Northern Baby's First Haircut

After a full year of growing hair, Northern Baby got his first haircut. (He was getting a little shaggy - looked too much like a bum.....but if you consider that he has no job, is supported by others, and spends most of his day begging for food, maybe the bum look is right for him....)We went to a little place in Williston called the Hairy Bear. It's tucked inside of a big-people salon, and in place of the regular barber's chairs, they have ride-on toys mounted on pedestals. There is a Jeep, some kind of Barbie car, a real-life kid's motorcycle (if you took it off the pedestal, it could drive around)(Levi's going on that one as soon as he learns to hold on!), and the little race car that Levi sat inside.

Levi didn't really know what to think of this new experience...he was well-behaved for the most part, but there was a cute little girl getting her hair trimmed in the car next to him, and he spent a lot of his haircut time trying to spin around to gaze upon her beauty. (I think that if he could talk, he'd be using pickup lines on every girl he meets! --Yeah, baby: this sports car is mine...wanna go for a ride?!)

Isn't he just adorable?

After the haircut, Northern Baby got a balloon that he proudly carried around. As a side note, N.B. loves helium balloons. He will spend all afternoon commanding the adults around him to retrieve his floaty balloons from the ceiling...and as soon as he gets his balloons back, he forgets to hold onto the string and they float back up...if he keeps it up, I think we're going to get a huge bundle of balloons and see how many it takes to lift N.B. off of the ground!

After such an exciting, busy morning, a snooze is in order. Little does he know that he's already on the way to another new experience. Join us on the next installment of Northern Baby when we visit Vermont sugarhouses and find out how maple syrup is created!

First Birthday!

Okay, so I haven't updated the blog in a few days....for the three readers I have out there, I'm sorry: it's hard to write when you're thinking about work. We're really busy, so if you're having a slow day, head north and we'll put you to work for a few hours! Anyhow, my muse (who's really Northern Mommy, but shhh! don't tell) has a few items pinned up on the topic board. First up is Levi's first birthday. For the two really sharp readers out there, yes, it was over a week ago. (For those of you who sent all the really neat gifts: the thank-you notes are coming, please be patient. Levi is just learning to speak, and it's really hard to understand what he wants us to write...we were going to have him write them himself, but he gets frustrated by not being able to keep the letters between the lines - and then he eats his crayon.)

If you'll note the photo of the cake above, you can tell that the theme for Levi's party was rubber duckies. And yes, Northern Dad is kinda proud of the cake he made for his son.


Levi had never seen balloons before (unless you count the night before when we picked them up at the store, but he's got a really short memory), and seemed to really like them.

C'mon Mommy! Rip it open for me!

Northern Baby got a lot of gifts: books,

an octopus with an infectious laugh,

an alien that chases him around...

and a Red Sox Hat!

There were many other very cool gifts, and I have a bazillion pictures of them that I could post up, but for now, I'm going to hold off on doing that because it's Time for Cake!

I'M ONE, IT'S MY CAKE, LEMME HAVE IT!!!

We expected - even desired - the first-piece-of-cake-smash-it-to-smithereens-paste-it-in-the-hair moment, but (I kid you not) this is as messy as Northern Baby got while eating his cake.

After a few nibbles, the cake went to the floor for the dog (Buster - a visiting pooch. No pictures of Buster because he wouldn't let me style his hair for a photo. Can you say "doggie mohawk"?!)

We're still trying to figure out how it is that our kid just picks at cake, but yells at us if we let the pile of veggies get too low while he's shoveling them into his mouth....

Northern Baby had a very happy first birthday, and he says thank you to everyone that helped him celebrate. Northern Mommy and Northern Dad are still amazed that N.B. has been a part of our lives for a whole year already and how much the little man has grown. Stay tuned for the adventures of year two!

Toys

Ever buy your child a toy just so that you can play with it?

That happened to the Northern Baby family this afternoon. Heaven knows that the little guy has more than enough new toys after his birthday party yesterday, so we went to Kids Town in search of practical items: travel plates to carry N.B.'s lunch to daycare, some more cabinet latches (he's getting too smart for his own good!), and to check prices on prison gates (um, wait: I meant safety gates to block his access to the stairs!). We found our plates and latches, and just laughed at the prices for gates. Who's gonna pay $99.95 when you can get the same item at Walmart for less than $40? If I'm going to spend the $99, I want an electric fence with an intrusion alarm to keep N.B.'s little butt from climbing the stairs!

Back to the subject at hand - toys. I found a little toy set from PLAN Toys(http://www.plantoys.com/index.php) that included a Jeep, trailer, and motorcycle. I have loved PLAN toys ever since I first saw them. They're AWESOME! Even before Northern Baby was around, I found an excuse to buy one. Our nephew (we'll call him Southern Toddler - yeah, it doesn't flow as well as "Northern Baby", but that's what he is!) was on our Christmas shopping list, and I ran across a PLAN Bulldozer. That thing was so cool that I bought it on the spot - I figured if he didn't play with it, I could always take it back and play with it myself!

So here's a photo of Northern Baby's new toy:

Those are real rubber tires (for super smooth rolling) and the body is 'renewable' rubber wood with non-toxic paint. It's even Kawasaki green! Northern Baby is going to love this toy - if he can ever pry it away from Daddy!