Cousins!

Hey there, everyone.

I've been on the road again. I just got back from a quick trip to Houston where we celebrated Grandma Babe's birthday last week. The cousins turned her hair into a rainbow. But she got the last laugh by keeping it that way ALL day long. I had a lot of fun playing with my cousins Brayden, Kayla and Chloe. They're a wild bunch, and boy was I tired at the end of it. I was so tired on the plane home that I got a little fussy, and the woman in the seat next to me gave me "the glare". Sweet little me - can you believe it? She should pick on someone her own size next time...





We also saw aunt Teresa and Erin, as well as the Pastas on this trip. Short, but sweet.

Since last time, I have another tooth (another bicuspid, ouch) making 8 total. And I was sick for a couple of days with Roseola with meant I had a high fever at night and a nasty rash at the end which made me grumpy for 3 days.

What else? Let's see -> I can now point to my nose and foot if someone asks me to. And while in Houston I learned how to go down stairs, which is a very useful skill. Oh, and just yesterday I surprised mom and dad by climbing onto the couch from the floor, which means that those flowers in the living room window are no longer safe from me.

That's about it, really. We had a nice little summer dinner with friends last weekend, but this weekend is just mellow. Next weekend I get to go to my very first wedding!

Hope that everyone's enjoying their summer!

Love, D.

Two turtles in the back yard

Howdy, friends!

It's been really nice outside lately, and I love playing in the back yard. Here's me with my new friend "Tur-TUH" - don't we look like each other? As you might be able to see, I'm actually crawling around more these days - I was army-crawling so well that mom and dad thought I'd skip the hands-and-knees phase, but that's what I'm doing now.

We've started to go swimming at the outside pool at the rec center almost every afternoon. I like the water, and it's fun to see the other people. No matter how many toys mom brings, I always want someone else's ball - it's a little embarrassing...


Yesterday we went hiking at Roxborough again, and I saw deer and a couple of foxes. They looked like cats to me, so I called "ca, ca, ca"after it, but they weren't friendly.

My vocabulary has gotten even larger since last time - it's a mixture of signs and sounds, but they're consistent. This evening, I grabbed dad's hands and said "Go, go", but I knew we couldn't go out without shoes and a hat, so I said "shuus" until I got those, then slapped my head to get a hat. THEN we went outside to play with balls (bah! bah!) and look at birds (buh! with the sign for bird).

Let's see - I have another tooth (seven now) - it's further back than the others and much bigger. I seem to have skipped a few teeth in the front, but I'm sure they'll pop up sooner or later.

Oh, and I just started stacking my stacking rings, but I expect that the audience cheers when I get it right. Before, I would just throw the rings around.

There's probably more, but that will have to wait until next time.

Love, D.

Memorial Day

Hey there

Sorry about the delay in posting - I was trying to get my Album Number 8 up and running, and it just took forever to get it uploaded. All of my photos from January through May - 620 or so, so if you go looking, give yourself some time....

For memorial day, I went to Stu/Julie/Carly/Eli's place for a BBQ. It was fun - I discovered that hot dogs are pretty tasty, and there were a lot of other kids. I'm not the youngest, that honor goes to "Izzy" Gorelik who joined us about 2 months ago. Cutie...

Let's see - there's all sorts of updates. I turned 13 months old, of course, but I hardly think that's worth mentioning every month anymore -> it's not like Dad walks around saying that he's 437 months old (yikes, it's true!).

We have some little turtle-toys with bobbing heads, and they are my new best friends. When I want to visit them, I just say "Tur-TUH" and point to where they are. I get very upset if they've moved. Speaking of Turtles, I got a very cool toy from the Pastas - pictures to come.

I don't walk on my own yet, but I'm getting steadier and more confident. Probably several weeks out, still. If I have two fingers to hold onto, I can walk for miles.

The Dr. says that the rash on my arm is a mild eczema and that I need to keep it lotioned up at all times. I have a new shampoo and lotion that seems to be helping...

And that's about all for now,

Love, D.

I bet you're wondering

Hey there

I bet you're wondering if I was EVER going to tell you about my vacation in Florida, huh? Think of it this way, I'm still on "Island Time". Oh yeah - Sanibel was nice.


Before I forget to mention it, there are more pictures of me in Florida on the Pasta's Blog - I stole my favorite one of me with the nice pooh outfit I got from Dave's parents.

The Beach was excellent, and I had good fun with this "Sand" thing. Not really a fan of sunglasses, but then again - I don't like the bright sun. Very hard to get comfortable then...

I'm not walking on my own yet, but as you can see - there are these fingers that I can hitch a ride with and they'll take me where I tell them to go. Mom and Dad have sore backs these days because of this. I'll go for a long way before I get tired.

The flight there and back were uneventful. I charmed the entire plane both ways, of course. Some of those folks were grumpy travelers, but I just turned up the wattage on the smile.

Not too much else is new, really - I can climb all the way up our steep stairs at home, which is pretty cool, but they won't let me go down on my own.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. I'm going to a BBQ, and so I'll probably have stories to tell next week.

Love, D.

Summer's here...

Today was just unbelievably nice, so we went outside and set up the pool that I got from Grandma Babe. I liked the colors, and playing with the little inflatable rings. The water was a little too cold, though - didn't like that much. Next week I'm going to Florida for a beach vacation, so I need to get used to this shorts-and-no-onesie thing.




Also today, Dad finally got around to building me a swingset so that I can use the swing that Babe got me for my birthday. Now we don't have to go to the park to swing. Yay!

What else is new? I have some new words - now I know what shoes are: "shoos, shoos, shoos" -> up to about 15 words now which is really great. Oh, and I went in to visit Dr. Laurel about my foot again. They took x-rays and declared that my results are "great". They also gave me a new cast (black). In case you're a long-time reader and wondering why I never show pictures of the casts anymore - I only wear them while sleeping now.

So, we'll be in Florida next week with the Pastalaniec family - looking forward to that. The summer is getting booked up - we're traveling to three weddings and spending 10 days in Norway in August.

Until next time....
Love, D.

It's time to Celebrate!

Friends, Family - I bet you were starting to wonder if you'd ever see the pictures from last week's birthday. Well - I was just so busy playing with my new toys, I plain forgot to give an update. So here it is: I'm ONE! There were all sorts of things going on - I might eventually get some video here, but in the meantime, if you want my birthday DVD, let me know by clicking here and I'll send you a copy.

It was a pretty wild party, if I may say so. 9 kids my age, 15 adults and 2 cats. I had an excellent time -> admittedly I'm not really sure what the big deal was, but I could tell that everyone was here for me - and you know how I like putting on a show.


Of all of the people who came, I want to thank two in particular. That's me with Erika and Karla, my birthmother and birth-grandmother respectively. They came all the way from Oregon to visit me on my birthday, which just makes me feel special. We got to play and hang out, and it was really good to see them again and to get updates on all of my Oregonian fans. It's good to be loved - thanks aren't enough.



There was, of course singing, and cake. It took me a long time to mess up the cake - I was just so excited about eating the icing. Eventually, I did.



And then there were presents. I got so many things that I can't even begin to list them. A lot of books, some really good toys and a dinosaur that (literally) rocks.

After all that excitement, I was completely pooped out. What a day! Thanks everyone!

There are also some random updates. I have officially cleared 20lbs (barely) and can therefore ride with my car seat facing forward. I'm somewhere around the 10th percentile for weight, 25th for height and 60th for head size, so I'm still a skinny, short brainiac. Oh well - there are worse categories to be in.

With all of that head to fill, I've been picking up new words and signs. I can now say "dog" and "bear" and tell mom if I'm hungry or thirsty or the light is on and all sorts of other tricks.

OK, that's enough for now. Until next time.

Love, D.

Haircut Time.....

Before... After.....

A few weeks ago, I posted that Papa had trimmed my hair around my ears. Well, as you can see in the 'Before' picture above, it was time for a 'real' haircut. So Mom took me to see Miss Gabriella yesterday. She let me sit in a golf cart and play with a guitar while she did her thing. I'm not sure it's really very safe or practical to play the guitar while driving a golf cart, but it got the job done. I didn't mind having my haircut at all. Matter of fact, I liked having so many women to flirt with.