Elias turns 1

Elias is now 1! His birthday party was a great succes: he had nothing but fun for several hours as about four dozen people came to our house to help celebrate. I think the only time he cried, for just about three seconds, was when he popped a balloon (a "bloo-bloo-bloo") right in front of him. I saw him do this, and then he looked startled so I started clapping and said "yeah!" to help him see this as a Fun Thing, but after maybe five seconds of thinking about it he was moved to a cry, so I swooped him up into some instant-gratification bounces.

The rest of the day he played with many toys, with some water in the pool, and with some other babies, although I think for the most part he didn't notice the hordes of people that had descended around him, so he wasn't overwhelmed. Amy and I were fairly delirious during the party from the heat and the excitement of hosting, but I was the lucky one to hang with the Big Man most of the day, and it really was a great and memorable experience.

I'm excited that there will be some video and pictures that Elias can look at later in life -- I think all I have from my 1st birthday party is a Polaroid of me in a high chair with a huge, chocolate-frosting covered grin on my face.