Happy Anniversary Bob

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary so we celebrated the only way we know how, with champagne brunch on Sunday.  (Good thing too as our day was a bit overshadowed by a certain royal delivery - Congrats Sol and Rachel!)

We went to the fanciest brunch we could find, the Taj Boston rooftop brunch, which really had stunning views. 

Inside had a wonderful spread of fancy foods. You can see, this really is "on the roof". 

It differed from our Cayman brunches in that we had purchase our own bubbles to go with our meal, which was probably for the best as we had our little buddy with us. He was able to enjoy the brunch too, here he is trying his first creme brûlée!

After our meal we went for a walk in the Public Gardens. Boston had been going through a heat wave, with the heat index topping out at 110 F. Sunday was a beautiful 75 F and the entire city seemed to be out enjoying it. 

Cedric met his first horse, though he was afraid to touch her. He definitely was try to work out what she was. 

It was also my favorite plant display at the gardens, tropical plants. I love to see the palm trees and other familiar flora from my Cayman days. 

Cedric did pretty well, especially considering that weaning is making him cranky. We've learned that whenever we have an upset Cedric, all we need to do is play him a video of himself. He LOVES it. 

Speaking of videos, here is a new one of him walking. It has only been a week! He is very cautious and deliberate in his attempts, I thought it would take longer for him to get the hang of it. I guess not!

11 Months

I'm amazed how quickly time has flown. I have an 11 month old? I'm weaning him to cow's milk? He is working on walking and talking? I'm reading articles about toddler development? Where has my little baby gone?

Though little baby Cedric is going, I'm very excited for the little man that is developing. He is growing more inquisitive in his surroundings. 

He is using a variety of toys in different ways. He really likes to push things, whether they have wheels or not. I think his birthday presents will comprise mostly of things that roll. 

Cedric is learning to climb at Gymboree and tries to apply his new knowledge at home, where we have nothing safe to climb on. 

Dropping things onto the window sills behind the couches is a fun game. He drops things and then strains to get a look at them and pick them up. He loves to dump toys out of bowls and bins and is just now getting interested in putting them back in. He loves pushing buttons, especially the ones on the computer. He loves to be upside down. Swinging, carrying or holding him upside down will put an instant smile on his face. 

He also spent an afternoon attempting to stack blocks. He hasn't worked on it since so this is the best video I have. 

He has also started waving and clapping. It took a while for him to do it on command but now he really enjoys it, especially clapping. He can even clap hard enough to make a sound now. Whenever he is proud of himself, he claps - which is basically all the time. He knows when he does something good. On a sad note, he clapped after each nursing session yesterday. Sorry buddy but that ship is sailing!

Cedric's hair is finally growing. Not much but he has a permanent curl on the back of his head now. You can really see all the hair when he gets sweaty, which is often. He is like his dad, very sensitive to the heat and easy to sweat. Lucky me. 

We've been getting out more this past month, which is good. I'm much more relaxed about his sleeping schedule. I've stopped timing his sleeps and started going with the flow. The weaning has helped, now that I can give him some regular milk and food while we are out. It is hard to change your mindset from little baby to toddler, especially when everyone says "every baby develops at their own pace". I wish there was a manuel I could follow, I love a good set of instructions :). 

Like I was saying, we've been going to town more. We went back to the aquarium on probably the stupidest day of the year. Super hot heat wave + first weekend of the grand re-opening = disaster. We are members so we walked right in but the line was over 100 people long and inside was packed. Shoulder to shoulder a lot of the time. And with all of those people, the AC just wasn't cutting it. There was condensation on a lot the tanks. I did get some cute photos of Cedric enjoying the fish. He really likes to watch fish. 

I can't believe he is almost a year, I expect big things in this next month!

10 months and 29 days

Tomorrow Cedric will be 11 months. Today he decided to do this -

He took his first official steps a few moments earlier, 4-5 as he walked toward me. He has been practicing standing without assistance the past few days and was especially keen this afternoon. Thanks to his new push toy I think he finally found the confidence to try it on his own!

He usually takes to new skills quickly, I am interested to see how long it takes him to get the hand of it!

Aunt Anne in Boston

The weekend after Kansas, Bob's sister Anne came up for a visit with her boyfriend Chris. We did completely responsible things, like Bob ditching work and taking the baby to a brewery tour. 

The Harpoon tour is our favorite, though it changed a lot from the last time we went. Still, the beer tasting is second to none!

And then we took Cedric to a happy hour for drinks and oysters. Super responsible. 

After having some high quality oysters with my mom and the Trundles, Bob has decided he likes oysters. "Like" as in, borderline obsessed with finding cheap, fresh oysters to eat for every meal. $1 oysters are the best!

Actually, Cedric did great the whole weekend. We took him all around Boston and made him nap in his stroller but he seemed to enjoy the new places and experiences. It was nice for us to continue to practice taking him into the city. We have been trying to get out more lately. 

On Saturday we went to watch the Red Sox lose to the Blue Jays, courtesy of Michaelyn. It stung a bit more because Bob always has a yearly bet with James over the Blue Jays and Royals. Any Blue Jays win could potentially hurt Bob's line. 

Cedric wasn't too fussed with the game. He spent most of the game chewing on his fingers. 

Then Cedric hit his limit and it was time to go. We stayed for almost 6 innings, a lot for a little baby. I was glad we were in the shade or we wouldn't have stayed nearly as long. 

Cedric did get a chance to walk the Freedom Trail a bit while we waited for dinner at Giacomo's on Sunday. It was very hot and we took turns walking him through the mini-mart and corner wine shop. He really did a great job going with the flow, I was so proud. 

It was Cedric's first trip to Giacomo's but he may have been a bit young to fully appreciate it's splendor. 

Anne, on the other hand, fully enjoyed all Giacomo's had to offer. Her and Chris ordered some huge seafood pasta dish for two that came with a bottle of wine. It seemed pricey at the time but now we know why - it would feed 4 people. Did I mention we ordered butternut squash ravioli to start? Needless to say, they didn't finish their meal. 

Cedric enjoyed spending time with his Aunt Anne. He had just seen her so maybe he remembered her, but I think he just really feels comfortable around her.  He even picked up on a few of her better faces. 

Coincidence? I think not. 

Cedric in Kansas

Cedric and I took a nice long vacation to Kansas, courtesy of my dad (thanks again!), to visit friends and family. Sadly, Bob had to stay behind because he was waiting to hear about a new job, which he got. 

I was a bit worried, flying alone with Cedric. We had a lot of luck, no delays and empty seats or rows on every flight. 

First stop was in Wichita, where I was able to see some of my high school friends with their kids. Most of the kids were too small to "play" at the playdate but we had a nice time catching up!

Cedric and Parker happened to wear matching outfits and share a love of big dogs. 

They are only about 6 weeks apart in age, both have blue eyes and blonde hair!

No trip to Wichita is complete without a visit to my grandmother's in Kingman. 

Cedric had a nice time crawling around his great-grandma's house. He was a little wary of "strangers" on the trip but if you made silly noises he calmed right down. 

I was lucky to spend Father's Day with my dad. We went to Granite City, one of our favorite Wichita stops. Cedric missed his dad but had a great day with his grandpa (note: his shirt says "if you think I can nap, you should see my grandpa". My dad really likes to nap.)

Cedric has been getting very squirrelly lately. He can squirm out of almost anyone's arms. 

On this trip Cedric developed a very funny fake laugh/smile. He would open his mouth up as wide as possible and squint his eyes. I'm not sure where it came from or where it went but he loved it for 2 weeks. The face will pop up again, trust me. 

On my way to KC we stopped in Lawrence for a quick lunch and to stretch our legs. No better place to stop then at the Hill! Monster Baby!

We didn't go any farther on to campus, we will save that for a family day!

And of course, we went to Free State. Cedric is happy - obvious by the face. 

In KC we stopped first at my friend Annie's. She has an amazing new house in Lake Quivera. Here is Cedric exploring the windows (don't worry, they are bulletproof and been recently serviced)

And making the face. He is playing with a Diet Pepsi bottle that I put a pen in. It was, by far, his favorite toy of the trip. Silly boy. 

Next we headed to the Podany household to see his other great-grandma. He loved her glasses and was wary of her cold hands. 

And he made the face at her nursing home. 

And again at Jack Stack while gnawing on a rib bone. Silly boy. I'm starting him in on the BBQ love early. Side note: he did not like the BBQ sauce but he did like Mi Ranchito's salsa. 

Cedric's Grandma Podany took him to Deanna Rose Farmstead. He was a little young to partake in the petting zoo but we had a nice time walking around. It was very hot and Cedric was teething (his top two teeth broke through later that night) but I think he enjoyed it. I can't wait to take him when he is a few years older, we will probably be there the entire day!

Cedric had a nice time walking around the Podany's with his Grandpa Podany. They spent a lot of time walking. 

Cedric and I then took the long flight home, stopping first in Minneapolis to see my good friend Katie. 

Cedric was pretty tired by this point and not in the mood for many photos. He was done looking at the camera. I did get a good one of Katie's son Weston. If you can't tell, they are wearing matching outfits. So cute!

We won't be back to Kansas until Christmas time but I hope our families make it out to Boston again soon. It was nice spending time with them and having them get to know our son. Cedric is growing so fast and was at a really fun age for this trip, I'm glad we were able to go!