My First Birthday

Grandpa pulled me aside Saturday and said, "Pumpkin, I want to tell you something.  This may come as a surprise to you but someday it won't be all about you."  I looked at him like he was a bit loony because that makes no sense to me whatsoever, but then he continued saying, "...but don't worry Pumpkin because today is not that day.  Today is your first birthday and today, more than ever, it is all about you!"

Boy!  Was my Grandpa ever right.  Grandma and mommy worked very hard and decorated the house with balloons and signs and posters.  They threw me not one, but two birthday parties! We had all kinds of food and special tiaras for everyone to wear.  Grandpa even wore one but he said after last week's posting with him wearing a wig he was done putting pictures of himself on this blog that make him look like an idiot.

All kinds of people came.  I can't count that high yet but Grandpa said there were almost 30 people that came to see me on my birthday.  There were mommy and daddy's friends and Grandma's friends (Grandpa doesn't have any friends of his own) and my Paw Paw, Grammy and Great Grammy all came.  There were little kids like me.  And guess what? 

They all brought presents!!!! 

My First Halloween

 I am nearly one year old.  Can you believe that?  In this past year I have learned quite a bit. 
Grandpa says that I've been hitting all the important developmental milestones.  I've learned how to sit up, I've learned how to crawl, I'm learning how to walk and getting better and better each day.  I've learned to say ma ma, da da, pa pa and quack quack.  I've learned that Wal Mart is an inherently evil corporate giant and an icon of corporate greed making the privileged few wealthy at the expense of the hard working proletariat.

But what I am increasingly coming to realize is that my family is more than just a little bit goofy.  My Grandma is the only normal one of the bunch.  Take this last weekend for example.  Out of nowhere mommy, daddy and Grandpa pull out this silly purple wig and take turns wearing it.  Then Grandpa pulls out his guitar and starts playing to Todd Snider's "Alcohol and Pills".  Now I completely agree with Grandpa that Todd Snider is one of the greatest singer-songwriters out there but come on.  "Alcohol and Pills."  What kind of music is that to be exposing me too.  Grandpa, can you say, "age appropriate"?  Have you ever heard of Raffi?  I'll admit, I started to get caught up in the moment and broke out the bongos but in the end I just had to plead with him to stop.

After the little jam session they dressed me up in this silly costume that they said was cute.  Truthfully, I'm not sold on how flattering it was but like most things that go on around here I didn't have much say in the matter.  Once it started to get dark they started dragging me all over the place going up to complete strangers' houses and begging for food!  And the gyp of the matter is that everything the people gave us was stuff I'm not old enough to eat.  I really think this entire thing was just an excuse for Mommy and Grandma to get treats for themselves!  What do you think?