1. First haircut.
Mama was in charge of entertainment and photography, while daddy snipped away...
He's an active little boy, so we had to be quick and it may be a little uneven...
A trimmed up little boy.
(And yes, the scrapbooker in me kept a few locks…)
2. First trip to the zoo.
Sunday morning we set out at 7:00 for Montgomery. We were scheduled to meet Mr. Joe and Mrs. Margie about noon to pick up our puppies, so we planned a morning at the zoo for RF. It was a perfectly beautiful day and we were very impressed with the Montgomery Zoo - big enough to house animals from all over the world, yet small enough to see everything in just a few hours.
Are we really going to a zoo, mama?
Don't worry, mama - I can push my own stroller.
RF got to see macaws, flamingos, condors, bald eagles, spider monkeys, a jaguar, bears, an ocelot, river otters, an alligator snapping turtle, bison, lions, a zebra, a pygmy hippopotamus, chimpanzees, elephants, a rhinoceros, tigers, kangaroos, a black swan, a warthog, and even a giraffe.
It's a monkey, daddy...
Woah mama, a monkey!
Staring at the majestic bald eagles...
He was pushing his stroller along and stopped dead in his tracks staring at these birds for about a full minute...
Back in the stroller for a little rest and a look at some more birds...
And a bear...
Poor thing was exhausted from his fun trip to the zoo…this photo was taken about 10 minutes after we got in to the car
Leaps and Bounds…
RA and I made it a point to not talk to RF using baby-talk. Not that it's bad to do that for babies, but we felt that it was extremely important to speak to him in our normal voices from the moment he was born.
It was amazing to see him recognize our voices and begin to mimic the sounds that we were making, even from an early age. We constantly identified items and explained things to him as we went about our normal day. He began to recognize items at a pretty early age. We could say to him, "Where's Thomas?" and he would walk over and pick up his Thomas the Train. We could begin singing a particular song that one of his toys made and he would go over to it and begin playing with the toy. We can say, "Go Dawgs! Woof Woof Woof" and he heads over to the stone statue of UGA in our hallway.
Lately, he has become really good at identifying items and beginning to repeat words that we say.
He can accurately identify his toes, his ears, his belly and we are currently working on identifying his nose (although it sounds so much - to him - like toes that he will sometimes point to his toes…).
He can identify lights, too. When we walk in to a room, whether the lights are on or not, he will point to the lights and say "ight".
Video of RF talking…RA was driving and I was in charge of keeping RF entertained while driving to and from Montgomery…
Video of RF talking…RA was driving and I was in charge of keeping RF entertained while driving to and from Montgomery…
Entertainment for RF ---- a paper cup and some wheels…
After spending time a few weekends ago with Papa Tad and Lola, he can say "Papa" and "Ya-Ya".
After spending time a few weekends ago with Papa Tad and Lola, he can say "Papa" and "Ya-Ya".
When I ask him where daddy is he will begin looking for him and when he finds him, say "dada". When he is ready to eat or go to bed, he will walk around the house saying, "Mama."
It's so amazing how much his communication abilities have grown over the past few weeks and we are super excited about our second holiday season with RF ---- Thanksgiving and Christmas fun with a super cool 1-year old! :-)
It's so amazing how much his communication abilities have grown over the past few weeks and we are super excited about our second holiday season with RF ---- Thanksgiving and Christmas fun with a super cool 1-year old! :-)
