Ten Months Old

It has been a wild spring here in the foothills, where one day the view from our porch looks like this...

And the next day it looks like this...

And Lyell has gone from his clean winter look...

To wild romps with the wonders of spring.

Spring means waterfalls and poison oak, and here we are on a hike to a waterfall pruning some poison oak off the trail.

Another day, another hike for Lyell in the National Park that is his backyard. That's Bridalveil Falls in the background (falling into Lyell's hat.)

Lyell still has plenty of time to play with Nariz, and above is our attempt to summarize their incredible relationship on the video screen.

Back on the home front, Lyell has decided to explore all the intricacies of our house. A few places he discovered before I discovered him were the shower and the pantry. I realize that I should start a business buying everyday household items, relabeling them as "Baby Toys" and selling them in fancy baby stores at twice the price :)

Lyell somehow figured out that if you blow raspberries with food in the mouth it makes the funniest mess. It is truly hilarious the first time, and then it becomes totally counterproductive to actually swallowing any food. As you can see our first "behavior modification" strategies to get Lyell to stop are working famously.

This is one of the first times that Lyell pulled himself up to standing. He is a bit surprised and then he couldn't stop singing to himself as he reveled in his new upright status. Unfortunately he couldn't figure out a way to get himself back down to the floor. Soon he got tired...and I took the next picture before helping him down (see the video at the end of the post.)

All of a sudden Lyell was pulling himself up on everything. These are the bars of the fence around our wood stove (not a miniature jail as it might appear :)

When I saw Lyell standing by himself for the first time the lump in my throat ballooned and my heart burst open. In that moment my baby grew up and I went through the first of what I image to be a life long process of letting go. He can stand up all by himself and needs me just a teensy bit less.

Nana and Grandpa VK came for a weekend in Yosemite, and we spent a day hiking and biking in the Valley. Lyell did not have one sad moment the whole day, which we attribute to the fact that he got to be outside with his favorite things: sticks, leaves and dirt.

One of Lyell's other favorite things is Grandpa's hat, which he gets to play with often. Grandpa has been Lyell's favorite babysitter for the past month (poopy diaper changes and all!) as I have been doing a little contract work.

We celebrated Easter with a gathering of family and friends in Palo Alto. Here is Lyell, Molly and Grandpa having playtime.

There were five of the "original Garland Drive gang" there for the event. We have all known each other since birth and grew up riding big wheels and playing kick the can together.

Lyell and I going out for a coffee in the big city.

Matthew's parents celebrated their 40th anniversary this month as well, and his siblings gave them this cake, which I think is just about the coolest thing ever!

Matthew embraced the long winter on a backcountry ski trip up to Tuolumne Meadows. He caught a break between two huge April storms and met up with a few friends at this hut.

Just last weekend we frolicked in the warm weather at Spring Fling in El Portal. A fabulous gathering of friends, food, music and even a 10k run in the morning. Many of Matthew's students were there and in the above picture he is sharing a little quiet conversation with one. I am constantly awed and guided by my husband's ability to connect with his students.

Lyell looking a leeeetle tired by late afternoon, but mommy still had so much socializing and dancing to do :)

Just this week our resident Harlequin Lupine's began to bloom.

I will leave you with one last little video clip of Lyell's first standing-up epic. Lyell does in fact leave his little play area in the corner where all the videos are shot, we just forget to bring the camera anywhere else.