Happy Birthday, Marko!

The kids and I went to Texas to visit my cousins last week. I have tons of good memories of hanging out with them as kids. They lived in the South Hills, which of course felt very far away from the North Hills. (I am a yinzer in that way.) I can remember sitting in traffic in the Liberty Tunnels sometimes. We were always scheming to make the family party last just a little longer. It was fun to pick up where we left off, now with another generation of kids to run around and play with each other. Many thanks to them for hosting us for an entire week and cooking fabulous GF food the entire time. Also, the weather was a welcome reprieve from this winter. It was 65 when we left Houston on Wednesday and 5 when we arrived in Pittsburgh two hours later!

And of course, Marko had his birthday this week. One! He's getting really good at climbing up on furniture and stairs. For the past two months it seemed like he was going to start walking, but he takes a few steps and then drops to all fours. M's sister bought him this dinosaur bike thing for Christmas and he loves riding it, and has all sorts of interesting techniques for propelling himself around the room. I gave up on keeping his clothes organized, because they are in a drawer under his crib and his favorite activity is taking them all out. He also likes the dish towel drawer. He started at daycare at the beginning of the month and seems to really like being with other kids. He also started eating regular food. He went from purees to entire sandwiches in about a week and is back to being nice and round.

It's been an awesome year with him. He's pretty good natured, but strong-willed enough to hold his own with Laurel. Maybe it's the second kid, maybe it's his mellow streak, but the infant stage was way easier and more enjoyable this time. I'm looking forward to watching him learn to walk and talk in the coming year.