Now that Wesley is about eighteen months (he turns on Wednesday) he can attend playgroups at Kids Who Count, which is the program for kids with special needs in our area. On Friday I took him to his first one. It was his first-ever structured playtime.

The playroom at Kids Who Count is terrific. It’s full of lots of toys that kids don’t normally have at home, like a table of sand they can dig through, a trampoline, an indoor playground, a cage with plastic balls in it, plus a whole assortment of smaller toys. And the toys are cleaned and sanitized every day so you don’t have to worry about germs.

The playgroup Wes attends is for kids eighteen months to two years, but he was by far the smallest kid there. The first half hour is toy time. At first Wes just looked around, checking things out. After a while he started to chew on the toys I kept trying to give him, but he wouldn’t play with them.

Then it was mat time. I helped Wes walk over and the teacher handed him a mat to sit on. I sat behind him while the teacher handed out objects, like bells and Slinkys, that the kids used as they (optical communicationread: the parents) sang songs. The teacher was really good in keeping things moving so the kids didn’t get bored.

Next was craft time. They have a low table with small wooden chairs that were the perfect size for kids as small as Wesley to sit in. His feet almost touched the floor. The craft was a hand puppet made out of a paper bag. Wesley enjoyed making watching me make it.

Lastly was snack time. Wes had to wash his hands before he could eat, and I realized it was the first time I’d ever washed his hands before (rather than wiping them with a wet cloth). There were two low little sinks, and Wes liked having his hands washed. Snacks were Cheez Its Party Mix and mini colored marshmallows. He didn’t like the marshmallows, but he ate six Cheez Its. There was also a small Dixie cup with water in it, which was good practice for Wes, since he’s not good at using a cup yet. I helped him hold it with both hands and bring it to his mouth, where he chewed on the edge more than drank the water. We were the last ones done since this took some extra time to practice. Then the kids (or, actually, their parents and the teacher) sang goodbye to each other as they put on their coats and left. Wes fell asleep on the way home.

Then, on Sunday, I took him to nursery at church for the first time. There were fourteen children there, ages eighteen months to three years. I used to think the chairs in the nursery were tiny, until I saw Wes sit in one. His feet barely come past the edge of the seat. I was worried he would fall off, but he managed to hang on OK. Snack time was first, with animal crackers, pretzels, cereal, and marshmallows. He still didn’t like the marshmallows, but the animal crackers were a hit. I watched him gnaw slowly on the corner of one for a while, then I looked away, and when I looked back the animal cracker was gone but Wesley’s mouth was stuffed full. It took a couple minutes for him to gum the cracker enough that he could swallow it (still no teeth!).

He sat through a lesson, and then had coloring time. He’d never seen or held a crayon before then. I helped him hold it, and tried to keep him from chewing on/throwing it. Together we managed to get a little coloring done.

After all that, there was about 45 minutes of toy time. I left him alone for that. When I came back at the end the leader said Wesley did fine. With fourteen kids, and Wesley being by far the smallest kid there, I wasn’t sure he’d make it without being trampled/sat on, but he seemed to do OK. So I guess we’ll take him again next week, too.

The other day I left Wes alone in his room for a few minutes. When I came back:

He loves his books.

He’s doing well with walking. Once he figured out how to walk, crawling became a thing of the past. He walks everywhere. Toddles, more like. He’s still doing fine on the stairs, although yesterday he fell down a half-flight because he got to the top, pushed himself to standing, then lost his balance and fell backward. I was close by and nabbed him before he went all the way down. I credit his corduroy overalls for causing enough friction to slow him down so he slid more than fell.

Sometimes, when life feels a little heavy and it seems like all I do is clean up pools of spit-up, clean the house (and re-clean and re-clean), do laundry, and provide meals and entertainment, it’s good to pause and remember how happy our little family is. Wesley is doing great. Life is generally good for all of us. We’re happy. And the spit-up won’t last forever.

Wesley has learned how to play Peek-a-boo. At first, I would cover up my face with my hands, say “Where’s Mom?”, then pull away my hands and say “Peekaboo!” I’d do the same to him by covering up his face and saying, “Where’s Wesley?” He really liked that. But this week he figured out that he can do the same thing by pulling a blanket or burp cloth over his face. It’s really cute to watch and it’s rewarding to see that he’s getting it. Sometimes it seems like we work for so long on something, or a lot of things, and he just doesn’t get it. It gets frustrating to try to teach him something for months and months without any apparent progress, when you know other kids get it just like that. But then he surprises us by figuring out something on his own that we weren’t even trying to teach him, like how to play Peek-a-boo.

For Christmas Wes received a few new toys, courtesy of the grandparents. One of them is a Bounce & Spin Zebra that he can sit on and, well, bounce and spin on. The box says it’s for ages 12-36 months. Wes is 15 1/2 months, but I think we’ll have to put it aside for a few months until he gets tall enough that his feet can reach the floor while sitting on the toy. Right now we have to hold him on it and he’s kind of like, “What am I doing dangling here?”

Wes has to gain over three pounds before I can get him out of the backward-facing infant car seat and into the Big Boy front-facing seat. Whenever we take him into restaurants we always carry him in the car seat and we always specifically request a high chair. And the server always arrives with a sling for the car seat instead. When we ask for the high chair again, the server usually says, “Oh, sorry; people who want high chairs don’t come in with car seats.” I didn’t think it was that weird to carry Wes around in the car seat. Is it?

For Christmas John gave me the DVD of Anne of Green Gables. I finished watching it today. It is like a breath of fresh air. And now I’m dying because I don’t have the sequel to it. I might just have to go online and buy it as a belated Christmas present to myself…

And, speaking of movies, I saw Twilight for the second time this week. And it was so much better than the first time. I liked it OK the first time, but I could really get into it the second time around. How much better will it be the third time, I wonder? Has anyone else seen it twice?

This week I flew to California with my dad and Wesley to visit my dad’s parents so they could meet their great-grandson Wes.

Wes was a natural flier. On our flight there he fell asleep as we were taxiing for take-off and slept for over half the flight. When he woke up I fed him a bottle and then he was bouncing around on my dad’s lap in the best mood ever.

As we prepared to land at the Oakland airport we got a great view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was remarkably clear.

We got our luggage and took the shuttle to the car rental place. When we got there we realized we had left the car seat at the baggage claim and would have to go back. We had to sneak Wes into the rental car (which was illegal with no car seat) and drive back to the terminal. I was so nervous that the car rental officials or the Oakland airport security (who are wandering all over the place) would catch us out. But the car rental guys hardly even glanced at us as we drove off with Wes in the backseat on my lap, nor did the lady in the booth who took our ticket as we left the car rental area.

When we got to the terminal Dad pulled over and I hopped out with Wes and walked right past a security guard who had seen that we were sans car seat. As I went inside I saw him hollering towards my dad, who was about to pull out. When I came back outside with Wes (in the car seat at last) I asked my dad if he had gotten in trouble. To my surprise, he said that the security guard had realized we were returning to get a car seat and was telling him he could stay parked in the no-parking zone since the terminal wasn’t very busy just then. I thought that was really nice and human-like of the security officer. And how nice of him to notice we were breaking the law but trying to fix it, even though the car rental people were blind to the whole thing.

On our way to Concord, where my grandfolks live, my dad took me to the Oakland Temple.

He and my mom were married there in 1976. I had only been there once when I was seven and only vaguely remember standing by a fountain out front. This time we walked through the Vistors’ Center and strolled through the garden terrace that encircles the second level of the temple. It was a beautifully clear day, and from the temple we could see all the way across the bay to San Francisco. Wes was asleep the whole time.

Our hotel was the Summerfield Suites in Pleasant Hill, which was pretty much The Most Perfect Hotel Ever. I booked us a two-bedroom suite so my dad and I could each have our own room, and Wes slept in a crib in the living room between us. We each had our own bathroom and television sets, so we didn’t see each other much. Just kidding; one time we actually congregated in the living room and watched The Fresh Prince of Bel Air together on the flat screen there while Wes ate a bottle. (Side note: I found out recently that my 18-year-old brother has never heard of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Am I that old already?) The hotel also had a large outdoor swimming pool and hot tub that I looked at longingly every time we passed it but, sadly, never had time to actually use.

After we checked into our hotel my dad and I went across the street to get a snack at Coco Swirl. It’s a frozen yogurt place that has a brilliant setup and would absolutely make a fortune if it came to Provo, Utah. There are five self-serve frozen yogurt machines lining the wall, each with two flavors and a swirl. You grab a cup, fill it with as much yogurt as you want in any flavor you want, then add all the toppings you want. The cup is weighed and the price is by the pound. I got Ghiradelli chocolate, cookies n’ cream, cake batter, strawberry…and a few others, I think. I topped mine with strawberries and M&Ms. It was super delicious. Wes, as you may already know, is crazy about ice cream, so we had to share.

On Friday we wanted to do something touristy that my grandma would enjoy, too, so we went to Pier 39 in San Francisco and took a 2 1/2 hour tour of San Francisco on a motorized trolley. Just before we got lunch at the Boudin Bakery (egg salad on sourdough slices), which was tasty.

Here’s what our tour bus looked like, and that’s the Golden Gate Bridge behind it. That is all we could see of the entire bridge because it was so foggy.

Wes was strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn, and he slept for most of the tour. We stopped at three places where we could get out and walk around. The first place was near the Exploritorium, which was also the site of the 1915 world fair. A lot of tours stop here, so a lot of tourists–especially foreign ones–were milling around with cameras and camcorders in hand.

One of the first things I saw when I got off the bus was a man, obviously a local, with headphones on and six dogs in tow.

It’s not something you see every day, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a photo. The two Asian girls next to me did the same. Then they turned and saw me and Wes and started smiling and exclaiming in their language. I think it must have been something like, “Oh, how cute–that woman has a sleeping baby strapped to her chest in some weird contraption we don’t have back home.” And then they snapped a photo of us! As I walked further on there was a Japanese man videotaping the architecture. When he saw me walk by with Wes he zoomed the camera in on him. Wes is now a Japanese superstar.

We also stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge, which was FREEZING, and amazingly foggy even though it had been clear and warm half an hour earlier. We couldn’t see much of the bridge for the fog, but it was interesting to see the fog roll in (it moves fast) and to learn that there are 1300 confirmed suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge. (I thought it was ironic that after telling us this fact they stopped the bus and encouraged us to get off and walk up to the bridge ourselves.) My dad bought us a nice hot chocolate to share, which hit the spot.

Following our tour we drove to Heaven on Earth, more officially known as The Bittersweet Cafe. I’m kind of a nerd, in that when I travel I have to find at least one cool local place that is non-touristy and will leave me with good memories and satisfied taste buds. This was that place.

(That’s my grandma standing and looking at the merchandise.)

This place has chocolate confections, pastries, drinks, and–oh, yes–hundreds of chocolate bars from around the world. I already mentioned that this place is Heaven on Earth, didn’t I?

After perusing the selection I picked out a few bars of chocolate for my chocoholic husband back home and bought myself a drink to go: peanut butter hot chocolate. No mixes here. This was real chocolate melted down and blended with 2% milk and peanut butter. It was rich and creamy and warm. Pretty much, if I could pump it directly to my bloodstream, I would.

That night we got together with my cousins and their spouses. It was delightful to meet my cousin’s wife Coila, whom I’ve talked to in the world of blogging but had never met. Plus I got to hold the newest addition to our family, the 26-day-old son of my cousin Melissa. It was a fun get-together and was over too quickly.

Wes handled the flight home fine, falling asleep about twenty minutes in and not waking up again until we were halfway home in the car on I-15.

Later this week our baby will be turning one year old. To think a year ago I was living a different life, working full-time, completely unsuspecting that in a few days I’d be a mom and change my career path forever.

One month before Wes was born I suddenly turned into a nesting maniac and spent most of my lunch hours and free time either in Babies-R-Us or perusing baby Web sites and catalogs. I felt such an urgency to get things ready after a seven-month drought where I felt no interest at all.

Six days before Wes was born John and I went to the Def Leppard concert in West Valley City, UT. John’s a big fan. It was my first live and up-close experience with the group and with 80’s-style rock fan attire (e.g., miniskirts, leggings and warm-ups, leather pants, etc.). It was loud, but fun. Boy, I was tired by the end.

Five days before Wes was born my cousin was married in Texas, and I wanted so badly to go even though I was 36 weeks pregnant. I checked with the airlines and technically you can fly when you’re 36 weeks if you have a doctor’s note of approval. I finally decided not to go, which ended up being a very good thing.

Two days before Wes was born John and I both went to the dentist and found out we each have an identical cavity in the same tooth. Weird, huh? We still haven’t had them filled.

One day before Wes was born (a.k.a. the day wherein I went into labor) I woke up at 3:30 a.m. for no perceivable reason with a ton of energy and put together our new jogging stroller. I’m still proud I did that myself. Then I went to work as usual.

That same day at 3 p.m. I went to the OBGYN for my 36-week appointment. All checked out fine, although I didn’t feel well.

That same day at 4:30 p.m. I was running errands before my aerobics class and found it hard to walk because of an annoying pain in my back. It came in waves and I had to sit and let it pass sometimes. I skipped my aerobics class and went home to take a bath.

That night at 7:00 I called the doctor to tell him my symptoms and he suggested I had the flu and to take some pills to feel better.

That night at 7:30 when John got home he watched me a while and then handed me an oven timer “just to see.” My pains were 2-4 minutes apart. I still didn’t realize I was in labor.

That night at 10:00 I called the doctor again and said things really weren’t improving and he relented that possibly I was in labor.

That night at 11:30 a nurse at the hospital finally examined me. John said, “We know it’s probably a false alarm, but…” and the nurse said, “She’s here to stay.” And I finally realized I was having a baby.

The next morning at 1:38 a.m. we had a baby boy, Wesley John, who weighed just 3 lbs 15 oz and was 16 inches long. No one knew he’d be so small. He was reasonably healthy, considering that his heart rate dropped significantly during labor, that he was 3 1/2 weeks early, and that he was so tiny.

On his birthday at 7 a.m. the pediatrician informed us Wesley likely has Down syndrome.

Twelve days after his birthday we got to bring him home with oxygen attached. He weighed just 4 pounds 2 oz.

Six weeks after his birthday we got to send back his oxygen tank and take off the annoying stickers that held the tubes to his face. The scars on his tiny feet from where he was poked for blood samples multiple times a day in the hospital had healed.

Two months after his birthday he graduated from preemie-size clothes to newborn size.

Three months after his birthday he started sleeping through the night (hallelujah) and smiling.

Four months after his birthday he weighed almost 9 1/2 pounds and could hold his head up by himself with only a little wobbling.

Six months after his birthday he could sit up if we supported him and was wearing size 0-3 month clothing.

Seven months after his birthday he could stay sitting up all by himself!

Eight months after his birthday he could hold up his bottle by himself.

Nine months after his birthday he could wear size 3-month clothing.

Ten months after his birthday he could push himself up to sitting and eat finger foods if we put them in his mouth for him.

Eleven months after his birthday he weighs around 15 pounds and is in size 3-6 month clothing. He can say lots of sounds like “mama” and “baba,” pull himself to standing in the crib, and crawl. He can eat all sorts of foods that don’t require teeth (of which he has none), but his pincer grip is yet to be developed so we pop the foods in his mouth for him. When he sees our hands approaching he drops his mouth wide open and leans forward for the food. He loves to drink from cups, even if he gags on the liquid. He can play independently and has so much fun stacking toys, chewing on toys, and pushing buttons on toys so they light up and play music. He has so many friends. He smiles a lot, which lights up his whole face and turns his eyes into half-moons, and he makes us smile a lot too.

The year has gone quickly. Who knows what the next year will bring?

Being a mom, you don’t really get paid vacation hours. Or unpaid vacation hours. Or vacation hours of any kind.

But, unlike with normal desk jobs, you’re not limited to x-number hours of vacation. You can go where you want, when you want, for as long as you want. You just have to take your work with you. And he or she has to be somewhat cooperative with your plans.

So today I took Wes to Salt Lake City for a little sight-seeing. After living around here for nearly ten years, I realized I’ve never done proper touristy-type things, and there’s no time like the present. I also got to try out our new lightweight stroller. I needed something light and compact (unlike my very bulky, very heavy jogging stroller) and after some research and hands-on experimentation I decided on the Maclaren Triumph. It only weighs about 11 pounds and turns on a dime. It’s fantastic.

The first thing Wes and I did was take a guided tour of the Conference Center. It was the first time I’ve been on the roof to see the garden up there. Wes and I enjoyed the view of downtown Salt Lake.

Then we stopped in at the Lion House Pantry and picked up a lunch to go (chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, and a world-famous roll). It was “to go” because I had to go and feed the parking meter again. Two hours went by fast.

Next we toured the Church History Museum and peeked in at the original 1847 log cabin right next door.

Lastly, we walked around Temple Square, took some photos, and watched a wonderful presentation on eternal families in the Visitors’ Center.

With all the construction happening in the downtown area, walking through Temple Square really does feel like the most peaceful experience on Earth. You can’t hear the construction (which, I can attest, is loud). It’s so quiet and comfortable. Here are our attempts at photos on Temple Square.

We stopped at my brother’s place in the Avenues for a visit with his wife and their two kidlets. Wes got to play with his six-month-old cousin Ethan. This photo makes Wes out to be a giant, but actually Ethan has the edge on Wes in the size department.

There was a lot of this going on:

On the way home we listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on tape and stopped in American Fork at my favorite bakery, where we had ice cream and a slice of Asiago cheese bread and bought two cupcakes to go.

For my birthday some of my family came over and we played a game of croquet in the backyard. It’s one of my favorite games ever, but it was about 100 degrees outside, so we pushed through the game as fast as we could. I took some photos of us playing, but the little guy on the sideline stole the show.

Today I handed Wes to John so I could make some dinner. When I came back upstairs Wesley’s eyes were glued to the computer screen. Like daddy, like baby.