Trudeau Chronicles

Jack insists on watching me cook, and often supervises from his personal observation deck, hip-side. However, this makes knife work both dangerous for babysize-fingers and cumbersome for the cook. I've experimented with placing him on a step stool and standing behind him, but this also proved perilous for curious baby when knives are involved.

Last night I developed a solution, a slightly less dangerous option to the for-mentioned baby/knife combinations.

Note: this is temporary solution until I make something similar out of fabric

Update: make that 10-0 ... just watched today's game

Did you just say "book"? Was that really your first word? But we never tried to teach you "book". We have however devoted precious time teaching you our names...mummy, daddy, moses ... you know, your family? The people who hug you, feed you and try to sit on you.  And what about monkey? Doesn't he deserve verbal recognition in light of his considerable sufferings?

(It may not be book. It's really difficult to determine his first word, particularly because his pronunciation and timing are a bit odd. It's a toss up right now between Mama, dog and book. Or maybe it isn't any of those. Maybe his first word is still to come.)

He loves this book. Thank you, Cee Jay!

We had a party for Jack's birthday. We invited lots of friends. They came. And celebrated.

Jack didn't like his party. He cried when it was time to pick his object (see note below). As he reached for the paintbrush, the spectators cheered and Jack was unhinged. He may now have an art phobia.

Note: It's an Asian (Korean, Chinese and Japanese...at least) 1st birthday tradition to have the child choose from various objects such as thread, books, notebooks, brushes, ink and money. If the child picks up a book, for example, he is destined to be a scholar. If he picks up money or rice, he will be wealthy. It's a fun tradition and our Korean friends graciously let us borrow it. Jack chose from a paintbrush (artist), book (scholar), mini-baseball glove(athlete), bible (pastor), and money.

Cupcakes: Chocolate and vanilla with a lemon juice glaze, both with mini, sprinkle encrusted sugar cookie 'J's and my signature cream cheese frosting. Can you call something 'signature' if you're not famous or otherwise important? I just did.

Dress code: DIY screenprinted shirts. They brought the awesome to the party. They've probably been worn everyday since. [They say "I AM SPARTACUS"]

Decorations: these pom-poms which may or may not still be hanging around our apartment. and a birthday banner from Etsy.

a birthday kiss from Jack's BFF, Gemma.

There was also a signature cocktail - The Spartacus - something with fresh figs and gin, handcrafted by our friend Dave.

It was October 10th; the anniversary of one Jack spartacus' arrival. Commemorating this historic day, we made a pilgrimage to Spartan Stadium - home of the SJSU Spartans. Jack arrived as a Spartan warrior - complete with cape, helmet and polyester pants. The crowd cheered for him. Really, they did. It was appropriate. As a special birthday gift, I forgot to feed him before putting him to bed. Jack has a hard life.