Damien Has a Special Birthday Lunch with Grandparents

Continuing his birthday celebrations, Damien hosted some of his grandparents for lunch on Friday afternoon. Well, it was supposed to be most of his grandparents (Grandpa Richard had a work retreat unfortunately). But, momma screwed up and accidentally reversed the airports when booking Grandma Linda's flight, so she booked a ticket from Oakland to Ontario instead of vice versa. With $200 to change the flight at that last minute, Grandma agreed to come the following weekend when she could have little D all to herself. And Grandma Lo Lo got sick and couldn't make it. But Grandma Colette and Grandpa William and Maurice were there. And boy was it a nice sunny day. It was a nice time to celebrate Damien in the calm before the birthday party storm.

Enjoying his new walker that godmother Auburn got him.

Enjoying his water table that Maurice made him.

Loving Maurice.

Giggles with Grandpa and Daddy

A riviting game of peek-a-boo with William

An overtired but sweet little boy.

Damien is 1 Year Old

Wow, hard to believe that our little pumpkin, munchkin, monkey, boo boo is one year old. Boy time flies when you are having the time of your life. What an incredible journey this has been. Damien's 12th month was filled with lots of exciting developments. Mostly in the way of language and mobility. He learned how to pull himself up onto furniture, how to "cruise" (i.e. walk while holding on to such furniture), he learned to push a walking toy by himself, he learned to blow kisses, and he learned to stack blocks. His words now include walk, shoe, cracker, aqua, baba, avocado, more and bye (in addition to his first words of ball, dada and mama). He's pretty good at imitating now, and likes to mimic what the adults do - sometimes to hilarious results. He LOVES to walk assisted. He is quite clear about this desire, as he will scoot/crawl over to you grab one hand to pull himself up and then reach for the other hand and either start moving or say walk. Then off he goes, saying "walk, walk, walk." He loves to go up and down stairs both assisted on his feet and unassisted on his hands and knees. He has really come to love his blanket and monkey, and often wants to take these two items out of his crib after waking up. He finally loves to go for walks in his stroller - making many trips to the park and Berkeley Bowl. He's not so interested in his toy pit anymore, and prefers to walk, walk, walk - and play with rocks and dirt and water. We continue to explore new foods, and he is generally a good eater, but will occasionally reject the usual favorites - by spitting and throwing. But, you usually can't go wrong with yogurt, avocado, raspberries and goldfish crackers. He's a true delight.

Obliging Momma with his birthday crown and bib (Thank you Grandma Linda)

He's all smiles on his birthday.

Especially if he has his comb that he loves (and knows how to use!).

Damien got to go to a special sushi restaurant for his birthday dinner, where he enjoyed edamame, tofu, fruity yogurt (with sugar!) and french fries (in duck fat).

Hey guys, it is time to get out of here!

Back in his birthday suit.

Thanks to the fruity yogurt, D was able to stay up WAY late until Papa returned from his business trip at 8:45pm. Papa was thrilled.

Damien managed to stay up till 9:09 PM to celebrate the official time of his birth. A real party animal.

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 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 Celebrates Cousin Mariano's 1st Birthday

Cousin Mariano had so much fun at Damien's 4th of July party, he wanted to come back to celebrate his first birthday. Damien was happy to host. He loves guests and parties - a true Craig. It was a nice small little gathering. The weather wasn't as hot as it could have been but still nice. Damien had a good time playing with cousin Mariano. But, he was his usual brutish self, taking Mariano's toys whenever he could. Luckily, Mariano is a sweet and easy going guy who didn't mind sharing - even his new birthday toys! Damien is lucky to have such a great cousin. Here's to many more birthdays together.

Did someone say party? I got my party clothes on.

The birthday boy and his momma.

Damien delights at taking toys.

The birthday boy gets his birthday ice cream sandwich.

Which he LOVED!

Damien watched with glee & loved playing with the balloon.

Mathias with his nephew.

Damien manages to hoard all the accessories for Mariano's new workbench.

The boys love, love, love to play with balls. Boys will be boys I guess.

Baby Craig's Daddy's Birthday

Mathias turns 32! We have a small backyard BBQ celebration to ring in the occasion. A delicious homemade dinner by Lorelei of BBQ ribs, BLT salad, dill potato salad, foccacia, root beer baked beans, and cake. Lorelei discovers that she can't stand on her feet for too long at this point, ouch.

Special Guests include Guillaume, Lal (not pictured) and Jane

A special Lorelei Birthday Cake for a Special Man!

Lorelei is getting Big!