i guess she figured it out.

like the title says, and as that tired old cliché tells us, Arwyn went from walking to running in no time at all. well, maybe she's not quite running yet (at least not without holding onto one of us), but pretty close. after just a couple of days of taking a few steps here and there, Arwyn is now quite confident in her walking, as this clip shows:




that's pretty amazing, i think. in any case, it's probably a lot less frustrating for her now since she can get to the things she wants without assistance. now we've just got to work a little on the whole talking thing so that she can tell us what she wants, what the problem is this time, why she is screaming, etc... ;)

preparing this clip of Arwyn walking really got me thinking about just how much she has changed in the year since she was born. as every parent is well known for saying, it's pretty amazing stuff. especially over the second 6 months of their lives, it's astonishing just how much they grow, learn, and just change all around. since i'm a nostalgic old softie, i put together a short set of clips from Arwyn's first day in the outside world. i hope you enjoy them.

a day at the beach

Arwyn and i went to Rocky Neck State Park yesterday with our friends Amy and baby Andrea to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. we took a nice walk, played with some doggies and ate some sand :) here's a pic of Arwyn being super cool in mommy's shades:

just a cute pic, that's all

but it is a pretty cute picture, no? this is a cell phone shot of Arwyn taken while she was watching her video earlier today. she (and mom) have been feeling a little under the weather this week so it's nice to see her back to her old (albeit grumpy, occasionally) self again. Arwyn spent a nice day with her grandparents in Cheshire which gave good ol' mom and dad a nice, relaxing afternoon off (thank you!).

Arwyn's been doing a lot more walking lately although generally away from home. i captured a cute cellphone video of her at happy hour on friday night (she's a social butterfly, ok?), which hopefully i can upload soon. apparently she did a lot of walking and Gigi & Poppy's house today!

that's all for now! take care and keep checking back, ok?

arywn's birthday at the mystic aquarium

ok, so this post will be a bit of a retrospective, given that Arwyn's birthday was almost two weeks ago - but we didn't have this blog until recently, right? anyhow, we decided to take her to The Mystic Aquarium that day. i had worked the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, enabling me to take the following Wednesday off. we weren't sure how much she'd get out of the trip, given Arwyn's age, but we were hopeful. as it turns out, she loved it. you'll note in this picture she's not looking at the camera (unusual for the ham that she is, right?) because she was fascinated by the beluga whales in the exhibit:



Arwyn really enjoyed all the different animals at the aquarium, but of course she liked the outdoor exhibits the most. she is still all about being outside, that's for sure. anything hands-on is always a plus so of course she enjoyed touching the brain coral:



all in all, it was a really nice day. it wasn't even as crowded as we'd feared, given that it was a school vacation week. at the end of the day we were all pretty pooped. after a quick popcorn cake and juice recharge for Arwyn and some coffee for mom & dad it was time to head for home.

12 month check-up

hi everyone! Arwyn went to the doctor for her 12 month check-up this past Wednesday. everything went very well. although we did have to prick her finger to take blood for an iron/lead/hemoglobin test which was pretty tough on her. they had to take a lot of blood out of her finger :( however, she was walking all over the place in the exam room! she seems to walk around a lot more when we are out - at home she just wants to hold my hand and walk around or crawl. below are her numbers for those of you who are interested....

Length = 29 inches
Weight = 21.5 pounds
Head circumference = 18.3 inches

percentiles:

Length = between 50th and 75th percentile
Weight = between 50th and 75th percentile
Head Circumference = above the 100th percentile ( ! )
(that's because it's full of brains -jason)

here's a cute pic of her taking a bath from the other night. she had her grumpy pants on b/c she was tired, hence the strange look: