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As a dancing girl, even if she hears only Mommy’s singing or elevator music, Austen’s into the groove. She shakes her butt, waves her hands and even does some head banging moves. Almost any type of music with a beat gets her going although rap and hip-hop seem to be her current favorites.

Austen can an crawl up stairs with no problem but doesn’t like the backward downstairs crawl. She prefers holding onto someone’s hand or the rails and “walking” down the stairs like a big girl. She tries the same method when walking off the curb except without any external support; her success rate is about 50%.

Austen likes putting circles, squares and triangles into shape sorters. She repeats the entry and exit of each piece over and over.

Austen can push buttons on her toys and shows a preference for certain buttons over others; perhaps she likes the sounds better. She opens and closes doors and flips switches showing excellent small motor skills.

Her walk speeds up into running as she moves from room to room and back again, never seeming to tiring of retracing the same steps, as long as she has new objects in her hands to carry back and forth. Her toys never stay organized for long because she carries the pieces throughout the house.

Austen wants to do what Mommy does. Mommy has to be sneaky and not let Austen see her open certain containers and drawers because if Austen sees it she’ll immediately want to try the drawer herself.

When we get home from a three or four hour excursion and Mommy tells Austen “It’s seepy time,” Austen doesn’t resist, she almost looks relieved and happily goes into her swing with a six or eight ounce bottle of formula.

When doing something she knows she is not supposed to, she’ll look at Mommy or Daddy to see if it’s still a forbidden act. When startled by a “no,” she sometimes runs around in circles or even runs in place before she shifts into gear and takes off.

Austen can make just about any sound humanly possible and she combines them all in a complicated fashion, speaking in strings of sounds that almost sound like an exotic foreign language. When she’s excited about something, like playtime and tickles with Mommy and Daddy, she’ll start talking as if she has something very important to share. Mommy and Daddy nod and agree with her, while Daddy speculates on what she’s trying to say, usually responding with his trademark wacky comments.

Although she’s been a fan of Elmo’s for a while, when she hears the intro music playing to Elmo’s World, she gets excited and sings along. When Mommy and Daddy sing the lyrics, she recites one of the words just before Mommy and Daddy do.

At the Baby Tea Party celebrating Austen’s 1st Birthday on September 12th

Mommy and Daddy woke Austen up this morning with a giant Winnie-the-Pooh Birthday balloon — she loves Pooh and balloons — and danced for her while singing “Happy Birthday to you …” She looked quite overcome.

In the afternoon, the whole family drove to New Brunswick where Austen was born. We’d planned to eat at Catherine Lombardi Restaurant, reportedly one of the best in New Jersey, but found that restaurants in New Brunswick are only open for dinner on Sunday, so we ate lunch at an Indian buffet. Austen enjoyed the spicy chicken.

Afterward we went to St. Peter’s University Hospital where Austen was born. The nurses and staff were warm and welcoming as we remembered. Daddy told Mommy and Austen the store of Austen’s birth — neither remember that day. Too many drugs.

Austen,

It’s hard to believe there was a time we weren’t sure you would make it. After a difficult pregnancy, emotionally and physically, came a perfectly healthy baby. Your nine out of ten on the apgar scale was a sign of things to come. Nothing gets you down for long, not a trip-n-fall or even the chicken pox. You’re always quickly up and running, and smiling, again.

And at one year, you’re so much more than a vision of health. Smart as the dickens. Strong and energetic. Observant and engaged with the people around you. It’s clear what a beautiful future you’ll have. But don’t forget, you must do something special with that lung power of yours: a woodwind instrumentalist or opera singer are two possibilities. And if you want to be a rock star instead, we don’t mind.

Your smiles are contagious and make it easy to care for you. The fussies never last long. You’re built for play and fun. Mommy thinks you get your open, gregarious personality from Grandma Judi — and your laughing for no reason at all from Daddy.

Mommy must’ve passed on her love of fuzzies. Although you’re not able to catch the kitties, you give it your best effort every time. Continue to apply this go-get-’em attitude in all that you do. And remember, after you’ve become a great athlete in volleyball, soccer, tennis or whatever, be sure to let Daddy win once in a while.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Austen, Mommy & Daddy went to a picnic hosted by Daddy’s coworker. With plenty of food, drinks and fun to be had, there were no work related discussions (well, maybe just a little).

Within 5 minutes of arriving, George (Tom’s grandson) recruited Daddy to play in a 2-hand touch game of football. 2 adults vs. 2 kids (under 10 yrs old). Needless to say, it was a slaughter (in favor of the adults, of course!).

Austen plays in the water-filled container with Iris, a retired school teacher who was very friendly and apparently still loved babies.

So much ground to cover for one little baby.

Austen joins in on the fun, never intimidated by older kids. She likes them, often walking up and “talking” to them.

Mommy’s been putting it off for weeks, but it’s time to crack open her book on the Toddler Years. “The Baby” is definitely now “The Toddler.” Today, Austen went to a picnic and ran around on the grass, no assistance required. Mommy and Daddy got to play football and baseball while Austen acted as an obstacle on the field.

After lunching with the rest of the guests, Austen practiced climbing up and down the deck steps alongside an 18-month-old boy. She also played in a basin of water and was a social, smiley little girl, unless someone tried to pick her up. Her independent spirit and shyness don’t allow for that right now.

She grabbed the crayon and jabbed at the paper with enthusiasm. But then she decided to eat the crayon and Mommy and Daddy had to take it away.

Today she cried when she couldn’t get a gallon of water off the floor. Daddy tricked her into trying. 🙂 Earlier she was quite successful at lifting her new extra large bath ducky and carrying it around the master bedroom.

Notice the duck-quack mouth she’s been making lately as she babbles on and on as if speaking a foreign langauge.

This year during our Cape May trip Grandma Judi’s influence showed up in food choices and conversation, from soft pretzels to flying pigs to Kokepelli jewelry. There are a lot of memories. Grandma Judi went to Cape May every year from the time she was a little girl.

When Mommy was little, she stayed at the campground with Grandma Judi, Grandpa Earl, Mark and Tod. They used to ride bikes around the campground until they were lost and then use the campground map to find their way home. Early real-world development of analytical skills — and it was for fun.

Sometimes Mommy would stay at Great-Grandma Emma and Pop-pop’s condo. Other times she’d stay with Auntie Janet or Auntie Heather at a bed and breakfast. Her all-time favorite was the Queen Victoria, where everyone hung out in the palor during the rainy days.

Daytime was spent at the beach, where extra chairs were sitting ready for friends stopping by. In the evenings, it was cookouts at the campground or fancy dinners in town at places like the Mad Batter. Almost every night we went for ice cream at Uncle Charlie’s, or strolled to the boardwalk for skeeball. Minature golf was another favorite evening activity.

Mommy remembers how everyone would walk up to her with a bag of sweets from Morrow’s Nut House and offer to share. Fruit slices. Licorice. Salt water taffy. Fun times with the Lloyd relatives.

(20) Jim Close. Period.

(19) I’m tired of these motherf—ing snakes on the motherf—ing ceiling.

(18) Heather “packed” and headed home, leaving a closet full of dresses.

(17) Despite sharing a beach house, we didn’t once go to the beach as a group.

(16) Zack complained about the bad service at Frieda’s Café by knotting many of the dinner napkins.

(15) Lucinda offered to make French toast and then asked Mark, “How do you make French toast?”

(14) While driving on the Garden State Parkway (for about 20 exits), Beerinder asked, “Why’d we pass the turnoff for the GSP?”

(13) Morgan couldn’t figure out how to sweep the porch because she thinks brooms are a mode of transportation.

(12) Asked by a waitress where he’s visiting from, Davinder replied, “New Jersey.”

(11) Holly spent considerable time looking for one of Morgan’s toys (“the little guy”). Afterward, the toy was segregated from the rest of the communal toys for the remainder of the vacation.

(10) Heather came to Cape May straight from India. She’s been there more than any Indian-Americans we know.

(9) “Patka that!” Much of the day was spent Patka-ing on walkie-talkies, using the following handles:

Austen: Crazy Baby
Lucinda: Dr. Lu
Davinder: Big Sikh
Beerinder: Running Indian
Heather: Lloyd Heat
Janet: Vodka and Cheese
Susan: Precious Librarian
Hannah: Jailbait
Phoebe: Smelly Cat, Stinky Cheese, Gorgonzola, or Gorgo
Mark: Grumpy, Grumpy Geek, or Broken Weiner
Jen: Grumpy’s Wife
Emma: Mudbutt
Erin: Grumpy’s Youngest
Tod: Pastey White Boy
Holly: Witchy Whitey
Morgan: Witchy Moo
Zack: Wimpy Whitey
Joey: Chocolate Salty Balls, CSB, or Mall Dude
Earl: Senior Grumpy

Clearly, the Rodeys came up with most of these.

(8) Running Indian did a rain dance and, soon after, it rained.

(7) Once again, Lucinda beat everyone at Texas Hold’em, much to Joey’s surprise.

(6) After relaxing at the beach condo for most of the week, on Friday Janet declared, “I’m taking a break today.”

(5) Quite shockingly, even Hannah’s parents started calling her by the nickname ‘Jailbait.’

(4) “Imagine the possibilities/I wonder what’s under your pants” is the potty training song shared with the group by Tod and Holly.

(3) Mark spits wine in Beerinder’s face while laughing at his own joke.

(2) Asked for Morgan’s date of birth, Tod replied, “Uhh, let me go check with Holly.”

(1) Austen developed a sudden strong attachment to Grandpa Earl, preferring him to all others, even her mommy and daddy at times. Miracles never cease.