"Bye-Bye"

My parents are officially ready to announce that I have said my first word. I've been saying "Da" for a while now, while pointing at our dogs (or cat), but I guess they didn't think that was quite clear-cut enough to be considered my first word. About a week ago, Mom, Dad, and I were playing in my room, and then I decided to get up and walk down the hallway. About halfway down the hall, I stopped, turned around, waved, and (enunciating very carefully so they wouldn't miss it) said "Bye-Bye." Even then they weren't sure if it was a fluke, but I've managed to convince them that I know what I'm saying. Yesterday Mom and I was driving home from Dad's soccer game and I told her a 10 minute-long story consisting entirely of "Bye Bye" and "Da!" (Mom and Dad have also figured out that I always point when I say "Da," whether or not there is any "Da" in the vicinity.)

Oh, I have so much more to say.... Stay tuned.

Walkin' Mazie

With only weeks to go before my first birthday, I am officially a walker! I'm getting more and more confident on my feet, and Mom and Dad can tell how proud I am to be moving around like a big person. Along with this mobility, I'm really enjoying my independence, and I spend more time entertaining myself. As Mom writes this (I'm dictating to her of course), I am happily pacing around the front porch and playing with my toys. Right now I'm pushing my Elmo vacuum around -- the one big kids like Tobin and Miles used to play with. Who's the big kid now?

Speaking of Miles and Tobin, last week we went to Durham and I got to see them!! Jacob, too, of course. We sure had fun together. Our parents couldn't believe how big we've all gotten. From little blobs that could maybe drool on each other a bit, we've now become a bunch of toddlers that can play together, share toys, and give hugs and kisses. Of course, we're a little harder to manage now, too. Our parents tried to line us up for a group picture, but this is the best one they got.

The candid ones are better. There are more here.






Here's one of me helping to change Jacob's diaper!


Of course, Tobin is still the really big kid in the bunch, putting together elaborate racing tracks for his cars and equally elaborate stories, and Miles is pretty advanced, too. His dad told my dad that after we left Durham, Miles reported that he missed me! I miss you, too, Miles, even if my language skills aren't quite up to the task of expressing it. Mom and Dad haven't taught me the "I miss Miles" sign yet.

I am getting better at using other signs, though. I use "more" and "milk" the most, and have started pointing to my mouth to mean either "food" or "water/juice." I'll sign "bath" back to Mom when she tells me it's bath time, and if you ask me how big I am, I'll let you know that I am "SOOO big." I'm definitely understanding a lot more now, too. I'll "throw" something if you tell me to, I'll point to my mouth if you ask if I'm "hungry," I'll "sit" in the bath when Mom asks me to, and I DEFINITELY know that "no" means "do it again!!" So even though my verbal words are hard for Mom and Dad to understand now (with the exception of "Da" = dog or cat), it won't be long before I'm a talkin' Mazie, too!  

Oh, one more funny thing that I do.  When Mom and Dad are in the front seat of the car talking and laughing (Mom laughs a lot, so Dad must be pretty funny), I'll chime in with a little "Ha ha ha" of my own.  I don't really get the jokes yet, but I figure I might as well just laugh along anyway!

MORE Grandparents, and Easter!!

April has been another fun and busy month. Nanny and Papa came to visit, which was lots of fun! On Saturday, April 2, we went for a nice long bike ride around Lake Monona. I got to ride along in my new "bike buddy," which Mom says is a lot different from the bike buddy she rode in as a kid!

We also went to Chicago with Nanny and Papa and had a great dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Volare. Mostly it was just great to hang out with my Papa and Nanny -- they enjoyed all of my new tricks! Papa helped teach me how to "careful down" the stairs, and now I'm a pro! Up and down, up and down. It's a workout!


Yesterday was Easter, and we went to Milwaukee for brunch with Great Nana, and Dad's Uncle David and Uncle Gordon, Aunt Stephanie, and cousin Sarah. That was fun, too!


More pictures from the last month or so are here. Mom keeps bugging Dad to put videos up, too, but I've been keeping Dad pretty busy these days with my new sleep schedule (much less napping) and active ways. He'll get to it soon, though....

Diez Meses

Mazie's mama here. Mazie turned 10 months old this week. I remember my dad telling me that babies got really fun when they turned 10 months old. Mazie has been fun from the beginning but we're starting a whole new kind of fun now. In the past month Mazie has started communicating. She has a small vocabulary of signs, including "hi" and "bye" (waving) and "more" (touching her chest with her fist - dad has a good story about the first time she did this one that he'll post soon). She also responds to the question, "How big is Mazie?" by throwing her little arms up in the air. "Sooooo big!"

Mazie's cutest new trick is dancing. If we put some music on or just sing a little bit she starts waving her hands around and shaking her head back and forth. She looks a little odd, but the music is definitely having an effect on her.

Another change is that she is transitioning from two naps to one. Until a few weeks ago, she was routinely sleeping about 4 hours a day, mostly on Dad's back. Recently, she's been sleeping much less during the day, which sometimes (not tonight) means that she'll go to bed early enough that we can have a few hours to ourselves. Sleeping less during the day is a mixed blessing for Dad. He has less time to get stuff done while she sleeps, but also has more flexibility with their outings.

We also celebrated a pretty big milestone on Thursday. Mazie took her first steps. I was lucky enough to be home getting a late start on the day when she decided to take a couple of steps from her dad to me. She hasn't really repeated the feat, and mostly seems content to stick to crawling (she's pretty quick!). Nanny and Papa are coming this week, though, so maybe she'll show off for them and start running.

With all of these changes, Mazie continues to be a sweet, happy, calm and curious little being. It's wonderful to connect with her in new and exciting ways. Yesterday, she played a game with us involving trips back and forth from her sock drawer to us, diligently transporting ONE pair of socks with each trip and placing them in our hands. Pretty cute.

She is also definitely starting to do things for the sake of reaction. You can see her do something and then look to her parents for a response. She understands "No" and likes to hear it. In the bathtub she likes to stand up, look at Mommy and shake her head and then sit back down. I'm sure this testing will get frustrating at some point, but for now, it's pretty amazing to watch her processing, communicating and asserting her own little will. In short, (too late) we're having lots and lots of fun. Papa was right.

Some good videos are on their way soon.

Dad is 30

My daddy turned 30 years old yesterday (March 21). For his birthday, his friends Andrew Ekblad, Andrew Lupien, and Bryon Booher, and his brother, Michael, came to Madison to surprise him! Everyone did a really good job of keeping him in the dark, so he was completely shocked when they all showed up! They all had a really great time hanging out, playing board games and football and poker, watching lots of basketball, and playing with ME, Mazie James. Happy Birthday, Dad!

March... winter or spring?

We've been really busy (in a fun way) this month. On March 5, Avia came to visit! We had lots and lots of fun, enjoying some warm weather and spending some time outside at the park.



Then it got cold and rainy again over the weekend, but that was okay because we went to the pool and I made some real progress with my swimming! I've been kicking and kicking whenever I get in the water, so Mom finally just let me go and I swam underwater for a few seconds at a time! Our last swimming class was last week, and I impressed everyone with my new skills-- even the other big kids couldn't swim like me!

Then last weekend, Mom and Dad and the dogs and I we went up to the cottage. We've been meaning to get up there all winter, and on the way up we were afraid we'd missed the winter-- most of the snow was gone along the road. But once we got up to the cottage we were excited to find out that it was still winter up there-- the lakes were still frozen enough to support ice fishermen and even some SUVs! Even better, we got some wonderful, sunny 40-degree weather on Saturday, so our whole crew (including the dogs) packed up and walked across the lakes to Pine Isle and back! It was a great little mini-vacation.




We drove back from the cottage on Sunday and got back just in time to pick Nana up from the bus station -- she had some work to do in St. Paul and then took a Greyhound bus down to see us for the week! Like Avia, she brought some gorgeous weather along from Colorado. For St. Patrick's Day today we had bright sun and temperatures in the 70s! Mom took the afternoon off, and we lounged around at the park with Lolly, Henry, and Charlie for a while, and then met David, Sejal, and Sheryl at the Memorial Union terrace to soak up more sunshine!



I had so much fun today that I only took one short nap... and then fell asleep at dinner in my high chair!


I think it's supposed to cool down again tomorrow, but we have sure enjoyed our little doses of spring and can't wait until it's here for good! Here are a whole bunch more pictures.

I can do so many new things.

I'm changing in so many little ways. I can talk now, even though no body seems to understand me. I can walk, even though my parents won't let go of my hands. I can eat all by myself, even though I don't care for utensils. I can dive into the water, even though I don't care to do it at the same time as my classmates. I can even wave hello and goodbye. Just like it says in my Pat the Bunny book, Paul and Judy can do lots of things, and I can do lots of things, too!