Noah's 1st Birthday!

As much as I couldn't believe it when Ben turned 3, it is crazy to me that our baby Noah has turned 1. Our beautiful little boy has been with us a whole year already! We celebrated with a family party and Noah had a great time being the center of attention.

Here he is getting loved up by ... Birdie, Grandpa, Uncle Joseph, Uncle John, and Grandma Jenny.

Tol

In Korean tradition, a child's 1st birthday, or Tol, is very important. In the past, the death rate for infants was extremely high due to lack of medical information, seasonal temperature differences, and many childhood diseases. Many children died before their 1st birthdays. Therefore, this milestone was a very happy one for parents. Part of the celebration is the "Toljabee" event. The child is offered a number of objects and is allowed to grab one, and his future is predicted according to what he grabs. To celebrate Noah's Korean heritage, we performed the Toljabee ... The items were laid out before him: a knife (he will be a good cook), a ruler (he will be talented with his hands), a book (he will become a successful scholar), thread (he will live long - this is what Ben chose on his 1st birthday), and rice cakes (he will become rich - this is what Jess always pulls for). And off he went. What would he choose? The knife! We look forward to many great meals from you, Noah!

Then it was time for cake ... "Happy birthday to you!" Daddy helps blow out the candle, then Noah gets his very own cake ...

"Hmmm ..." "Interesting ..."

" You mean you can eat this stuff?!"

"I'm not sure about this 'cake' business."

And finally, in true Noah fashion, he decided it wasn't to his liking and started flinging frosting everywhere, at which point Mommy decided it was time to be all done.

Ben, on the other hand, had no problem with his cake.

Then it was time to open presents ...

"Daddy's Little Quarterback"

Yummy puppy! The Davis boys have a jam session.

Happy 1st birthday, Noah!

Children's Museum

In an effort to beat the heat (and a bit waterlogged from several trips to the pool already this week), the boys and I headed to "Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta." The first exhibit we explored was about the circus. Ben and Noah took the Ringling Bros. car for a spin, and fed the circus animals.

In the food exhibit, Ben went grocery shopping ...

Noah sampled all the plastic food ...and got frustrated that he couldn't actually eat any of it.

Apparently, Noah doesn't know that he's a vegetarian. He wouldn't stop gnawing on this fake meat ...In fact, Noah was strangely attracted to all things cow ...

Hmmm ... is he trying to tell us something?

In other exhibits, Ben went from crane operator ...

to train operator.

Noah planted a lovely garden ...
And Ben let the big one get away ...

Go fish!

Noah played us a song before we headed home.

When Ben was about Noah's age, he liked this piano too ...Children's Museum - August 2006

Fourth of July

While the boys go to bed too early to enjoy the fireworks, we had a fun day celebrating the Fourth kid-style.

Dressed and ready for July 4th fun!

We spent the morning at Centennial Olympic Park. We thought the boys would have fun playing in the "Fountain of Rings," and there were other kids' activities going on as well. They weren't too sure what to think of the fountains at first. Noah decided they were too loud and just put his head down, grabbing tightly onto Daddy's shirt (poor guy - we got him out of there quickly). Ben thought they were pretty fun, as long as Daddy held him out of direct firing range. But he was much happier (surprise) enjoying a snack on the sidelines with buddy Jackson. Noah thought snacktime was more fun also. The bounce house was definitely more to Ben's liking. Understandably, he found this "tall guy" both fascinating and slightly frightening (see the stroller on the left). Ben did find the courage to slap him a high 5.

Later in the day we went to the Pied Piper parade in Decatur - a small, hometown celebration featuring mostly kids on decorated bikes, scooters, wagons, etc. Ben and Noah practiced their flag waving skills while we waited for the parade to begin.

Once it started, Ben took his job of waving at everyone very seriously. And Noah was happy to put his clapping skills to use ... yay, parade!