building a few blocks

we bought alan a bucket containing100 pieces of building blocks.  i had difficulty building anything at the beginning, a matter of lacking imagination i guess. 

but after a while, i managed to build this little thing above.  it's my first building block in over twenty years, or if my memory didn't fail me (as i can't recall the last time i ever played with building blocks), it could very well be the first building block i ever built in my life!  wow.

as alan knocked down my first building, i quickly built a second smaller one.  this looked like a robot though.  :)

with some encouragement, alan started to stack up some blocks, too.  here he had three, and i remembered that he made it to five or six.  could this be considered his first built block?

go for a walk

we went for a walk this morning, with alan's new baby-walking-assistant.

one year old, and alan still need to hold on to something to walk or stand - his legs are not yet strong enough.

the other boy in the far background is 6 months older than us, but alan is bigger and taller than him.  :)  i know i shouldn't compare and every child is beautiful, but i can't help being a little proud.

we picked up some pink flowers,

and immediately became a big hit with the ladies!

apple

we were reading last night, and i as i pointed to an apple in the book and said the word, alan copied me and said "apple"!

a few milestones

by 11 months, alan can say "mama";

by 12 months, he can say "mama", "baba" (dad in madarin), "nai nai" (which meant both grandma and breast, and when alan says it, he means the later), "mao" (cat in madarin) and "bird".

sometimes alan speaks in his sleep - he says "ma ma" in such a sweet and soft voice!  i love it.