Booboo

This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous in Boston. We spent a lot of time outside practicing walking. Turns out this is a rather hazardous phase. V had her first injury with blood yesterday in the park. She fell flat on her face trying to climb over something and skinned her little nose. She cried a little bit and I tried to wipe off the drop of blood with my finger and a leaf without much sucess. After some hugs she got right back out there for some more practice. It's impressive to see how much patience toddlers have they just keep falling and getting up time after time!

13 months!

Dear Violet,
Today you are 13 months old. How did you get to be a teenager so fast?! Just this week you graduated to the toddler room at daycare where there are more things for walkers like yourself to play with. You also get to go OUTSIDE now at least twice a day and play in the park! There is only one nap a day in the toddler room, but it seems to work because it is quiet and dark and you actually nap better without the commotion of the other babies. I think that you are really liking all your toys and friends there because the last 2 evenings you haven't wanted to come home with me! We have breakfast and dinner together every day now. Sometimes you are more interested in eating with your four teeth than other times but, you LOVE pasta with grandmommy's spaghetti sauce and you still are a blueberry monster. You are definitely starting to form opinions about certain things and sometimes you throw your dinner right onto the floor if you don't want to eat it. You can say a couple words - Mama, uh oh, and doh doh doh when you don't want your diaper changed. You are still pretty wobbly on your feet, but you are an excellent climber and can climb all the way from the sidewalk to our 2nd floor apartment where you know which key opens the lock and always get it ready for me. You love straps and buckles and are constantly trying to figure out how everything works. You also love the park. We went to a new park with some friends on Saturday and you climbed up a whole bunch of stairs to go down the slide. You were so happy that you just smiled and smiled and laughed. It was a very fun day. Mama loves you!
-Mama

A Stroll in the Park

Maybe a little unfair

Baby steps

Violet took multiple steps in a row today. Of course it happened first at daycare, but she was still wobbling around and giggling in front of the mirror, so incredibly proud of herself, when I picked her up. Mom and I had been trying to get her to take some steps yesterday, but yesterday, she was content to use the walker or get down and crawl. Before I know it she'll be running off.

Mom was here this past weekend while I took my own sort of baby steps and went off to Chicago to see my UVA friends. It was really nice to have a break and get away, however, it was also really hard to leave - I honestly missed Violet a lot and being without her felt kind of like I was missing a limb. It was nice to see my friends - we went to some fabulous restaurants including Carnivale and Sunda. Of course, I was so tired and it was hard to stay up late - even for dessert at Hot Chocolate (yum!!), but we had lots of fun and good talks. It was a luxurious trip and I felt kind of like I was visiting my old life. I got a pedicure, did some shopping and went for a long bike ride on the shore of Lake Michigan. I breezed through he airport and read a novel. I was further spoiled by the fact that while I was away, not only did Mom take care of Violet, but she also went to the grocery store, did a bunch of cooking, and did all my laundry. How great is that?! When I got back, Violet was glad to see me, but also definitely in love with her grandmommy, it makes me so happy to have them know eachother so well.

Five!

Hair is growning very rapidly. It's very amusing to find V coiffed at the end of the day, however this time they really hurt coming out :(

Maine

It was so great to have Mom here for the last 2 weeks. The first week she gave Violet (and me) a heavenly break from daycare and the second week we went up to Maine. It was kind of a last minute plan, but it turned out to be a fabulous trip. The weather was fantastic and we had a lot of fun seeing several friends. Our first stop was in Portland Maine at long time friends' Claire and Bill's house. Violet found heaven in their basement toy paradise and played and played while Mom, Claire and I caught up. Bill made fabulous lobster for dinner. Next stop was South Harpswell where we saw our friend Amy and her 8 month old son. We only stayed one night there. Violet was pretty scared of their large yellow lab, but oddly, slept really well there in a strange crib. For our last 3 days, we headed up to Acadia. We stayed in a great cottage right on the water and had a lot of fun just hanging out in the grass and watching the boats. We tried to be strategic about nap time and drives around the park and for the most part it worked well. Violet enjoyed her second mountain summit on Cadillac mountain. On our last day Mom convinced me to go on a horse drawn carriage ride. I was a bit nervous about the fact that it was 2 hours long smack in the middle of morning nap, but we went for it anyway. I was worried that it might be a little like being on an airplane in that you can't really get up....and it was, but V just played and played on the floor of the carriage. After about and hour and a half she stopped moving, and I looked down to find her face planted in her lap, snoozing. I picked her up and she slept the last half hour on my lap - so sweet! The carriage ride must have been some kind of magic because after we went to lunch and let her crawl around in LL Beam for a bit, she slept almost the entire drive home from Acadia - 4.5 hours! We were so amazed and happy that we just kept driving and driving and soon we were home! She must have been tired from the trip as she didn't sleep very well while we were away - often waking up in the night. Consequently, I was very very tired by the end of the trip and returned home with a 101.5 fever. No other real symptoms though and after a few more rough nights, it went away. We're both back to sleeping much better now that we've been home a couple days. Travelling is so fun, but it's definitely tough on sleep issues - apparently even when you don't change time zones.

Here are mom's photos. She's so good about always taking them.