Drop it like it's hot

Christopher "Newton" Woglom has been doing a little experimenting these days. It seems as though he is bound and determined to discover the secret behind this little thing called gravity. It began a couple of weeks ago when we headed up to Grandpa T's, and CJ decided to see what would happen when he dropped his pacifier on the germ-infested airport floor. Being the thorough scientist that he is, he continued his experiment until we boarded the plane and then wanted to see if gravity changes at 35,000 feet (or in a different state... or even in a different time zone). Since our return to Kansas, Christopher has been dropping objects of various sizes, shapes and weights and will do this over and over and over again. It's actually pretty funny to watch him get deeply involved in this process. He has not written a report on his findings yet, but I am expecting it by his first birthday. Unfortunately for Kasey, he is not yet dropping food intentionally... The two of them are having fun together everyday though. Here they are engaged in a little birdie tug-of-war.

A message for Grammy

Dear Grammy,

I am so excited to see you this Friday! I can't wait to show you how fast I walk and how I can climb up the stairs all the way to the top. That's right, all the way up. Hahaha! Look at all the trouble I'm going to get into now!

Love,
Christopher

Growing up

As we approach Christopher's first birthday, I am finding it hard to believe that an entire year has gone by in our little man's life. Looking at the video I posted a couple days ago of CJ in his bouncy seat at 1 1/2 months old and then looking at him run around the basement now, I am amazed at all the changes a baby goes through over the course of a year. Even in the past couple of days he has made some crazy changes. For example, he has become proficient at standing up without holding onto anything... his ninth tooth has finally emerged through his gums after 3 weeks of drool (see where his finger is in the picture to the left? that's where the new tooth is)... today he figured out how to drink out of a straw so Mommy can get rid of the sippy cups... this morning he was trying so hard to say "Kasey" when he saw her (it consisted of the "K" sound followed by two syllables)... and his walking has turned into a walk/run or at least a power walk. Another sign of Christopher growing up is his transition to stage three of the Exersaucer. I had it put away for the past two months because he was losing interest in it. Yesterday, I took it back out, changed it to level three (where he can stand up and walk around it), and let him go to town. Little man was very excited to see his fun toy again!
But despite all the toys he gets to play with, his favorite still requires no batteries, involves no flashing lights, and makes him laugh every time.

This time last year

I know what you're thinking. I can hear the voices inside your head as you read the title of this blog post. Those voices are telling you, "Man, this lady doesn't even know her own son's birthday. Doesn't she know CJ was born on the 18th? You'd think she would remember such an important day in her life." Well let me set you straight. It was this time last year that Brian and I saw our last movie together in a theater--that is, until last night. I had not even thought of this fact until we walked into the theater last night to see "The Hangover." Great movie! Definitely not G, PG, or even PG-13. And very funny. The theater we went to has this great service called "Fork and Screen" where you can get dinner and drinks while you watch the movie. The theater has the same set-up as a regular one except you have a counter in front of you for your food. It was fabulous! And although the food was average, my (one, two, three) pomegranite martinis were out of this world... Christopher was home with a new babysitter while we went out (poor Kay had foot surgery and is out of commission for several weeks!) and did a good job. Brian and I had a lovely date night and look forward to another one soon.

Transition and flashback

It's official! Christopher has moved on from his original car seat to his new and improved big boy seat. And just to give you an idea of how much this boy has grown in the past year, here are two pictures of CJ in his first seat when we came home from the hospital and CJ in his new seat this morning:

Speaking of growth, while we were away, my arm muscles swore that Christopher has gained several pounds and grown several inches. We all know he is an expert eater but I really think he has been going through his 12 month growth spurt. He now fits into an 18 month-old outfit that Ally brought for him when she came to visit! (He is actually laughing in the second picture--it looks like he could go either way.)


And let's just keep the subject of growth and reminiscing going with this little video from when CJ was 1 1/2 months old in his ever popular bouncy seat:

NY Pictures

Okay, it's a sad state of affairs that we spent a whole week up at my dad's and all we have are a few pictures to show for it. But they are good pictures (I hope)! So enjoy and we will try to make up for it in future blog posts.

Another great time

Well, we have returned from Upstate New York, tired but happy and relaxed from our visit. I'm sorry to say that we don't have a ton of pictures because our small digital camera was acting up and, while we took some with that, we had to resort to (gasp) a disposable camera with (double gasp) film! Anyway, I am hoping others who took pictures will email them to us (hint hint) and I will download what we have later. Anyway, here is our top ten list from the impromptu Turick family reunion:

10. Escaping from 100 degree weather and experiencing fall in the middle of July. (This was the first time I wore a sweater on the Fourth of July!)
9. Seeing Christopher's face when he saw 9 dogs sitting in front of him.
8. Christopher's accordion lesson from Grandpa T.
7. Watching a full double rainbow appear over the valley view from Dad and Nancy's house.
6. Running after CJ as he zoomed around the house on two feet, opening every cabinet he could find and emptying their contents.
5. Having little man on my lap as we flew Southwest and watching how he charmed the flight attendants and then how he gazed out the window as we flew. (Do we have a future pilot on our hands?)
4. Seeing Chris try to throw the ball to Jackson (non-beagle, visiting dog) through the screen door.
3. Pushing and pushing and pushing Christopher on the swing we hung from a large tree branch.
2. Getting a full-night's sleep every night we were on vacation! (!!!)
1. Seeing our son (and us) spend quality time with the Turick side of the family.

It was so awesome to be able to spend so much time with Dad, Nancy, Aunt Judy, Uncle Jack, Nanny, Jack Michael and Denise, Mary Jane, Kathy, Becky and George (I hope I didn't leave anyone out!). We had a great time upstate and we are looking forward to a visit in the future.