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!