Playtime at the park

Austin has spent a lot of time at the park lately. He just can't get enough of the swings. And he loves playing with the wood chips.

On Sunday, Austin met up with his friend, Allistair, at Hart Park. His mom, Kristin, brought some little toy animals for the boys. Allistair, a few months older than Austin, just started to walk. Austin's pretty close behind him, though. Austin actually took a few steps the other day.



After Allistair left, Austin rode the dinosaur. He can pretty much do it himself.





He pulled himself up on the jungle gym.

Peek-a-boo.

Monday was daddy's day with Austin. They met a cute Chihuahua at the park. I guess the dog was a little bit afraid of Austin at first, but it looks like they became fast friends.

Dancing

Watch Austin dance.

Trading Austin for Austin

I didn't have a choice in the matter. But this year, I had to trade Austin for Austin.

That is Austin, Texas, where the South by Southwest festival was going on, for my son, Austin.

Michael was away at the NCAA tournament last weekend, so I had to fly solo with Austin for five nights. Meanwhile, my sisters were in Austin seeing Kanye West, D.J. Shadow and Echo and the Bunnymen. (OK, maybe I'm still brooding a little bit.)

Still, baby Austin and I had some fun while Daddy was away. I took Austin to the Orange County Zoo in Irvine Regional Park. Here, he's looking at a deer, wild pigs or coyotes. I couldn't get both in the picture, but as you can see, he really likes animals.



After, Austin and I headed to the playground. He tried to climb up the slide, but it didn't really work.



He played on and under the horsey, too.



On Saturday, our friends, Fermin and Laura, had a prime-rib dinner party. Our friends are starting to have kids all of the sudden. Austin enjoyed hanging out with Ellia, Jimmy and Talitha's daughter.



Ellia kept following Austin wherever he crawled or walked (clutching my hand, of course), calling out his name.



She even cried when we went outside to get something, thinking he was going away.

Austin also met Ellia's new little sister, Claira.

Sorry, no photos of baby Ella this time. But these two photos are courtesy Ella's mom, Ellyn.

Before Daddy left, it was St. Patrick's Day. My little leprechaun. Not sure why he is clutching his foot.

Recently, we tucked Austin in the laundry basket under some pillows. He liked it when we slid him across the floor.

Now that Daddy is home, hopefully we'll get back to normal.

Even though I was sad to be away from my sisters, everyone knows I wouldn't trade Austin for anything.

Shrinking toy

We got the good suggestion that we should take pictures of Austin each month with the same toy. As he grew, the toy would look smaller. We chose the Rally Monkey, which ended up being a poor choice. It's too floppy, so you can't really tell the difference.
Still, the pictures show his progression. We stopped doing it at nine months because he was becoming too squirmy.
Take a look.
Three months:

Four months:

Five months:

Six months:

Seven months:

Eight months:

Nine months:

Austin will be 11 months on Thursday. Can't believe it!

Fun with Maven

Michael had a day off with Austin on the same day that Kevin had the girls. So, Michael took Austin up to Hermosa Beach for a playdate with the Dings on Monday.

Austin enjoyed playing with their many toys, especially this Pluto.

Austin and Maven are starting to actually play together more.



They are both learning to stand, so they cruised together on the coffee table.



Maven liked kissing Austin.



It looks more like she's trying to eat his ear.



Back in Orange, I had Austin wear his bear claw mittens when we were out walking tonight. Take a look.

Life's a beach

Now he's a true California boy.

Austin got to play in the beach sand for the first time this weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa were visiting from Tucson, so we decided to head to Seal Beach. However, we didn't plan on taking Austin by the water.

And we certainly didn't plan on dipping his feet in the water, which he seemed to really like.

We didn't bring any towels or blankets with us, but we let him crawl and dig around anyway. He took his baby food containers and dumped sand. At least we had a change of clothes for later.

Don't mistake his serious face. He loved it. He was just taking it all in.

Austin couldn't get enough and kept crawling back for more. (I love the sandy behind.)

Earlier in the day, we took the opportunity to take some family shots.

Here's Grandma, Grandpa and Austin.

And a rare picture of Mommy, Daddy and Austin.

We let him crawl in the grass by our house, too.


Grandpa helped him practice his walking.

Here's a belated shot of our visit to Ella, Ellyn Pak's little girl. Austin and I went over there last week. Ellyn gave him this cute little Sophie the Giraffe squeak and chew toy.