Damien Celebrates Grandma LoLo Birthday

Grandma LoLo came to San Francisco to celebrate her birthday with Opera and family. Sam and Jane hosted a delicious dinner at their gorgeous house on Sunday evening. D dressed up in his Sunday's best. He had a great time seeing their chickens, ducks, and goats. And D loved playing with his cousins. The party animal got to stay up way past his bedtime!

Happy to see Grandpa William again.

What do you think about the menu?

Feeding the chickens with Jane.

The Craig boys.

Damien tackles Mariano (out of love!).

Damien takes it all in.

Damien smootches his cousin Alma.

Damien and Mariano - what cuties.

William and Mathias entertain the cousins.

Damien Goes to Baby Gym

Our local park San Pablo Park has a great community center in it and they have this amazing program for 1-5 year olds. It is a big play gym, with lots of different toys and activities set up for the children. Best part, it is free! Damien loves it. Momma snuck him in before he was one, because he is so big, but he's definitely the youngest there since all the other kids can walk. It's from 9:30-11am, right during D's first nap, but momma takes him anyway for a little while, and his day gets a little off, but it's worth it for all the fun he has.

View of the gym.

Playing with bean bags.

Playing with kooky balls.

Playing with bowling pins.

Playing with blocks.

Chasing balls with his scoot crawl.

Playing with hula hoops.

Playing with fun pillows in the reading area.

Damien Goes to Maya's Birthday Party

Damien went to Maya's 1st birthday party - his first birthday party. Maya held a cupcake themed party in Damien's favorite park totland. He had a blast. He was fashionably late to the party because the party started at 2pm, when he goes down for his second nap, but he helped bring the party to a close in style.

"Sharing" paper plates.

Chasing after girls already.

Lovin the push car.

And the swings, always a hit.

Damien is 11 Months!

Once again, Momma is late with this post, but she has a good excuse - she was very busy getting ready for all of D's first birthday activities.

D's 11 month was mostly spent on vacation in Sonora, Mineral King and Los Angeles. Lucky guy. Although he's now old enough to really like his routine back home and to have trouble sleeping while on the road (unless he has his own room!). D's biggest milestone this month was becoming mobile. The day before we left for vacation, Damien learned to scoot crawl - he won't just sit on a blanket or the floor anymore! He gets up on all fours and looks like he will crawl normally, and does so with one leg, but then thrusts the other leg forward in a straight legged position. Damien also learned to give you a high 5 (thank you Gabrielle Clarke). He says ball pretty consistently, since he loves to play ball. He also discovered the joys of rocks and dirt in Mineral King. D also tried a lot of new foods including Mexican (which he loved), tuna casserole (in tribute to late Great Grandma Nelda), grapes, cucumber, biscuits (which he loved), rice, tofu, and cottage cheese. He also started to become a sometime fussy eater, sometimes he would eat his usual favorites (hummus, mac n' cheese, turkey, avocado, strawberries, and yogurt) and sometimes he would reject all of that (with gusto, i.e throwing) in favor of jarred baby food. You never know. He loves to walk (assisted) and loves water.

Damien tried to attend Papa's trivia night fundraiser at a bar in the city, but he was kicked out - no one under 21 means no babies either!

Damien and Kellen Play at Cal

It had been a long while since their last playdate, and with Kellen starting daycare soon, one last Monday playdate was arranged for a nice sunny day at Cal. Papa Hoju and Momma Craig packed lunches for the boys and visited an old sandwich place from college days and took to the campus for a picnic. It was about 12:30 pm and it sure felt a little funny to be walking among all the very young kids with babies. We found a nice shady spot (that unfortunately was a little damp) and had a nice lunch. Damien was very nice and shared his fruit with Kellen. Then we let the boys walk/crawl around before hitting Bancroft Clothing Store for some Cal gear. Damien scored a Cal shirt and a mini Cal ball (because Mommy made the rookie mistake of giving it to him to prevent a meltdown while shopping and he was not letting go without a fight. A fun day.

Papa Hoju and Hoju Jr. showing their Cal pride.

Yay, crawling in wet grass and getting muddy is fun!

I love water!

Cute as a button.

This is my skeptical face.

Damien Does Lunch in the City

Despite waking up with a little cold, Damien headed to the City to have lunch with Sam and Jane at the beloved Fog City Diner. He had a great time people watching, so much so, he wasn't to interested in eating (or it could have been the cold). He had a good time - as did the adults. Sadly what used to be an almost weekly affair of Bay Club workout followed by FCD lunch, must be scheduled months out. But, all the Craigs were happy to catch up with Sam and Jane.

Sitting at the big boy table, this is fun!

Snuggles with Papa, both wearing their green in honor of the Oregon Ducks (who won!)

In the big city.

Damien loves being social!