Harrison's First Birthday (Part I)

The week before Harrison's birthday, I started getting sad thinking about my little guy turning one year old. The night before, I cried like a baby and got it out of my system so that when they big day finally arrived, we were ready to let the good times roll!

I took the day off of work so that momma and baby could spend the whole day together. Fueled by birthday pancakes, we kissed dad farewell as he went off to work then we drove to downtown Seattle and visited the Pacific Science Center's toddler area and tropical butterfly house. Harrison loved the water trough, splashing wet stuff everywhere and playing with the water wheels. In the picture below, he is flanked by twin 15 month old girls.

Harrison also enjoyed the music room, filled with drums, xylophones and many other instruments that makes noise by banging on them.

He also enjoyed following another little girl into the thing below (what do you call these things?). Note the door on this cube... at home, he discovered how to open and close cabinet doors (which now all have safety locks!) as well as standard doors. In fact, he likes to close the door on me and when I ask "Where's Harrison?" he will swing the door back open and greet me with a wide smile and a giggle.

Lastly, we visited the Butterfly House, which is basically a giant green house filled with hundreds of butterflies flying free. To ensure he didn't accidentally step on any that occasionally land on the ground, I carried him the whole way. At one point, he was on my left hip and a butterfly landed on my right shoulder - he was totally fascinated and just stared at it for the minute it rested there. Another landed on his leg (which he couldn't really see) and another landed on my leg which flew away when I leaned Harrison too close to it. 

Since it wasn't quite nap time when we left and I didn't want him to fall asleep in the car on the way home, we drove across downtown to my office and had lunch with my friends Nancy, Carol and Jessica. As expected, Harrison wanted to get down and explore so I followed him around the lobby and when we came back to my friends, he walked into the glass wall (on purpose) but then decided to stay put... long enough for me to grab the camera and take several pictures while the four of us laughed hysterically! He literally held this position and his eyes darted back and forth at us while we laughed! What a ham.

Harrison and mom drove back towards Mill Creek and he fell asleep in his new big boy car seat (facing forward finally!). I love this picture, he just looks so sweet and peaceful after a fun birthday morning.

At 2pm, we arrived at his Day Care with blueberry muffins so we could celebrate his birthday was his new classmates. Once inside the room, I asked why there were only 4 kids instead of the usual 10 and I was informed that the day before, several had been throwing up and had diarrhea and had stayed home today. Needless to say, I didn't even put Harrison down and we high tailed it back to the car.

Daddy came home a little early and we decided to take Harrison out to dinner at a kid friendly pasta place that would meet his limited list of acceptable foods (he only likes soft stuff, like noodles or crackers because they kind of melt in his mouth). He started getting kind of cranky while waiting for food so we fed him some applesauce to tide him over. Just as our food arrived, he suddenly vomited everywhere... repeatedly... things from breakfast showed up... he didn't hold back at all. The poor bus boy had to bring out a bucket and mop (he said it happens all the time but if I were him, I would seriously consider busing at some other place!) and I took Harrison into the bathroom to change all his clothes. This photo was taken just moments before the incident.

In short, he had the bug from daycare. Evidently he caught a stomach flu that was going around and he already has a bit of a weak gag reflex and will go through bouts of throwing up, even when he is not officially sick. He threw up all over me every day for 5 days or so until it finally subsided only to be replaced by a hacking cough (a separate chest cold) which would also initiate some vomiting sessions. Super awesome. And to top it off, the doctor found he had a "raging" ear infection. Poor little guy. Ten days later, he is finally in good spirits and nearly back to normal. Not the best way to kick off year two, but he was actually pretty sweet most of the time despite being so sick.

Happy Birthday Harrison! We love you!