Totally Walking

Vera's gone from zero to sixty on the walking thing.  Just a month ago she was teetering next to the couch, holding on with one hand.  Now she walks more than she crawls.  

This past week we were in Maine for Christmas, and that probably sealed the deal.  Cousin Cameron (love that guy) was walking all over the place at Grandma and Grandpa's, and we think V just wanted to fit in with the big kids.  Its awesome.

Highlights:

• Walking by herself up and down the 2-step staircase into the living room.
• Trying to walk full upright up the full steep stairs to the second floor, especially if she has an adult's hand to hold.
• Walking away from Mom or Dad a few steps, slowly turning around the room, realizing that she's among less familiar faces in the room, and then returning back to start.
• Carrying toys that look comically large and that should throw her off balance.  Notably picnic basket and Ikea dog.

Mom's sleeping in

I love being a dad.  Mornings like this.

Good morning Grandpa and Mom

Nose Blower

Vera actually got some snot blown out of her nose today into a kleenex.  She's been watching Griffin and she does a great job huffing and puffing.  Today it finally turned productive.   She's been snotty because of cutting teeth.  So we've been wiping her nose a lot and coaching her on the nasal action.  It all came together today!  Yay!

When She's Upset

Last night v woke up at about 10:00 coughing and scream-crying.  We gave her a few minutes per our normal "let em cry it out" philosophy.  But then it got louder and we know she is teething and snotty.  And really, its just sad when she's upset, like I want to protect her from every bad thing in the world.

So I went into her room and picked her up and we danced around and I hummed.  Not much difference.  I wiped her nose and got the sweaty mat of hair brushed back behind her ear.  I carried her downstairs  to get some milk, teething tablets, and a little ibuprofen.  Plus a big snuggle with Mom.  Hard to say which one worked the best.   Back upstairs she laid with mom on our bed for a minute, then distracted herself with the red glow of alarm clock.  And then I put her back down in her crib, realizing that the biggest underlying problem was exhaustion.  She rubbed her lovies on her face, popped a paci into her own mouth, and settled in to sleep.  I love that lil' girl. 

She Walks!

Vera took two steps yesterday - her first ones ever.  Saturday November 16.  She's been threatening to do it for a few weeks - mostly by standing up on her own two feet with no support.  And she's done plenty of finger grab walking and pushing around the toy shopping carts.  All of which is adorable.

But yesterday she officially took her first steps.  We were in Griffin's room after he woke up from nap and she took her two steps to get to his toy shelf.  Way to go peanut!

This is a snack the whole family will enjoy, Dad

Yup.

First pair of Crocs

Teeny tiny fuzzy crocs, size 2/3, in blue, just like her brother's.  So so cute.  P.S. This is a super delayed post as we bought these at the Crocs store down in Faneuil Hall 2 months ago while we were down there with Gpa Victor.

Whoohoo! Video & Pics of Vera Standing Up

Last night (11/6/13) while on our usual Wednesday playdate at Talbot's, Vera stood up all by herself, and stayed standing for about 30 seconds.  It was amazing.  She stood long enough that I was able to scramble through my backpack to get my phone, take a few pictures and a short video to document her new skill. It was such a fun and heartwarming thing to watch and I am so very proud of my little lady.  Good job V! It's these bits of proud mommy moments that make every difficult part of parenthood unbelievably worth it.  Also, for the record, it was just as exciting to see my second baby stand up as it was for when Griffin did it.. these new tricks don't seem to get old.  Love it!

Vera Stands Up

Last night she stood up unassisted for about 30 seconds.  It was at Talbot's house just after dinner.  Way to go peanut!

Just a nice, regular evening to be Vera's Dad

Coming home from work today was a regular evening.  It was awesome.

• She smiles when I come home from work.  Griffin announces his traditional "Dad's home!" when he hears me walk in the door.  I peaked my head around the corner from the front door into the kitchen and she grinned like crazy.  Vicki says this is her (Vicki's) favorite part of the day.  
• When I went upstairs to change clothes, Vera booked it up the stairs, saying "dah!  dah!  dah!"  (Don't worry - Mom was following her closely after about step 2)
• She climbed up my leg to a standing position and smiled and laughed at me while I was taking the air conditioner out of her window.
• I lifted her over my head and set her down on our bed and she was super giggly.
• Griffin came upstairs and the three of us snuggled for a minute (okay, 12 seconds) on Mom and Dad's bed.  Vera smiled like crazy at her brother laying next to her.
• She does this super cute thing where she tucks her leg underneath her to go from laying down or crawling positing up to sitting.  She ends up sitting half indian-style, with the other leg stuck straight out to the side.  Its almost always followed by clapping.  Its like she's saying "hold on a sec - I gotta stop crawling and celebrate what just happened."  She also does this right before she puts her hands over head as if to say "up!"  So yeah, she did that tonight a few times.
• Poop face.  Litterally its totally obvious when she's filling up the diaper.  And she does it in almost the same leg-tuck position, only halfway completed so she's kinda propped up on the ankle she has folded underneath her, the one outstretched leg, and both hands flat on the floor.  Adorbs.
• She says "please" now in sign language.  Vicki said she saw Vera do it for the frist time earlier today while eating yogurt bites with her friend Ben Sither.  And she did it again at dinner tonight and again asking for toys in the bathtub.

Vera's First Birthday- Family Pictures & Cake Smash

Sweet Vera-  I hope you get to share these photos someday with your kids and their kids, and that you grow to have an appreciation for preserving family memories, like I do.  I will cherish these pictures of you as my beautiful little 1 year old.  In the pictures, you are wearing your bright blue flower-print Carters dress that reminds me of Hawaii. It's one of the few outfits I've bought just for you, among the ample and generous hand-me-downs we've gotten from friends. Your cake is a "homemade" funfetti cake (our family favorite boxed mix- the same cake Dad and I had at our wedding!) with perfectly pink vanilla frosting. I dressed you in a fancy matching tutu, which was an item I didn't think I'd ever add to your wardrobe, but you have inspired my inner girly girl! You looked SO cute in it.  Sweet little girl, your Dad and I love you so very much, and even though we didn't do an official birthday bash for you turning one (not that you would remember it anyway), we hope you love your pictures, as a special treat for you this year. Love, Mom (and Dad)

 

First Scallion Pancake!

My dad is here visiting and whenever he comes to see us, he stops at the Chinese supermarket to bring me all sorts of frozen goodies. This "tradition" reminds me of how Italian or Jewish moms always bring or cook lots of food for their broad. This trip, my Dad brought bags if mini frozen dumplings, soupy pork buns, and scallion pancakes (my favorite). Here is Vera trying (and liking) her first bite of scallion pancakes!

Wallet Size

Vicki printed this out for me.   What an awesome way to stay the day when I go looking for my T pass.  Love you, peanut.

Words

Vera said "Mama" yesterday.  Vicki heard it once but no more.

She's done a few "Da-da's".

But by far the word she says the most is some version of the english word "Ball".  She says:

• Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba (usually while staring into space)
• bau!
• ba-ul!

First Day of "School"

Awwww. I'm sitting in the parking lot of Runamuck after just dropping off Griff and Vera for their first day of school together.  Griff moved up to the preschool 2 class today, and Vera joined the babies in the infant 2 class. Both kids did great. I now have 4 hours to myself but a list of 1,893 things to-do. Where do I start?  Of to Starbucks.  This Mom needs caffeine.

Afternoon nap

Best Alarm Clock Ever

We're sleeping in the same room as Vera at Granpa Victor's house this weekend.  This morning Vicki got up early with Griff and Vera and I slept in.  Until about 8:10.  Which was awesome.

But even more awesome than that was waking up to Vera jabbering at me from the crib, just beyond the foot of the bed.  I looked up and saw a pink-pajama'd blur.  With my glasses on, it turned into a bouncying, grinning, cooing Vera.  There were definitely some "dada's" in her jabbering, and if she had full speech capacity I bet she'd have been saying "Hi Dad!  Good morning.  I love you Dad."  I love you too peanut.  And it was a great morning.

Uhhh. I'm Innocent.

I swear Mom, the puzzles fell out of the cabinet on their own.

Trash Picker

I just let Vera pick a piece of honey dew rind from the trash and gnaw on it.  Such a classic "second child" move on my part.  Her being occupied by the trash kept her away from touching the carbon monoxide detector or eating shoes next to the staircase at least for a minute, and at least it was fruit!

Balls Fun

"Bah! Bah! Baul! Hee heh." said Vera in the ball pit.

Standing!

Look who I found standing in her crib!  Technically she did this for the first time yesterday,  but I didn't have my phone nearby to capture the moment.

Artsy Girl

Vera is constantly playing under Griffin's art easel.  She is obsessed with holding (in her hands and mouth), crawling with/towards, tapping, putting through the cat door, and pretending to draw with, these twistable crayons. They are her current go-to "toy".

Caught Pooping in the Corner

A First: Pull up to Standing

Just a few minutes ago,  Vera pulled herself up to a standing position next to the couch with ease, as if she's done it a million times before.  In fact, this was one of the first, if not the first time she did it. In the past few weeks she has been pulling herself up onto her knees, and only standing up when she is holding a stair or something short. Yay! So cool. That's what you get from hanging out with your older cousin Cameron for the weekend... lots of new tricks.

Baby Asian Potato Head

Sick Night

Vicki is the best Mom in the world for our kids.  So good that I rarely have a chance to hear or get up for Vera when she wakes in the night (my very very heavy sleeping doesn't hurt).

But last night I had one of my rare chances (or, is it, responsibilities?).  Vera has been teething and a little feverish the past couple of days.  Last night about 2:45 she started wailing again.  Vicki asked if I would go.  I went.  Vera and I hung out together for about a half hour and through the vail of falling-over-tired-ness, I loved every minute of it. 

Even when she's a snot fountain, our little v is so endearing and cool.  She sat in my lap and patted my leg while we read books (including "Good night little one" on which she kisses the animals on every page).  She crawled in her sleep sack across the floor and opened her bedroom door while I changed her crib sheet.  And she waited (somewhat) patiently while I bumbled through the doctor-dad stuff I only do rarely these days.  Snot-sucking and searching for the ibuprofen and dropper were particularly trying for both of us.

And then when I'd rocked her back to calm and seen her yawn twice, I laid her back down.  And she wailed again.  And I sat down next to her crib.  And she crawled over towards me, reached through the bars and touched my face and smiled and mumbled a  "dada" through her pacifier.  It's was one of the many "blink and you'll miss it" kind of moments that make being a Dad the most rewarding part of my life. 

I'm just so thankful that Vicki does the lion's share of the midnight to six a.m. stuff.

Smoothie

Vera gets Griffin's leftover green smoothie from earlier.  She loves it.

Yay Dad is Home!

Hooray!!!

Pull Up!

She's done it.  It first happened yesterday at the bottom of the stairs,  and then she did again a few times today on the stairs and then just now on the couch.  Yay!