Month 14

Dear Corbin,

You turned 14 months today! You have at least one tooth coming in on top, and it looks so strange that we actually had to ask a couple of people if they thought we should take you to a dentist. It turns out that top teeth simply look that crazy.

This has been the month of Mom drops you. One week, you leaned out of my arms while I was putting you into your car seat (which was already in the car) and you knocked your mouth into the car seat, scraped up your chin and bit the end of your tongue. Then the next week I was carrying you while you were in your car seat, and I twisted my ankle. I tried to catch my balance, but ended up just staggering around into the patio table, then setting your car seat down hard on the ground and kind of falling down next to you. I also spent your college savings putting a new bumper on the van after backing it into a parked car, so if you've been wondering where your phobia of car stuff comes from, look no further.

You and Grandma Lam and I went over the UP for my birthday weekend, the end of March. You had a fun time playing with Aunt Alice and Cousin Diana (who does a hilarious bear imitation, by the way), but for some reason you were very shy around Aunt Cele. Grandma Lam thinks it's because she and Cele look too alike for your comfort. In any case, we had a fun time going to the little zoo and playing around Aunt Cele's big yard. The next weekend, we hunted for Easter eggs at the apartment. You went to the MN Zoo again and petted some animals there. You had your last swimming lesson until this fall. You gained three new pairs of shoes, and some summer pjs. You're a busy kid!

The weather has been really nice, so you've been doing a lot of playing outside, in the yard and up at the park. We got a little climber for you, and we put together a sandbox on the front porch for when it does rain. You also like pushing your "car" around, and you're much better at steering it now, except on the grass. There's a little boy down the block, Seth, who came over to play for a little while last Saturday. Whenever you're around other children, your normally cautious approach slows down even more. It makes me think that we should find you a play group pretty soon, so you start getting used to people who move faster than your parents and grandparents.

You also like playing with the dogs outside. You and Arrow play fetch sometimes, which means you walk around with a tennis ball for a minute and then "throw" it. Arrow will run over and pick up the ball, run around in a circle with it and then drop it by you. I watched you do this for almost 20 minutes one afternoon, and it was pretty darn cute.

The biggest thing that happened this month was that you started using signs to talk to us. The breakthrough was when you learned "more." Once you learned the basic concept of signs, you picked up a couple more very quickly: please, drink, and all done. You do modify them, however, which is alternately simply fine and completely hilarious. For more, you tap your fists together, instead of your fingertips. For drink, you tap your fist against your mouth or cheek, instead of opening your hand into a C. For all done, you turn your hands palm up instead of palm down. But by far the best one is please, which I taught you in the bathtub when you wanted me to wind up your wind-up frog. I said, "Mama, do the frog please," and tried to get you to pat your chest. Instead, I accidentally taught you to pat your belly. So now when you're eating dinner and I remind you to say, "More please," it looks like you're saying, "More...in my belly!" and it makes me crack up every time.

More...in my belly!

Love,
Mom

With your Easter bunny from Grandma and Grandpa Thorne:



You still won't let Arrow eat in peace:


Hey, Mr Teeth.

Month 13

Dear Corbin,

You turned thirteen months old yesterday. To celebrate, Dad cut your hair in the bath again, and you cried and cried about it. Pretty soon, we’ll have to take you to get a real hair cut. Soon. Pretty soon. Any day now.

Your uncle Alex and soon-to-be-aunt Lena came for a visit at the beginning of the month. The last time they saw you, you did nothing but cry, so this visit was much better. It was very nice to see them. We’ll see them again in California in October for their wedding, and we might even get to do some sight-seeing along the way.

The snow all melted this month, and the weather has been sunny and mild. That’s good, because you love being outside. You want to go on walks as often as you can, even if you only walk ten feet before stopping to explore something on the ground. You have brought home a couple of rocks, from your walks with Grandma and Grandpa, so we started a treasure box for you on the front porch. Hopefully that will keep the whole outdoors from coming to live in our house. This past weekend, I was doing some yard work while you were having some outside time. You were mainly playing with the dogs, “throwing” the tennis ball for them and playing with sticks together. I won’t be surprised if by the end of the summer, all you want to do is play in the yard with the dogs. Maybe we can get you your very own kid sized pooper scooper.

Grandma Lam and I went to a big consignment sale of kid’s stuff last week. We found you a summer wardrobe and some outdoor or front porch toys. Based on your love of stomping in puddles, though, what you really need are some rain boots. Your winter boots were waterproof when you were walking in the snow, but they were defeated by the puddle stomping. Hopefully we can find you something before we get any rain.

You have also started figuring out how to climb things. Mainly stairs, of course, but you also try to climb in and out of the tub, and you’ve actually become pretty good at climbing down from the couch. Sometimes when we’re going upstairs for your bath, you make us hold your hands so you can “walk” up the stairs, instead of crawl, and that always makes me laugh.

Other than that, it’s been a pretty quiet month for us. By quiet, though, I really mean uneventful, because you do

have your yelling moments. The other night you were walking laps around the house yelling, just because you thought it was fun. You make a lot of noise, and use a lot of syllables, but you haven’t started talking yet. You haven’t even been interested in using any signs, even ones that you made up yourself. You just do a lot of hooting and pointing, which is only to be expected. One of the books I was reading said that kids your age have more behavior in common with chimpanzees than with adult humans, so I’m not surprised when our interactions go something like this:

You: Hoot! Hoot! [point]

Me: That’s a banana. Ba-na-na.

Love,

Mom

Month 12

Dear Corbin,

Happy birthday, sweet boy! It has been a very good year, your first year. We have had so much fun watching you grow and change and learn. You are walking now, which you enjoy very much. You totter along with your arms held out to the sides, like a little zombie. Sometimes you get going pretty quick, but mostly you walk slowly with lots of stops to look at things or pick things ups. You like to carry things around the house, which is cute for us but a little crazy-making for the dogs. Yesterday, I put one of your toys in a grocery bag that I had just emptied, and later on Arrow came and barked at me because you had put it in his crate. That was after the morning, when you let Rex out of his crate and then crawled into it and started eating his breakfast. I had to fish about four pieces of dog food out of your mouth while you chomped on my finger with your little teeth. Yuck.

You had your 12 month check up today, and got three shots and a finger poke. You weren't happy about any of that, but you didn't make too much of a fuss. You weigh almost 20 pounds and are 29" long and are perfectly healthy. Good job!

You went on your first plane rides this month, down to St Louis for Chinese New Year with Grandpa Lam's family. My cousins were all happy to meet you, and you did quite well in your red envelopes. I saved it all for you. I have it right here. Just ignore that Target receipt. The traveling unsettled your sleeping a little bit, but not your mood. In fact, you were so well behaved that my cousin Michelle called you a, "bait baby." She says babies like you bait people into having children, fooling them into thinking that their baby will also be cute and happy and fun, just like you are.

You still only have two teeth, both on the bottom. I keep looking to see if you're getting any on the top, but no sign right now. Hopefully by the time you get more teeth, you'll be good enough at sippy cups that we can put the bottles away. I got you a new cup with a straw, and you've gotten good at sucking milk up in the straw. The problem is that you'll suck up a mouthful of milk, then open your mouth to let go of the straw and end up with a lap-full of milk. It's messy, but most of your meals are messy anyway.

You are still enjoying swimming classes, and still enjoying any chance you get to be outside. I am looking forward to this summer when we can walk up to the park or go to the arboretum or the zoo or the dog park. It is always fun to watch you exploring, to watch you discovering, to watch you learning. You are still our little observer. This is where I would post several pictures of you gingerly poking at your birthday cupcake, but the camera ate the picture files. That's the price you pay for growing up in the digital age, I guess. So here are some pictures of you walking, instead.

We love you,
Mom

Happy New Year!

February, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Year of the Tiger! This is Adam’s birth year, which will tell you how old he will be on his birthday, if you do the math. According to some, this year of the White or Metal Tiger will be filled with drama and intense activity. The White Tiger is also associated with being jinxed, and we are all supposed to watch out for health problems. On the other hand, the metal element may bring prosperity to industries like banking, engineering and technology. Overall, there is much to be cautious about this year, with rewards for those who are able to resist losing their temper. Especially lucky this year is anyone born in the year of the Pig, Horse, or Dog. Everyone else should cozy up to those people!

The last year has obviously been one of great change in the Thorne household. Our son, Corbin, was born last year on February 22^nd, so he is almost a year old. It is hard to believe that we have watching him grow for a whole year now. From rolling, to crawling, to now his first steps. From just milk, to mushy cereal, to now two teeth and finger foods. And from a sleepy baby, to a watchful baby, to now a little boy who gets excited about our animals and being at swimming classes. We are so blessed and lucky!

Not only has it been a pleasure for us to have Corbin around, but it’s been a true joy for my parents. They spent the summer with us, living in their camper in our garage, and doing daycare for Corbin after I went back to work. In August, we all agreed that we wanted them to keep doing daycare, so they moved into an apartment a block away. They make life so much easier, in so many ways. We are grateful for their help, and they love being able to spend so much time with Corbin.

Thankfully, everything else in our life has been stable. Adam and I are still enjoying our jobs, and even getting a little hobby time in. My goal this year is to see more theatre, but I don’t plan on returning to stage managing for a while yet. Last year we went to three weddings, two of which were in Michigan. So far, Corbin has been a very good traveler. We even flew to St Louis for Chinese New Year dinner, and he did so well that strangers gave us compliments!

In a few weeks, Alex and Lena will come to visit, and we are looking forward to seeing them. This summer, we’ll have some more house and yard projects to keep us busy. And this fall we will go to Alex and Lena’s wedding in October. We are hoping to take enough time off to drive to California and then visit one or two national parks on the way home. It is good to look back over the past year and see how much has changed. And it is very good to look forward over the next year and be excited about the times to come. We hope that your last year has been happy, and that your next year is full of health and strength and blessings.

Love,

Adam, Mel and Corbin

On the road in St Louis. We love Monkey.


Playing around at Union Station


At CNY dinner with my cousin Michelle, me, and my cousin David.

Month 11

Dear Corbin,

You are eleven months old today. It is frankly shocking to think that you are almost a year old. Eleven months! I’ve been a mom for eleven months! That’s crazy talk! I was reflecting today that I now feel normal and comfortable in my body again, and not as if I am still getting used to not being pregnant. You, of course, keep changing every day.

You have two teeth now, both of them on the bottom. I did buy you a toothbrush, but you’re not crazy about actually letting us use it. Tonight at dinner you were enjoying using your teeth to bite crackers and cereal. I think you’re having fun making crunching noises now that you can. You’re much more interested in finger foods now. If there isn’t some kind of finger food on your tray, you’ll grab the spoon out of our hands. You seem to like pasta, and chicken, and breakfast sausage. You still love toast, but now you want bigger pieces if not the whole slice at a time. You still love applesauce and banana-‘cado, but you truly and deeply love cheese. You will drop other food to eat cheese instead. It makes me so proud that you’re living up to your Wisconsin heritage.

This month, I spent time away from you for the first time. I had to travel for work, and while I enjoyed being able to go out to a bar like an adult, I was happy to come home. The worst part was that I was in California, and so when my biological clock woke me up at 6:00am, like normal, it was actually 4:00am where I was. So I was forced to console myself with lots of coffee during the day and beer and whiskey at night. It was tough, but I survived. You also had your first babysitter while I was gone, which you slept through entirely. Keep that up and your nickname will be Easy Money.

You took a couple more steps this month, but you’re not really walking at all, yet. I am a little bit surprised because you love walking around holding on to your push toy and our hands. I thought you might be walking on your own by now, but you’re still working up to it. You might as well wait a bit longer. We’re supposed to get a big ice storm this weekend, so there will be no going for walks anyway.

The only other thing going on this month was that everybody got sick. You had a very runny nose and a cough. Your dad had a sore throat and a stuffed up nose. I’m getting a sore throat right now. Your Grandma Lam has a very sore throat and the sniffles. Ironically, for being so sick a couple of months ago, Grandpa Lam is now the healthiest one here. When you’re sick, you want to be held all the time. You just lay your head down on our shoulder and snuggle. I don’t like it when you’re sick, but getting to hold you like that makes getting a shoulder full of snot totally worth it.

Love,

Mom

Christmas With the Grandparents

Well, we're back. We popped down to Madison for Christmas to let the Lam grandparents connect with some of their people, and to meet up real quick with the Thorne grandparents as Madison is a pretty good halfway point between Minneapolis and Indianapolis.

It was very nice to see the elder Thornes again, and quality time was had all around. We managed to get some good pictures, so here they are...

Month 10

Dear Corbin,

You are ten months old today. You have now been alive longer outside of me than you were inside of me, and wow, am I glad you came out before you were as big as you are now. At your last doctor appointment, you were 27” long and just over 20 pounds.

Your father and I watched you take two steps this month. You have just started to walk along holding on to the front of the couch, and we got you a toy that you push along and walk behind. We watched you step away from the couch to grab on to your walker toy. Your dad said, “Did you see that?” I said, “Yes, I did!” But we haven’t seen you do it since.

What we do see all the time now is your first tooth. It’s your bottom front right incisor. I have not started making you brush your tooth yet, but our dentist recommended that we use the washcloth in the bathtub to clean out your mouth a little bit. I said, “He chews on the washcloth. Does that count?” She said yes, so keep up the good work.

You have also started wanting to go through doors, and I have this hideous vision of you and the dogs and the cat all conspiring to see how many times you can all get me to open the various doors in this house until I go crazy. It also makes it difficult to come back into the house, because as soon as I open the door you are crawling over to go out the door as well. Someday I’ll be trapped on the front porch because you’ll be standing against the front door and I won’t be able to open it without knocking you over.

This month, I have made a list of ways that I am an inadequate mother:

1. I let you eat holes in the first page of your favorite book.

2. I haven’t been able to find winter boots big enough to fit your fat little feet.

3. I make you wear socks on your fat little feet.

4. I call your little feet fat.

5. I won’t let you play inside the dishwasher, even when it’s empty.

6. I don’t let you play in the dog crate while the dog is also in it.

7. I don’t let you eat dog food.

Clearly, childrens rights need a better lobby in DC, because I’m sure with some government mandated parenting classes, I could be doing a much better job.

Tomorrow, we leave for Madison, to spend your first Christmas at the Grandparents Lams’ house. Your Grandparents Thorne are planning on driving up to see us the day after Christmas, but there are winter storm warnings all over the upper Midwest, so we’ll have to see. In other news, your uncle Alex just got engaged to your aunt-to-be Lena, which is wonderful. So, your first trip to California will be next fall. I’m totally going to dress you up in one of those itty-bitty widdle tuxes, too. You’ll love it. Trust me!

Love,

Mom

Month 9

Dear Corbin,

You are nine months old today. Marc and Becky Chapman just had their little girl, Sofia, and it's hard to believe that you were ever that small and peaceful. You are so big and active now. You crawl fast, now, and you discover new noises to make all the time. Your consonant sounds are increasing. You say, "ra ra ra," or, "da da da," or, "ja ja ja," instead of just, "ah ah ah." I haven't heard a, "ma ma ma," yet, but that's okay for now.

You are in one of the stranger wariness stages that they talk about. You smile at people that you know, but if someone else tries to hold you or talk to you, you just stare at them or even cry. You don't seem to have that problem with most places, though. Your grandma Lam took you to the zoo the other day, and you seemed to enjoy it. (Although, to hear her talk about it, there's wasn't much to enjoy. I think this is one area where Minneapolis definitely loses out to Madison.) You also started swimming lessons three weeks ago, and you were definitely a little wary about that, but you also spent a day at a daycare near my office and you had a fun time there.

This month seemed to start and end with sickness. Grandpa Lam is still getting over his pneumonia, and I've had a terribly sore throat for the past week. You had a little fever a week ago, too, which was probably due to a little ear infection. I thought that we might see one of your teeth come in this month, but nope. You're still gumming the world to pieces.

You've become much better at eating finger foods. It's practically impossible to just feed you from a spoon anymore, because you demand to do something with your hands, and if it's not stuff Cheerios into your mouth, it's play Tug-of-Spoon with us. So the tray of your high chair is usually littered with Cheerios, Craisins, and little pieces of cheese, apple, banana, toast, pear, or whatever else we have in the house. And anytime your mouth isn't full of your latest fistful off your tray, we spoon in our latest pureed creation. We've got homemade chicken soup in the freezer for you next, and that might be the last puree for a while. Pity, because the blender's gotten more use in the past four months than it has in the past four years.

Next week is your first Thanksgiving! We'll be having Cornish Hens instead of turkey this year, and both sweet potato and pecan pie. At least, I hope I get some pie. I'll have to fight your grandpa Lam for the sweet potato and your father for the pecan, and they can get pretty fierce. Wish me luck.

Love,
Mom

Month 8

Dear Corbin,

You are eight months old today. To celebrate, we took you to the clinic and got your first flu shot. It's actually kind of a frightening flu season for parents this year, since the H1N1 virus seems to hit children and pregnant mothers so hard. It makes me glad that you're not in school yet.

This month started off with another Barker-side-of-the-family wedding. My cousin Brian got married in Lower MI, and instead of driving through Chicago to get there, we took the ferry across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee. It made for a much nicer trip, since you had several hours out of your car seat. At the wedding reception, we sat with my Uncle Mark's family. His daughter-in-law and I were trying to figure out what relation you were to her son. It turns out that Wyatt Barker is your second cousin, but he's my first cousin, once removed. Second cousins share great-grandparents, so any of my cousins' children are your second cousins. First cousins, once removed are of different generations. Got it?

Your father and Grandpa Lam spent two cold days putting a new railing on the mudroom roof, which may have been how Grandpa Lam ended up in the ER with pneumonia last weekend. You got to visit a hospital for the first time since you were born, which didn't seem to impress you very much. You now have my permission to avoid ERs for a very long time, thank you.

Your father also built another pair of speakers, which are meant to be the party speakers. They'll get their trial run this weekend at his birthday party, but you'll miss it since you'll be spending your first night away from us. I should say you'll be spending your first night away from me, since your dad didn't go to MI with us. I'm pretty sure that you'll be okay away from me, but I don't know if I'll be okay away from you. It has been a surprise to me how much I miss feeding you at night, just because that was my time to cuddle with you. Although, that might just be the sleep deprivation talking. The past couple of nights you've slept through from 8pm to 5:30 or 6am, but I still wake up two or three times, wondering how you're doing. My newest effort in your sleep training has been to set your alarm clock for 6am, so that your little biological clock can start to have a more consistent wake up time. Of course, pretty soon we'll hit daylight savings time or you'll start really teething and then everything will get crazy again.

You are entirely proficient now at pulling yourself up to standing, and you've even gotten better at being able to sit down again. You have started crawling over to us and using our legs to pull up, which is endearing until I can't move to keep doing whatever it was I was doing. You also like to hold our hands and walk around, which has made me realize that it really isn't going to be long before you're walking on your own. It'll probably be right around the time that everything here gets icy. We might as well buy you skates instead of shoes. Speaking of winter, I went on an outdoor gear gathering kick and you now have two snowsuits, four hats, and about a hundred pairs of mittens. Not to mention the bunches of sweaters and hoodies that you have. And the dozen fleece pajamas. And the several pairs of slippers. And the space heater in your room. Basically, if you're ever cold, it's because we're in another ice age and we just haven't killed a mammoth yet.

Buying you clothing is something I have always enjoyed, even before you were born. I used to feel like it was one of the only ways that we could really be prepared for you, because even though we couldn't prepare for who you are as a person, we could certainly prepare a wardrobe for you. These days, I feel like it's the only way I really need to spend money on you. You're pretty well stocked with toys, and if you really need something new, well, there's always some other kitchen utensil that you haven't played with yet.

This month we made you pumpkin, zucchini, cauliflower, and cantaloupe, and you like all of them okay. We also tried a blend of avacado and banana, and you love that almost more than you love applesauce, which is saying a lot. I'm glad that we were able to start you on solids during the summer--I've been trying hard to make sure you eat as wide of a variety of food as possible, and it's been helpful that so many different foods were in season. It makes me feel like less of an over-privileged American when I can at least follow the farm calendar a little bit.

Overall, it hasn't been a very exciting or momentous month, except maybe in my head. I think that I've done a pretty good job of so far of not being terribly sappy, but this month there's just no avoiding it. I just can't help but say that I love you more every day. Every morning when I pick you up out of your crib, I feel so lucky to be able to hold you and watch your little face scrunch up when I turn the light on. And every afternoon when I come home from work, and you give me a big smile, I feel like there is no place else I would ever rather be. Being your mom can be busy, tiring, frustrating and stinky (for both of us), and it also makes me very, very happy.

Love,
Mom