Backyardigans Live!

Back on the 26th of september, Sophia and I went to see the backyardigans live. We had a good time:



It was quite a new experience for her, in the concert hall for an actual show - she'd been there before for a rehearsal of a choir performance I was in, but that wasn't when the hall was full of people. and when I say people, I mean 3-to-9-year-olds in various stages of scream. To be fair, most of the kids were pretty well behaved, and most of the adults were too. At one point in the evening, Sophia leaned over to the perfect stranger beside her and asked if she could have some of his popcorn. In another circumstance, I would be terrified for her safety and worried about her manners, but in this case the man was a parent of a child who was almost the same age and also loved the backyardigans, so things were pretty safe, and he was happy to share his popcorn.

The show was well received and quite interesting to Sophia and to Daddy - they took songs from several episodes (for those of you who watch the backyardigans) and stitched them together into a new plot which included a "real" person as well as stagehands in mascot suits. Most of the sound, the music and dialog, was pre-recorded so all the puffy suit people had to do was move along and wave their hands so everyone knew who was speaking. I suppose it was the only way to make it work, though, because the kids would be expecting the voices they remember, and if the show had adults who were dressed kind of like the backyardigans and pretending to be children, it would be a bit creepy...

Anyway, we really liked it. After the show, Sophia was a little quiet, and as we asked her all sorts of probing questions trying to get commentary and opinion, she didn't have much to say. After a few days she talked about it more, but at the time she was more overwhelmed. From time to time she has talked about going to see the backyardigans again and then we have to explain that it's not likely to happen for a while.

We resisted the lure to purchase overpriced stuffed toys and strange LED-light fans with backyardigans stickers on them.

For an idea of what it looks like, click here. It's a different show but you can get the general idea.

One Year Stats

So we have been to see a pediatrician, a general practitioner, and a health clinic nurse, who have each weighed and measured little Jacob. Each of those visits was for a different issue, but more on that later.

Anyway, they all agreed on his stats:
WEIGHT: 17.5 pounds (7.8 kgs roughly)
HEIGHT: 28.5 inches

Now, he is still a little below the 10th percentile for both weight and height, but he is still consistent. We need to track his growth and go back to see the GP in three months to make sure that he is continuing to increase or maintain percentiles, rather than dropping. The long and short of it is that he is a little guy, a healthy little guy (who gets into everything!) but he's smaller than average, so they want to keep an eye on him.

Here's his birth stats for comparison's sake:
WEIGHT: 5 pounds 12 ounces
HEIGHT: 18 inches.

Translates into: itty bitty.

Way to grow, Mr.J!

A Birthday Party

Well, we celebrated Jacob's birthday a couple of days early so that both sets of grandparents could be here to help us party. We had Jacob's godparents and another couple with their kidlets. All in all, we had a great time with gifts, dinner, cake and playing! We extend a great big thank you to all the great people who celebrated this important day with us.

For the most part, Jacob was pretty happy. He was a little lost on the whole cake issue, seeing that he really doesn't do the chunky solid food thing.

Here are some photos documenting the event!

Opening birthday gifts takes on a whole new aspect when you combine a not so interested in the the thing baby and a more than eager to help bunch of preschoolers. Oy. Jacob eyed the outfit and returned to happily chomping and tearing the wrapping paper.

Showing admiration for the beautiful wall hanging made by Nana. There is a growing train theme in J's room.
The baby friendly tool bag from Uncle Todd and Auntie Dea. Maybe there is a sparkie in the making. Jacob does have an unhealthy fascination with wall plugs.

The birthday cake --a tiger for my little wild one. It is a classic butter vanilla cake with buttercream icing. Turned out pretty good.
The hat, by the way, is a shaped chocolate chip cookie iced with buttercream icing. It was a sugar high just waiting to happen. The preschoolers were forbidden from even considering it.

Oh, fire. Jacob did reach for the flame. We stopped him in time. There was no blowing out of the candle though.

YOu want me to do what with this cake now?

Oh it squishes. What about this stuff on my fingers?

Seriously? In my mouth? Well, okay....

ohhhhh, that's good. Really good.

I like it! Happy Birthday to me!

A Year of Jacob

Originally, I had 54 pictures to put in this retrospective. I figured that was too many, so I pared it down to 14. Here's to a fabulous first year, little man. Happy Birthday.

Hours old

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

1 Year (on his birthday)

I had to add one more...this is my all time favorite of my sweet little guy. He's just a week old in the picture.

international talk like a pirate day

Sophia's take: