Asher is 1!

Er, ok, so he turned one three months ago. We were still at our short-term rental house then and life was particularly crazy, so no blog post until now. I made Asher a cake in the shape of an airplane and a little smash cake as well. It's funny, I spent way more time on the big cake, but I think the smaller one, which I frosted and decorated in 5 minutes, looks better.




As soon as Asher saw that cake, he knew he wanted some, and he half-cried, half-whined and did his patented hand-waving technique (see video) to ask me to please give him the cake immediately, thank you very much. But then as soon as we started to sing to him, he stopped abruptly, looking very confused about what on earth we were doing. (Again, see video.)



(Or, if that's not working, try pasting this link into your browser:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53322490@N05/5275839267/)

Once he eventually got the cake, he rather liked smashing and eating it.


Asher was very lucky to have his Aunt Michelle come for his birthday. He had lots of fun opening his presents and playing with his new toys.


Asher (a.k.a. Ash, Asher Baby, Ash-Man) is an adorable, cuddly mama's boy who seems to be personally offended by attempts to make dinner or do the dishes, at which point he decides he must be held or the world will end. He took FOREVER to start crawling regularly (even though he knew how to do it) and nearly drove me to the brink of insanity from about months 7 to 10 wanting to be held constantly. Then he figured out he could entertain himself better by crawling and life for everyone has been better since. Now, at 15 months, he is really starting to walk and is so proud of himself! He even applauds his own efforts. He love crawling up and down stairs, and -- after a few falls of varying severity -- is quite good and amazingly fast at going down them. He loves to mimic (talking on the phone, writing with a pen, combing his hair, etc.), "help" load and unload the dishwasher, hang upside down, put small objects into and out of larger objects, and push things around the house (push toys, chairs, baskets, the kitchen garbage can). He does not like having his diaper changed, getting dressed, having to stay in his crib for more than about 30 seconds after he has woken up, or being ignored.

He talks in his own very authentic-sounding baby language and loves to growl (something he has done since he was a small baby, when he sounded quite a bit like a baby dinosaur). He also says mommy and daddy and, quite recently, hi. I think I've heard bath in there a couple of times as well, but it's hard to be certain. He's a fairly smiley kid, but is not easily amused and doesn't laugh much. He's definitely his own little person, one who we think is pretty great!