shake your groove thing

Hope you all had lovely Christmas, or Festivus, or Friday, depending on your persuasion.

Holly got Cassidy (and me) a couple of really cool musical presents - a ukelele and a set of maracas. We're both very excited about them and are planning for a jam session.

a very merry christmas and a happy new year let's hope it's a good one without any fear

Merry Christmas, everyone!
Holly and I have had a long-standing Christmas Eve Day tradition of going to a museum and getting Indian food. Last year we missed the museum, since Cassidy was only three weeks old, and I honestly have no idea what we ate.

This year we went out to Golden Gate Park with Grandma Rachel for some time on the swings. (Oh how we love not being buried in snow!) We stopped in at the Botanical Gardens for a snack -- according to the sign, the Gardens are "a museum of nature", so I guess the tradition stands. We got food from Little Delhi on the way home just to make sure.

Cassidy had a great time, and was happy to pose for the camera. He just keeps getting cuter.

blah blah blah

Life continues on for the Young Prince. He's getting bigger, and even cuter, if that's possible. He's able to occasionally stand on his own for a few seconds, and has made some sounds that may or may not be words, depending on who you ask. (His grandmothers are sure that he's speaking complete sentences in perfect Queen's English.)

Jenny and Pete stopped by for a quick visit last weekend; it was great to see them again, and Cassidy got a chance to show them his cool new shoes. He's also been modeling his new bibs pretty frequently; his molars are starting to come in, which causes an incredible torrent of drooling, so it's either bibs or many wardrobe changes every day.

wild horses

Cassidy inherited Freya's rocking horse from her (thanks, Freya!) although he's more interested in using it to balance his toys than in riding on it. He's also been experimenting with wearing shoes - he likes his new slippers that he got from Kim and Sean, but in general he prefers to go au naturel.

He can also be seen here in one of his favorite activities - opening the TV cabinet over and over. Perhaps he'll be an engineer, or a safecracker, or maybe a doorman.

once more with feeling

Here's some more pictures from Cassidy's birthday, thanks to Nancy! Careful observers will note: Holly got to be in a picture with the cake (she's usually on the other side of the camera), Freya was quite willing to help with the unwrapping, Georgia and Cassidy shared a little moment, and Cassidy was impressed with the whole cake concept.

one love

Today was Cassidy's first birthday. We had a little get-together for him. Holly made him a delicious cake, he got some cool presents (including a little kitty and a Giant Microbe bookworm from Freya) and had a good time playing and celebrating with everyone. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we drove up to Sacramento to meet him. We can only hope that the next year is as filled with joy and wonder and adventure.

arf, he said

Hi all -

We had a nice thanksgiving weekend. On Thursday, DD & Mike & Freya and Kim & Sean came over to eat some food. Holly and Cassidy modeled their new matching owl shirts - no, his finger is beside his nose, and not up in it.

On Friday we went up to Sonoma to see the Dalton clan. Cassidy was particularly pleased to meet Fergus, who was very patient with Cassidy's vigorous petting.

Next weekend is his birthday - he'll be one year old!

walking on sunshine

Hi all - sorry (again) for the lack of updates. We've been busy, and haven't had any good pictures.

Cassidy's doing really well - he got some new shoes and was happy to model them with Mommy. He's figuring out how to walk, and loves to cruise around the house with a little help balancing.

Pretty soon he'll be a year old - time flies!

We've also got a great picture of Cassidy and Freya from a couple of weeks back; maybe this will be in their engagement announcement.

bee thousand

It was a pretty mellow Halloween for Cassidy. We'd originally planned to take him to the Oakland Zoo with Freya, but with the Bay Bridge still closed, we didn't feel up to the long drive, so we stayed home and played peek-a-boo with Sheila the Sheep. He's still little enough that it's not a very exciting holiday for him - he's asleep by the time trick-or-treating really gets going. We did put his costume on for a while, though. He's not a fan of the hat.

world of fun

I took Cassidy to the Harvest Fest Street Fair in Noe Valley last weekend and got to experience one of those things that happens with kids now and again: seeing them encounter something awesome for the first time. We get all jaded and busy and forget that there's a lot of simple things in life that are incredibly cool. In particular, Cassidy got his first balloon. It totally blew his little baby mind. It doesn't obey all those natural laws of physics he's been working so hard to figure out. Everything else, such as his food, seems to fall when dropped, but the balloon just floated up to the ceiling.

If that wasn't enough amazement for him, he also had a visitor - Jenny flew out from Wisconsin for a quick visit and and audience with the Young Prince. He also got some book-reading in, and was thoughtful enough to take the time to knock over the tower of blocks I'd so painstakingly constructed.

flight of the bumblebee

In today's photo gallery, we have some photos of Cassidy playing at home, some from a recent trip to Holly Park where we modeled our matching t-shirts (thanks, Holly!), Cassidy enjoying a book with Grandma Rachel, and a sneak preview of his Halloween costume, which he borrowed from Freya.

He's doing well; he cruises around all day without much fear or worry. Not much seems to bother him, and he's not afraid to try new things or meet new people. He's been trying to shake a cold for the past few days - it also managed to hit Holly and Rachel pretty hard.