Kasper attacked his first Christmas with his usual vim and vigor, tempered only slightly by his being sick. Here are a few highlights:
Always check out the "big" presents
Start with my stocking (yep, got my first Sox hat!)
Read the instructions for my new goodies
Show polite interest in other people's gifts
Call everyone to tell them,
Rest up for my birthday!
This week, Kasper has:
-suffered his first bad cold
-cut his 7th tooth
-had his first ear infection
-acquired his first scar after falling headfirst into a nightstand
Of course, none of these things have slowed him down at all. We're hoping things quiet down for the actual holiday...
I love that I have two men in my life who indulge my fascination with wacky headgear.
Not too much excitement around here. But a few cute kid shots never hurt, do they?
(This is Kasper working the room at our playgroup's holiday party.)
We went to the zoo yesterday to see D.C.'s second-cutest baby: Tai Shan. Like Kasper, Tai Shan enjoys his midday nap, so they both dozed through our entire 10-minute visit. Kasper perked up after we left the panda house -- just in time to chase after some of his favorite zoo denizens: the golf carts the groundskeepers ride around on. He also thought the prairie dogs were pretty cool.
We'd have loved to have seen Tai Shan while he's awake, but we'll go back to visit him again once the hoopla has died down a little. And we're glad we resisted the temptation to part with our tickets for big bucks on eBay. After all, Tai Shan is the biggest celebrity in town right now, and we never miss the chance to tell Grampa George when we've seen someone famous.
A couple more pics:
As time goes by, we discover there are two distinct sides to Kasper. There's the Kasper who stacks blocks, brings you books to read, charms every person in the grocery store, flirts with my boss, loves to play "Where's Kasper?", gives crazy zerberts and snuggles up in your lap and falls asleep. 
Then, there's this kid. He loves sticking his hands in the toilet, trying to eat my cell phone, screeching (particularly in the middle of a store), dropping his toys into the diaper pail, ripping out (& eating!) pieces of his pop-up books and going into the fridge, getting out the hummus, opening it and attempting to eat it by sticking his face into the container.
I guess only time will tell. And I already know who Grammy and Mema are rooting for...
Kasper helped me in the kitchen today by:
1. Opening the refrigerator door by himself (repeatedly)
2. Opening the dishwasher by himself
3. Turning the dishwasher on (after I locked it shut to prevent him from opening it)
As for the rest of our Turkey Day, it was quiet. There was sleeping, there was football, there was cooking. I cooked my inaugural turkey (not a whole one, just a 6lb. breast) with only two phone calls to my mom (yesterday, to see if I could cook it in a 13x9 baking dish; today, to get a second vote on whether to trust my digital thermometer or the pop-up thing on the turkey).
We are so thankful for Kasper, but currently we are most thankful that he's finally in bed.
Kasper likes keyboards so much, we got him one of his own. We are hoping that Mom and Dad's keyboards will survive a little longer without the regular application of the both-fists-over-the-head-and-boom!-crashing-down maneuver.
Sometimes I set it up so he can look out the window and type. May he never know the tyranny of a cubicle farm with no view!
My mom has always mentioned how she wishes we had more craftspeople in the family. I mean white collar jobs are great, but with the amount of stuff my brothers flushed down the toilet and my mother's penchant for remodeling, she always thought it would be nice to know some plumbers, electricians, contractors, etc. Well, Mom, Kasper may be our shining star. The kid loves to get under any sink. And look how happy he is about it!
P.S. For Uncle No-Fun, Grandpa Doom & Gloom and other concerned parties, there are NO cleaning products or other chemicals under the sink.
I brought Kasper to the new play area at the mall recently. Showing no fear, he immediately started toddling around.
Another mom with a 3-year-old boy sat down next to me.
"Look at him go - how old is he?"
"He just turned ten-months-old on Sunday."
"And he's walking? Wow!"
"Yeah."
"I'm so sorry. Your life is over."
It's great to meet people who understand.
Did I mention he also likes to climb into things?
We ventured to the zoo Friday. The weather was awesome (high 60s in November - gotta love the Mid-Atlantic region). This trip we remembered to ask someone to take a family photo! It's not perfect but you can see all three of us.
We got an early start and made it to the zoo in time to see Kandula the elephant get his bath. There were some VIP-types checking it out too. At first, we just say guys in suits and I assumed it was political muckety-mucks. Then I noticed a tall slim blonde, who was way too fashionably dressed to be a political anything.
Lo and behold, it was Nicole Kidman! She's in Washington filming a movie. Sorry, we didn't take any pictures of her (it seemed so rude since she was about a foot in front of us). She was smiley and doesn't look so skeletally thin in person. She's in one of my all time favorite movies, Moulin Rouge, so I was very excited to see her in person.
We also saw the cheetah cubs, which are practically all grown up and the tawny frogmouths, Patrick's favorite bird. It was a great trip. As you can see below, all the excitement wore Kasper out. 
Hat: $1.97 at Old Navy
Sunglasses: $2 at L.L. Bean outlet
T-shirt: $1.50 at local consignment sale
And yeah, that's a free tequila company maraca/bottle-opener from Margarita's in Lewiston.
I love homemade Halloween costumes.
Kasper likes to be upright. This has been the case from the beginning and shows no signs of abating (which is probably good since walking upright seems to be big for us homo sapiens).
Against my better judgment, we got him a push toy. He pulls himself up on the handle and off he goes! He's great at the walking part, zooming around the apartment like he's one of the Duke Boys. He can see how much he enjoys it (and, yes, he's making the sort of very loud sound you would imagine by the look on his face).
Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out stopping. So, he just crashes. Into anything. Into everything. And it ends up looking like this. Do you think we'll be able to use these photos to postpone enrolling him in driver's ed?
Theodore Roosevelt Island is a nature sanctuary/national park/monument in the Potomac River between Virginia and the District of Columbia (if you've ever driven into the city on I-66, you've traversed the end of the island on the Roosevelt Bridge). It's on the way from from picking up Patrick at his office but you feel like you're way off in the woods (except the woods are in the very loud flight path of Reagan National Airport). It's a lovely spot. It's a nice taste of nature in our urban/suburban sprawl.
The bridge in the background is the Francis Scott Key Bridge between Rosslyn, VA and Georgetown in DC.
I have been informed (in no uncertain terms) that we have not updated the blog enough lately. Hence, I offer you a few snapshots of the ever-expanding Kasper (click on the photos to see a full-size version): 
Visiting with his Mema last weekend (sorry, we didn't get a photo of him biting his napping grandfather's big toe)
Enjoying his first balloon
Showing us his tongue while wearing his "new" hand-me-downs from cousin Declan.
The audio's a little rough, so turn the speakers up on your computer before you download this. It's worth it.
I haven't blogged in a while; luckily, Meaghan has been here to pick up the slack. Instead, I've been learning the tough lessons of parenthood. Here's what I've picked up lately:
Gotta go. Kasper just up from his morning nap, so I've got a diaper to change. Should I be worried that he's wearing track shoes?
We just wrapped up a wonderful visit from Patrick's brother, Adam, his wife Michelle and their beautiful baby girl, Shylah. She had taken over Kasper's position as youngest grandchild and is handling the role with ease. At six weeks old, she has already been through every state on the Eastern seaboard from Maine to Virginia with a sidetrip to a wedding in Pennslyvania. It was a great treat to have everyone together - I'm sure Patrick will have more to say about it, but I knew getting a photo up for Grammie Woodford was the first order of business!
(Yes, that's my arm Kasper is chewing on - he was very interested in his baby cousin but still hasn't learned the meaning of "gentle". I tried telling him that babies were only for looking at, not for touching but he wasn't buying that either...)
Kasper continues to attract friends from far and wide. My friend (and ex-roomie) Jason came to visit this weekend from Maine. Kasper pulled out all of his best tricks: diving off the couch, waking up at 11pm and not wanting to go back to sleep, drooling like a St. Bernard, using the restaurant bread basket as a hat. They became fast friends. (Kasper is busy making a new friend today - his cousin Shylah is here with her parents, Adam and Michelle. Photos to come...)
It took more than 50 photos and I still need two separate frames to document Fang's five teeth. As you can see, he's got two bottom teeth and three top teeth - with a fourth that's been trying to come in for weeks. There are only a few faces he makes where you can really see them but woe is the fool who encounters them (fingers, shoulders, knees, feet, he's not choosy on spots). He also applies them to non-parent items, like the laundry rack. Just call him the "non-traditional uses for traditional items" guy.
This is Kasper's newest face. He makes it for all sorts of reasons, most often because he hears a sound that interests him - the food processor, the shower, the coffee grinder. He loves the sound of the coffee grinder, he's going to be the youngest person on record to get a Starbucks card.
Everyday he gets more interested in the world around him. Unfortunately, he also gets less interested in taking naps...
I knew he would be a coffee drinker like his father (plus sharing his name with my grandfather's coffee company), but I had no idea it would start so soon.
Kasper is getting some Daddy time this week since Pat has some extra days off from work. We have learned our lesson from the trips of the last two months - we are hanging out around the house. Not. Going. Anywhere. (Well, I'm going to work but that doesn't really count.)
Eight months old and Kasper thinks he should walk. He is systematically trying to destroy the entire apartment, especially anything expensive and electronic (surround sound speakers, both computers). He keeps taking a book called "Learn to Communicate" off the shelf. He likes to use his pacifiers backwards.
He's our wild man and we wouldn't trade him for the world!
(Although there are times when we look for a box big enough to ship him to one of his grandmothers...)
Kasper and I met a very nice man during our train trip to Fayetteville. A fine Southern gentleman, wearing a suit on a Saturday afternoon, who remarked, "Your boy really favors you, ma'am. I know right away he who he belonged to." And the girls in my store, they say all the time how Kasper looks like me.
And I told everyone, thanks, but I don't really see it.
To me, he looks like Kasper.
Well, OK, in this picture, I see it. I see a whole lot of it - and it's more than a little frightening!
One pacifier in the hand AND one in the mouth is much better than any birds in a bush, according to Kasper.
I've been trying to get some shots of Fang's, excuse me, Kasper's new teeth but he's not cooperating (shocking, eh?). He's got two coming in on the bottom and three on the top. And while they don't really show unless he's got his mouth wide open, they sure are sharp. Take my word for it.
P.S. Sorry for the lack of postings - we went to see my parent's last week and left Patrick home alone. He discovered new and exciting ways to make ground beef part of your daily diet but we're back now and congestive heart failure has been averted.
