Month: September 2006

Today, Sandhia got Austen to eat some garden vegetable baby food with a spoon. Maybe her aversion to pureed baby food is a result of her determination to be independent and feed herself.

At Austen’s First Birthday Party (“The Big Family Party”) on September 16th

Austen and Mommy went to Westfield for a trial My Gym class. First, they stopped for lunch at Tinga (great burritos!) with Kelly and Riley, then they went to class, which was similar to Gymboree but with more grown-up equipment. At the end of class, there was a special “separate play” time when the kids were supposed to “try their best” to play far away from their mommies. This was not a struggle for Austen. She wanted the whole class to be separate play. Whenever mommy tried to steer her toward a new apparatus, she balked. She likes to make her own play choices. The independent streak is strong in Austen’s family.

Westfield has great stores. Mommy found two things she insists on buying for Austen ASAP. A Nirvana tee with cashmere sleeves and a giant yellow-ducky stuffed animal. Daddy?

Two just about killed Mommy and Daddy. Too much work. Next year we’re spreading them out.

Forty of Austen’s closest family and family friends came for lunch and cake to celebrate her first birthday.

The food was special: catered sandwiches that received many compliments, three special ice cream cakes, delicious mini pastries, a cheese platter, tossed salad, crudités and fruit.

Austen hosted a tea for her little friends, featuring carrot cupcakes and heart-shaped tea sandwiches. Dean, Aaron, Ryan, Mia, Riley, Malina, Jack, Cousin Emma, Cousin Erin and their mommies were in attendence. There was lots of rambunctous and chaotic fun … kids running from room to room … and plastic teacups everywhere. Mommy and Grandma Rodey enjoyed themsevles immensely.

During her birthday week, Austen got to play with Cousin Emma. Emma started running around calling Austen’s name over and over again — then Uncle Davinder started running around repeating “Emma!” over and over again. Mommy was impressed to see Emma and Austen taking turns throwing and retrieving a ball: one would throw and the other retrieve.

Austen also played with Cousin Erin.

The party aftermath

Hopefully, Austen will play with Cousin Morgan at her birthday party in Massachusetts in December.

and she greeted him with a big hug.*

* Actually, he had business in Edison but don’t tell Austen.

Austen started Gymboree Level IV, which is officially for 16- to 20-month-olds, even though she’s only just turned 12 months.

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