I'm officially a toddler!

It's time to play catch-up in the blog now that there are some exciting things to report. Lucy started walking on Friday afternoon! This is great as she's been using Matt and I's fingers to guide and support her for the last few weeks obsessively and we can finally sit back and....not relax...as we watch her stumble, waddle and even attempt running already. Watch out world!

About half an hour before Lucy started walking I gave her a haircut, really her first change in hairstyle, her first "real" haircut. I attempted giving her bangs. I think they came out OK and they have definitely alleviated the constant wispy hairs that were in her eyes when she didn't want to wear a barrette anymore. When Matt came home from work he said he thought it was the magical bangs that made her look so grown up that gave her the courage to walk.

Lucy's friend Kaelin came over last week to play. They are about the same size so her mom, Carrie, and I really enjoy watching them play together. You can see them comparing sippy cups below.

We went to Kaelin's first birthday party yesterday and all Lucy was interested in doing was debuting her newly acquired skill of walking.

She cruised all around the party from room to room and definitely did not act shy! Please note that she STILL sticks her tongue out all the time.

She even found a cool keyboard to play. After she realized the sounds it made, she'd just bounce looking at it because she knew it made music.

We couldn't get her to wear the birthday cap but she loved holding it.

Matt took the last video the evening of the day she started walking. This is her AFTER I tried to put her down for the night. She was way too excited to walk some more to care about going to sleep. She decided it was time to play "steal the bone from Canute" again but this time she walks a bit to change things up.

Lucy now has another bottom tooth - her 7th tooth emerged this past week. She also signs for "more" when eating and breastfeeding now. Books are much more fun to read now and she wants to read the same one over and over. Lucy really wants to speak. We are working on totally random words that she has shown interest in learning by attempting to repeat them when we are speaking. These include: bug, birch, puppy, and baby. She seems to like the b's.

The Birthday Girl - One Year Old!

It's been a week of celebrating and remembering the sweetness that arrived in our life last year at this time. Lucy would like to share her stats with you along with some other fun facts...

I am now 17.5 pounds, 28" tall and my head measures 17.5"

I have 6 teeth now! Four on the top and two on the bottom. I am still pointing at everything. I can now direct people using my finger too. For example, I will point at mama and then point at a toy on the floor such as a ball and she will bring to me. It's pretty cool.

I say "bah bah bah" (bawk bawk bawk) to refer to all birds now even though I learned to say it around our chickens. When I see a raven flying in the sky I announce it this way and I point. I can climb up onto the sofa and down again. I can even climb down off of the bed as long as mama or dada is there to spot me. I can do it easily but they worry.

My current favorite foods are kiwi, carrots, blueberries, and applesauce. My doctor told mama and dada today that I am so strong she was having trouble checking my hips while I was pushing my legs to make her stop. I am tiny but I am strong (and fast)!

Our Trip to Makaha, Oahu

We all headed to Makaha, Hawaii for a week of sunshine, swimming, and relaxing together. It was a great trip and Lucy is at such a fun age to experience something new. She traveled very well and received compliments from everyone on our flights.

As suspected Lucy loved looking out the window on the airplane when she wasn't flirting with random passengers or sleeping.

The first day we were there it was overcast with showers so we headed out to the Waikiki aquarium. Lucy went back and forth between being amazed and being upset. We think she didn't like that she could not reach her hand in and touch the fish.

However we also went to the Bishop Museum which has many Hawaiian artifacts and Lucy very much enjoyed the exhibits of masks, figurines and statues...the ones with faces on them. Sometimes she even laughed and bounced when she looked into the cases.

The next day brought us sunshine, exploring near our condo, and time on the beach. Lucy loved being a beach bum but luckily decided she did not like the taste of sand.

We slowly introduced her to the ocean. She was hesitant for about a minute and then it was all laughing, waving the arms, shrieking, and bouncing.

The waves were pretty big at the beach where we stayed so Lucy just welcomed them while standing on the beach rather than swimming.

This vacation was a really nice time for dada to spend quality time with Lucy every day. It was really sweet to see her reaching for him this week over and over.

The sunsets at our condo were amazing! We could also see whales every day in the distance and sea turtles right in the surf off of our lanai. We felt lucky to have such a great view.

One place we enjoyed visiting was Kahumana Organic Farm and Cafe. It was a treasure hidden on the west side of the island where we stayed. We went for lunch and had farm fresh greens with grilled ahi tuna.

Lucy showed a lot of interest in my mango-rice milk smoothie so I decided it would be OK for her to try some. She took two sips like a pro from the straw and definitely liked the sweet taste of the mango.

Morning walks outside our condo in Makaha were beautiful. There were many curious items on the ground that Lucy discovered such as this fishing line that she did not want to let go of.

There were endless smiles from Lucy on the beach. She LOVED the ocean and crawling around in the sand.

She couldn't get enough of it. Her lips were shivering by the time she felt satisfied. It was really fun for us to watch her excitement!

The activities and fresh ocean air exhausted Lucy and every day she took a hearty nap with a delightful view on our big comfy bed.

One day we headed out to the Valley of the Temples to visit the Byodo-In Temple. It was very beautiful and peaceful. The temple was built in the 1960's to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant workers in Hawaii who came to work in the sugar plantation fields. It is a replica of the 950-year-old Byodoin Temple located in Uji, Japan.

Lucy willingly sat near Buddha at the entrance. A much larger Buddha sits just inside the main entrance to the temple.

We found great calm water at Kailua Beach and Yokohama Beach for Lucy so we spent some afternoons there splashing away.

Below are two videos of Lucy taking on the ocean. I started shooting videos after the initial squealing and giggling fit she had when we first put her in the water but you can still see how much she enjoys it.

The night before we left to head home I noticed Lucy's upper left tooth was starting to break through (yikes!). Luckily the flights home were calm even though she was heavily teething and drooling. When we left Oahu it was 80 degrees. When we arrived in Fairbanks it was -40 degrees, we were in a bit of shock! I put my big fluffy hat on Lucy to help keep her warm when we left the airport.

Just Hanging Out

Oops, I haven't posted in awhile again. I suppose we've been busy getting ready for Christmas and winding down from the end of the semester at UAF. Lucy has some new tricks: she now claps and sucks her lips in like a fish. She also is getting her second bottom tooth in this week. The clapping surprised both Matt and I and luckily we were both there to see her do it for the first time. Lucy's friend Kaelin came to visit the other day and they are exactly the same size and so cute together.

No Lucy, we don't grab at Kaelin's face...

My little helper crawls over enthusiastically every time I open the dishwasher to unload it or load it. I've given up on trying to stop her from putting her hands all over everything when it is dirty. We just head to the kitchen sink afterward and wash her arms and hands. I do however keep a close eye to make sure she doesn't crawl inside - which she has done a couple of times.

The other day Lucy was giggling over and over and I caught her passing her pacifier (which she only plays with and bites on) over to Canute and then pulling it away and then repeating this again and again. I pulled out the camera too late but caught the end of it on video. They are such good friends. She now offers him everything she plays with such as shiny gift ribbon, her sock monkey, and rattles. He politely declines but acknowledges her generosity.

This week was a big week: Matt and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and there was a lunar eclipse on winter solstice. A beautiful week to celebrate our marriage. The eclipse was the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern Winter Solstice (Southern Summer Solstice) since 1638. The next lunar eclipse to occur on a Northern Winter Solstice will be on December 21, 2094. Lucy will be able to see it! We had a great view of the eclipse from inside our house while Lucy slept in what was left on the moonlight on our bed. On our drive home from our celebratory dinner last night we saw a huge red shooting star, part of the the peak of the December Ursids occurring on the eves of December 22 to Dec. 23.

photo credit

The Week of Many Firsts Ends with "Mama!"

I love this photo of Lucy because it reminds me that she does actually sleep sometimes!

Oliver is a good kitty and really tolerates a lot from Lucy.

On Monday, Lucy's first tooth started emerging. This is after 3 months of drooling, sticking her hands in her mouth, and clamping down on things.

On Tuesday, Lucy reached for the first person besides myself or Matt to snuggle on. It was our friend Michele, mother of handsome little Cord who is 6 weeks older than Lucy. She was flattered. This happened as we were leaving a 2-year-old's birthday party.

On Wednesday, Lucy climbed into the dishwasher. Her first climbing success. I turned around after washing a pot in the sink and there she was, kneeling inside the machine on the door holding a dirty spoon and waving it around. She moves fast!

On Thursday Lucy bumped her head hard for the first time. She pulled herself up to say hi to me while I was sitting on the futon. She was smiling, wavering and then clunk, she fell forward and hit her forehead on the metal bar. She had a small round red mark a bit larger than the size of a pea and only a little raised. I put arnica on it and it never bruised. It was gone by Friday morning.

On Friday (today), Lucy said "mama" for the first time, very distinctly, while Matt and I were at our lesson for our new Janome sewing machine . Needless to say, I had tears in my eyes - so did Matt. She was looking right at me and had her arms out. So sweet. She continued to say "mama" all night and leaned toward me and waved her arms when she said it.

Here is a little video that Matt shot on Wednesday night while I was teaching, mistakingly without sound, but cute nonetheless.