Cous Cous Tacos

We tried new dishes tonight, both for Paige and for us.

Paige had a mixture of cous cous and rice milk. She devoured it. Paige's friend Anabelle has this all the time, though her mom usually adds in some cranberries and honey. We may try it with Craisins or Raisins next time.

We had Cous Cous tacos--ground turkey, cous cous, salsa, flour tortillas from a tortilleria near Mom's work, and our new discovery, do-it-yourself taco seasoning. It's fabulous--much less salty than the typical taco seasoning pouches you buy at the store, and more flavor. Here's the recipe:

* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 teaspoon black pepper

We found that throwing about 3/4 to 4/5 of this recipe in with a pound of ground turkey plus ~3/4 cup water worked really well. You could use all of it if you wanted tacos with a bit of heat, but these are still pretty mild. We also substituted ~1/8 cup of chopped onions for the onion powder and cooked them up with the meat, and used kosher salt instead of sea salt.

No rest for the wicked

Paige hasn't been sleeping well over the past few weeks. Two or three times now (it all blends together, so I'm honestly not sure how many time it's happened), she has woken up screaming and refused to go down again for at least two, if not three hours.

Thing is, she's been waking up once a week or so for months now, but usually we could just stick her in her chair and feed her, and then put her to bed once she's done a half-hour later. I usually would just doze on the floor by her high chair while she ate her cheerios.

Not anymore. Now, if she wakes up, she'll eat fine, but then will absolutely refuse to go back to sleep. Or, she'll go to sleep, but only for about 15 minutes before she's up screaming again. Sometimes, she's just inconsolable. Other times, she has just simply been wide awake and wanting to play, read, etc. When it's 12:30am, I can deal with that, as I've always been a bit of a night owl. But at 2:30am or 3:30am, I'm barely functional. It's one thing if she just needs to eat, or when she needed to suck down a bottle in my lap when she was younger. But my God, she wants me to read to her?!? It's inhuman!

Apparently, whacked-out sleep patterns by 18-month olds is fairly common. "Moxie" (see link) indicates that it can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I'm hoping for the former. In the meantime, we've tried everything you can imagine to get her back in bed. Teething tablets, Tylenol, Oragel, milk, water, fruit, those cereal bars she loves, "new" stuffed animals from her toy hammock, night lights, dimmed lights, door open, door cracked... We've tried laying down with her on our bed, trying to get her to rest on the couch... We've tried having Mom put her down instead of me... We're not fans of letting her "cry it out," but we've given that a shot for 10 minutes at a time or so.

I've been half tempted to go try to find some kids Benadryl to drug her back to sleep, but I doubt that Mom'd let me. So our best solution just seems to be to try to split the staying up duties as best we can based on whoever is functional. The first time, that was mostly me. This most recent time, it was mostly Mom. ... I just put a pillow over my head to muffle the crying and tried to get some sleep.

One thing that might help in Paige's case is that she actually sprouted her first new tooth since June today, her right upper canine (or cuspid, if you prefer...though canine is a cooler word). The other isn't far behind. Hopefully, once they've finished cutting through her gums, she'll be less inclined to wake up. We'll see... In the meantime, I had better go get some sleep while I have the chance!

Santa

The weekend after Thanksgiving I was in Walmart doing some returns (from my Black Friday spree) with Paige. They had a Santa there and were doing free 5x7 pictures, so I thought I'd give it a shot. As soon as we even got near to Santa she started freaking out. She was actually trembling in my arms. I know, I probably should've just turned around at that point and forgot about it, but I really wanted her picture with Santa and this one was free.

I was only about a few inches away from Santa and I quickly passed her to him so they could take this picture and then he quickly passed her back to me. She was so frightened at one point she even gave him her candy cane hoping he'd be satisfied with just that. In her defense, this wasn't the best looking Santa I've ever met. I probably would've been scared myself if I was in her shoes. Hopefully she'll be able to laugh about this one day!

23 Words!

Below is our best count of Paige's current spoken vocabulary. So she's learned to say ~16 words since our last count a month and a half ago! Some are more distinct than others, but they're all repeatable:

All Done
Annabelle (her best friend)
Baby
Ball
Banana
Bear
Bee
Bubble
Dada
Dog
Duck
Ella
Elmo
Fish
Mama
More
No
Papa
Sock
Uh Oh
Vroom Vroom (her word for any vehicle)
Wheee!
Woof (several variants ranging from "arf" to "nnn nnn nnn" to "bow wow wow" to straight up howls)

Happy 18 Month Birthday!

Today is Paige's 1.5 year birthday. She had her 18-month checkup today. She weighed in at 22.4 pounds (10-25 percentile). Her height is 31" (25-50 percentile) and her head circumference is in the 50th percentile. Everything else checked out good.

Yesterday we had Paige's 18-month portrait done and our first family portrait. Here are the 3 poses that we purchased and I was able to scan in.

Happy Halloween

Yesterday Paige helped daddy carve the pumpkin!














Paige went trick-or-treating to 4 houses in our neighborhood. She loved wearing her princess costume, even the hat.



















Click here for more pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating pics.

AZ State Fair

Last weekend we went to the AZ State Fair. There was a good amount of things that Paige could participate in this year. She played at Uncle Kunkle's farm exhibit, petting zoo and the safari play area.
Click here for the gallery of pictures.

Halloween Parade

Today at daycare Paige participated in the toddler room Halloween Parade. I packed her costume and sent it with her this morning. The parade started at 10:30, so I left work and met Paige at school at 10:15. I helped her into her costume and was able to watch the "parade" of kids down the hall to the front desk where they received treats from the director and office staff. The older kids had varying trick or treat sessions later in the day where they would visit other classrooms.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to Mother Nature's farm in Gilbert for their pumpkin patch. We went on Oct 13th when the Phoenix Herpetological Society was visiting. Paige's favorite thing was the tortoise. It weighed about 120 pounds! She also got to touch a giant snake. She wasn't all that crazy about how it felt. The weather was amazing as it finally has started cooling down.

We rode on a hayride which was a little hard for her to sit still through. She got to pick out a little pumpkin and decorate it with stickers. She also walked with daddy through a hay bale maze. She loved looking at the farm animals too. She saw some chics, pigs, a goat and sheep.

New words

Paige is growing her vocabulary a little bit every day. Here's the list of words she can say and sign.

She can say:
Ella
Momma
Dadda
All Done
Fish
Bubbles
Ball

She can do sign language for:
Eat
All Done
No (only by shaking her head)
Bananas
Thank You
Shoes
Kitty

Google Mapped Daddy!

So yesterday, Google Maps debuted their Street View feature for certain cities, including Phoenix. So, tonight, Mommy looked up the main street near our house. Here's a transcript:

"Oh, neat--they have our street!"
"Hehe, there's a person there."
[beat]
"O-MY-GOD! It's you!!"

Yes, that's right. Google maps photographed me walking back from the bus stop. And since it's available to anyone else who might happen to look up my street, I thought I might as well post it here.

At least now I have justification whenever I claim that They are watching me!

World Wildlife Zoo

The weather is finally starting to cool down here, so we decided to get some fresh air and head to the zoo. Paige's favorite part was the petting zoo! She had no fear about approaching the animals. She was able to get up close and personal with the goats and deer.

Vegas, Baby!

Paige went to Vegas! We'll put more pics up at our Picasa site, but this video was of the highlight of the trip -- at least for her! She got to play the Piano at FAO Schwartz!

15 month checkup

Paige had her 15 month checkup today! The doctor said she is doing great and on target with all her milestones. She weighed in at 20.5 pounds and 30 inches. That's the 20th and 45th percentiles respectively. She's actually about a pound lighter than she was 3 months ago, so we'll keep an eye on that. The doctor thinks she might be filling up too much on milk. But she's usually a pretty good eater, so I think she is burning off the calories because she's so active. We'll be making a bigger effort to make sure she's getting plenty protein.

The other good news is that her hemoglobin count was at 12.3 and the doctor was happy with that. He said we can discontinue giving her the iron supplement. What a relief.

What Paige has been up to

Paige has had a busy couple of weeks!

First, she learned how to play her piano:


Next, she learned how to "Do The Rubber Duck" with Ernie (which apparently involves pretending to swim, as well as a bit of dancing):



Then, she figured out her puzzle, matching the bug pieces up to where they go (and sometimes even getting them into their slots):

And finally, Paige went to a baseball game! Go D-Backs!
(though she told me that she thinks Austin Kearns is dreamy, even though he's a National now)

She's so smart

I was a very proud mama when I picked up Paige from daycare yesterday and her teacher told me how smart she is. One of her shoes had gotten separated from her and was across the room. Miss Bridget told Paige to "get your shoe" and Paige immediately looked around and then went and got her shoe. I tested it this morning to make sure it wasn't a fluke thing, but she really did know what her shoe was and what it meant to go and get it! She's a smart cookie.

This picture here is what Paige would look like if she were a character in the Simpsons.
The tail-pulling activity is true to life. Fortunately, Ella is a very sweet kitty and doesn't seem to mind her tail getting pulled or skin getting grabbed too much... :)

Standing!

Ok, so maybe you didn't buy walking thing...it still is a bit of a lunge. But tonight was awesome. Paige stood!
It came out of no where--and probably was an accident, as she was watching Elmo at the time. But she'd never stood for more than a second before, and then all the sudden tonight she started going for 6...7...8...9 seconds at a time! Video:

First Steps

Paige took her first steps last night! They're only 1 or 2 at a time as she lunges between us, but we've decided that they count!

Here's the video. There's one good one near the beginning, and then another good one near the end, with some cuteness in between:

Daycare Transition to Toddler Room

This week, Paige has been visiting the toddler room for a few hours just about every day. Yesterday, she spent the majority of the day there and fussed when it was time for them to leave and go back to the infant room! She also seemed a bit more exhausted at the end of the day. I was at first hesitant for them starting the transition to the toddler room already since she isn't walking on her own yet and the rule is that they should be one-year AND walking. But I think it will be better for her to be around the older kids more and will most likely pick up walking quicker than if she is around the babies all day. They will also be doing more activities which will be more stimulating for her. Our little baby is growing up so fast.

Pointing

Paige has been pointing at things for a while now, but she's really starting to get into it. She points at food on the table if it's different than what she's eating and she wants some of it. She points at the door at daycare when I pick her up and I'm standing there chatting with the teachers while holding her. She'll even start waving at the door if she really wants me to get going. Yesterday, as we were walking to the car, she just pointed in the general direction in front of us as if she was showing me where to walk. When we read to her, sometimes she'll point to the pages as if she's following along.

We're trying to introduce a few simple signs for her to better communicate with us when she needs something. One is "Eat". The gesture is to bring hand to mouth with fingertips touching thumb and tap the lips to illustrate placing food in the mouth. She picked this one up pretty fast. She will point to her lips, but only after we've done it. She hasn't actually "told" us she wants to eat yet by doing this sign. Hopefully that will come soon.

Paige is walking! (sort of)

Ok, so she isn't really walking on her own yet. But one of the things we've been trying to get her to do is walk with the walker we purchased last Christmas for her. Our hope is that if she does that, she'll continue to develop her walking muscles and balance, and soon will be cruising around.

Anyway, until now, she's been very reluctant to "walk" without holding onto either mom or dad's hands. Today, however, she finally started to use her walker!

(note, you might want to turn your sound pretty far down...she's started doing a high-pitch scream lately that is putting our glassware at serious risk!!)

Pretty exciting. Hopefully she'll be walking soon. :)

Uh Oh!

So mom has given Paige a new nickname: "Uh-oh!" As in "sounds like uh-oh is awake."

Even though she's using it a lot now, Paige really does seem to be using her word in context now and then. At the minimum, she is repeating it when we say it, which is something--she's far more reliable in saying it when prompted than she ever has been saying mama or dada, for example. But she's also occasionally seemed to use it when she needs something. For example, yesterday, she dropped her cup off of the high chair, and then decided later that she needed it. She look over the side at her cup and said "uh oh." It was the first time she'd used the word in a while, so it really seemed like she was making a decision to communicate with it.

It's really exciting to see her both being aware of her surroundings and starting to use language to interact with the people around her.

Sometimes she still seems to say in spontaneously, but that can be really funny. Last night, we were watching some sort of home improvement show, and the owners discovered that they had some sort of unexpected problem. As if in response, Paige said "uh oh!"

Language Development

It's amazing to observe language development in a baby. Last December, when she was about 7 months old, Paige would launch into a diatribe of ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, or da-da-da-da-da-da-da, or la-la-la-la-la-la-la. You'd hear that all day for two or three days on end, but then it would change to another option and you'd never hear it again.

Not long after that, she moved onto slightly more complicated noised. "Uhh-Duh!" (emphasis on "duh"), "Ahh-Duh!" (emphasis on "ahh"), and "Umm-Bah!" (emphasis on "bah") were fairly common utterances, but she had a variety of other "words" that she would say. They never seemed to be tied to anything in particular, though. One or two times we thought we heard her say "el-la", which is the name of our cat (after Ella Fitzgerald--she "sang" a lot when we first got her...that, and her previous name was Bella!), and we were certain that she was saying it in response to our kitty walking around. But it wasn't very consistent, and has since (mostly) disappeared from her vocabulary, so I think it was probably just a chance thing.

Tonight was different though. Sitting in her high-chair, Paige dropped her drink. I said "Uh-oh!" ... and Paige said "ee-oh" meekly in return. I didn't think that much about it at first, but then she started saying it time and time again...."eh-oh," "eh-oh," "eh-oh." I said "uh-oh!" back to her, and, looking right at me, she continued to say "eh-oh" over and over again. It really was as if she were trying to say those words!

I might not have thought much about it, but a half-hour later we were playing in the living room and she pushed a toy off of the couch. Again, I said "eh-oh!" And she responded again, a few times, "eh-oh." She had a look of great concentration on her face as she did it, and it always kind of faint--much different from her typical loud babbling. But it's hard not to think that she's really trying to say those words.

Pretty neat. I'm looking forward to seeing if she still will say "eh-oh" come morning.

Two by Two

Paige woke up this morning around 5am. Her usual waking time is closer to 7am. She has two new teeth coming in. It's most likely her first lower molars. She was just screaming and arching her back. We couldn't make her happy with anything. Finally we got her to calm down after Tylenol and Orajel and were able to bring her to bed with us for another half hour or so.

The picture to above shows approximately when each baby tooth should erupt. The odd thing is they always come together. Her mouth is always symmetrical, which means double the discomfort for her.

Sippy Cup Review - Beginner Cups

In the process of Paige making the transition from sippy cup to bottle, we've tried out a variety of sippy cups. Here are our opinions on the cups we've tried to date, from worst to first:

Complete Disaster:

Nuby No-Spill Gripper Cup

We tried this one tonight for the first time. Paige was ready for some milk when we got home from work, so we filled up one of these new cups and gave it to her. She drank at it vigorously, and seemed happy at first. But eventually she started to get inconsolable. We thought she was teething (which she is) and was in a lot of pain, so we tried to distract her with a stroller ride, toys, etc. We gave her a teething ring, Tylonol, and her favorite Sugar Potato Puffs.

Finally, Mom noticed that, despite a lot of sucking, the milk level was almost as high as it was when we poured the cup. It turns out that Paige couldn't get any milk from the cup! We tried it ourselves and had similar difficulties. I couldn't get anything, and Mom only could get it if she bit on the nipple in a very specific way. We transferred the milk to our favorite cup (see below), and Paige drank about five oz in under two minutes. Problem solved, she was happy for the rest of the night.

We have since tried both cups that came in our 2-pack, and neither is effective. We checked the holes to make sure they were punched all the way through, but that wasn't the issue. It just seems like a terrible design. We've seen other posts of people who like these cups, but they don't work for us.

An Ok cup:

Gerber Sip & Smile Spill-Proof Cup 10 oz

This cup is nice because it has a large capacity, and the easy-to-remove Gerber valve. We haven't had problems with the valves falling out, unlike some other reviews we've read. We do note, however, that the valve seem harder to clean than some of the others, as you really have to use a bottle brush to get down into the valve mechanism.

This cup does not have handles. While this does make them more similar to bottles, Paige sometimes has a hard time holding onto this cups when her hands are slippery with food.

It does have a hard "nipple," which results in lots of teeth marks. Paige also had a hard time learning to use this cups when she was transitioning from bottles, as the hard tip didn't seem like a good thing to suck on. Once she learned what to do with a sippy cup, however, she's done great with this cup.

Good cups:

Gerber Fun Grips Soft Starter

This was a good cup for Paige early on, because she seemed to work better with the handles (especially with slippery hands during meal time) and respond better to the softer nipple on this cup compared to some others (still not as good as our favorite, below). It has the easy-to-remove Gerber valve, and again, we haven't had problems with the valve falling out accidentally. We like that it has clear sides, as it's easy to see how much milk/water/whatever she has left. Capacity isn't huge, but perfectly adequate.

As with the Gerber Sip and Smile above, we find that the valve mechanism is a bit difficult to clean adequately without a nipple brush. But that's the only real complaint.

Munchkin Insulated My First Cup

(ours isn't Dora the Explorer, but otherwise is the same)

The coolest (pardon the pun) feature about this cup is that it has a layer of air between the inner and outer plastic layers of the cup, which helps keep liquids cooler for longer. That's very handy here in hot Phoenix. Otherwise, it's a fairly normal cup, with a hard nipple (Paige wouldn't touch it until she was introduced to other cups), and opaque sides.

The handles are nice, as Paige is much more likely to hold onto the cup rather than dropping it on the floor when her hands are covered in food. The valve is much easier to clean than the Gerber valves, though it seems a bit less substantial too. It's also a bit noisy when she drinks, compared to other cups. At this point, however, it's among our favorite cups.

Our Favorite:

Gerber Graduates Sip & Smile Soft Spout Spill-Proof Cups 7 oz

This is our hands-down favorite, especially as a starter cup. It was essential when we were trying to get Paige to learn about how to use a sippy cup a few months ago. She didn't know what to do with the hard nipples of other cups, but when she bit on the soft nipple of this cup, it collapsed and put a small amount of water into her mouth. After a biting for a while to drink, she learned that she could suck on it to get much more water. Since then, she's been able to use any sippy cup, but this is what made that transition possible.

It has other nice features. The handles are great when her hands are slippery with food, as she can still get a good grip and can hold onto the cup even when she gets excited. The slanted base seemed to help her get more out of the cup when she was still learning to tilt back the cup to get all the water or milk out, a skill she just mastered within the past week. And they have the Gerber valves, which are easy to remove, even if a bit difficult to wash. Capacity is fairly small at 7 oz., but Paige rarely drinks more than these cups offer in a single sitting.

There are, of course, many other cups available on the market, but these are the ones we've tried thus far. We'll update this post if/when we try others.

Mimi's Cafe

We have a new favorite restaurant!

Mom, Paige, and I generally try to go out to eat about once a week. Today, for lunch, we went to Mimi's Cafe on Ray Road in Ahwatukee, AZ. They have a nice menu. Dad had an unbelievable meatloaf sandwich with fresh fruit, while Mom had one of their fancy salads. Paige is still young enough at 12 months that we don't order her anything off the menu yet, and instead usually just give her bites of whatever we ordered.

Nevertheless, much to our surprise, shortly after we placed our order, the waiter came by with a plate of food for Paige: a small bowl of Cheerios, a slice of orange, and some saltine crackers, plus a bib and hand-wipe for afterwards. We were blown away. It's such a small thing, but it still was incredibly nice. It can sometimes feel like an imposition when we take Paige to a restaurant, but this made us feel extremely welcome. We will most definitely be back.

Adult TV Choices

One of the things that I'm a bit (probably overly) paranoid about as a parent is the type of TV that our daughter is exposed to. Not so much what she's watching, but what we're watching when she's in the room. Let's take two example programs that just started recently:

• The Next Food Network Star - A show in which contestants compete in a series of challenges to determine who gets a new show on the Food Network. Each week, a contestant or two is dismissed from the show based on her or his performance.

• Hell's Kitchen - A show in which contestants compete in a series of challenges to determine who gets a new high-end restaurant. Each week, a contestant or two is dismissed from the show based on her or his performance.
  

Sound like similar shows, right? They are, at least in premise. But watching them couldn't be more different.

In the Next Food Network Star, contestants are given significant challenges, and are absolutely critically evaluated. One person goes home each week, usually because they perform badly. But the stresses are always about the challenge, and the emphasis is on creating great food, giving a good presentation, learning and becoming better, and having fun. The atmosphere is one that discourages selfish or overly aggressive play, and instead encourages contestants to be as creative and successful as they can be.

In contrast, Hell's Kitchen is far less about the food. Instead, it seems as though it's primary purpose is to allow Chef Ramsay to yell, scream, and humiliate his contestants into submission.
Half the show is bleeped out due to profanity, but that's not the problem. What is left of the dialog in between the bleeps is a ridiculous tirade of personal and demeaning insults that no one should have to experience--even if they're on a TV show, or trying to get their dream job. Perhaps in response to this, the contestants bumble their way through the competition scheming to get each other eliminated while trying not to screw up too much themselves.

As you can tell, I think Food Network Star is a fine show and I enjoy watching it now and then. But Hell's Kitchen is a prime example of what really bothers me about a lot of reality television these days. One of the most important lessons that I hope to instill in our daughter is the importance of treating people with decency and thinking with compassion about how one's actions affect others. But so many reality tv shows these days are, above all, about either a) treating people terribly, or b) doing whatever you have to do to get ahead.

I think these are terrible lessons to be teaching our young children, which is why I really don't want our kid exposed to them...at least, not for a long while. I'd be far more bothered by letting her watch that show than if she were to see a show involving naked people making love (depending on how it's done), or maybe even a show involving a fair bit of violence (depending on how it's done). I'm a pretty open person, and not terribly conservative (most would call me liberal), but I really do think that shows like Hell's Kitchen are dangerous to our kids. I don't advocate taking them off the air (if adults want to watch that stuff, then fine, who am I to deny them that?), but I do think we as parents should be careful about exposing our children to them.

Here are a few other opinions on Hell's Kitchen:

• ParentsTV.org
  
• CommonSenseMedia.org

Ok, she can have just one more bottle

As I mentioned in my previous post, the transition from bottle to cup was going pretty smooth...until last night. I'm not sure how much milk Paige drank during the day at daycare and she didn't have all that much last night at dinner, so it wasn't too surprising when she woke up around 11:30pm last night hungry. So we offered her the sippy cup with cold milk. She just cried harder. She cried and cried and cried. Finally, we caved in. I poured her milk into a bottle. She grabbed it out of my hands, took one sip then tossed it aside. I handed it back to her and she took another sip and then again tossed it aside. She not only didn't want the sippy cup, but she also didn't want her milk cold! Again, I caved in. I warmed the bottle and she sucked down 5 ounces in no time. She immediately fell right back to sleep. I, on the other hand, felt horrible that we made her so upset and was tossing and turning all night. I can't bear to watch her be so upset about losing her friend, the bottle. If this pains me so much, how am I going to handle her not liking the transition to kindergarten? Or the first time her little heart is broken?

This morning was rough as well, but we powered through it. We didn't even attempt to give her the cup without putting her in the highchair and giving her some puffs and peaches first. She threw a really good tantrum, but we persisted. Eventually after a few bites of peaches she was drinking from the cup. The other pretty cool thing she started doing this morning is nodding her head. When she would throw her sippy cup to the side I would shake my head no and say "No drop". She would smile and nod her head yes :)

No more bottles!

I was quite nervous about the idea of weaning Paige from the bottle to a sippy cup, but it was so much easier than I was imagining. We had been getting her used to the idea of a sippy cup for about the last month or so with an ounce or 2 of water here and there. She usually takes a sip and swallows it, but then takes a second sip and spits it all down the front of her. And then she's done with it. So, I was expecting her to do the same with her whole milk.

We're still giving her one bottle in the morning, which hopefully we'll cut out within the next week or so. That morning bottle contains her iron supplement. 7ml iron is a lot to give her straight, but if it's mixed in formula through the bottle she doesn't seem to mind it at all.

After that first morning bottle, she only gets sippy cups. We started this on Saturday and she did really well except for one mini-fit on Saturday afternoon. So all we had to do was put her in her highchair, give her a snack and also the sippy cup. She drank it all down while she snacked. Even the night cup was no problem at all.

We took away the binky around 6 months with no problems, and it looks like the removal of the bottle isn't going to be an issue either. She's my big girl now :)

Baby Birthday Parties

One of the things that I've been most surprised about as a new parent is how much fun kid birthday parties can be. Paige is just, over the past month or two, getting to the point that she's really interacting with other kids. For her birthday, May 19th, we threw her a small party here at the house. Five baby girls showed up, ranging from 9 to 16 months. They all played on the floor and around Paige's "old" jumper (Paige is in the foreground), and seemed to have a great time interacting with the new toys and each other.

Today, we went to a local park to celebrate the first birthday of one of those girls. We brought a blanket, and the birthday girl, another baby, and Paige all sat there (or, in the birthday girl's case, stood from time to time!) on the blanket and played. They crawled around one another, pulled toys out of each others' hands, babbled...in short, we parents had a wonderful time watching them.

I think these parties are the first times that I've really had the feeling that Paige is growing out of being a baby and becoming a little kid. It's exciting.

Welcome to Paige is One!

Thanks for dropping by!

Here's what we plan to do with this blog:

• Discuss what it's like to raise a 1-year old--milestones, challenges, stresses, and fun!
• Write reviews of baby gear or toys that we have found useful (or not).
• Posting pictures and video.

We hope you'll find it as interesting as we will!