Christopher Joseph Sunjae Watson

man. that's a long name! what were we thinking?...

this is a quick post about my favoritest little boy, Topher.

i don't know how we did it- but we survived this year! not without quite a few tears (on his end and mine) and a lot of laughter. Topher's sweet and amazing personality has really come out a lot these last few weeks, and we are loving it! his nana tells me that he is so much like his dad, which is kinda the best compliment he could get. though he loves to laugh, he enjoys making other people laugh more, which i have to admit- is an amazing trait for a one year old!

Topher is defnitely 'talking' more than his sister did at this stage in the game. he asked for a 'kaka' (cracker) the other day, and said something that sounded a lot like 'purple' after i said it this morning. maybe my mommy-ing skills are getting better... or maybe Topher is just naturally one smart cookie...

one of my favorite things that Topher does is when he sees something soft, he lays his face on it and smiles. it's cavity-inducingly sweet. and when he has a tantrum, or he is just sad, he sits with his legs in front of him, and just folds in half and puts his forehead on the ground. sometimes he cries, sometimes he just grunts, it's always so funny to watch.

yesterday we had 35 of our closest family and friends over here to celebrate Topher's first birthday. there were quite a few people missing (work schedules, living out of town, recovering from surgery, lame excuses like that... :) but it was such a blessing to have so many people around us who really helped keep us sane, and alive this year! lots of people forewarned me that this would be the hardest year. and it was definitely very trying at times. sometimes it still is- like this morning for instance! (sick babies + big birthday party + not enough sleep = cranky mommy) but are we having fun in the midst of the difficult times? of course!

there is a korean tradition, where at a baby's first birthday party, you set a few things in front of them to see what they will become. i forgot to do it at Lily's birthday last year (cause i am not a very diligent korean person) and this year because Jeehon was here, she set it up for me in the midst of all the partying madness (i love that woman!) so she set up a stethoscope (it has cookie monster on it. very professional looking!), a fireman's hat, a little computer, a basketball, and chris' police badge. Topher was so cute because he hustled his cute little behind over to the items across the room and stoped. he sat there and really contemplated each item. or at least that's what it looked like. and then much to the chagrin of his father, he chose the fire man's hat.
we will have to see how 'prophetic' this little game really is in a few years...

well, i just wanted to thank all of you dear readers- most of whom were at the birthday party yesterday, for all the love and support and prayers and diapers and babysitting you have poured on our family this last year. man, we are blessed.