Tenth month

We celebrated Jack's 10 month birthday with a little Oakland pride. The Linden Street Brewery, Oakland's first brewery in 50 years, just opened and was having a benefit for an organization that brings sustainable healthy food into the inner city, raising money for that organization by selling beer and brats. Does this sound like our kind of event or what?? It might not sound like a place you'd bring a 10-month-old for his birthday, but hey, there was a bouncy house, so it was officially family friendly. And while Jack was not allowed to sample the beer or brats, he did quite enjoy the potato salad that came with it. Whether he actually enjoyed eating it or just enjoyed smooshing his hands in it and rubbing it all over his face, I cannot say, because he did both, and endeared himself to many an old lady onlooker at our table in the process. "Oh he's so cute!" they would croon as he looked up at them, gobs of potato literally dripping from his cheeks and smeared into his eyebrows and hair, a presentation I thought only a mother could love, but I guess I was wrong.  He also enjoyed dancing to the live music, getting a private tour from the owner of the one-room brewery (with all the big bright shiny objects to look at therein), and checking out the antique cars parked on the premises. He has become really big on pointing and waving lately, which wins over even more people than mashed-potato face, so he made a lot of friends, too.



(the bottom photo is the one with the potato-face, I don't know how well it resolves here, but trust me, it was fantastically disgusting)

And Jack also got a pumpkin hat, in honor of his birthday, or October, or both, or neither and just plain old serendipity. Rebeccah brought it for him last night, and it fits perfectly. Which is amazing because he has an enormous head. I'm looking forward to some brisk fall weather so I can put this on him a lot. So he can complain years later about why I had to dress him up like a pumpkin. But I don't care, because it is seriously adorable.



Seriously.

How are you 10 months old already Jack? A month ago, you were falling down the stairs. A month before that, you were just about to start crawling. A month before that, we were still walking you to sleep because you didn't know how to fall asleep in your crib yet. A month before that, you were just meeting your cousins for the first time, and having your first swim, and eating your first solid food, and taking your first plane ride (that was a big month!). A month before that, you were just starting to sit up by yourself. A month before that, you were just starting to roll over. A month before that, you were finding your fingers. A month before that, you were just learning how to grab things. A month before that, you were losing all your hair and starting to smile and looked like a sweet little old man. And a month before THAT, my dear, you were just a little creature, a little alien, making velociraptor noises and flailing your little limbs and sucking on our fingers and snuggling your little head into the crook of our necks. How has it been so long since you were that little creature? You have one more birthday before your real birthday, and I can't even imagine what that's going to feel like if I'm this nostalgic already. Ten months. I just can't believe it.