months I got a good start on this process.
And getting my beauty sleep is helping me to emerge into a full--fledged little person.
I've gone from the crawling bug stage to the "here-I-come, I'm-ready-to-fly" stage. And I'm always ready for a new adventure.