Happy (almost) 1st Birthday to Me!

Elio's first birthday is just days away. We began celebrating today with a joint birthday party picnic with Elio's playgroup buddies. Four babies, Elio, Emma, Theron, and Andrew, celebrated their birthdays. The weather was gorgeous, the food plentiful, and the babies mostly happy. You'll have to forgive us for taking so many Elio-eating-cake photos. But it's his first birthday! And there's that cute pointy hat!









There were banners!

And the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER!

I made birthday presents for the babies...

We don't have a picture of it, but Elio also achieved a milestone of standing by himself for a long time. He was hanging on a blanket with Charlie, watching Charlie stand independently, and I think he wanted to do it to. So Dan stood him up, took his hands away, and Elio stood there for over 15 seconds! If he can combine that skill with his love for cruising around the house with his wagon walker thing, then we'd have walking!

Here's Elio sitting on me a couple of days ago during a picnic in CW ...



Here's a video of us trying to get all the babies together for a group photo. Baby chaos!

Turn it up!

Recent observations: We think Elio is left-handed. Most Cheerio grabbing seems to be happening with his left hand. Also should be noted that the kid seems to live on Cheerios -- or the organic "toasted oats" Cheerio-alike that I buy him -- they are the preferred food above all else.

In the car, we've been listening to the reissue of Carole King's "Tapestry" album, and I definitely think Elio's first sing-along was with "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow." He seemed quite in tune.


Helping Dan play guitar. Elio was focused on helping turn it up to eleven.




Playgroup babies! They're getting so big!


Unhappy with being on the blanket, forced to pose for pictures --


Teeth!

Beer, bubbles, a frying pan chair, a picnic, a sling, and a big ol' drum

Check out how red his hair looks!






It's root beer--really it is.



I tagged along to Elio's last music class and witnessed unbridled drum pandemonium. The pied piper effect is alive and well.