Our Son, the Daredevil - and a possible First Word!

Pictures from a few weeks ago, at Henry's cousin's birthday party. We decided to try introducing Henry to the slide.

Easing into it

A bigger slide with Mom

Going down (mostly) on his own!

The boy doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. We're taking him skydiving next week.

Also of note, possible big news on the development front. Mom and I think Henry said his first word. To better present the situation to you, the reader, I humbly present this short play:

MOM, DAD, and HENRY are walking along the river trail, and MOM and DAD see SOME RANDOM JOE walking a dog across the street.

MOM (pointing): Henry, do you see the doggy?

DAD (also pointing): Oooh, Henry, look! A doggy!

MOM: Where's the doggy, Henry, do you see it?

HENRY (also pointing): (silence)

MOM: Is that a doggy?

DAD: What noise do doggies make, Henry? Doggies go 'woof woof'!

MOM: Can you say doggy, Henry? Doggy?

DAD: That's a big doggy, Henry! Isn't that a big doggy?

MOM, DAD, and HENRY begin to walk away

HENRY: Doggy!

MOM and DAD, together: (silence)

EXEUNT

Keep in mind, this was actually the abridged version. A more faithful representation would've had Mom and Dad saying the word 'doggy' in different sentences for at least another 2 minutes.

We both heard it, and it was as clear as the proverbial bell. Not "Daaa", or "awg", but "Doggy". While it was a moment we've both been waiting for, it was pronounced so clearly - said so matter-of-factly - that we can't help but double-guess ourselves and assume we heard it wrong.

We spent the next half an hour trying to get him to say it again, but of course the little monster wouldn't do anything but babble. He gets his stubborn obstinance from his Mom.

Bonus smiling Henry picture:

First Birthday!

The primary purpose of this post is NOT to brag about Pittsburgh, the City of Champions, the first city to win both the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup in the same year. However, having put up a disclaimer, it is objectively true that Pittsburgh kicks ass.

No, the primary point of this post is to discuss Henry's first birthday party. How quickly time flies! It seems like only a few months ago that Dad totally stopped posting to the family blog. Wait, that actually was only a few months ago. In all seriouslness, neither Mom nor Dad can believe how quickly the first year has disappeared. Henry is no longer a baby, he is now a toddler.

Henry's first birthday party was held at his Pittsburgh grandparent's house (a hearty shoutout to G-Pap and LuLu for helping us pull this off!). More than 40 family members and friends were there to celebrate. Though billed as "his" special day, it was really more of a celebration for Mom and Dad, as evidenced by their decision to torture him by making him wear a special outfit to open presents.

Not many 1 year old's can pull off wearing a cape. We got one of the lucky few.

And there were many, many presents - Mom and Dad were blown away by the generosity of our family and friends. Books and clothes were popular choices, though he also got plenty of toys. The first present Henry opened turned out to be his favorite, but classic annoy-your-friends-by-giving-their-kids-the-noisiest-toy-you-can-find presents always are. (Nice work, Travis and Molly!) Fortunately, Dad is immune to annoyance by noise. Unfortunately, Mom is not, and has already had to tell Dad to stop playing with Henry's guitar.

A cape, a crown, and a guitar? He's destined to be the coolest superhero ever.

His other most notable present was LuLu's acceptance of LuLu as the name that he could use for her. Now he has grandmother's LoLo and LuLu. Cute, right?

After presents it was time for cake. Mom and Dad were originally in a bit of a quandary. Since Henry doesn't watch too much TV, he isn't really "into" anything, making it difficult to select a party theme. Dinosaurs seemed like a safe bet, and is on the short list of things that we try to promote an interest in (others include Monsters, Bugs, Jungle Animals, and Science). Luckily, Bethel Bakery really knocked it out of the park on this one. Seriously, how cool did this cake turn out?

In order to satisfy long-standing first birthday requirements, Henry had a cake of his own. Below, see the full progression, from "Really, you guys are going to let me do this? You're not going to take it away?" to "Too much cake! I am defeated!"

All in all, it was as close to perfect as we could ask for. We have a wonderful family, and great friends, and it was beyond fulfilling to share this fantastic day with them.