Happy Birthday Grady!

Grady got a new play kitchen. I thought Moira would be more into it than him but he seems to really like it.

Grady turned 1 February 12th! We didn't do a party for him, just made a cake and sang happy b-day. He didn't seem to mind :) His favorite things/word is "ball". I actually think this was his first word around 8 months. I made a "ball cake" in his honor. He is fully walking now, has been since about a week before his b-day. He is still unsteady and fall a lot. A LOT. But he always gets up and tries again. And he isn't afraid to go fast when he wants something. He is still pretty verbal, he has about 10 words which is awesome for 1 year old. The clearest things he says are "ought oh" and "kitty". He hasn't picked up a bunch of new words since he learned to walk, he's really had those words since about 11 months, but he did learn "duck" and "book" recently, which actually sound very similar. Funny Grady story, last night I said "are you ready to go to bed?" and he said "ought oh" and went running into the kitchen! I imagine that will only be funny the first time... Grady hasn't been a great sleeper. He's up every other night for about an hour fussing. He's had a lot of colds, 2 ear infections and 1 bout of the croup so I think that has a lot to do with it. I am hoping with Spring the illness will lift and he will sleep better. Hopefully by next winter, he will have a killer immune system. Moira has had some colds but she tends to get over them fairly quickly. I am writing this now at 2 am, he's been up since one. He finally sounds quiet though and I gave him a bottle, so hopefully he'll sleep in. When he gets up and eats, he tends to sleep in later but when he sleeps through the night, he's usually up at 5:30 and I find I am actually more tired on those nights than on the nights when he sleeps all the way. (so now you know it's the middle of the night so sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense...)
I continue to learn about my new camera. I am hoping to use Sunday mornings to practice shooting other families. I've dreamed for years, really since taking a photography class at UVA, of being a professional photographer. I'm collecting my gear and it actually seems to be somewhat of a possibility now. It's nice b/c we don't NEED the money, it can really be a hobby until I feel pretty good at it. People I've taken pictures for so far have been pretty happy, but it's all been free so what's not to be happy about.

I had Moira's first parent/teacher conference yesterday. It went great, if they are all this easy, I will be extremely lucky. Here's how it went after initial pleasantries:
"Moira is really such a great girl, we really love having her in class. She's quite a leader with all the other kids, in a very positive way. She gets them excited about all the activities and they really look to her to set the mood and pace for the day. The kids all so enjoy her and really really miss her when she is gone. She is very creative but knows how to be Moira when it's time to be Moira. We have no issues whatesoever to discuss. Do you have any concerns or questions?" We talked about how she refuses to write lower case letters for her name. They just told me to tell her that there are two ways to write them and that is the way her teachers want for her to do it. We tried that last night and it totally worked. That's all! I am so proud of her!