Monkeying Around

For Owen's actual birthday we had a few neighbors/ friends over for cake. It was a quick "party" as our guests had meetings to get to and one-year-olds don't care all that much. I wanted to have it outside and had a vision of our backyard decked out in streamers and balloons, then reality hit - I couldn't get the decorations in the colors I wanted and it was so windy we couldn't go outside anyway. Oh well. Such is life.

We had a great time eating a super cute monkey cake, which I served with banana split ice cream.

For those of you interested, here is what Owen is like:

He is super tiny - the 1st percentile for weight and only the 25th for height. What he lacks in stature, however, he makes up for in tenacity. We most often compare him to a bulldozer or a wrecking ball. He just plows through everything and picks himself up as soon as he is down. The week after his birthday he started making a conscious effort to walk - instead of just a few steps here and there. I use the term "walk" loosely as it is more of a stagger. It's pretty funny/ unnerving to watch as it seems like he could fall at any moment.

He is super snuggly, but his definition of a snuggle is head butting. That kid has a majorly hard head. He is always into something and we can't leave him alone for a second. He eats EVERYTHING, even things he's not supposed to. He loves grapes and bananas and loudly exclaims "NANA" whenever he sees a banana. He can sign "more" and possibly "done" but we'll never know since, when given the choice, he always wants more. We usually just get tired of feeding him after a while.

Owen loves to clap his hands, shake his head, and laugh. He HATES being on his back and so diaper changes are still an adventure/ nightmare. He takes a pacifier for naps and bedtime and he loves to cuddle up with a blanket. We have one that we usually use, but he's not too picky.

Owen is still always happy (unless he's hungry). Now that he's one, though, he's decided to take life a bit more seriously:

We have never seen THIS face before (or since)