Charleston

This month, my brother Douglas graduated from college in New York and my cousin Beau got married in Charlotte, North Carolina. For many months we planned multi-leg trip to attend the festivities. Since we were going to be all over the east coast anyway, we decided we would extend the stay by taking a much-needed vacation beforehand. Just before Beau's wedding, we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for some beach time, family time, and sightseeing.

Virginia had a great time on the horse drawn carriage tour.

Oakland Athletics, Team of the Future

This past weekend we took Virginia to the A's game. She is sort of an old pro by now. We are counting this as her fourth official game, since we came with Virginia when Leslie was 3 days overdue with her. Virginia had her usual awesome time.

Note to parents out there: the Westside Club in the Coliseum offers sit down service, with carpeted floors, room for babies, and a great view of the game, from the club level. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, with my cheeseburger and fries costing $12 -- no more than what they would cost at the concession stand downstairs. Wormy got to watch the game from our right-next-to the-window table and crawl around on the carpet afterwards. One hundred percent worth it.

Virginia also checked out Stomper's fun zone, which has kids' games, toys, and space to roam around. She was especially concerned with mowing the artificial turf there.

Oh, and it happened that the A's cranked against the Cleveland Indians. They eventually won 11-0, with Chavez delivering multiple doses of pain. Virginia is now sitting atop the AL West all-time winning percentage standings. Her record at A's games sits at a sparkling 4-0.

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.

Wormy's Favorite Birthday Presents: Walker from Great Gram

Virginia also has been having a great time with her lion walker. Since Virginia first started cruising around, Leslie and I had been discussing what kind of walker to get her. After much research we settled upon a little lion walker from Fisher-Price whose nose can be pushed to make lion sounds and good ol' jungle-themed romping music. No sooner had we made our decision and planned to place our order when, miraculously and without notice, a package arrived at our door. It contained the very lion walker in question. We asked each other who had done the ordering. Neither of us had.

It turned out to be a gift from Great Gram.

Virginia likes her new lion pal. And she especially likes whacking his purple nose.

Another side benefit of the walker has been the packaging it came in. The box features pictures of little babies Virginia's size walking, cruising, and generally having a good old time with the lion. Virginia loves them. She regularly crawls up to the box, pulls herself up, points knowingly at the baby, and turns around to us with a toothy grin. It's good to see other babies!

Wormy's Favorite Birthday Presents: Laptop

Virginia has become absolutely obsessed with our laptops over the past few months. It has gotten to the point where, as soon as one of us sits down at the table with the laptop, her little head swivles around, she charges over to our feet, pulls herself up, cranes her neck, points her finger, and begins whimpering until we finally pick her up and put her in our lap to she can see.

One of her birthday presents this year was her own personal "laptop," with a light-up screen, keyboard, and squeaking mouse. Here are some photos of Our Lady of Wordprocessing:

Now Wormy is finally able to work on her brief writing and PowerPoint presentations in peace. And occasionally, we are too.

Walking and Talking!

We can't help ourselves - had to post another video of Virginia showing off her walking skills. This one isn't as action packed as the other one, but it is much funnier, because Virginia "talked" through the whole thing in this bizarrely loud voice.

Wormy Walks

Here's the video evidence - Virginia has become a walker!

Happy Birthday, Virginia!

Our little Wormy is growing up! We celebrated her first birthday today and can't believe how fast the time has gone.

For the big day, we took Virginia to Franklin Park for a picnic. It was a bit cold and started drizzling, so we abandoned ship after about 30 minutes. But Virginia loved checking out her balloons, eating strawberries and Funyuns(!), and holding court at the picnic table (decorated in a very elegant Winnie the Pooh tablecloth).

After the park, we headed back to our house with Grammy, Poppy and Marcia Argyris (who shares Virginia's birthday). Virginia chowed down on cheese - her favorite food, more strawberries, and a little bit of hamburger. She opened her presents and got quite a lot of loot thanks to many loving friends and family members. She got a bunny blanket and Mega Blocks from Memaw and PaPa, a baby doll from Grammy, an Ernie doll from Poppy, a lion walker from Great Gram, a Hawaiian dress from the David Macks, and the Velveteen Rabbit from the John Macks. She's loving it all! We are going to have to dole out the new toys gradually to get maximum benefit.

To end the evening, Virginia decided that it was time to show us that she could walk! She has taken a couple of steps before, but has been keeping her skills under wraps for the past few weeks. But right before bedtime, she took some more steps after letting go of the couch. We were so thrilled! It was almost as if she knew that it was her birthday and she had to show off. So it was a very successful and fun-filled birthday.

Cute as an Easter Button

We had a pretty low key Easter this year, since Thomas has been in trial in LA the past few weeks and because we were all still recovering from the plague - a.k.a. the most contagious stomach bug this side of the Mississippi. By the time Easter day rolled around, we were worn out! But thankfully, we had recovered from the illness and could enjoy some Easter treats again.

We celebrated with an Easter brunch at our place. Virginia checked out her Easter basket and played with plastic eggs. She wore a cute new bunny outfit from Memaw too.