It's rain-ing, it's pour-ing, now it's sunny and it's pour-ing

If there's one thing new parents in Portland learn fast, it's that you can't let the rain stop you.  However, it does get a bit discouraging when it's almost June and the sun still refuses to consistently show itself.  It tries really hard - it's often sunny and pouring rain outside.  We try to make the best of it and sneak outside whenever we can. 

On Tuesday, Grady and I got an unexpected bonus afternoon together during the one sunny day of the week because of a power failure at daycare.   It was quite a treat!

We played with the pool, climbed the stairs, and then played hide-and-go-seek.  Can anyone find Grady?

Grady is breaking his canines, and has been pretty fussy because of it, so we've made more than a few early morning trips to the playground to distract him.  He's pretty excited about the tunnel part of the play structure.

Although it's a bit tricky getting back out!

I'm not sure if it's the teeth or the personality, but Grady has also gotten pretty demanding lately.  He has extended the sign for "more" (in his version, it is pointing to his hand) to mean more than just "please give me more food."  It basically now means "I want that.  Now."   Here, I stopped him so I could get a picture of him in the swing.  He did not approve.

My birthday was this past Thursday.  Everyone did a great job of making me feel quite loved.  Grady and I celebrated by having a birthday bagel.

We then went on a nice relaxing run.

And enjoyed some beautiful flowers from Uncle Cliff.

(I don't know what it is about him and flowers - here's a similar shot from my birthday last year.)

We went out to dinner with the three of us that night, and Grady was so well behaved.  He ate half a grilled cheese sandwich, sampled and spit a bite of all the tortilla chips, drank water from a straw, and enjoyed people watching.  It inspired us to try going out with him more often.  It was a very nice birthday.

Yesterday, Rose and Jada came over for a playdate.  There were some moments of co-playing, although I wouldn't say they are exactly playing together yet.  Rose really liked climbing into Grady's push cart, which worked quite well for Grady.

Not sure how well it worked out for Rose after looking at these pictures! 

I think that's about it for the week.  We don't have big plans for the long weekend, but are looking forward to enjoying some extra time with the little guy. 

Crazy week

I think this is the longest we've gone without blogging over here.  Sorry about that - it has been a crazy week.  Matt got back from NYC on Friday, and then I had to go to Las Vegas for two days to do a training for work, and then Grady came down with a fever - so, here we are 9 days later!

Grady has made big strides in getting ready to walk this past week.  He's started "bear" crawling. 

He's also stood up on his own for a few seconds here and there.  He's pretty cautious, though -  he wants to be sure he really gets it before venturing too far out.

We had Grady's 1 year doctor's appointment last week.  He weighed in at 24 pounds and is now 30.5 inches.  He's now 59% weight and 58% height. He really seems bigger all of a sudden - more and more I look at him and see a little boy instead of a baby.

Grady keeps tying to stand up in his portable bath, so today we got a non-slip pad for the big bath tub, and I think that will be the usual bath spot now.  He was very pleased with his ascension to grownup bath time!

The weather has been amazing these past few days.  I forget how perfect it is here in the summer.  We brought out the kiddie pool and have been having fun exploring outside.  Here's Grady checking on the blueberry crop (and making stink face).

 We've also been going to the playground quite a bit recently.  Grady has been experimenting with  picking up pieces of dirt or mulch and moving it from one place to another.  He's very methodical about it and he'll do it for minutes.  He clearly has a plan!

Those are the very general highlights for the week.  I'll try to be better about capturing and posting for next time!

Edit: I almost forgot to add this picture of Grady enjoying his first bagel with cream cheese.

While daddy's away

Grady and I really miss Daddy.  While Daddy's been gone, we've mostly just been staring into space and kicking a can down the street.  However, a few other things have happened that I'll talk about here.

On Monday night, Grady tried pasta for the first time. 

Can you see who else wanted to try pasta?  Grady really enjoyed it, but had an odd habit of taking one bite of each piece of pasta before circling around and taking another bite. 

Who knows with that kid!

Yesterday we had an unexpectedly beautiful sunny afternoon.  Grady and I hung out in the backyard after work/school.  Grady tried to push around his little cart, although it is much harder to push in the grass!

He has been so curious about everything lately.  Pretty much every word that comes out of his mouth is "DAT!" "DAT!"  It's usually a tree, p.s. - would be nice if he would pick up on that.  Here are a few shots taken over a few seconds demonstrating his DATing.

Grady also enjoyed surveying the lawn.

And mommy.

 And the camera. 

Time to put the camera away!

We talked to Daddy on the phone while we were outside, and Grady took the phone from me and planted a HUGE kiss on the phone.  It was at least 3 seconds.  He sure misses his daddy! 

Today was the opening day of our local farmer's market.  Do you remember last year when Grady went to his first farmer's market? 

And now.

Whoops, shoulda seen that one coming.  

It was pretty rainy, and there wasn't much in season yet, but it was still exciting to have our market gearing up again!

Grady has been experimenting with free standing.  We were downstairs feeding the cats, and I stood him up next to the circle of neglect.  When it started playing music he clapped his hands once before realizing he wasn't holding on to anything!  Briana at daycare said he had also been taking the lid off a box while standing, not realizing that by holding on to the lid he was no longer stabilizing himself.  I still feel like walking is a while away.  I'm starting to get a little impatient for it, although I know I will be longing for the days of crawling once he starts. 

Come home soon, Matt! 

Quick video for Daddy while he's in NYC

He sure misses you!

Happy Mother's Day!

We are working on getting Grady down to one nap a day, which means jam-packed mornings as we try to keep him occupied to avoid the cranky meltdown.  I think our work is paying off, as he's been much happier all around, and has settled pretty nicely into one 2-hour nap from around 11:30-1:30 typically.  Of course, now I've jinxed it.

On Thursday, Grady and I went to the Children's Museum.  We were supposed to meet a friend from one of our baby groups there, but her son was playing with her keys the night before and she couldn't find them!  They later turned up in her shoes.  Ah well. 

Grady and I still had a fabulous time.  Grady spent most of his time in the room meant for kids 3 and under.  There, he dominated the slide.

And here is the successful summit.

Later that day, Grady tried out his new skills on the big slide at the playground.

And back down again.

We had quite a lot planned for Mother's Day weekend.  Yesterday we went to a bird celebration at Sellwood park.  (Wow, that sounds very Portland-y when I write it down.)  We had fun making a name tag for Grady on a wood chip, and then making a Native American raven mask.  (Not sounding any less Portland-y, is it?)  As you can see, he was thrilled by the arts and crafts activities.

Afterwards, we went to the Sellwood library to listen to some Russian folk songs.  Grady was very well behaved for about 25 minutes, and then it was time to go.  

Today, Matt and Grady treated me to a wonderful Mother's Day.  Grady got up around 6, and Matt let me sleep in (even though he also let me sleep in yesterday!) until around 7, when it was time to race the Run Like a Mother 5K.  (The extra sleep was especially appreciated as I ate something that disagreed with me last night, and spent part of the early morning throwing up.  Not the best start to Mother's Day - or any day for that matter!)

The race went well.  The results haven't been posted yet, but I think I came in around 7th at around 23:25.  I felt like death, but was happy with the results.  Grady was very excited to see me cross the finish line according to Matt - he clapped and just lit up!  

After the race, I got a present of a very appreciated pedicure, we had chocolate croissants, I took a nap, we went for a walk, and had a very nice, quiet day.  

Some other fun things not caught on tape. 

On Friday, Grady was "petting" (a.k.a. "tormenting") Besa.  Besa had enough, and did a few warning swats, claws in, to get Grady to back off.  Grady laughed and waved back!  

Grady has started saying the word "cow" - not to me, luckily.  Today I was talking to Grandma Dotty on the phone on speaker, and I asked Grady to say cow for Grandma.  He looked at me, pulled out the book that had a picture of a cow in it, and started saying "coooowww, coooowwww."  Brilliant! 

The biggest news of the week is that Matt is now off for NYC for work.  We will both miss him so much and can't wait for him to get back!