Justin is a toddler. He can walk, and is doing so more and more. Crawling is still his method of choice when he is in unfamiliar territory or has far to go, but each day he is doing a little more walking. Here are a few Justin the Toddler video clips, mostly put there for Grandma Pat, but anyone who wants to watch them is welcome. I just don't think that they are as exciting to most people as they are go Grandma. :) He is wearing clothes from Grandma Pat too.

Here is me (out of view) chasing Justin around the coffee table. He usually plays this game with Dad and he loves it. The table and the couch provide support so he doesn't have to walk on his own.




Round and Round! Justin likes the Busy Ball Popper (or whatever it is called) and also the Busy Ball Popper Train. He really likes the balls. When they go astray he will point to them and expect Mom or Dad to bring them back for him.

I wanted to get a clip of him walking, but he was having a hard time focusing on what he was holding, me, the camera, stuff on the floor, and walking at the same time.

Justin was walking all over the place so I pulled out the camera. That's when he stopped walking and started playing. I did get some walking on camera eventually. He just doesn't cooperate!

Here are some Christmas pictures, including:

Justin admiring the food proccessor. He is sure it is for him.

Figuring out the busy ball popper.

Rocking on the Rock, Roll, and Ride Bike (which I highly recommend, very cool).

Pulling a Pooh "radio" out of the gift bag --finally!

Using a present to climb up on the table.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Even though it is Justin's second Christmas, it seems like his first. Being born just a few days before Christmas meant that he (and I!) were out of it. This year he can do a lot more than he could last year. A bit overwhelming for him so I am glad we went small! Some of our things haven't arrived yet and I think that is for the best. It will make Christmas last longer. Justin can only handle so many new things at a time. After 2 1/2 hours of opening presents and playing he was begging for a nap. He even pointed to his crib and was out like a light! Forty minutes later he was up and good to go though. That didn't even give me time to upload pics and videos and do the blog. Currently he is entertained with new toys again. :)

I hope to soon be able to edit video from the video camera and put some of those things up, but for the meantime, there is plenty of poor footage taken with our camera. Enjoy (or not!) Of course there are also some photos for your viewing pleasure. This entry is getting kind of busy, so I think I will post the pics separately.

Playing with unwrapped presents was a lot of fun. Unwrapping was also fun. Wrapping paper and boxes can be as much fun as the actual gift. Why or why does Mommy clean them up and throw them away? After lots of practice ripping paper, gift bags can pose a new challenge. Sometimes my baby is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Either that or he has me trained well. Why put forth effort if someone else will do it for you?

It doesn't seem to matter who the present is for either. I suppose that since he rules the house everything is pretty much his. If he can reach it, it's fair game as far as he's concerned. One of his favorite games is to put things in a container and then take them back out again. He can do this over and over and over again. He likes to add variety sometimes by transporting the items somewhere, preferably under something. What could be better than taking things out of a box, moving them a couple at a time and putting them under the couch, bringing them back again and placing them back in the box. The excitement! Sometimes things get pushed back too far and it becomes a #1 priority to scream until Mommy or Daddy can rescue the object and place it once again within reach. I don't know that pushing things back too far is a tragedy. Probably just another variation of the game and a way to make sure we remember that he is the one in charge.



It took awhile for him to figure out the busy ball popper. He liked the balls and he liked the music that the popper made, but he wasn't so sure about the rest of it. Now he seems to find it amusing to play with it as intended. That doesn't stop him from seeing how many of the balls he can fit in his hand at a time or what sounds the balls make as he bangs them against various surfaces. After all, he is a baby.

WHO NEEDS TO OPEN THE PRESENTS?

Justin has had so much fun rearranging the presents. What could be more fun than pushing the boxes around from one side of the house to the other? He also enjoys getting on them, so we tried to make sure that the larger presents that might be fragile were put away. The ones that weren't so fragile were perfect for climbing!

Happy Birthday Justin!

Today Justin turned one. He is not walking yet and I was SO sure he would be walking by now. (Of course I was sure he would walk before 10 months!) He CAN

walk a few steps and has on several occasions. He does it when he forgets to get down and crawl. When we try to get him to walk he will go limp noodle and laugh. Oh well. I suppose he will walk when he walks and I should be glad that he can't get into quite as much while he is still a crawler and a cruiser.

Justin's bday pictures turned out kind of like my second bday pictures. Rob took some video footage on the video camera that hopefully I will edit before too long and put up on youtube. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

Do you think I should see if the swiffer people want to use him in a commercial? He loves it! He loves cupcakes too. Not only can you crumble them, but you can eat them. Swiffer seems to be a pretty natural way to follow up his eating. :)

Five Minute Flop

I am trying to get some Christmas baking done. Mind you we don't even have all of our stuff put away yet from our move, but that's okay. I have the baby gates up on the stairs and one blocking off the kitchen, so as long as I don't mind hearing Justin scream, I am able to safely cook.

I don't like him to be upset too long, so I thought I found a great recipe from Rachel Ray (http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/kids-recipes/kids---fabulous-five-minute-fudge-wreath/article.html) that claimed to be easy enough that it was classified as a kid's recipe. It was easy, but I agree with what Rob said when he tasted it. It just isn't fudge.

Guess I will just have to go with a more traditional recipe. Sorry Rachel Ray. Thumbs down is my review.

We don't have the baby gates up on the stairs yet. We just put in a work order and it should be done this week. Until this weekend we have been keeping Justin from going up the stairs by putting the play yard in front of the stairs. We just block off the stairs and lock the wheels on the play yard and a baby gate of sorts is made. This weekend Justin decided that the times we forget to block off the stairs are few and far between and that he is much better off finding a way to get to them whenever he wants. He is a determined little kid! He has found a way and is getting more and more efficient each time he tries! Video kind of ends abruptly as I rescue Justin from falling.

Life in Tokyo

We are settling in to our new home in Tokyo. The movers are scheduled to come on Monday. Yay! Only onee more weekend without our things. Once we get everything it should make it feel more like home. It will be a lot of work to get it all put away though.

In the meantime, Rob is getting adjusted to his new job and Justin and I are trying to get into a routine. He will be one year old on the 22nd and he isn't walking yet. That is fine, but I would have bet money that he would be walking by now. He continues to cruise just as he has been for the past couple of months. Chicken Baby doesn't want to let go! He will stand up in the middle of the room and then decide he doens't want to chance it and gets back down and crawls. He has mastered racing up the stairs (gate isn't up yet) and climbing on top of things. How a baby who can't walk can climb the way he does, I'll never know. Here he is on the coffee table. He was very proud of himself.

Justin has become quite the "helper" with the laundry. He loves to take the clean laundry and throw it in with the dirty laundry. He also enjoys gathering up the socks and scattering them near and far. He just loves socks. Usually I don't mind, but when he attacks a pile of clothes I just folded... He is lucky he is so cute!

The weather has been warm. We haven't had to put on our winter coats yet. Justin has a hat and a pair of mittens, but he is yet to wear them outside of the house. I did try them on him. He didn't seem to mind. Perhaps that is because the TV was on. He has decided he likes Elmos's World on Sesame Street.

He is also working on feeding himself. It makes quite a mess which leads to needing to clean him up. He does not like that. Once he is clean he is off and running. He loves being naked. Rob says I shouldn't show people this picture because it will embarass Justin. I think that it will be okay for now. Don't plan on getting it enlarged and framed or anything.

I owe a lot of people e-mail. I haven't forgotten you! I have been busy trying to get to know the area and looking after Monster Baby.