We’ve been trying to teach Troy sign language for a long time – probably at least 6 months.  He caught on to the milk sign really quickly, but he never really showed much comprehension of the others.

Until recently, that is.  As you can see in the picture above, he is absolutely enthralled with his Baby Signing Time video, and he is very good at making some signs.  The one he’s making above is the "More" sign.  Hopefully he’ll keep picking them up and be able to better communicate his needs to us.

(Actually, he was happy as a clam when I took this shot.  It was just one of those things where you catch someone mid-expression and they end up looking like a drunken walrus.  In T’s case, he looks like a disgruntled midget with a bad toupée.)

One of Troy’s breakfast foods is oatmeal*, usually with blueberries or peaches mixed in.  On this particular day, it was blueberries.

Here he is taking a bite with blueberries:

And here he is taking a bite without blueberries:

With:

Without:

And I ran out of Withs, so here’s another Without:

What did we learn today?  Yes, that’s right – it’s much more fun to feed the baby oatmeal without blueberries.

* I hate oatmeal.  If you ever try to serve it to me, I’ll scoop it up and hurl it at you like the monkey feces it is.  Okay, not really, but honestly, oatmeal sucks.

Troy isn’t really a cuddle-up-and-sleep type of baby, which makes Kelly kind of sad, so whenever she gets the opportunity, she makes the most of it:

We had Troy's first birthday party yesterday at our house.  Other than natural fruits, the birthday cake was his first exposure to sweets.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first:

But he got the hang of it pretty quickly:

And he was a seasoned pro after 5 minutes:

Thanks to everyone who came yesterday!

Oh, and, uh, Troy had a *very* big day today, if you catch my drift (gawd knows we caught his…)

Exactly one year ago today, your father was very tired.  Like, exhausted.  Could barely stand, I was so drained.  I don't know how I did it, but I dug deep, and I came through in the clutch. 

Oh, and your mom had a bit of a workout that morning, too, but it was small potatoes compared to what I went through.

Anyway, that day changed our lives forever.  You have brought so much joy and laughter into this household that we can hardly believe we ever lived fulfilling lives without you.  Here's to a fabulous first year of getting to know you, and many more to come.

Love you, Boy-boy.

Dad and Mom

Every morning I wake Troy up, change him, and take him to the kitchen for his first bottle.  Every morning, I set him on the floor for the 30 seconds it takes me to retrieve the bottle from the fridge and warm its contents.  And every morning, without fail, I get 30 seconds of this:

It doesn't start until I've placed him on the kitchen floor.  He's usually his happy, goofy self up until that point.  Clearly, I don't understand how hard it is to be Troy Steven:

You almost feel sorry for the little guy, huh?

Well don't, because this is what he looks like after shotgunning his breakfast:

Punk.