I Forgot to Add the Very Best Pictures of 15 Months

So having Patrick sleep on his own mattress on the floor has been a wonderful experience so far because it teaches him independence and he has a better understanding of our sleep routine at nighttime. In addition, it has also been an absolutely hilarious experience. Here are a few pictures of positions I have discovered Patrick in during the night. They're a little difficult to see, but use your imagination and enjoy!

Head hanging off the mattress

Legs off the mattress, appear to somehow be weight bearing

Completely off the mattress!

 

The only one that beats these three could not be photographed. Picture Patrick in a very similar location and position as picture number three. Just to the left of his head is a Cars (the movie) book that has a steering wheel with a working horn on the front. Well Patrick rolled off his bed and his face landed on the steering wheel. I woke to the sound of the honking horn. He did not!

15 Months

Hi all! Patrick sure seems to have grown up so much to me and Delmar all of a sudden. He's really starting to understand our daily routines, activities and commands. He helps put the dirty laundry in the washing machine, he tries to puts the keys in the front door and the car ignition, and no one is allowed to make a pot of coffee without Patrick pushing the start button! And yes, you thought right, Patrick finally got his first big boy hair cut. Here's the before, during and after.

Before- bordering on "mad scientist" status

During his first haircut; so patient and calm the whole time!

After! Pretty wavy and still curly in some places. No more blonde!

One of the coolest things we did this past month was update Patrick's bedroom into a toddler room. Everything is set so that Patrick can get to it all by himself. We even put his mattress on the ground so that he can learn to put himself to bed. We were pretty nervous about the sleep training involved with a 14 month old learning to go to sleep on his own, but it actually went really well! Now after we're done with his whole bedtime routine, we sit him on his mattress, give him kisses, turn of the light, and he lies down own his own and signs himself to sleep. It's precious! Here's his room:

Everything a toddler could need; clothes, toys, books and lots of diapers!

I have to admit, I pretty proud of myself for making those pillow covers!

Sometimes Sophie likes the mirror more than Patrick :)

So Patrick may not be walking or talking a whole lot yet, but we think we might have a "rain man" type situation when it comes to mechanical/handy man type things with this little boy. The kid loves to take things apart, play with the pieces, and tries to put it all back together. He actually understands how to use a screwdriver. Here he is "helping" Delmar work on our fridge. He actually found a screw and put the screw driver to it, trying to unscrew it.

Takes after his Mom, sticking his tongue out in concentration

As a side note, Patrick actually took his first steps today! Two days after his doctor said he was a little concerned about Patrick not walking yet. He might be a little delayed, but he's getting there! He'll be running around with a soccer ball in no time ;)

Patrick does not let the rainy winter weather get him down. Luckily for him, he has a Mommy who doesn't mind him getting very dirty! Every time it rains, we get a very large muddy puddle in our driveway. Patrick is playing in the puddle, and doing laps through the puddle and around my car, then back into the puddle. He did this for about 30 minutes!

That's one dirty baby booty!

You can see the path that Patrick made from all of his trips around my car and back to the puddle

Yes, he did stick his face in the puddle

Well, I think that's all for this month. Happy Holidays to everyone! We'll be celebrating at home because Delmar has to work, but we'll make our way down to the Bay for our usual late holiday visit mid-January. 

Love,

Sarah

Month 14

So I am actually ahead of schedule for Month 14 of The Life of Patrick. For the first time ever, I made dinner early so that I could eat with Patrick. Normally I don't eat until after he's gone to bed. Then on top of that, he had a rough day with teething so he was ready for bed early. So the baby is asleep, I've eaten, the house is clean, and it isn't even 8pm yet! Now, what to do on a Saturday night when I'm home alone (Delmar is working nights) and everything is done for the day? Start this blog early I guess!

Greetings from the Tompkins!

Delmar and I were dressed up for a preschool tour (WHAT?!?; and it's Humboldt County dressed up), so we had our friend take a few family photos when we got back home.

Month 14 of Mr. Patrick has been a fun one. The big news is, he still is NOT walking, but he is a pro at crawling now. He's getting so close to walking though. He can go up and down stairs, up the play structures at the park, he can get on and off of his toy truck all by himself now, and he's cruising across any surface he can find.

It's not that Patrick is not yet capable of walking, he just isn't motivated.
It's so much easier to use the Walker on his knees. Duh, Mom!

Something else we've noticed about Patrick is that he is extremely observant. He likes to sit and take in his surroundings before taking any action. The first couple times at a new park, he sat there for an hour just looking around. Eventually he started playing with the bark. I think by day 4 he started running around. Bachan (Grandma Janet Nakamoto) says he gets it from his Grandpa Bruce :)

Like I mentioned earlier, Patrick is teething again. We had a really nice hiatus from teething for several months but now these teeth are coming in with a vengeance. He already had his front 8 teeth so these are the big nasty ones that hurt a lot. I feel so bad for the little guy!

This past month we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Nakamoto. While Delmar and Grandpa painted the outside of our house (it looks amazing now!), Patrick spent the weekend hanging out with Grandma. They did lots of playing and reading, finger painting, playing in the rain, and most importantly, cheering on the Giants against the Cardinals in the NLCS!

Eating carrots from the garden with Grandma

Watching and learning before diving into
the art of finger painting

 All done!

Paint face!

Finally, this past month included Halloween and Patrick was a tiger! A friend of mine works at a nursing home, so I dressed Patrick up in his costume and visited all the residents. They enjoyed seeing a fresh young face dressed up and roaming the hallways for the holiday. We also visited at HSU (even though Delmar was at home sleeping for work later that night), to say hi to all our friends at the police department. They all got a kick out of seeing Patrick! Luckily Patrick was still in costume when Delmar woke up so they were able to hang out for a little bit before work. 

Two days after the Giants won the World Series, I was dressed
 up as a very happy fan!

Next up, Thanksgiving pictures! Patrick is going to have his mind blown with delicious food! Happy Holidays to everyone. We should be down in the Bay for our annual post-holiday trip sometime in January. 

-Sarah

13 Months

Well, Patrick is 13 months old now. We haven't had a whole lot of changes this past month but it is amazing to see him continue to progress with his coordination, language and interactions. Most importantly, since he is now past a year old, he is allowed to eat whatever he wants! Here are a few pictures of his first peanut butter sandwich (we thought it might be a similar experience to feeding peanut butter to the dogs, and it kind of was!):

Yummmmmmm!

Peanut butter makes Patrick thirsty!

These days Patrick is crawling around like a mad man, pulling up and standing, and taking a few wobbling steps when helped. Hopefully he'll be walking by Christmas! His newest favorite activity is standing on top of the couch so he can look out the window at the ducks and the dogs, and even wave hi to Daddy when he comes home from work.

Patrick has three distinct sounds for duck, dog and dad. They're all pretty similar but if you pay close attention to the sound and to what he is looking at or listening to (barking dog or quacking duck), you can definitely tell the difference. It's really cool!

Patrick had such a great time hanging out with Uncle Brent when he came to visit for a few days. Brent wants to do some painting of Patrick so he spent an afternoon taking pictures of his little subject. This picture may not be a candidate for a portrait, but it's my favorite!

What a scowl! And a pretty good knot on his forehead from getting knocked over by Sophie. He's one tough kid!

I like this one a lot too because he just loves Bailey's ball. Patrick actually tries to throw the ball for Bailey, who is a really good sport about it!

I want to give a shout out to Aunt Kim and Rachel for Patrick's truck. He loves this thing! I think he's gong to be able to get up on it himself pretty soon too.

 

Well, that's about all for this month. Patrick is keeping me really busy all day long so I didn't do a great job of taking pictures this past month. Grandma and Grandpa Nakamoto were just here for a long visit, so we'll have lots of good pictures on next months post!

Birthday Party!

Here are some pictures from Patrick's 1st Birthday Party. Thank you to everyone who came and for everyone who brought a gift. Patrick is extremely thankful!

Yum, watermelon!

Patrick loved playing in the water with Daddy and Grandma!

Cupcake time!

Such a flirt with Daddy!

Always the entertainer. He loves having an audience!