Additional Photos

I couldn't help but add these photos too. What a cute dragon. Stanley got lots of comments on his costume. He seemed to like being the super smiley and friendly dragon. Stanley carried his bag basically the whole time.

Trick or treat

Unfortunately the rain came just as we were leaving and stopped when we returned. But other than that Stanley loved to walk and had fun carrying his pumpkin sack. The candy inside was a great noise maker. More pics to follow later from the camera

Don't bother me

I'm reading.

Flounder

Steve is gone to a conference this week. But, we managed just fine since Uncle Flounder ended up "working" in San Francisco today. His work involved just sitting at the airport during the day. To help him feel as though he had done some real work, I put him to work collecting Stanley from Halima and taking care of him tomorrow morning from 6:45am-7:45am before Halima arrives.  So much for Geoff's hope of just relaxing while working.

So that Stanley could see Steve, we facetimed tonight. 

Concert

Today we met Caroline and Zuri for the finale of Tricycle Music Fest at the SF Library.The big hit was Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower .They really captured the kids and my attention. Zuri was right up front--Stanley only joined later. It was a Halloween dress up concert, so Stanley wore his dragon outfit.



 

 

 

We had a professional photographer take our photo, but the background behind us was green, so Zuri's dress, Caroline's hat, and Stanley's dragon outfit all blended into the background.

Below Stanley as a cameleon; he went from a dragon to a building in just a moment.

 

Independence

Stanley has figured out what is not allowed in our house and this weekend he has decided to push his limits. (Actually more then 'our house' I should probably call it 'Stanley's house'). There are not very many things that we  consider off limits to little hands, but the gas-stove knobs are one of them.

About 15 times Stanley tried to turn the knobs on the stove. He would do it and we would tell him  it is not allowed and divert his attention. He now clearly knows this is not allowed, but he continued to push his limits. I think today he finally figured out he should stay away from them. Instead he headed off to the laundry machine to test those. I'm fine with those, but I won't be surprised if we have a laundry cycle happen without any clothes to clean in it.

At least he may start learning to help Mommy with the laundry. 

Stanley also knows that we require feet first down the marble stairs. Yesterday, he would walk over to the stairs and stand as if to walk down the stairs like an adult. He would look back at us to see if we give him a reaction and then he would run back laughing as if to say, I'm just joking mom and dad.

Independent I'd say.

Blog writing difficulty

I must admit, we have been pretty bad bloggers lately. Part of it is that Steve and I are very busy, but a big part is that there are very few photos for us to post on the blog. For sure, it is not for the lack of trying. We end up with about 50 photos either blurry or like this 

before we get one like this

Stanley at 13months

13 months is such a wonderful age. No matter what happens at work, I love to come home and have a little boy giggling when I walk in. In the last week, Stanley has become ticklish. We will need to take a video of him laughing. Tonight, it kept putting his foot on my hand while nursing so that I would tickle him.


Upside down Stanley

He has also gotten very stable on his feet. He has no problems getting up from the floor to walking and he doesn't mind when he trips and goes back to his hands and knees.

He has also become more independent these last few days. When we get home or in the evening, he enjoys playing with his toys or looking in the cupboards for the citrus juicer or the LeCrueset heavy pans. He will play and babble to himself for about 15 minutes.

He also loves to read. Let me say, he really loves to read. However, ever since he started reading to himself at around 6 months old, he always turns the book to face out. At first I thought it was just a random occurrence, but it is quite clear that he prefers reading upside down. Oh well, for now, whatever makes him enjoy opening and looking at a book.


Stanley has also been very good at giving things away. The doctor suggested we use the term "Have it" when we want something. Now if he knows that he should not have something he comes walking very quickly towards us to give it to us. He also gets a great big smile and laughs when he gives it to us. He loves to do this with the glass bottles in the recycling bin, the little pieces that hold our pot lids nicely in the cupboard and a few other random items.



Stanley playing with the recycling

The doctor also suggested at the 12 month visit we try doing sign language. The first sign he learned was "all done", he know milk, more, and water. He mainly likes the water and all done signs, the rest he uses only when he really has to use them.

 

Stanley also surprised both Steve and me yesterday with his ability to serve himself water from a cup. It was doing very well, till I made the mistake of saying 'Yay'. 'Yay' to Stanley means clap your hands. As a result, he put down the cup to clap.

 

Stanley is very fond of clapping. When he knows we are proud of him, he will clap his hands and wants us to clap with him. He wanted to walk down the stairs like big people, so finally when he went back to feet first, we would clap at every stair. This is good and bad; now he will go feet first and stop at each stair and make sure we clap for him. He also joins in with the clapping.


Stanley loves
- Walking!!!!!
- Clapping for himself
- Drinking water
- Playing with the poof
- Peter & Halima
- His CAT truck to sit on and push the noise buttons
- The big dummy bike
- Running around before a bath naked
- "All done" sign
- Getting tickled
- Laughing with mom and dad
- His mom and dad
- His bath. He could stay in there for an hour even when the bath water is cool
- Drinking bath water. If we use soap, we now use it at the very end.
- Going to bed. He just loves getting in his crib at night and chatting with his animals till he falls asleep.

Stanley dislikes:
- eating. He is not such a foodie as I had expected a 1 year old to be.
- Having a diaper put on him. It has become a difficult task.
- When mom or dad leave him with someone besides Halima or Geoff or grandparents
- Sleeping through the night. I'm not sure if this is dislike or he just doesn't do it.

Stanley can:
- walk (he gets more steady every day)
- Pick small grains of rice up with 2 fingers
- Slither out of the grocery cart harness
- Run when he wants
- Play the harmonica and enjoys playing a real piano
- Stand on a box or stool to get up higher
- Use an umbrella to take and break a picture frame (dad enjoyed this clean up adventure)


Foods Stanley likes
- Beef pasta sauce
- cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Tofu
- Mom's milk
- Ice cream
- Water (still and sparkling)
- Cheerios
- Puff cake (our tried and true way to get him to eat food)
- Hummus
- Cottage cheese mixed with yogurt
- home made pizza with red sauce, spinach, cheese, and mushrooms

 

 

Go giants!

Stanley and dad enjoyed wathcing the home town team win game #1 & #2 of the World Series .

Where's Stanley

If Stanley isn't playing DJ with the radio remote control in our room, then he is most likely opening and closing doors. He loves to hide behind the door in the kitchen and the play with the shutters on it.

Haircut

This Saturday Stanley got his first haircut. I had been trimming his hair into a bob/mullet type style so we decided to ask the experts. There are no pictures of it happening since Stanley was not happy having it done.

Before

 

After--my little pianist

Halloween preview

We bought Stanley a Halloween costume when we were in Denver. It's a dragon with a tail and little wings. We thought we should try it out tonight to make sure it fits and that Stanley doesn't hate it.

No worries. Turns out it fits and he LOVES it. He even went over and grabbed it after we pulled him out of it. Lots of laughs and running around.

Reorganizing

Stanley decided to reorganize my parents' cupboards while we were in Denver. He removed a lot of stuff an then tried to figure out where it should go. Don't worry, though, he had help from grandpa Tom for the heavy lifting.

Bigger kid

We went to Denver this past weekend to celebrate Lele's birthday and attend Aunt Ricki's shower.

After the shower, Coleman a 2 year old and Stanley played together. It was so cute, though difficult to capture with a camera since neither of them stayed still for a second. Coleman was running across the house. Stanley tried to copy Coleman, but just was not fast enough. So, for a little while Stanley sat on the floor and laughed as Coleman enjoyed the enthusiastic audience.



Then they both enjoyed running around the stair well and laughing and laughing. Coleman was very good at watching Stanley to make sure he was following, but didn't care that Stanley was not all that stable on his feet.

 



 

In the end, they were both sad to leave eachother. Coleman gave Stanley a wonderful hug as we left. 

 

No bottle mom

But 4 turtles worth of water will be great.

You can sit on this

Apparently Stanley just figured out you can sit on the truck.

Sharing

For the last 2 month, Stanley loves to share. For example, if we put some water in front of him, he will take some sips and then push it to us to make sure we take some water and the back-n-forth continues.

It is very touching that he always seems to want to share what he has with us. I'm sure it will not last forever.

On Friday, we had a picnic at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Stanley loved to eat some of the goodies out of our burritos. But Stanley also wanted to make sure that Steve and I both enjoyed the chips that came with the meal. He kept shoveling chips into our mouths at a rate much faster than I would ever eat chips.

Here Steve is sharing burrito with Stanley and Stanley is feeding chips to Steve (really if he wanted them or not).

 

Fall

Stanley took what I'm sure is going to be the first of many little tumbles this weekend. The 'hill' of our driveway made Stanley go a little faster than he expected. He is usually very good at sitting down or catching himself with his hands, but when he put his hands down, the ground was a little farther than he thought. His poor lip got jammed into 1 of his 4 teeth by the driveway. It definitely looked like it hurt. It was hard for both mom and baby, but a little nursing cured both of us and Stanley was back at his walking again. You can see from the picture below, he definitely had a fat lip from it.

We enjoyed some good SF fun this weekends...the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the Blue Angels, and caught the America's Cup World Series on the TV. The Blue Angels show was wonderful from Dolores park where Stanley could practice his walking--it was a challenge there because of the uneven ground

The blue angels in formation over the park.

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Tired toddler

Walking is hard. Now that Stanley is walking, he appears to be quite tired.  By 6pm he can hardly keep himself awake. However, he is good to his parents and tries to keep himself up for at least a bit after we get home. He will go in spurts. He walks and talks and then will be laying flat on the floor with his face straight down on the floor. He doesn't seem to mind if it is cold marble, a rug, or the kiddy foam mat. Anything will do for him just to take a 8 second cat-nap.

It is sad for both Steve and me. For the last few weeks, when we put Stanley in his sleep sack, he is ready to go to bed. We use to always bob him up and down for a few minutes and then put him in his crib. Now, he tries to dive out of our arms so that he can get right into his crib. Our little boy is growing up.

The only good thing about this is that he is always going to sleep instantly (before it took about 2 minutes).  And he now sleeps till around 3am  which is far better than before.

Walking

I think our crawling days are numbered.

Learning Hot

Steve was showing Stanley about 'hot' things. We were making pizza, so the oven front was 'hot'...well more like warm. Stanley seemed to get the point. He kept going and barely touching the oven front many times to confirm that it was still hot.

The playground

Steve, Stanley and I spent some quality time at the playground this past weekend. We knew from Papa Doug that Stanley loved this big rolling tube toy. As you can see it is much bigger than him.

 

 

The other big change is that he just loves the slide. He goes down on his stomach feet first. I only found this out when we went near the slide and he positioned himself for going down the slide. He loved it so much that his hair stood on end due to the static from the plastic slide.

 



 

We also were working with him on his walking. He would far prefer to crawl as you can see from the first video, but he did take a few steps in the second video. He is quite stable when he walks, but he would far prefer to be on his knees.