Paul *attempts* to play catch with his son...

Maybe he's still a bit young for catch, but Paul and I (mostly Paul ;) ) are excited because James seems to be figuring out how to throw balls. In the last few days he has made some big progress, and now I'm sometimes even surprised at how far he can throw.

Last night, Paul sat down with James to play catch. At first it seemed like it was actually going to work, so I ran for the camera. Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as we thought it was going to. It's still a cute video, though. Take a look:

Independence

James has been working on a new skill lately. He's been trying to figure out how to use a spoon. :) I let him try it for a little bit every day during lunch. It's pretty funny to watch him figure out how to do it. He knew right away to put the spoon in the bowl and then in his mouth, but he hasn't yet figured out how to scoop a good sized amount onto the spoon.

He sure has fun trying though:



Here's a little video of lunchtime yesterday. As you can see, feeding himself this way would take forever, so I just let him try a little and then I get impatient and feed him the rest.

Time flies…

We have friends in this ward who had a baby girl named Claire  in December.  She is now three months old, and very, very cute. :)  I had a shocking realization the other day that James was three months old when we moved here.  The same age as little Claire!  I can’t believe how fast time is passing!

When I was thinking about this the other night, I started looking back at pictures of James right when we were in the process of moving,  Take a look at how he has changed in the last ten months:

I can’t believe how grown up he looks nowadays!  Sometimes I really wish time would slow down just a bit!

WW - Daddy's Sandals

Editor's Note: First of all, please ignore the cheerios on the ground next to the basket. I didn't see them there until I looked at the pictures. James just takes them EVERYWHERE. Second, yes, he did this with the sandals on his own. :)

A Sign of Spring

These beautiful daffodils were given to me as a birthday gift last week. :)


No one has ever given me daffodils before. I was so excited! They were all closed up when I received them, and by morning they had opened up completely. So beautiful! Apparently March is the best month for daffodils up here in Oregon. And that means spring is just about here! :) The trees outside our apartment are starting to bud, and the weather is getting warmer and warmer. I am thrilled.


They are just so cheerful! I'm a big fan of taking pictures of flowers because the flowers themselves have such a short life.

Pi Day

OK, how many of you celebrated Pi Day?

*crickets*

What, you've never heard of Pi Day? Saturday was March 14 (3/14), otherwise known (by a select few) as Pi Day (you know, 3.14159....). Yes, it's probably the nerdiest reason you can have to celebrate. Of course, any excuse to eat pie is a good one in the Peterson household! ;)

Paul and I celebrated with a Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Pie from Marie Callender's. Very yummy.


Good times. :) Pie lovers out there, make sure to remember to celebrate next year!

Feeling Better!

As you can see, James is back to his usual, happy self!


Hooray! I'm happy to have that bout of sickness (the worst yet! :( ) behind us. Hopefully we'll get at least a small break before something else comes our way. Cross your fingers!

In other news, I can't seem to find my camera cord! After searching the apartment, I decided to try the SD drive on my computer (it's sometimes a bit unreliable), and thankfully, it worked. I copied all the pictures I need for upcoming blog posts so that I have some time to find my cord. It's gotta be around here somewhere!

I have lots to blog about, so stay tuned. I'm even thinking multiple posts per day! Oh yes.

Ups and Downs

I can't remember the last time I went this long without posting on our blog when I wasn't out of town or anything. We've had quite the week.

James has been sick for about a week now. Poor guy continues to have bug after bug these days. This time, his cold (a yucky cough and runny nose) turned into his very first ear infection. This led to his first experience with antibiotics, Amoxicillin. Yes, the pink stuff. ;) Unfortunately, James' little tummy (which was already a little bit distressed with all the mucus and such) didn't take to it very well. So, on top of the ear infection and coughing, James has had to deal with throwing up and being dehydrated. Poor guy!

On the bright side, it seems that James is getting better slowly but surely. He hasn't thrown up since yesterday morning, and he's starting to eat and drink more willingly. His cheerful attitude is mostly back, and in a week we'll be able to put the whole ordeal behind us (that's when he will finish the antibiotics). I hope!

James very kindly shared his cold with me and Paul as well. ;) Luckily, it hasn't been nearly as bad for us as it has been for him. We are both feeling quite a bit better today.

During this whole ordeal, one of the things that has really struck me is what a wonderful spirit James has. All through this unpleasantness, he has had an amazingly good attitude. Both times I took him to the doctor he acted so happy that the doctor had a hard time believing he was really sick. Even when he was at his worst, he kept trying to smile through it. At 13 months, he is an example to us of what it means to be a true optimist. I love him so much.

Here's a perfect example of James' happy (and kinda crazy ;) ) personality. It's a video Paula took of him when we were in Utah. He couldn't get enough of all the attention his aunts and uncles (and grandma!) gave him throughout the week. Yeah, just give it a watch...it'll bring a smile to your face, guaranteed.

What a weirdo! Well, he's his mother's son, what can I say? ;)

Also, as you can see, he says "hi" now. It's pretty cute. He says it when he crawls into a room, when Paul comes home from work, and when he holds things up to his ear like a phone.

First Steps

We're back from Utah! We had a wonderful time and got to see lots of family and friends (there was even a surprise visit from Paul's mom for Kristina's baby shower!). I don't have many pictures, so I'm going to try and collect some from various people that took them, and then I'll do a post about the trip.

In the meantime, James made some big progress with his walking while we were there! In the last week or so, James had been taking 2-4 steps at a time on a pretty regular basis, but only when we coaxed him to. While we were in Utah, we practiced walking quite a bit. Aunts and Uncles like to see this type of thing, you know? :) So, we kept standing him up and cheering him on, and he surprised us a few times by walking a little bit farther.

Here's a very short video clip Diana was able to catch from Saturday night:

Then, yesterday, James had a small milestone. He started taking steps spontaneously, without any coaxing from us. He still only goes for a few steps at a time, but we're relatively certain he's on his way to discovering that walking can be more effective than crawling. I'm sure he'll be running all around the apartment before I know it!