Sawyers

Edit: It looks like graphs don't get comments! I should say that even though there are a lots of Sawyers, ours is a special little guy. Here is Sawyer inspecting Quack-Quack when Quack-Quack stopped by on his trip to North Carolina.

Today my parents forwarded me an article that mentions a little girl with the first name Sawyer.

It's true; there are other Sawyers out there (although this is the first girl I've see with the name). Namevoyager lists 'Sawyer' as the 247th most popular name for boys in 2006. As you can see in the graph to the right, there was a huge spike in the last few years, almost certainly attributed to the popularity of the character Sawyer on the show Lost.

There was a great documentary by Alan Berliner a couple years ago called "The Sweetest Sound" about names. As part of the movie, he invites a dozen other Alan Berliners to dinner to discuss knowing that there are other people in the world with your name.

This hit home the other day when I called to make a dental appointment, and the receptionist was confused for a moment because apparently I'm not the only person with my name that goes to that dentist.

One year

Sawyer was born a year ago today. We were too distracted with other things on that day to update this blog, but my sister documented the occasion.

Today was exciting -- they threw him a party at his daycare.

They said he acted excited about it all afternoon.

We also had a small party for him over the weekend. Sawyer got his own cake.

The rest of us enjoyed a dinocake prepared by Becky.
(thanks wikiHow!)

Happy Birthday, Sawyer!

Mommy's Little Helper

Then again, maybe not.

Proof

Here's a quick video to update you on Sawyer's walking status.

Step by step

Sawyer took a few steps last night while his Grandma and Grandpa were visiting.

At the lake

We had a quiet couple of days up in Maine.

Frequent Flier

We're back from Hawaii, and we were home long enough for Becky, Sawyer and I to pack for a short trip to Maine for the weekend before the 4th of July.

Right now we're in the terminal for the flight home. Sawyer is enjoying a snack of mushy peas. This will be his 10th ride on an airplane (if you count layovers). The gate attendent just told us we should sign him up for frequent flier miles.



Sawyer is a very good traveler, too -- on this trip, he was just a little squirmy on Becky's lap, but easy overall. On the way back and forth to Hawaii, he barely fussed at all.

Here's Sawyer on the plane to San Francisco (on our way to Hawaii). The woman seated next to my parents thought he was so cute, she had to snap a few (dozen) photos. They turned out fantasic, and she was kind enough to email them to us this week. (thanks Maggie!)

Around Honolulu

I dragged my family to the contemporary art museum in Honolulu today, which features a large outdoor garden. Sawyer enjoyed the view from his backpack.


A highlight from the museum was when we visited the L'Enfant et les Sortilges exhibit, which is a group of colorful stage decorations housed in a darkened room. My sister did a dramatic reading of the show's brochure, which contained exerpts from the opera that the decorations were made for. Teresa and Alan enjoyed searching for the characters painted on the walls as they were mentioned in the story.

Becky and I had a memorable visit to this museum in 2003 ...

(picture of becky and tim in 2003 coming soon)

so it was nice to bring Sawyer back to see it.


After the museum, we went to the nearby Punchbowl National Cemetery to put fresh cut flowers on the grave of my dad's uncle Royce, who died in 1945.


(all pictures taken by my dad.)

Sawyer's aunt Becky took us to a beautiful beach on Hickam Air Force Base today, where Sawyer got his first taste of the Pacific. The swimming lessons with grandma paid off -- he had a great time.

(Thanks to my sister for the photo!)

Traveling Man

Sawyer's off to visit his aunt Becky this week. I'll try to keep you up to date with stories from the road.

(BTW, the photo is Sawyer using a Traveling Toddler, which straps his carseat to my rolling suitcase.)