I can’t believe it’s been a year since Josie was born! I’ve spent the last two days thinking about where I was a year ago since I had the joy of a long labor. About this time things might have finally calmed down and Jordi took Josie for a bath and I worked on moving over to recovery.

Now Josie isn’t a little baby anymore, she’s genuine toddler. I hung out with some babies yesterday and I realized how grown she really is, which has been helped by her in no small part learning how to walk at 8 months old. I enjoyed holding my friend’s babies! (I tried to teach them how to walk too so Josie would have more mobile playmates)

This last month Josie has shown tremendous understanding of us and both spanish and english words. She is using her sign language very well and can pick up new signs quickly when the mood seems to strike. I’m most of all impressed and appreciative of the fact that she tells me when her diaper needs to be changed. Although today, she learned that telling her dad that she needs her diaper changed while he’s working at home is an effective way of getting his attention.

Her new fascination and love is of stairs. We walk up and down the street climbing up everyone’s front stairs. No one seems to have minded yet. Thankfully we don’t have any actually in our house, she’s very good at getting up, but will kill herself going down them. I’m working on getting her to turn around but she isn’t a cauteous kid.

Here’s to another great year with our great little girl!

• Size/weight: size 12 month are on their way out and size 18 months are fitting; check in for height and weight next week, but I swear she’s gained a lot
• Favorite food: breastmilk, avocado, goldfish, zucchini, cheese
• Favorite toy: ball, “cat”, other kids
• Favorite books: ‘lift the flap’ animals, contrarios, baby talk
• Favorite activity: Going outside, swinging and sliding, climbing stairs, eating
• Sleeping: bedtime ~8:00; 9am, 2pm ~1hr naps; gets up ~6am
• New skill: sign language explosion, climbing stairs, stacking blocks
• Teeth: 8. 4 on the top and 4 on bottom
• Vocalizations: lots of mama and dada but no real meaning to the words

The past two weekends we went to two different sheep shearing events! The first was at Codman Farm and this past weekend was at the Gore Place. The Gore Place event was rather overwhelming, it was a hot day, and it was packed. Josie overheated a bit and was just over-stimulated in general so we kept it short. Next year I don’t think we’ll go if it’s hot again. One of Josie’s favorite things was a big tractor — her fascination with wheels continues!

On the way home from a particularly stressful day during one of the more stressful times in my recent life I heard an essay on the radio that talked about an interesting skill in mountain climbing called the “rest step”, where you take a rest in between each step, making steady, quick progress without wearing yourself out. Like the author of that essay, pace is not something that comes naturally to me. At my typical rate, I can feel like a freight train, and the slightest bump on the tracks derails my plans, and stops progress altogether. It means that I tend to be thinking about what I need to be doing next rather than concentrating on the current moment.

As the seasons change here in Boston, and Josie nears her first birthday, I find myself thinking about pace again. It’s helped me enjoy the time as our life has adjusted, becoming parents. It’s taught me that even if work late into the night, I can pause to have a calm dinner with Jen and Josie and make sure to read Josie a bedtime story. And it’s made me a better rock climber.

You can listen to the essay here.

This sign language stuff is excellent. Josie knows a number of signs now and she can tell us a lot of what she wants and needs. The latest ones she’s learned are diaper and sleep. Here is a video of her doing the ‘more/I want’ sign and then diaper.

We went to the beach yesterday as it was getting nice out! Josie only ate sand once, and then she didn’t put it in her mouth again. Her favorite games were to fill up the pail with sand, we’d dump it, and then she’d fill up the pail with the sand from the ‘castle’ we’d just built. I guess it was easier to pick up the pre-shoveled sand than the rest!

We also learned not to bring one of the balls to the beach, it’s just too light with the wind. That’s me in the water up my knees getting the ball back. It just kept getting further and further out. Brrr the water is cold.

She found the shorts and bathing suit I just picked up for her at the thrift shop and insisted I put them on her!

Consider yourself warned, baby is only wearing a diaper. Yes, she always makes those noises while riding Rody.

What I did, was I took the money and folded it back up the way it was, and stuck it under the iron fence so that the money wouldn’t blow away. Maybe the person would come back and find it.

I walked by again the next day and the money was still there. If tomorrow when I walk by (I didn’t go today or yesterday) it’s still there, I think I’ll pick it up and go with Cate’s suggestion of giving it to charity. Now perhaps it’s a little wet given that it rained last night.

On a walk, perhaps pushing your daughter around in a stroller, you see cash on the ground on the sidewalk of a side street off a main road. You look around, there’s no one there. You pick up the cash and count it, $15. Not a lot, not quite pocket change. It’s all folded up like it fell out of someone’s pocket. What do you do with it?