More Firsts

So, yes last weekend marked the first birthday, but this weekend wins in NUMBER of firsts.

Sylvia Quetzal's first birthday party

Though a week older than Alder, her shindig was this weekend, and despite Alder's wrapping up a fussy week of hand-foot-mouth virus, we took part in a wonderful celebration of family, friends and ridiculously delicious food cooked in the mud oven, over at Sylvia's house. We had a blast and like always they kept Alder up way past bedtime by the fire. We paid for it a little bit the next day but always worth it... so Happy Birthday Slyvie... and thank you for sharing your muffins.

(Sylvia, we will dump many more pics on you from the gathering next time we meet.)

First bathtime outside

No pic but we have had a true Spring this year ( i.e. several weeks of mild temps, sun still low, and low humidity days), so we have taken advantage of a hand-me-down little pool in a sunny spot in the backyard. Alder and Tsuga got baths. And Alder is big boy enough now (!!) that he didn't need the little seat to restrain him from face-planting in the water. I did keep hands within inches of him while he played.

Our first visit to the berry farm

And not to be forgotten. Morning after Sylvie's rager, we sluggishly headed out, way out, to the berry farm to pick some strawberries. So Alder was pretty fussy still but we plopped him in the straw between the berries (to the horizon). We set to picking and he commenced to eat ...

to stuff ...

to become one ... with the berries
And when he wasn't eating....But he had a strange yet successful method of ramming the whole berry in, chewing, swallowing and then ejecting the sepals and stem. We neat and tidy adults always pick this off and THEN eat it. We made off with 21 or so pounds and all we could all eat.

First visit to the neighborhood pool

No pics here, but we did this today. Very cool. We will certainly make the most of this neighborhood feature this summer. How cool it was to stick Alder and Alder gear in the wagon and cruise down there. He liked it but needs to get a bit more comfy with it. It must be overwhelming.

And first official cruising (walking while hanging on to stuff)

Stages of mobility still coming at an accelerating rate. Early in the week, Alder showed us he could pull up with no help on multiple things about the house. By the end, he was doing the same in his brace even and starting to cruise some without it (albeit very slowly and cautiously). Best is moving along the spindles around the deck. These are perfect for him. We'll get a picture of this up soon.

And speaking of the brace, Alder got a new one this week. We were excited that we pushed long enough with the last brace to SKIP a size. He puts a hurtin' on these things and they run about $800 a piece. We are thankful for insurance.We could always milk more firsts from a week than this, but in the interest of time...

Everyone, have a nice week.