Two of my favorite things

Richie and a Fijian sunset. Just back from our trip. Will post more photos soon, but this one is my favorite!

Monkey Business

Richie's 1st Birthday Party! He's still coming down off that banana cupcake sugar high!

Caught in the act

Literally while I was publishing the last post about what Richie did yesterday, this is what Richie was up to today.

Yes, he is now STANDING in the crib whilst throwing his pacifier out. Gee, I wonder what's next. (I know, don't say it...)

uh oh

Somebody forgot to raise the crib rail. And somebody else isn't letting his sleeping bag stop him from climbing all over after his nap.

Belated 4th of July Festivities

Obviously the 4th of July isn't a major holiday here, but we still had plenty of celebrating as Richie attended his first, 1st birthday party for his friend Chiara during the day. That night after dinner (remember it gets dark early here since it's winter) we bundled him up and took him outside to set off some sparklers and small fireworks that I bought months ago during the one time of the year that it is legal to buy them in NZ (Nov 5th for Guy Fawkes celebrations).

Richie loved them. We saved some of the sparklers for his birthday in a couple weeks.

But the reason I'm posting this now is that we finally received our first American flag from Paul's parents yesterday. They sent it long before the 4th of July for Richie to have, but the envelope appears to have been damaged en route and hence delayed. It arrived in a plastic bag with a note from the US Postal Service apologizing for the damage. Luckily the flag was unscathed and when I presented it to Richie today, he went nuts waving it around. Who know he was such a patriot?

Put a lid on it

Richie has hit the lid phase of his toy obsessions. Surely this is a common phenomenon. Anything with a lid becomes fascinating. He takes the lid off, waves it around, sometimes offers it to me and then smashes it back down into place (or upside down into place, whatever works for him at the moment). Of course we have taken it one step further and taught him to put the lids on his head too. Sometimes the results are just too cute not to share.

Rice is nice

The other night at dinner Richie had finished his finger food and we were trying to feed him some apples & rice (he was getting over a stomach bug so he was on the BART diet). Every time the spoon came at him he kept pushing it away, which is very unlike him. Finally we put a bit on his tray and he grabbed at it. He just wanted to feed himself, even though rice isn't exactly the ideal candidate. Believe it or not, he did manage to get some in his mouth too. Could chopsticks be far behind for this fellow?