Shampoo, Cut, & Style

With Virginia's third birthday and Easter rapidly approaching, we decided it was time for her to get her first haircut!  We had definitely been putting it off for too long - with her beautiful curls, her hair was a complete rats' nest each morning after sleeping on it.  And, at times, poor little V had a bit of a mullet (in a totally cute sort of way, of course) as her hair grew more quickly at the back of her neck.

After a little Yelp research, I located a kid-friendly salon on Park Street in Alameda and booked an appointment.  We arrived to find that instead of boring salon chairs, the salon had race cars for the kiddos to sit in.  Plus Dora and other videos on demand!  Virginia was skeptical, but lured by Dora and the promise of a lollipop if she behaved.

I'm happy to report that the haircut was a success and that Virginia got her lollipop.  And Mommy, Daddy & Kimmy are happy to report that we can now brush through Virginia's hair without needing to use half a bottle of detangling spray each time.

The finished product, complete with a little braid and bow!:

You Talk Too Much...

Well, Virginia has certainly inherited the talking genes from both of her lawyer parents. This is definitely one developmental milestone that she has blasted right through! At almost 23 months old, she is a jabbering queen. We've just been amazed at her vocabulary and some of the concepts she strings together now. It is so fun to be able to communicate with her in full sentences! Here are some of the gems from the last month or so of her life:

"I need that yellow one!" - said while trying to swipe a can of yellow Play-Doh from mom's hands

"Help, Mama! Many crunchies fall down!" - said after spilling a bowl of Frankenberry cereal in our guest room (Thomas picked out her snack that day).

"Dada book. Save for later." - Thomas was out of town, so when she located a book that she believed belonged to him, she decided to express that we needed to set it aside and save it for him when he returned.

"Humongous meatball - push!" - This is assuredly the most random of Virginia thoughts this month. Apparently, there was an episode of Abby's Flying Fairy School on Sesame Street where the characters are trying to move a giant meatball and are pushing it. She recalled this scene while driving in the car many days later.

"I'm Ginia" - Virginia has started introducing herself to new people whenever we meet them. Because she can't always say Virginia with ease, she has shorted it to "Ginia."

"No cheese, Gromit" - Virginia's Uncle Doug gave her a set of Wallace & Gromit DVDs for Christmas, and Virginia has taken quite a liking to them. She has started quoting some of the better lines from the movies!

"Go Heels - Hurray!" - We've clearly been watching some UNC games in our house this time of year.

And last but not least....

"JUMPY TIME!" - To Virginia, everything that she likes to do has a "time" (Elmo time, nap time, "WaGomit" time - aka Wallace & Gromit time, WeePlay time, snack time). But her favorite thing to do is jump, so jumpy time is the most often uttered phrase in our house. We have to have jumpy time in her crib before her bath each night so she can blow off some energy (and often at other times too). She also loves to do jumpy time at her tumbling class on the trampolines there. And, of course, her few experiences with a bouncy house have been nothing short of magical.

18 Month Update

On 10/10/10, Virginia officially hit the 18 month mark! Hard to believe we have a 1 1/2 year old. The last few months have just been an explosion of development, and it has been so fun to watch. Here are a few random highlights of Virginia's life at 18 months:

• Virginia likes to "sing" along to songs. She knows only a couple of words to each, so she just makes noise until we get to the word she knows. Her favorite is still Twinkle, Twinkle. She knows the following words in the song "how," "up above," "hi", "di" (diamond). She ends each song with vigorous clapping and celebration.
• Virginia officially has an Elmo obsession. Somewhere along the way, she began to conflate Elmo with another Sesame Street character, Abby, and she refers to both of them as "Abba." Its strange because she can definitely tell them apart, but she just pronounces their names the same way. She begs for "Abba" and points to the TV a lot, so we have to keep her out of the family room and keep the entertainment center doors closed a lot.

• Virginia can identify almost all of the major Sesame Street characters: In addition to Elmo and Abby, "Cook, Cook" is Cookie Monster, "Osga" is Oscar the Grouch, "Bur" is Bert, and "Go" is Grover.
• Virginia loves pillow forts. We keep all the extra pillows from our bed in corner in our room and she loves burying herself in them. After getting out of the bath, her favorite thing to do is to run into our room stark naked and collapse in the pillows. Luckily she hasn't had an accident on them!
• Virginia has graduated from the toddler tub to the regular tub. Bath time is full of lots of exploration in the big bath now.
• Virginia is definitely showing the early signs of interest in potty training. When we change her diaper or she sees a toilet, she proudly exclaims "poo, poo." She even will help wipe her bottom during a diaper change, which is hilarious.
• Thomas's best efforts at turning Virginia into a little tomboy appear to be succeeding. I'm sure we'll have our princess stage in the coming months, but for now, Virginia is interested in planes, trains, and cars! We live near Oakland airport, so when the fog is bad, the airplane flight paths will sometimes be changed to pass over our area. Virginia loves looking up in the sky and seeing a plane fly overhead. Her airplane noise is "shoooo," and she accompanies it with a cute little hand gesture that looks like a plane soaring. Trains are probably her favorite, though. She has a Thomas the Tank Engine toothbrush, so the evening bedtime routine is filled with lots of "chugachuga" and "TomTom."
• Animals are still a major obsession as well. Virginia's nanny Kim has a cat, Funston, and also recently got a bulldog named Charlie. Since the weather was so hot earlier this month, Kim has taken Virginia out to her condo complex to go swimming in the pool and to visit Charlie and Funston. Virginia comes home raving about the "kitty, kitty" and the "daw." And she loves "hops" as well (bunnies):

• Virginia likes to talk and Skype with her Mimi and Papa in Alabama. She remembers their names from their visits last month and now associates all computers and telephones with them. She will hold up a telephone to her ear, and when I ask who she is talking to, she responds with gusto: "Mimi!" I will ask "who else," and she'll say "Papa!"

We had our 18 month appointment with Dr. Oken recently, and our little V isn't so little anymore. She is 80% for height and 60% for weight (33 1/4 inches and 24 lbs, 10 ounces).

14 Month Update

Well, we are very behind on posting, but I guess that is what happens when you hit the toddler stage. Virginia is keeping us too busy! She is moving with lightening fast speed now - she's fully mastered walking and is almost running at this point. There is no slowing her down. She won't let us hold her even for a minute.

Her language is starting to pick up a bit, but since she's been so focused on mobility, she hasn't had time to practice speaking that much. I've always heard that kids are either walkers or talkers, and she's definitely a walker so I guess we'll have to wait for the talker to show up. It is funny though because it is usually the boys who walk first while the girls do the talking. But I've said from very early on that we got a little boy's personality in a little girl's body and I think I was right. Virginia is bringing new meaning to the word hyperactive - like father, like daughter!

But Virginia is talking a bit and we are enjoying watching her speech develop. As of late June, Virginia was saying the following words: uh oh (first word), mama, numnum (like yum yum - she uses it to mean food), hi, bye, book ("buh"), and this ("dis"). She's also saying dada sometimes, but we aren't sure whether to call it a real word yet since she also refers to Thomas as mama. She signs "more," "eat," and brushing her teeth (she developed this sign on her own). Her receptive language is clearly quite good, because she follows directions well. I will hand her a baby doll and tell her to put the baby in the carseat - she'll walk across the room, place the baby in the seat and start rocking the seat back and forth. She also is becoming quite skilled at point out different animals in books and distinguishing between them. The kittens in Goodnight Moon are her favorite. She has no interest in the book - she just wants to turn the page so she can point out the kittens on the next page.

Things Virginia does and enjoys at 14 months:

• Virginia adores dogs and cats. Whenever we visit the Harvey home, she chases poor Phoebe the dog around the kitchen island and squeals with delight. When we are out on walks in her stroller, she spots dogs two blocks away and points emphatically at them.



• Virginia has suddenly become obsessed with shoes. She brings them to us, sits down and motions for us to put them on her feet.



• For the past several weeks, Virginia has started giving kisses. So sweet. One of my favorite times was playing with her and Thomas in bed one morning... she started going back and forth giving me a kiss and then Thomas a kiss several times.



• Virginia made the switch to one nap. The past few weeks, she had been fighting the afternoon nap because she was taking such a good long morning nap, so we just pushed the long nap back to after lunch. She still gets a little tired at the usual morning nap time, but the transition seems to be going well. And she often sleeps a full three hours in the afternoon now, so that is a nice break! The schedule just works so much better because we can do real outings now and also attend a lot of the toddler events which are scheduled for mid-mornings.


• Virginia is a dancing machine! She loves moving to music. She shakes her little bottom, waves her arms, shakes her head back and forth, and has started swaying side to side too.


• Virginia's favorite songs: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (she does all the hand motions), One Two Buckle My Shoe, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Friends in Low Places (she's an honorary Southern girl - she seems to love country music), and The Little Green Frog song.

One Year Update

I'm a little late posting Virginia's one year update. We saw Dr. Oken for her one year checkup on April 14, and all is well with our little Worm! She is 20 lbs, 4 ounces, which isn't much of a gain since last time - but never fear. Dr. Oken wasn't worried at all with this result because weight gain really tapers off at the one year mark and also because Virginia had just recovered from stomach flu and had probably lost quite a bit due to sickness. Virginia was 45% for weight and 55% for height. Right in the middle!

Virginia was really POed to be getting her shots this time around. She had tolerated them quite well up until this point, but she had missed her afternoon nap that day and was already a bit of a grump. She also got two big shots this time - the MMR and the chicken pox, and those are tougher. Poor little thing sobbed the whole way home. Not a sad sob - it was more of a "I'm so mad at you, Mommy" sob.

At one year, here are some tidbits about what Virginia is doing:

• Virginia is taking her first steps! She's still a speed demon crawler, so she is choosing to crawl to reach anything that is more than an arms length away.
• Virginia has mastered the baby sign for "more" - but with her own special flair. The sign is made by tapping fingertips together, but she misses every time. So it looks like she is trying to clap her hands and misses the point of contact. She does "more" for everything - we've created a monster!
• Virginia loves her books and knows to turn them right side up every time. Brilliant!
• Virginia babbles very loudly. It sounds like yodeling sometimes. She especially loves to babble in the bathrooms because she can hear the echo.
• Virginia LOVES seeing other babies - in person, in the mirror, and in photos on diaper and toy boxes.
• Pointing is the new obsession. She points at everything she sees. Her favorite things to point at are quite eclectic: a plastic Bob's Big Boy figurine and the photos of Teddy Roosevelt and Pee Wee Herman in our hallway.
• Virginia is a fan of stuffed animals. We line them up at the base of our couch and she crawls happily over to them and snuggles face first into the pile of them. When we say "Snuggles," she grabs a stuffed animal and gives it a big hug.
• Although Virginia is still fiercely independent and prefers not to be messed with, she has gotten a little more snuggly in recent weeks. She'll sometimes give me a big hug around the neck. And she'll occasionally kiss (a.k.a. "lick") my cheek.

Mrs. Lawnmower Man

Virginia has been attending a public scheduled playtime for babies in Alameda known as "Wee Play." At the Veteran's Memorial Building near Park Street, the Parks & Rec Department sets up little play areas in the playhouse and lets the kiddos wear themselves out. Virginia has loved these events from her very first visit.

Today at Wee Play Virginia found herself a little lawnmower walker. This was her first experience with a walker. It didn't take her too long to figure it out and take it for a spin. We're going to have to put her to work in our own yard.

Stand and Deliver

Over the past few weeks, our little Worm has learned to stand on her own! She began by gradually letting go and balancing a few seconds to full-blown standing for a minute or more. Getting a photo of the feat proved pretty difficult... she usually sees something across the room that she wants and leans over to crawl towards it before we can grab the camera.

And even more news - we're officially calling Monday, March 8 as Virginia's first steps! She managed to string together two mini-steps before falling over. It wasn't very graceful or glorious, but we are counting it nonetheless. Thomas and I both witnessed it - but she hasn't replicated it since. We think she is still a few weeks from real walking, but she's definitely making some progress.

Talking to Mommy

Virginia sure does like playing with all the stuff in her toy box. Sometimes she gives Mommy a running commentary as to what she's doing by offering the constant refrain of "baa, baa, baa."

Virginia in Action

Back by popular demand, more video of the Worm!

Pulling Her Weight

We knew that our move to the new house in Alameda would be soon followed by a number of big milestones for Virginia. She's been increasingly mobile and alert - it is a joy to watch!

While not technically crawling yet, she's a complete speed demon at her modified crawling method. We lovingly call her method of locomotion her "wounded soldier" impersonation because she mainly uses her upper body to drag her lower body along afterwards. We've begun the childproofing of our new house because she's already showing a strong interest in outlets and doorstops.

This week, Virginia's big feat was learning to pull up! Here's a video of her with her nanny, Kim, demonstrating her new skill for one of the first times.

Wormy and the Brain

Virginia recently has been devoting herself to higher learning. She has become a serious student of the physical sciences, carefully analyzing any object she encounters by placing it in her mouth. Here she is reading a treatise on Western Civilization.

We are concerned that this new knowledge may have gone to her head. Here is Virginia striking her "Pinky and the Brain" pose as she prepares to take over the world.

Sitting in the Vicinity of the Dock of a Bay

Wormy really has got the sitting thing down. Check her out!

Here Comes My Head

If Virginia is interested in it -- and she usually is -- then Virginia goes after it. And she goes after it with deadly accuracy. No holds barred. For example, if it's a cool black camera that Daddy is using to take pictures, and Virginia takes a shining to it, then she lurches toward it before Daddy can snap the photo.

Pears Are An Acquired Taste

Yes, this is actually the face that Virginia made when she tried pears. Her first fruit.

But after further thought and reflection, Virginia ultimately concluded that pears actually are pretty sweet and yummy. After a few more mealtimes, she is now eagerly powering through them. And she's moving on to apples too.

As the Worm Turns

Our trip was full of lots of milestones... not the least of which was Virginia beginning to roll over! On her 3 month birthday (our last day in CT), she amazed all the Macks by rolling from her back to her tummy. She waited until she had a big audience to do it - our girl is quite the showman! As we predicted, Virginia is proving to be a unique baby who wants to do things her way. Most babies roll from tummy to back first, but Virginia did it out of order.

Virginia wanted to make sure that the Alabama crew witnessed their fair share of milestones too - so she rolled from her tummy to her back a week later while my mom was babysitting her one afternoon. She hasn't duplicated the feat since, so we think this was an accident. Then on our last day in Alabama, she began rolling from her back to her tummy in the other direction (to the left). So, I have a baby who can roll from her back to her tummy in either direction, but then can't get off her tummy... which is a little frustrating for her. In any event, we are so proud of Virginia. We just have to watch her like a hawk on the changing table now!