Lap Child?

We took a trip to San Antonio (from Portland OR) to visit family.  Since Dustin is under 2 years old, he qualifies as a "lap" child.  We got lucky, and had a row of seats with the center seat open, so there was room to expand.  I was left wondering if "lap child" is necessarily the best description for my little ball of energy!?

Dustin's favorite part of the plane ride was
definitely watching all of the trucks on the tarmac.

Tearing up the in-flight magazine offered
a surprisingly long amount of distraction!

Is this a Lap Child?

Is this a Lap Child? (yes, he's sleeping)

Ahh!  There's a lap child! 

Bike camping with Kidical Mass

On the weekend of July 28th we went on a one-night camping trip with a fantastic local organization: Kidical Mass.  The catch is: we didn't take our car to the campground, we got there on our bicycles!  We started at Woodstock park in Portland, a mere 1.5 miles from our house.  Then we biked roughly 22 miles to get to Dodge park, that is a sleepy little city campground along the Sandy river.  Twelve families joined us on this adventure, all with young kids. There was an impressive array of cargo bikes, front carriers, back carriers, trailers, trail-a-bikes, and even one ambitious young lad on his own kid's bike!  Great pictures from the outing are found on this "Path Less Pedaled" blog.

The ride was great. We took frequent stops for breaks and bathrooms, and almost all of the kids were content almost all of the time.  Once we got to the campground, there was a nice sandy swimming hole along the river and Dustin had a lot of fun getting dipped into the water. We took a front-handle-bar carrier that Tawnya and Joe lent us (pictured below) as well as our bike trailer, so Dustin could alternate between sleeping arrangements.  Special thanks to Andy Schmidt for plotting the route and organizing this fantastic ride, and thanks to the Proctors for spearheading the Kidical Mass club!

Daddy and Dustin on course for a
collision with the camera lady

I wanna be like dad!

The Gear.  

PEPS Camping

Jessica and I have been looking forward to this trip for months.  PEPS, our baby support group in Seattle, got together for our first annual camping trip.  Just imagine camping with 6 one-year-olds.  Luckily, we had 11 adults to form a living pack'n play.

I'm not sure if Dustin remembered all the kids, but they played like old friends.  Dustin brought his counting guitar and Mickey airplane.  They were the stars of the trip, mostly because the kids entertained themselves and left the adults catch up on what the kids had been up to.  

The most interesting part of the trip was waking up Saturday morning.  Of course Dustin was up at 6 am to get his morning feeding, which meant that we were up too.  I was laying awake staring at the top of the tent, when I started hearing the faint cries of Finn as he started his morning routine.  Then Zach joined in along with Ingrid and Ayame.  This was the first time that I got to experience our PEPS acting out their morning routines.  I felt very connected.

Can't wait until next year!!

Twelve months of Dustin

We've made it an entire year!  Dustin has turned one year old!  (And yes, this post has taken me an extra month to get out the door!)  From his first week of life, we took a picture of baby Dustin alongside a large(ish) white teddy bear, with a black sheet as a background.  Below you can see some snapshots of Dustin from each month of the year. Click on the photos to enlarge.

July 30, 2011.  Dustin is 2 weeks old.
A very tiny baby!

August 28th, 2011. Dustin is 1 month and 2 weeks old.
He is getting thicker.  This was a challenging week.

Sept 26th, 2011.  Dustin is 2 months, 1 week old.
The bear is shrinking! 

Oct 31, 2011.  Dustin is 3 months and 2 weeks old.
Toes are good toys that you cannot drop.

Nov 12, 2011. Dustin is almost 4 months old.
He starts to interact with the bear.

Dec 4, 2011. Dustin is 4 months, 3 weeks old.
What a cutie!

Jan 27, 2012.  Dustin is 6 months, 1 week old.
 He is pulling up to standing, but not crawling yet.

Feb 8, 2012. Dustin is 6 months, 3 weeks.
He is starting to crawl away from the scene!

Mar 19, 2012. Dustin is 8 months old.
The table helps him stay put for the photo shoot.

Apr 6, 2012. Dustin is 8 months, 3 weeks old.
Dustin was in constant pursuit of the camera.

May 19, 2012. Dustin is 10 months old.
He stole my bratwurst while I wasn't looking!
(we missed the photo shoot in May.)

June 29, 2012. Dustin is 11 months, 2 weeks old.
Keeping him stationary is nigh impossible. 

Jul 9, 2012. Dustin is 11 months, 3 weeks old. 

July 16, 2012. Dustin is 1 year old!
Daddy is demonstrating proper candle-blowing technique.

Transportation Child

We have a typical little boy. He loves to watch cars drive down the street.  Monday mornings are a treat because the garbage truck, recycling truck, and compost truck provide free entertainment. Dustin makes a bee-line to bicycles parked nearby, attracted to the moving parts and grease. Dad revs the engine for our little guy, acclimating him to high-throttle, break-neck speeds around the living room, swerving around obstacles (see video below).  You might notice that his shoes in the photo below even have little race cars on them.

I'd like to think that we're just following his interest in wheels and things that move.  But the evidence is piling up to indicate that we might be steering him in this direction! 

Getting dirty

Did you ever realize just how fascinating sand and water are?  You can hold it, but you can't hold it.  You can grab it, and pick it up, but then it disappears.  A mouthful of water goes down much more smoothly than a mouthful of sand.  But both are tasty. 

Getting out

Dustin is now a pretty easy-going baby, although I wonder at what point I shall stop calling him a "baby."  At day care he's out of the baby room, and into the "wobbler" room.  It's a staging ground for kids who aren't babies, but aren't toddlers.  I suppose this is akin to a "tween" later on in life.  Who knew there are so many subtly different stages we pass through!
There are times that he is fussy, and if we're lucky, we can quickly remedy the fussiness with the typical mama-combatants: food, milk, nap, or diaper change.  More often, the fussiness stems from boredom with our house, and getting out the door is the obvious, necessary, and immediate remedy!

Last weekend Jeff went up to Seattle to spend some time working on coding with his best friend Hasan. Dustin and I, left to our own devices, got out the door a fantastic amount, and had a very fun weekend, as a couple photos below can attest:

A jubilant Dustin at the petting zoo at the Multnomah County Fair. (May 27th, 2012) While pigs and sheep in confined spaces was a real treat to behold, Dustin prefers chasing the neighborhood cat.  Given Dustin's wobbly speed, the cat has very little concern about ever being caught.  But it's guaranteed entertainment, until the cat gets bored.

Dustin pushing a tricycle at Cafe Au Play here in Portland, OR. (April 29th, 2012)  While it looks like he's pushing the tricycle in the regular fashion, he was generally pushing it sideways around the patio. His joy for pushing things is immense: he will certainly be a terror on a trike once he gets going!