FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

Oh my goodness he is ONE already!! Where did the year go? My baby is not such a baby anymore. He is turning into a little boy!

So, at the age of one Jack is really letting his personality start to shine. He is a very curious, very determined, and generally very happy and charming little man. He can now stand unassisted and has taken his first few steps. I think the most he has gone is about 8 or 9 steps without any support, but he is quickly getting the hang of motion on two feet! Grandma and Grandpa gave him a toy grocery cart for his birthday and he can fly around the house walking and pushing it along.

He is starting to develop quite the vocabulary. He can say bye-bye, hi, dada (one of his favorites!), mama, ball, duck (dut), truck (tut), bubble, baby, bottle (ba-ba), moon (moo), poppa (as in Poppa and Nana), flower (fow-er), monkey (ki ki), bear (beer), that, balloon (ball-n), Lola (ar-ra), dog (which really is just the sound woof woof), tickle (tittle), and most recently NO (nah).
We find it wonderful that he can now tell us when he wants a ba-ba and he says no really clearly (maybe TOO clearly) at this point when he doesn't want something.

He is also using some sign language and clearly lets us know when he is 'done' (mostly with eating, but we find that he also now uses the sign when we are changing his diaper or asking him to do something he doesn't want to do, as in 'I am so done with this!') , he tells us 'more' and 'eat'. He has also started to just put his head on the floor to let us know he is tired. It is wonderful to be able to communicate with him a bit more!

Jack's first birthday party was a huge success! We had to delay one day due to pouring down rain on July 4th, but we had the party on Sunday instead and the sun made a few brief appearances. We were so happy to have so many great friends and family attend his first birthday. We ate and swam and played and ate some more! Thanks to everyone who brought yummy food and also a special thanks to Sam who was in charge of all pool activities and managed to keep four young children occupied and safe in the water.

Jack had NO interest in his cake. He refused to barely even touch it, let alone smash the thing or eat it. Oh well....I ate his piece! Maybe next year! He did have a few bites of ice cream!

Well, I have a lot of pictures to put up here, so I will shut up and post already....adding some commentary to explain as a I go...

Here's our birthday boy....and balloons of course (he LOVES them)

From First Birthday

From First Birthday

Grandpa and the birthday boy. (see the resemblance?)

From First Birthday

Jack giving lessons on how to use the 'Busy Ball Popper'

From First Birthday

Is it time to go out and play yet??

From First Birthday

Let's Eat.

From First Birthday

Let's Play and SWIM.

From First Birthday

Sam, Hanna, Hayley, and Luke all take a dip.

From First Birthday

From First Birthday

Natalie was queen of the turtle float.

From First Birthday

Jack goes in for the slam dunk.

From First Birthday

Daddy's pool toss, which always gets lots of giggles!

From First Birthday

I think the adults had as much fun watching the kids play as the kids did playing!

From First Birthday

The cake and Cookie Monster cupcakes..... Me love Cookies!

From First Birthday

From First Birthday

From First Birthday

Jack a bit dazed and confused about party hats.

From First Birthday

Here is a hat for you Daddy...

From First Birthday

From First Birthday

Blow out your candle...

From First Birthday

Mom, you eat the cake...I really don't want any...

From First Birthday

Luke says, "Let's Party!!"

From First Birthday

Let them eat cake.

From First Birthday

Lou provides some tongue twisting entertainment.

From First Birthday

Our birthday boy is a bit pooped, but it was such a fun day!

From First Birthday