Damien Rings in the New Year in LA

Well, Damien has been up to a lot - but Mommy's been busy. Hopefully she'll have time to go back and update the last few months, but instead of waiting for that ... we are marching on.

The Craigs made a last minute decision to spend New Year's weekend in Los Angeles to go see the Oregon Ducks play in the Rose Bowl and spend time with family and friends. Thanks to Grandma Linda and Grandpa Richard, and Aunties Pam, Candy and Crystal, Mommy and Daddy were able to have a night away for New Year's Eve and spend a glorious day watching the Ducks WIN the Rose Bowl - thank you Grandma Collete for making the game a possibility.

Damien had a blast with his extended family. He was particularly in love with Grandpa Richard, and followed him around like a lost puppy. It was adorable. Damien also enjoyed the wide open spaces, grass, play structure, dirt, and MANY toys and balls grandma got him. All that running around - we kept this active little monster outside as much as possible - made him exhausted, so he napped and slept well! It was a terrific way to ring in the new year. THANKS KLEIN FAMILY!

Pensive (and tired) boy.

Those eyes!

All smiles during lunch.

Somebody loves to give kisses.

Water play in January!!!

Somebody loves water.

Basking in the warm sun.

Our nature boy!

Damien Celebrates "Discovers" Santa

Last year, Damien was too small to get Christmas. This year, he was still a little too young, but he liked opening presents and getting gifts. He did pretty well with the tree, he would occasionally decide to relocate some of the ornaments around the house, but for the most part left it alone. Despite Mommy's best efforts to rein her shopping impulses in, Damien ended up with a lot of loot. One of his bigger presents was a talking Elmo doll, since Damien has recently been enjoying watching a little bit of Sesame Street here and there. He loved it. He also received some bath toys, some dinosaur magnets, some kitchen food for his little kitchen, and many books, cars and ornaments. As an added bonus, D's Aunt Pamela was up to spend the holidays, and it was great to have her. It took D a few days to warm up - he seemed nervous that her presence meant Mommy and Daddy were going to leave, but once he did, he smothered her with kisses.

Checking out his Elmo doll.

He immediately pointed to the eyes, said "ball" and then proceeded to try to eat them!

Happy with his new toy.

Loving his Aunt Pam.

Oh, the ever more present skeptical look - You mean I can't have whatever I want?

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 Gets His First Haircut

Rookie mom mistake: getting 1st haircut BEFORE 1st birthday party. What was mom thinking, that it would turn out perfect. Why: Who the heck knows how mom got that silly thought. So, Mom took D over to Papa's hair place, and he did remarkably well. Thank goodness the woman cutting his hair let us have the spray bottle, that made it all possible. Overall, it was a pretty good cut given the circumstances. Just really short. Momma missed his long locks instantly. Live and learn. Could have been worse.

What have you done mom?

Yeah, not gonna lie to ya momma, it's a little short.

But ... I still love you anyway.

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.