HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

It has been a while since I updated. We have been pretty busy over here. Also... I have been a little lazy about camera batteries and actually getting the pictures on the computer.

We now have two major observances in November: Thanksgiving and Joseph's birthday. Joseph thoroughly enjoyed both occasions.
We decided to have a simple Thanksgiving at home. It was our first Thanksgiving as a family of three! The Trueworthys (aka Pook and David) came over and we ate off of my Grandmother's china for the first time. Joe and I let Joseph watch television!!! Hell did not freeze over- he did enjoy the dog show. That is what we let him watch: the National Dog Show. Joseph really likes dogs.Joe and I did not eat so much during the actual meal- we had hit the hot cider pretty hard all day. I thought we would have a fridge full of rotting leftovers but Joseph managed to eat them all within a few days. Joe 3, not Joe2!!! I had made a lot of his favorite things: BEETS, sweet potatoes, squash... turns out he likes a little stuffing, too. Turns out the kid really, really, really loves beets. He has been eating beets for dessert. Yes, beets for dessert. If I give him beets with his meal he loses interest in the other food.Of course the main feature of November was Joseph's first birthday. It is so hard to believe that he is a year old. It doesn't seem like it has been a year since I was in labour but on the other hand, it is really hard to remember life without Joseph. Joseph had never really had any sweets before so I did not even know what to do about a birthday cake. He is a big fan of pumpkin bread so I decided to make him an amish pumpkin cake with a little cream cheese frosting. He did really enjoy it. He ate it a lot more neatly than I thought that he would.He was also surprisingly neat with his presents. I was sure that Joseph would be all over the paper and the boxes. He waited for Joe to start the unwrapping process then jumped right in and took over.
I am surprised at how laid back he was about the entire birthday ordeal: happy but contained. Not exactly what I expected!I don't have a lot of news to pass on here today. We, uhm, weather-ized the windows (sadly, that has been really exciting for Joe and I). Nope, not a lot of news lately. I have obtained new camera batteries. I think I will even get around to cleaning my camera lens this week.


Of course above are pictures from Joseph's birthday. This picture and the pictures below are various pictures from the past month. Enjoy. I will update again soon.

eastern promenade

Sometimes it is easy to forget all of the lovely things there are to do on any given day-

Spending week days with Joseph makes it easy to find the time to do all of those things. I had so many things that I thought I needed to get done today: cleaning, laundry, cooking... but how much better to take the baby out and around? No one asked me to do any laundry today- neither Joe has been bugging me to do anything like that.

So here we go: our morning excursion to the Eastern Promenade. I live on the west end so I forget that it is a g0-able place and that I am fortunate to live in a town that has such places to go. Here are a couple of highlights of our walk: I know the terrain is familiar to many, but it is always new to Joseph these days:)

We started out at beach. I de-strollered Joseph and we hobbled around looking for shells and sea glass. I am not entirely sure what he thinks of the ocean. The only thing I know is that he does think. He gets quiet and makes a very thoughtful face. He looks far out at the horizon and then down through the water near the shore- a big concept, I guess, when you are eleven months old.We decided to walk over to the old narrow guage train station. Joseph seems to be pretty interested in trains... that or the train noise I make when we see them in books. You can moore(sp?) here for $35 a night- we learned that today.

I didn't know who founded Portland (then Falmouth). I learned it was John Cleaves. These are his feet.

Here is the rest of him looking down on us.

I also learned that the train museum is free. Joseph and I spent a little time in there. I got to make lots of train noises for him.

-a bird in a tree that we were looking at-

The lens of my camera is gummed up with Joseph prints. Also... it was cloudy today. I know the picture quality has not been great.

Anyway- yesterday we walked around the west end and went to a couple of parks, the day before we looked at boats in the old port... I am a little sad that it will probaby rain tomorrow. I have become very dependant on our little morning adventures.

not much to report

work,play,sleep

Joes playing something to do with a bag on daddy's head-

tried to get a picture of the huge spider Pook found in her apartment- it was in a cloudy tupperware and moved around too much- we were too chicken to open the container- and I am not even afraid of spiders-

so- not much to report today-

halloween

Yesterday was the baby's first Halloween. His aunt Pook bought him a bear suit about a month ago. I chopped it and turned it in to a bear jacket which became his fuss free and warm Halloween costume. He was not very good at keeping the hood on. I was a mime. Joe was that thing that he always is. Joseph was not phased by Joe's makeup whatsoever. I walked into the room with my face painted white and Joseph dropped his drink and gave me the saddest stare!! I did finally manage to get him to smile. He was pretty good about everything considering that he is 11 months old and had no idea what was going on.
We (Joe and Pook and I) took him to the Shoestring Theatre Halloween parade. It started a block or so from our apartment and was at a reasonable hour. I was surprised that pretty much every child and very many adults from the west end were there.
The parade was pretty cool: pretty spooky. Drums beating, a freaky pirate faced man on stilts, fire juggling... I was a little worried that Joseph might be afraid. We put him up on Joseph's back so he would have the reassurance of Joe and at least be at eye level with the other adults. Every time I looked at him he was seriously studying something. He did manage very well.
Our whole Halloween was over within an hour and Joseph was in bed at a usual bedtime.

I have also included some pictures from earlier in the day. Joseph and I had a little photoshoot while Joe was taking a nap. We took turns wearing daddy's hat and talking in a deep voice. It did not take long for Joseph to start with his usual camera attacks. I am getting a little used to the assaults but I am not sure that my camera will endure the span of his toddler years. I spent some time cleaning spit off of the lens.