Valentine Fun

I've always really liked Valentine's Day.

Not as a sappy, romantic day but as a fun day to tell your loved ones in small, creative ways how much you care. My momma likes the holiday also (wonder where I got it?) & I remember celebrating Valentine's Day as a family, with candy, handmade cards & sometimes little presents next to each place at the dinner table. I'm sure one of the main reasons we both like this holiday is due to our shared love of making cards. All my cards this year were from Blakey, most of them Batman themed. ;) Unfortunately, I did not take any photos.

In a small way, Valentine's Day is also the first hopeful glimpse of spring. By the 14th, you can usually see tiny pussywillows starting to bud on bare branches and bright, hardy primroses at storefronts. For the past couple years, I've purchased a flat (for $10!) of primroses at Costco & gifted away half of them.

This year, Blake & I had most of the day together, taking a walk on our nearby trail, making cheesecake & hosting some of our PEPS friends for a little gathering. Just like the cards though, I have not taken any photos of the primroses on my porch & sadly, I forgot to remind the PEPS gals to take some home. Please, if you would like a primrose or two, come on by -- I have way too many.

While I have, as yet, been unable to instill much romance in my thoroughly pragmatic husband, we do have our own little tradition of having pho for dinner on Valentine's Day. Simply & yummy, sometimes we go out & other times we dine in. This year, we thought it would be fun to take Blake to our local pho restaurant. It was a wonderful dinner out. Not only did Blake thoroughly delight our nearby dining companions, he also really likes pho. Being true to his love of spicy foods, he prefers dad's pho to mine, as he fixes his much spicier. We took a video so you can see how much he likes it.  :)

Working on the video -- I currently keep receiving an error message when trying to upload it.

We finished the evening with cheesecake (Blake liked it almost as much as the pho) & a few small presents. Blake loved his light-up heart (thank you dollar store).

I hope you found small, fun ways to show your love to those who matter most to you this Valentine's Day.

 

Language

Blakey combined signs & words into a sentence for the first time last night. We were wrestling on the bed after his bath, like we always do. Usually daddy is with us, but Levi was out for the evening skiing. Blake flung his arms out, palms up (sign for "where?"), immediately followed by the word "dada."

"Where's dada?"

"Dada is skiing. You'll see him in the morning."

:)

Cloth Diaper Drawback

Toddlers certainly don't need an incentive to play in the toilet. But I realized today that Blake probably thinks one of the main purposes of a toilet is for playing in the water, as he daily sees us soak, rinse and remove diapers from the bowl.

P.S. Yes, to confirm your suspicions, I found him playing in the toilet today...twice.

Posted with Blogsy

November

We cheered on the Hawks, made a trip to the zoo & continued the love for all things musical.

 Dance parties were had.

Keystone's A Festival of Hope had a record-breaking year, raising over $14,000. 
This was the 35th year of the Festival & the first year I coordinated it.

Blake had his first taste of pumpkin pie & immediately wanted his second.

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Bellingham, kicking off the holiday with fort building.

Blake enjoyed his first Thanksgiving dinner eating solid foods.

 Family walks.

 Christmas Tree outing

 Blake's first pick-up attempt...gifting gravel to the cute older girl.

 Getting into the Christmas spirit...

Baby Signs

I've had an interest in sign language for a long time & knew I would use it with my baby when the time came. In college, I really wanted to take American Sign Language (ASL) for my foreign language credit, but astoundingly ASL was not available at UW & I would have had to travel off campus to take it. I chose to take Portuguese instead -- probably not my best decision, seeing as I have no more understanding of Portuguese now than I did prior to taking 3 quarters. Ah, college.

I digress. Baby sign language faced some criticism a few years back that using it would delay a baby's use of spoken language. Even before this was debunked, it never made sense to me. To me, a baby being taught sign & spoken language is exactly the same as a baby learning two languages simultaneously, which they do quite well (if only I started Portuguese as an infant). While case studies tend to still be fairly small, there are many proclaimed benefits to teaching babies sign language before they are able to speak (& after!).

All this to say, we started doing a few basic signs with Blake around 7 months. Currently at 15 months, he is using almost 30 signs, along with very sporadic spoken use of mommy & daddy. I can't begin to tell you how fun & exciting it is to get glimpses into what Blake is thinking & to be able to communicate with him. We started with three basic signs -- milk, more & all done, not knowing if Blake would take to sign language or not. Some babies learn a few signs & don't have interest in learning more. Blake's first sign was milk, right around his first birthday, followed slowly by a new sign or two every couple of weeks. Then, at 14 months, his sign language use exploded, adding new words every week! The fun thing about baby sign language is it's very forgiving & adaptable -- you, & your baby, can make creative changes. Blake has his own little version of both kitty & book. My mom made up a sign for music, since we couldn't find one (wave finger in the air, like you're conducting). And Blake has made up his own sign for watch -- turning his wrist back & forth. We know when he is noticing lights, thinking about doggies, listening to a big truck, or practical things like when he's hungry, thirsty, or wants more.

And probably most importantly, Blake really likes being able to communicate & tell us what he is thinking. Today was especially exciting as he linked together his first combined signs, asking my mom Where's kitty? He was so thrilled & must have asked it six times in a row, very pleased with himself. Sign language with Blake is fun & rewarding & we now find ourselves scrambling to learn more signs for him! If you're interested, our favorite book is Baby Signs - How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk.

Below is the only photo I have of Blake doing a sign -- airplane.

Here is the full list of all the signs he does, in order of when he first started using them:
milk
doggie
all done/all gone
music
bye-bye (also "you can go now")
duck
more (more food, wrestling, tickling, binkies, stories)
eat
light
hot (stove, coffee/tea, fireplace, candle, heat register, dishwasher)
drink
kitty
flower
noise
hat
fish
airplane
sleep
truck
baby
shoes
ball
book
watch (made-up sign)
butterfly
where
piggy

51/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Christmas Day

We enjoyed a lovely & very relaxed Christmas Day.

The three of us had our own little time in the morning, then Levi's folks came down to hang out & we hosted dinner for them, my parents & family friend, Chris.

Blake's dinosaurs, gift from Catherine in California, were a big hit.

 And learning to hang a spoon off our nose!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas eve day with my family, joined by Aunt Kathy this year.

 Christmas Eve service.

Hearn Christmas

A wonderful, happy gathering.

Penick/Slagle Christmas in Bellingham