Letters to Luc: Thanks to You (Month 10)

Dear Luc,

 

You turn the big One-Oh! 10 months, that is. You now crawl all over the house, pull up to stand, and start cruising along the furniture. You like to walk assisted. You are eating bits of our food, trying new textures and flavors. Your favorites are crab glass noodles (just like Mommy) and the soft insides of French baguettes (just like Daddy). You are starting to pay more attention to the books that Mommy reads to you, enjoy listening to music (especially live) and like to bang on your xylophone. You also like to crawl with a toy in your hand or throw it a short distance, then retrieve it.

The leaves turn brilliant shades of red and yellow, Mommy's favorite time of year. Only for a few months do we get to see such jeweled leaves crowning their trees like robes of light and fire.

This month, Mommy turns one year older and is content to have you as a gift.

Daddy took Mommy to see The Sound of Music as an early birthday present. When you are old enough, we will take you along to musicals, especially The Lion King.

You get to be quite the pro at dining with us...

...even though you still refuse to feed yourself.

We did something a little wacky this year and drove nearly 1,000 miles round trip to visit friends from far away. First, we saw Auntie Cleo and buddy AJ in Anaheim. They are visiting from far away, too, from the land of New Zealand where Mommy and Daddy honeymoon'ed once upon a time.

You fell asleep partway through our lunch. It was long miles for you, Luc. Southern California traffic was so terrible, so we didn’t get to fit in many activities or attractions.

We toured the town a bit, including Downtown Disney.

Then we saw Auntie Meredith and buddy Amelia in Santa Barbara.

 

We met at the Natural History Museum, and there happened to be an orchid show that day, along with a meeting session with the local birds.

Christmas trees are starting to pop up everywhere to usher in the winter season, bedecked in ornaments and lights.

Weekends, we still like to take you around town while the weather is still nice, like hanging at the Row.

You celebrate your first Thanksgiving, Luc. You enjoyed all the food and ate lots of tidbits off Mama’s plate.We have a lot to be thankful for, most of all you this year--your health, your vibrancy, your laughter.

Thanksgiving also marks a special time since Daddy finally took his paternity leave to hang with you for 6 weeks, up to your first birthday! I wonder what you two will be up to, left to your own devices.

Letters to Luc: Little Ghouls and Goblins (Month 9)

Dear Luc,

Autumn has arrived, the trees start to change colors, the daylight hours shorten, and you ease into your ninth month. Mommy and Daddy try to continue taking you to activities outside the house to keep you happy and curious. We went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum, a non-profit operating on donations, which we didn’t even know existed until scouting local activities for babies.

 You played with the hydropower machine, watched tennis balls bounce about, and looked at the animals in the mini zoo. There was a cool and cute bobcat there, but your favorites were the ducks that waddled about the pond. Perhaps they remind you of the nursery song Mommy would sing to you?

Six little ducks
That I once knew
Fat ones, skinny ones,
Fair ones, too
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others

With a quack, quack, quack…

You also got to play in the baby area, and I guess you were the youngest one there that day since you got the whole area to yourself as the older kids played and climbed on other structures in the museum. You got to lounge in a huge cocoon and discovered that you like bead mazes.

You also practiced your crawling; you could crawl on your hands and knees this month since you figured out it’s faster than slithering along your bell in a slow army crawl. Good job, Luc!

We visited a pumpkin patch, Spina Farms, in the spirit of Halloween. The weather was turning bad and rather windy, so we didn’t stay long or got in line for the barrel, wagon, or pony rides, but we did manage to snap some adorable pictures of you in your “preppy cowboy” look, complete with hat.

  

The following weekend, we went to the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad with your Grandmama. You fell asleep in the long line for the train ride as you had to wait quite a while for us to buy tickets, and you stayed asleep through most of the train ride, but you were up in time to ride the carousel.

You were not amused by Daddy putting you on a horsey, preferring the open sleigh, and you were fascinated with the lights in the center of the carousel the entire time.

Leap 7 is hard on you, and through this growth spurt of teething (5 have cut the surface) and picking up new skills like pulling to stand and gauging whether you should cruise with your first steps along the furniture, you are often upset and grouchy. You are working on walking since you like us to hold you by the hands to take some erratic and intrepid steps, and you like using the walker at Grandmama’s house with support so you could walk into her furniture.

October marks a special month since we celebrated Big Brother Odin’s birthday. He turns a Lucky 7 this year (just like your birth date!). We gave him cheeseburger with his breakfast kibbles and new deer antler to chew on. Mommy and Daddy also took him to PetsMart to pick a new toy (giant squeaky tennis ball), and we saw a lovely rainbow there.

October is also a special month since we get to celebrate your very first Halloween! We carved a spider-and-web design on the pumpkin that we got with Grandmama after riding the pumpkin train.

Mommy then took you and Grandma to Telenav where she works so you could join in on all the kiddie fun-tivities. You got to be Mommy’s little lion while she was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

 Every year Mommy dresses up on Halloween and passes out candy to the cute little ghouls and goblins that come lurking about cubes for trick-or-treating. Ten years later, Mommy finally gets a little goblin of her own to go trick-or-treating with! She’s very excited to have you along, Luc. You got to meet a lot of Mommy’s coworkers, some whom you have met before, and their little ones, too.

The common Break Room was all decked out with Halloween goodies, Hotel Transylvania II was playing on the big screen, and your favorite thing to eat was the turkey ham in the Mediterranean rolls. We even lined up for the costume contest, but you had enough of your headpiece by then.

At night, we went to visit your Grandpapa and Auntie, who took you trick-or-treating around their house. You got lots of candy in your little basket and got to see cool houses with lights and decorations.

 

Mommy is happy that you usually get in a good night’s sleep after all the activities, tucked safe and warm in bed. Did you have a fun and spooky Halloween? Every new day brings a fresh adventure and a little more growth for you, my boy. The nights will get longer with Daylight Savings ending soon.