Stats at 1.5 year doctor check-up

32 inches tall

28 pounds

Feeding North

Year and a Half

North turned a year and half on July 25th. Here are a list of things he does:

1. Types on his laptop.
2. If we accidently leave a DVD in the player, he has figured out how to get the TV and DVD player both going.
3. Pushes the YES button on the ATM card reader at Fred Meyer check out.
4. A few yoga moves.
5. His idea of a joke: while walking around Fred Meyer, he walks behind men with shorts on, and slaps their calf, then runs off laughing. (He didn't get that from us or anything we watch)
6. Growls when a computer is rebooting.
7. Points at the moon, and often says something about it. I never pointed at the moon, he found it in the sky.
8. Notices all planes, even ones too far away to hear their sound. He loves airliners the most.
9. Loves the Fremont Rocket (see it here). He eagerly walks to it, raises his hand at it. Lately I tell him he can get on it and ride to the moon, he gets excited at the story.
10. He likes one particular electric cable tower that is huge and along the ship canal. We walk to it and he really likes looking straight up it from underneath.
11. Walking:
    
    • Walks between a quarter and a half mile, occasionally going a mile on the Burke-Gilman Trail.
    • Knows his way around the neighborhood.
    • Walks on the sidewalk with no wandering off course.

North meditating

Jenni watches Yoga Booty Ballet, doing a mix of yoga, aerobics, and ends with a meditation cool down. Today North got in perfect position and participated through the whole meditation part.

Meltdown

Today at Fred Meyer we were having a great time. We walked around, played with the bikes, bounced the ball. Then a bike fell slightly over and North began to cry. What happened next was exceptional. He did that thing they warn about, an escalating explosion of crying, anger and fear.

It was the most upset I've seen him since he was born. Beyond mad at me for taking him from something he liked, this was off the deep end in terms of upset to where it seems fearful to him.

He was grabbing at me, not hostile, but trying to wrap his arms around me. I hugged him while leaving him still seated in the cart. He got steadily more upset. I finally got not-stupid and took him out of the cart, and what I did next was just the right thing. I held him like when he was a week old, and rocked side to side, no hurry, no talking, and did it for over 5 minutes. Within the first minute he was quieter, and then he just went all relaxed and kept his arms around my neck.

He has gotten more mature in the last few months, and most of the time understands "no" and can be expected to understand talking to. But what happened today took a rapport more like when he was a few weeks old.

After he stopped crying it was one of the best moments in my life. I held him for a long time.

North posing for photo

North running around the Lenin Statue

North walking with Makiko and me

Makiko is from Japan, married to an engineer I worked with at Streambox, and they live in our building now. She has been walking with us in the mornings.

North walking like he owns Seattle

North and Jenni playing on computer photo app