Author: King Tom

For the past three or four weeks, we’ve had a situation similar to a Bigfoot sighting around our house.

Hope has been walking.  But only when the cameras were off.  If I had the camera on, she would either just sit there or crawl around. I spent a lot of time sitting around and playing with her with one hand on the camera waiting for her to walk, while she would do anything else.

But yesterday, I finally got my video proof:

The fall into the Ottoman didn’t hurt.  She’s actually started to walk up to things, rather than walk to a few steps away and fall the rest of the way.

Because of the cold weather, The Civee and I spent most of the day inside yesterday, organizing and babyproofing.  We put up a few gates and I think we have a system that will work.  But it’s only a matter of time before Hope figures out how to climb.

If you were to go through the recent posts of this blog, it would appear that little is happening in the Kingdom.

The last few posts have been Hope-related, and even those have been few and far between.  For an update, she’s still growing and amazing us every day.  She’s taken a few steps and has a great little drunken walk (without the actual drunkeness).

Other than that, it may feel like not much else is happening.  The weather is horrible, which isn’t surprising considering it is winter.  But for an Island native like myself, I get sick of the cold as soon as the temperature dips below 40.  Combine that with the short days and it feels like not that much is going on this time of year.  When the weather is nice and the days are longer, The Civee, Hope and I usually go out after I return from work and go for a walk or run before cooking dinner and settling in for the night.  These days, I get home, hang out with Hope and the Civee and make dinner.  So it feels like there’s not much to write about.

Also, for the past few years, both Lost and 24 started in January.  Sadly, neither of those shows will be back this year.  Without those twice-weekly automatic topics, the blog may feel lighter on content, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on.

I’ll keep posting, especially when something new happens with Hope.  And I’ll keep an eye out for other things to blog about too.  But until then, we’ll still be here.

I should add The Civee thinks this is a weak entry.  I don’t disagree.  She suggests I withdraw it until I have something stronger to write.  I suggest she get her own blog.

The other day The Civee noticed that Hope was banging two bottles together in her hands.  For a few weeks now, she’s been able to clap.  Yesterday, she started clapping while standing.  Then it hit me- our baby is now a multitasker.

Around this time last year, I was blogging about TV shows that are no longer on the air (this one, this one or this one), the day The Civee and I spent cleaning out the basement at our old apartment or quirky methods of measuring the size of babies during pregnancy.  Obviously, a lot has changed- we now have a new basement that’s somewhat in order and Hope is a lot bigger than your average butternut squash (not only is she bigger than one, but she eats them too).

I’m sure there will be a lot of new things for Hope this year.  Her next surgery is scheduled for early February.  She’s on the verge of walking.  She’s trying all sorts of new foods.  I’ll be blogging about all of those things.  And maybe if I have time, I’ll blog about some other things too.

Christmas has come and gone, and for Hope, it was a wonderful, if overwhelming time.

In the last few weeks, our house has undergone a lot of internal modifications- weatherizing some windows and doors, adding a Christmas tree in Hope’s playroom, and setting up Hope’s play area.  There’s enough room for the three of us and a plethora of Hope’s toys.  Our home is safe for Hope and it’s great to have a spot for her to play in that we can completely control.

As for Christmas, it’s safe to say that Hope had a good time.  We’ve seen a lot of family and friends over the last few days.  While she’s shy at first,  she eventually opens up and joins the party.  The three of us have spent time with both sides of the family and we think Hope knows that something special has been going on lately.

Christmas morning, Hope awoke to find her play room filled with some new toys- a farm playset, a 100-piece set of styrofoam blocks (that were already set up) and a wrapped box.  Hope’s approach to the toys has been interesting.  She loves to knock over the farm.  She has no use for 99 of the blocks, as her favorite thing has been to take one of the blocks and chew on it, ignoring all the others.  As for the box, well, it’s still mostly wrapped and makes noise as you touch it (rumor has it that it’s a remote control).  Hope has torn away at some of the paper, but seems more content with toppling over the farm or chewing on one of her blocks.  If we’re lucky we can recycle the mystery box for her birthday!

For the past few days, King Classic, my sister and stepmother have been in town.  Hope has had a lot of fun playing with them.  For Christmas dinner, King Classic and I made pierogies, kielbasa and scallops for dinner.  After spending the day playing with her new toys and relatives, Hope joined us in chowing down on pierogies and kielbasa.

Update: Hope was playing with her mother and tore away a little more of the mystery box’s wrapping.  But then she saw one of her blocks out of the corner of her eye and was distracted.

Anyway, I’m off tomorrow and it will be fun to spend more time with The Civee, sister and Hope.  Maybe soon Hope will be interested in more than one block at a time.

Here’s a little of Hope on Christmas morning: