we have a one year-old

at one, pace weighs 19 lbs 13 oz (9th %ile) and measures 29 1/4" (30th %ile)

has two teeth on the bottom

sleeps from 7pm-630/7am

eats 4 meals a day

says ball and bird (although they come out more like "bah" and "buh")

loves: anything soft and cuddly, rubber duckies, anything with buttons and that beeps, reading books (he'll "read" by pointing at the words and jabbering), riding on dada's shoulders, running with mama or dada and kicking a ball, crawling upstairs faster than you can say "hey pace, wanna crawl upstairs?", playing outside, running errands with mama, seeing other children, especially babies.

dislikes: loud noises (esp. the vacuum), strangers, the gym daycare (i no longer go to the gym--they just come and get me 10mins later with a screaming baby), milk--we're trying to win him over with soy milk just to get some milk product in him, (he completely weaned himself at 11months--he woke up one morning and was not interested in nursing.  i had some milk pumped in the freezer, so i tried putting it in a sippy cup, a regular cup, anything.  nope!  he was done.  he grabbed the sippy cup out of my hand, threw it on the ground, then grabbed an apple and tried biting into it.) 

eats: pretty much anything i put in front of him, although he definitely has preferences as to what he'll eat and when (we'll call it intuitive eating).  breakfast foods: eggs and cheese (just the yolks, still, we tried the whole egg and he got a rash), plain greek yogurt with fruit or avacado mixed in, oatmeal--also with fruit, yogurt, or avacado mixed in, pancakes with jam (i usually add some sort of grated veggie like carrots or zucchini and a fruit like cherries or blueberries to the batter), banana or any other fruit we have on hand, fruit smoothies.  

lunch and dinner foods: salmon, chicken, pork (he prefers the chicken and pork to be a "pulled" variety i make in the crock pot, like tomatillo chicken or bbq pulled pork, probably because it's juicier), steamed root veggies, cheese and lunch meat slices, yogurt, fruit of any kind, lentil/veggie mix spread on bread with cheese, pasta, fruit smoothies.

pace is incredibly sweet, giving hugs and cuddles to anything soft and fuzzy.  he is very cautious and timid in new places or with new people.  he has more confidence if mama or dada are around, but still somewhat timid--it takes a few minutes to get him to warm up.  pace is very obedient.  he still likes to see how far he can go, but he immediately listens to my tone of voice and stops if i tell him to.  still not fond of riding in the car--he's done after about 35-45 minutes.  pace is a very determined little boy--if at once not succeeding, trying and trying again.  he'll usually have something mastered by the third time trying it.  very curious about the world around him, points at everything and wants to know what it is.      

frankenduck

pace loves, loves, loves rubber duckies.  so i thought it would be great to make a rubber ducky cake for his first birthday.  here's something along the lines of what i pictured making:

i think i should have invested in that 3-d cake pan, though, because here's how my duck turned out:

here's how i really felt about it at 11pm after baking, sculpting, and icing all day...

pace turned ONE last friday, 10/14/11!!  we celebrated on saturday so we could spend time having cake and opening presents.  here's his one year-old slew of presents!  and, of course, frankenduck in the center.

i don't think pace was scared, but he was definitely hesitant.  i'd also put the duck in the fridge overnight because i'd made buttercream frosting, and it was kind of warm, so i imagined waking up the next morning to a headless frankenduck due to a melty icing incident.  so frankenduck didn't have soft frosting for pace to really get messy in, he just kind of poked at it.

icing: scary.  carrot cake: success.

time for presents!  pace got a lot of puzzles and fun wooden toys we just love!

later in the day: the fruit smoothie was a bigger success/treat than the cake!

a visit from babishka

my mom came out to visit pace!  let's face it--the visits are now for the grandchild, not the child...pace loved showing babishka around the house, showing her how he plays with his toys and reads books, and walking around outside.  babishka also brought some fun toys for pace that he just loves!  every morning he'd crawl into the guest room and play with the box of duplos she brought.  we left it in there, and even though babishka left, pace remembers the duplos and goes in that room first thing to play!

celebrating fall & general conference

in between general conference sessions, we decided to take a sunday drive up the canyon.  we ran into a lot of other people with the same idea!  it was a perfect fall day--warm, sunny, leaves changing--a great day to enjoy nature. 

quiet books I & II

i finished the quiet books just in time for pace's birthday.  yes, plural--books.  i originally planned to do one book, but as i sewed, i realized with all the pages put together the book would weigh more than pace...so i split it in two, one book for a younger skill set, the second book for the older skill set.  this was a very fun project for me, once i conquered my fear of the sewing machine!  i also discovered fabric paper!--this was a MUCH cheaper alternative for a number of my pages.  rather than get iron-on letters, or cowboy decals, or iron-on numbers, i just found clip art i wanted to use on the computer and printed them out on the fabric paper!  after all the free fabric and some notions i already had at home, i think i ended up spending $20-25 to make both books.  not bad!

this should have been vertical...sorry.  the book on the left is younger and the book on the right is older.

book I page 1: build the snowman.  all the pieces go in the little pocket on the right; you take them out and velcro them on the page to build frosty:

page 2-3: going fishing.  under the sea with an octopus, crab, star, and seashell.  the fish live in the little net and you take them out and button them on the red buttons on the page:

page 4-5: match the gumballs.  each gumball matches in color, and you velco them from right to left pages:

page 6-7: old macdonald: zipper to open up the barnyard door; a pig, cow, and chicken finger p uppet live inside the barn.  take them out for finger puppet fun, and to stroll along the little road on the right page:

page 8-9: left: frog wants a snack.  frog has a zipper mouth, which acts as a pocket for his fly lunch.  you can take out all the little flies and snap them on the page, and then use frog's tongue to eat them back up again.  right: fly to the sun.  or saturn.  or earth.  the rocket ship moves up and down the shoelace, and you can button on the different planets to fly the rocket to:

page 10-11: choo choo:  the little train is carrying its wheels in the coal cars; you take them out and button them on the red buttons:

page 12-13: green means go!: the stoplight lights snap off and on, and the car also snaps off so you can play with it on the road page to the right:

page 14: noah's ark: noah's ark unzips and you find more finger puppets living inside!  there's noah, an elephant, a zebra, and an ewok thing:

book II: page 1: dress me!  there's a pj outfit with pace's favorite little llama stuffed animal, going to church with scriptures, and play clothes with a balloon:

page 2-3: next time won't you sing with me.  the capital letters are sewn on the page and their lower-case counter parts are in the little pocket.  pull them out and match them up!

page 4-5: counting cowboys: discover how many hats, saddles, stars, boots, and horseshoes there are, then velcro them on the page next to the matching number:

page 6-7: left: tell the time--unbutton the clock hands to move them around, an button them back on.  right: tie your shoes.  i still have to get shoelaces for this page, and they'll hang out in the little red pocket.  take them out and learn how to lace up the shoes:

page 8-9: i smell a pic-a-nic!  on the left is the pic-a-nic basket full of picnic goodies.  undo the buckle, and set the table on the right:

page 10: tie teddy's bow.  self-explanatory: