Christmas 2012

{archived from 2010}

{Someday, when Blake is older, he'll take the reigns and write his own Christmas page (like every good toddler should)...but until then, we'll just work on....oohhhhhhh....crawling and stuff.}

Blake's 2010 began in utero...

I daresay that he was the warmest member of the family during January, February, and the first 19 days of March...but I'd bet a dollar that at 11:34pm on March 19th (a mere 26 minutes before his due date--his punctuality was enough to earn a fist-bump from Mom) he suddenly became the coldest. And the smallest (9lbs. 0oz.). And one of the two cutest. (The other can be found here.)

From the minute he was born, his calm, quiet personality was apparent. He's a sweet, sweet boy...and boy-oh-boy is he developing an early sense of independence. Some would say he's "stingy" with his smiles, but when he rewards you with one, you know he really means it (and also that you probably worked pretty hard to get it...) Unless, of course, you happen to be Ian, in which case you get as many smiles as you want. To say that Blake loves Ian would be a grand understatement, you see.

Blake came to us...well...chubby, for lack of a better word. Having both been chubby babies ourselves, Joe and I were not surprised to giddily note Blake's rolls (note: at his wedding reception, you can kindly remind him about that Christmas in 2010 when his parents bought him tights because regular socks popped off almost the instant after they were put on.) What did surprise us (and continues to give us pause to this day) is how tall this boy is! At the age of 8 1/2 months, he is wearing clothes that range in size from 18 mos to 2T. And for all of the lovely chubbiness that Blake provides, it's usually his length that bumps him up to bigger clothes. I've never seen a child develop high-waters so rapidly.

Soon after Blake was born, we noticed some abnormalities with his eyes. He was soon diagnosed with vertical nystagmus. But it was nothing 30 minutes/day of eye patching didn't fix right up in about 6 weeks. I'm pretty sure (read: 100% sure) that we liked the patching more than Blake did...cause LOOK AT HIM! And they make cute little boy eye patches with airplanes on them. Unfortunately, the airplanes weren't on the inside of the patch. {Note to self: innovate eye patches.}

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd....Blake had a gummy smile for about a minute. And then he started growing teeth (@5 mos.) Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeowwww! His current total is 8 1/2 teeth--all straight and beautiful and gleaming and lovely.

And ever since he got those teeth, he's been itching for "real people food." What can I say? He likes everything and doesn't really turn away anything. Just the other day he had me spend about 20 minutes squishing black beans between my fingers and feeding them to him one by one. The next thing you know, he'll be demanding palm fronds and drinks with little umbrellas in them.

{But darnit, when you're that cute, you just might get it!}

Sometimes we wonder if he's going to be a stand-up comedian. He has THE.BEST. dead-pan look. (And he's pretty darn good at hold it, too.) Maybe we should get him on an e-Trade commercial?

Other highlights of Blake's year include graduating from the infant carrier car seat in record-breaking time (@ 3mos), waving, giving kisses and high-five's, going on his first hike, modeling Daddy's ultra-light high adventure tent, barfing all over Joe's brand-new suit, going as a bag of cotton candy for Halloween and charming his way into the hearts of all who meet him.