Finger Paint

We thought it might be fun to try a bit of finger painting one sunny Saturday, a couple of weeks ago.  I found some finger paint that said it was "washable" and "non-toxic", knowing some of it would surely find its way to Oscar's tongue.  It ended up a brief, yet fun adventure--the hardest part was keeping a green-handed, green-footed, green-faced toddler from toddling off to put his "emerald touch" on the rest of the house.  (And FYI, "washable" and "non-toxic" do not mean stain-free. We had ourselves a green-tinted kiddo for a day or so.)

 

Visiting 3A

Oscar is quite a celebrity in the third grade class of 3A.  Daily, I get all kinds of questions about him:  "Can Oscar talk yet?", "Does Oscar read?", "What kinds of games does Oscar like?"  He came for a visit in the fall and the kids still remember how he chewed on a little red bell while he was there.  This has prompted a few cards for Oscar (especially around his birthday), all with a picture of the bell.  Brisana (below in the "Pink" sweatshirt) started a trend around the classroom:  when you see something cute you say "Oh, Oscar!".  One of my kids' teams even decided to call themselves "Team Oscar".  So you can imagine, how excited they were when Oscar finally showed up.

  

Walkin' Tall...

and on a mission to get Bone. (Plan B, thwarted by mama.)

Post-Snow Park Pics

All the day-to-day work/life lists have kept me from posting recently (not an excuse, just reality), but here are a few pics of our confident walker at the park (two parks, two days).

Considering crawling through (and ultimately decided against it--maybe next time).

(Checking to make sure I'm still around.)

Oscar climbed up there all by himself. Though once there, it became clear he wouldn't be coming down on his own.

Twinkle Toes

Oscar is getting more and more adept at walking, though it has been difficult to capture on film. As soon as he sees the camera, he forgets all about his feet and getting his hands on the camera becomes the focus. Though not yet documented, he is taking pretty long "walks" these days -- between eight and ten steps before falling over in a sometimes-frustrated one year-old heap.

Here's O.K.'s smooth moves:

Birthday Brunch

Even after we postponed this intentionally small gathering, the second snow storm still managed to keep over half of our guests from being able to attend. Regardless, we had a great time talking with friends while munching on egg bake and fruit salad, singing to our new "toddler", and opening a few sweet gifts. No theme is required (O.K. is only ONE, after all), but I like having a direction, so we decided on robots. John painted this sign:

I made from-scratch banana cupcakes with butter-cream frosting, complete with handmade (or at least hand-cut and pasted) robot cupcake toppers.


With the four year-old son of my friend, Christine, in mind, I decided to put together an edible robot craft. Unfortunately, she and her sweet boys were some of the unlucky guests impeded by snow. The guests who did come humored me by making edible robots anyway.

The Robot Assembly station.


Patrick made a pretty impressive quadra-bot.


After coffee, brunch, and robot-building, we sang and ate cake.




Pete and Melissa (with robots)


Sweet sweet Sunny (already 4 and a half months!) and her mom, Susie


Robert and Oscar play with his new "crashing hammer".
(Thank you, Patrick and Robert!)


Many thanks to all of our friends who've supported us as new parents, and helped celebrate Oscar's first birthday with us (even those who could only be there in spirit)!

Our "Toddler" this Week

Turning one is a big deal--it's the FIRST birthday after all, and something of a milestone, if not for Oscar, then for his parents. For this reason and all the snow we've had, Oscar's turning one has stretched itself out over a week. Plus, we decided to postpone the birthday brunch, again because of the SNOW (I'm so tired of this word). I stayed home from work much of the week as well, which was fun, however, we all got a little antsy cooped up in the house most of the time (it has been pretty cold, not to mention treacherously icy).

Chiugo and Leroy braved the snow and ice to come for a visit. Oscar and Leroy did their toddler-best to socialize and share toys.

We took walks through the _ _ _ _. (Did I mention I'm tired of saying it?)

And with the official go-ahead of our pediatrician, we ate our first "family" dinner--all three of us at the table, eating the same food (broccoli, chicken, and cheese over baked potato, if you're curious). It was so fun and we plan to make it the norm, especially on nights when John is home.