Finally, A Few Party Snaps!

Sweet neighbor Barbara made Hale a party hat (one of two custom-made hats at the party!).

Derek gave a toast that sweeted the place up something fierce.

Robbie did his poem thing.

Don, Amy's dad knocked us all out with a fine ode.

Not only birthday boys get to wear birthday hats.

Dear friends Jennie and Peter came all the way from NEW YORK CITY for the party. They get the farthest traveled award.

So many people, such a beautiful evening.

Cousin in Law Terri flings Hale into the rafters.

Hale conducting high level grandma diplomacy.

Small people getting their groove on.

Henry and Amy have a special connection.

...bit later in the night: apparently everyone and Amy have a special connection.

(artists)

(artiste)

{and a final note of deep thanks to Wendy for snapping pictures all night, including a good chunk of these}

testing: Vimeo embedded vs. Blogger inline

So the question is, how does this video look (embedded from Vimeo) as compared to the Blogger inline version a few posts down. Let us know what you think.

Stand Up Guy from Hale True on Vimeo.

Hale's Got Well Wishers We Haven't Even Met!

Our good friend Chris Boulton couldn't make it to Hale's birthday party. So like any self respecting hyperachieving Media Studies PhD Candidate/filmmaker would do, Chris wrote Hale a Poem.

Then he made it into a movie. It features funny cameos from a whole bunch of people we've never met. And a few from folks we have. Notably among them, Chris himself, Joel and Melissa, and Mohit Mukherjee (all of us lived in the same little bohemian neighborhood, Guapulo, in Quito, Ecuador, back in the last century).

Untitled from Chris Boulton on Vimeo.

A little Dr. Seuss, a little Shel Silverstein, and a lot of the good old unselfconscious love. Chris got all Secret Squirrel with Amy and our amazing friend/neighbor Kristin to surprise me and Hale with this. It worked.

How did we get so lucky? I ask myself this a lot.

Poet Roberto Ascalon Poems Hale True

Roberto Ascalon Poems Hale True's Birthday from Hale True on Vimeo.

Our neighbor Robbie is a crazy good poet. We asked him to say a few words at Hale's party.

He rocked a whole new poem for the occasion, and it, um, kinda kicks ass.

Here he is reading it a couple nights after the party at a hallway party in our building. Love that guy.

THANK YOU, ROB!

(if you click on the four little outward-pointing arrows next to the word "Vimeo", you'll get a much bigger view of this video)

Two Fisted Ducky Suit Potato Eating Stander Upper

Run what ya brung.

Day after Hale's birthday party (got a post or three in the works from that as well), he decided to go ahead and go bipedal on us.

(It's tough to photograph him doing cool stuff from the front because he gets too excited about the camera. Hmm. Wonder who he gets that from.)

Cake. His Grandmother Feeds Him Cake.

Let Hale Eat Cake from Hale True on Vimeo.

And it was good.

Seems like maybe Hale and chocolate are going to be getting along just fine.

Turn a Year Old, Conquer the Stairs

Yesterday, in celebration of his birthday, Hale started two new things. Standing by himself, and climbing the stairs.

Um, yikes?

Thanks Eleanor for snapping this photo of an early summit bid.

Three Hundred Sixty Five Days. Ago. Today.

Hale is one year old today. 365 days ago, Amy and I drove him to the hospital, without knowing his name or his face or even his him or her-ness. Things, they got all fast and loud, and he popped out.

This is about the time Amy and I were in the hospital room, her high as a kite, me reeling like a crackly crepe paper doll (with a carbonated caffeine center), taking turns calling people who had no idea:

"We have a son."

Hale is one year old today.

This morning he jumped on my belly in bed, and said "Dad. Dad. Dad," very crisply and deliberately. His front teeth are coming in. He's starting to climb the stairs.

!

It's been kind of a big year.

Hale and Amy, enjoying a co-birthday dinner out.

Figuring it out.

Hale works really hard every day. And he assigns himself the tasks. If only I were as motivated to better myself on a daily basis.

I love how much Hale loves to swing

Hale at Luther Burbank with grandma and grampa.

Our friend, Susanna, took these at the park across the street from our house.

Videos: A How To Cheat the Bugz

We've been watching as lots of people are having troubles with videos on blogger-hosted sites. Some of Hale's readers have as well.

Here are a couple things that sort of work on our computer to get the videos to work:

If you click and it gives you a message like "this video is not available", try reloading the page, and see if it doesn't load and play then. (If it doesn't, please drop us a comment.)

If you see the video and don't get an error message, but it just does nothing when you click the "play" arrow, try grabbing the playhead--that little cursor looking thing that slides across as you play it--and drag it across a little bit.

That (for us anyway) seems to kind of jumpstart the player's brain. Probably you'll get a little note onscreen that says, "buffering..." That's good news. Slide the playhead back to the left and click the Play button.

And finally, videos are always going to run better if you let them load in before starting to play.

Cross your fingers.

Couple More Hale Videos, Just to Keep the Video Gremlins at Bay

Hale forgot something inside his house...

The drumming has commenced:

Embrace.

We stop our whispering

And are surprised to find ourselves swaying

In our kitchen in a tight embrace.

Our son is asleep in his "room".

"This is the rhythm of our lives. It must be;

How else would this dance have found us?"

Done. Done, Dad.

Hale's first word--as best we can discern--is "done". As in, stop shoveling food into my mouth, get this freaking bib offa my neck, stick a dull-tined baby fork in me, I'm

DONE.

Or perhaps this one? Just to be sure?

I think I'll take it as a good sign that Hale's first word is "done." In fact, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that knowing when you're done is going to be at least as important a skill as anything he'll learn in a math class.

I wish I knew when I was done.

Ooh, speaking of, sounds like he's done sleeping, right now. Dun.

Hot Tacoma date to see Ira Glass

A perfect night.

We went to our favorite Tacoma bar

listened to the god of storytelling (I know, he looks different than on the radio.)

while our baby rocked out with his grandma.

We are so blessed!

Moment of Zen

Hale meets the park across the street

It just occurred to us today that we will probably be spending a lot of time here in the years to come. It looks different to me now when I look at it from our kitchen window.

My great nephew Zach: Applying for a job at NonFiction Media

Me and Mom in front of SCT

My mom, great nephew, Zach, and I have season tickets to the Seattle Children's Theatre. It is pretty fantastic. We see a play then have hot cocoa and a snack at the Center House— a place that remains magical in my childhood memory (ice-cream and a trip in the bubble elevator).

Yesterday Zach asked if he could borrow my camera. I put it on Program-mode and this is what he came up with. Not bad, I'd say.

Garbage Guy

Self-Portrait

Video of Zach at work.

Food

Me

The Ceiling

He can borrow my camera any time.