Friday, July 23, 2010

Communication

So, I feel like Otto has been learning a lot, especially related to communication. He can sign lots of words; yes, baby, tree, all done/finished, more, ball, mommy, daddy, eat (sometimes), drink (sometimes), etc. He understands quite a bit and he is forming words, too (hi, dog, ball, etc). The other day Otto did a couple of adorable things that I really wasn't expecting to have happen in a long time.

Cute thing #1
After waking up, he pointed at the picture of Jesus we have near the light switch in his bedroom and said, "Jesu" (Jesus without the end "s")... Eric said Otto said that with him the other day, too, so I know it wasn't just my imagination. I wasn't expecting that for a long time!

Cute thing #2
At breakfast, Otto was eating his cereal and we had just set the table for Eric and me to join him, when he put his hands together like he has done recently when we've said, "prayer, Otto"... except we didn't say that to him - he just took the initiative. A few minutes later, after we had all been eating he did it again and looked up at us, waiting for another prayer. So, we said another prayer. It was adorable!

So, this is living proof that religious teachings don't just fly by our little ones - they REALLY notice! And it seems like he appreciates it and has a desire for it, which I'm sure most children have as well. It's a testimony to me that our little ones are the wisest amongst us all, having a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father than we realize.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

First Birthday!


Otto celebrated his birthday in two parts...

the first included us moving on his actual birthday to a temporary apartment. (wahoo, right?) Our old apartment building needed some repairs so we had to move to another in the meantime (for 1-3 months, we're not really sure exactly). It just so happened we had to move on his birthday. Thank you to all who helped make the move smooth!
In our new apartment... Otto enjoyed bouncing on his mattress and yelling while crawling through the halls and in the bedrooms. The sound was so different. Other than having only one 45 minute nap the whole day, he was unphased by the move. Just another adventure to him!

We enjoyed his favorite pizza from the Pie Pizzeria; chicken bacon ranch. mmmmmmmmm... delish! Yes, we've given him pizza... he devours it!

By the end of the day, he was SO exhausted. This was the picture of him we took while we were shopping for his birthday party (around 9:30 at night).

Part two, included a celebration by going to Hogle Zoo (for his first time) with family. Such a blast!

Donating grandpa's dollar after the bird show. They have awesome bird shows, by the way!

I don't have enough pictures to represent the complete fun of the zoo - Otto loved pointing and grunting at everything. He was passed around from person to person quite a bit.
Opening presents at the lunch we had after the zoo... thanks for the fun gifts, everyone! He loves them!

We purchased two cakes.... one of watermelon (which he LOVES), and basketball cupcakes (which he loves playing with basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, bouncy balls...)

Yummy!
The after party, party. :) Enjoying time with grandpa.
Thanks for coming everyone, we had a blast and really appreciated you coming! Otto was able to celebrate with great family!
(Sorry I didn't get a picture of everyone all together!)