People to play with - like "Spin on Uncle Chris' lap" and "Tumbling with Mummy".
A love of reading.
Foods that make sore gums feel better, and grandparents who allow entire meals of nothing but ice cream. (Not to mention Chris and Anna, who bring YUMMY ice cream!)
First glimpses of Christmas lights.
For friends and family and godparents, for snuggles and head-bumps and laughing chases around the dining table. For all the love that has been sent our way - and it's more than I think even we realize.
Uncle Paul is as good an influence on Asa as he always was on Mummy.
From color mixing (to get the right purple, so that the cookie and Asa could have the same color shoe) to spreading the icing with one's fingers à la finger paint, Asa got a step by step lesson in cookie-decorating...
No stroller, and most of the time he didn't want to ride in his car. An entirely new perspective is emerging as walking becomes more the norm. I'd imagine it's much the same for him.
On the boat going over, making friends as a tiger.
Outside on a chilly, windy day in October, playing in the driveway. Wearing Mummy's hat. (I shouldn't admit that one, should I?)
Trying to get out of the wind.
It's less windy on the beach, blocked by a bluff. Ideal for trying to put all the sand back into the ocean. And possibly getting a little wet in the process.
Let me start by saying that Asa is turning into a little bit of a neat-freak. He picks up rug fuzzies, bits of animal cookie that he dropped, pieces of diced veg that might have fallen off the counter as I cooked... really, just about anything, and brings them to whichever of us is closer. He's very insistent that we take these little bits, even when we can't actually see them. (Well, except the bits of cookie, which he eats, no matter how old.) All of this makes our house sound messier than it is, of course - cluttered, perhaps, but we do keep it clean. Toddler-clean, but clean.
But I digress.
The other night, Asa was playing with his new toy (nominally given to our cat for Halloween), when the picking-up was taken to a whole new level, and we were able to witness Asa's first imagination game. This is just the end of it, but he picked imaginary... er, somethings... off of the suction cup and placed them all around the room for about 20 minutes. I discovered, to his delight, that pinches are delicious and a good way to kiss little tiny fingertips.
Aw, who am I fooling? the whole situation was delicious. Yay creative boy!
Not a video per se, but Blogger won't just let one upload sound clips.
Asa, say "Cookie"...
And yes, he fusses at the end. One does, after all, get sick of saying what one wants; one wants simply to GET what one wants. Especially when one is only a year old.
Poppy, be proud. Asa loves having his teeth brushed.
He's always tolerated it rather well... we started out using a finger-cap infant toothbrush:
Which was all well and good until he grew top teeth and started biting. So we got him a Cookie Monster toothbrush. Hey, anything's better than Elmo. Besides, after eating all those cookies, I bet Cookie Monster is really good at brushing his teeth.
Suddenly, it was love. He'd see the toothbrush and squeal with joy, kicking arms and legs and nearly throwing himself out of my arms to get to Cookie Monster. When he first said "Cookie" the other day, it was in reference to the toothbrush, not to any baked goods.
He now uses the word for either - toothbrush or baked good - but much more readily for the former. Like just now, when he was in the bathtub and showing no sign of wanting to get out, despite wrinkled fingers and toes. Until we told him that it was time to brush his teeth. He bolted up to standing in the tub, a huge grin on his face, and shouted:
"OOGIE!"
And we fell on the bathroom floor, laughing. Which brought about another round of standing in the tub and shouting, perhaps more insistently:
"OOGIE!"
When I stopped laughing enough, I asked, "And what does Cookie Monster say?" Thinking, of course, that Cookie Monster says "Cookie". But no: apparently, Cookie Monster says, "RAR!"
This post has been brought to you by the letter "A", and the letter "C", and by the number "1". Asa is a coproduction of Mommy and Mummy.
