august 2, 1999

grace turned 1 a week ago this past saturday. we threw a birthday 
brunch for her - very small, just family. brian's parents came into
town from illinois to participate. they've also never been to this
area so they did a little sightseeing.

the munchkin is "cruising", which means she can walk around holding
onto furniture. she doesn't exactly walk so much as toddle. a little
walking, a little wobbling. i think it would be more accurate to call
children at this stage "wobblers" but who am i to fly in the face
of convention? well, don't answer that.

she is quite good at crawling about, will sample just about anything
(as long as it's not fruit), and talks a lot. not many words, and
mostly of the "mama, dada" variety. although i could swear she said
"grandpa" the other day while brian's parents were in town.

she also enjoys banging on things. pat the window, pat the table,
pat the tray (loudly with spoon), pat mom... she bangs on me quite
a bit. i'm trying to break her of that particular habit. 

anyhow, i expect walking and talking to take place within the next
few months - right on schedule, as babies go, i think. i'm looking
at a copy of "What to Expect the Toddler Years" and just thinking
to myself, "do i really want to spoil the surprise by reading up
on this now? don't i just want to live oblivious to the impending
disaster?"

but there are good things, too. i took her for her first real bike
ride today - around the block, but a real ride nonetheless. i put 
her little bike helmet on and took her for a spin. she seemed to
enjoy herself, she made some squealing noises and then appeared to
be experimenting with what happens to her voice as we rode over
bumps in the road (aa-aaa-aa-aaa-aa). when i stopped the bike to 
take her off, i discovered she had one hand on the little handle
of her bike seat, and the other hand clinging to her helmet. i'm
not sure if this means she was trying to take the helmet on, or 
if after we started she decided it was too risky to remove her
hand (maybe it would fly off?) funny baby.

18 pounds, 28 inches long. big giant baby!