Wuh Wuh

Virginia is insanely in love with dogs. On our trip up to Tahoe last weekend (look for a separate post), she got to hang out with not one, but TWO dogs. She basically didn't know what to do with herself she was so happy. All weekend long, she would lumber around the house, chasing the dogs around like a little Frankenstein -- arms reaching outward -- saying "Wuh wuh." Literally she did not stop thinking about dogs all day long. The first thing she said when she woke up in the morning? Wuh wuh. The last thing she said before she went down to bed? Wuh wuh. Overheard on the monitor during the middle of her nap, when we knew she was deep in sleep? Wuh wuh. Virginia is a dog's best friend.

Herr Haas Hits our House

It's good catching up with old friends. We got that chance a week ago when our buddies from law school, Steve and Yancey Haas, came to the Bay Area for visit. Herr and Frau Haas live in Richmond, Virginia and have been threatening a visit out here for many years. It happened the ABA convention was in town this year, so Steve and Yancey took the chance to make it a proper trip.

Since opportunities like this don't come very often, Leslie and I broke out the big guns. We called in our chips for a full day of babysitting assistance from Grammy and Poppy, then skipped town for a Saturday day trip with the Hasses up to the Wine Country. We drove all over Sonoma and the Russian River valley, doing just about everything that makes these trips fun. We stopped at a fruit stand, drank great wine, looked out on halcyon rolling hills, soaked in sunshine, picnicked in the shade, caught up about old friends, bought treats, and generally did whatever we wanted. It was like we had never skipped a beat with Steve and Yancey.

It was great day. Hope to have them back soon.

Playroom

A few weeks ago was a day of reckoning for baby toys. We were losing the battle of toy, stuffed animal, and puzzle proliferation in our family room. From time to time, Leslie and I like to do grown-up stuff in that room without stabbing our foot with a Mega Block or accidentally setting off Virginia's baby electronic play guitar. Sensing these developments, Leslie and I pressed the left half of our still-mostly-vacant living room into service as a playroom. We put down a area rug and set up a play table, and promptly moved much of toy accumulation into some bins. Now Virginia has her own area to spread out and play without making our house look like a daycare facility. Woo hoo!

Daddy's Shirt

Virginia came down the other morning to find my shirt hanging on the dining room chair. She said "Daddy!" and looked for other evidence of my whereabouts. (I happened to be sleeping in upstairs.) Since she couldn't find me anywhere, she insisted on wearing my shirt.

Petting Zoo

Virginia recently became gripped with barnyard animal fever! I believe it started in earnest with our trip to the county fair out in Modesto. Since then, the topic of barnyard animals just keeps popping up. No matter what, Virginia is an eager participant in the discussion.

Virginia avidly points out barnyard animals in the books we are reading. Virginia is transfixed by the little scholastic DVD about barnyard animals our nanny Kim gave her. And this week, still early in her quest to learn words, Virginia is becoming proficient at making the sounds that barnyard animals make. She definitely knows "moo" for a cow, "quack" for a duck, and "meow" for a kitten. She also seems to say "baa baa baa" for a sheep. And she is looking with great interest every time she sees a horse or a rabbit.

This past weekend at the Park Street Fair in Alameda, one of the attractions was a small petting zoo. Virginia toddled around with the pigs, goats, chickens, and ducks. But by far her favorite animal was the white rabbit who was quietly nibbling by itself in the corner of the pen. Virginia kept returning to pet its soft fur, give it hugs, and bend down to inspect its face at close range. I did my best to ensure it was tolerable for the little rabbit.

New Bikes!

One of the items Leslie and I had on our list this summer was a pair of new bikes. Alameda is an ideal bike town -- centralized, flat, safe, and serious about its 25 MPH speed limits. So not long after we arrived on the island, Leslie and I began eyeing bikes. As usual, I was not comfortable making a purchase until I had researched everything to death. After much investigation and hand-wringing, we all settled on buying at the local shop, Alameda Bicycle. They had a really friendly, helpful, and low-pressure staff, good selection and service policies, and the advantage of being within biking distance of our house! It also happened that they have a big annual sale on Father's Day weekend, right as the summer is getting into full swing.

Leslie and I got some great bikes along with a cool trailer for Wormy. Although it took her a few rides to become comfortable, she now loves it and enjoys shooting down the street with us. We've been taking the bikes to the park and checking out some of the nearby neighborhoods that we never quite managed to visit in our car. I had forgotten just how much fun it is to ride.

Modesto

This weekend we drove out to Modesto to visit my old buddy Brian Zarka. Leslie and I had been wanting to catch up with Brian for some time, as well as get to Modesto to enjoy some of the central California hot summer weather.

We had brunch at the Velvet Creamery, a old school diner in town. Leslie had her usual short stack of pancakes, and I enjoyed "The Very Hungry Hobo." Virginia sampled from everyone's plates.

We then cruised over to the Stanislaus County fair. It was over 100 degrees, but somehow the weather felt pretty good. Virginia loved the Rainforest exhibit, which took guests on an interactive nature walk through the rainforest featuring dozens of live animals including tortoises, parrots, monkeys, and snakes, some of which you could touch. Here's Virginia posing in the tortoise pen.

And here's mommy and Virginia in the mushroom forest:

One area where Stanislaus County really can't be beat is in farming. There was an unbelievable display of produce, homemade foods, historic tractor engines, livestock, and prize-winning animals. Virginia personally was a huge fan of the petting zoo.

Here she is with her favorite animal from the petting zoo, a leopard-spotted trash can.

What county fair is complete without a pony ride? Some guys were running a pretty funny pony ride pen complete with scenery and stetson-wearing guides. I asked if Virginia was old enough, and the ticket taker told me that a 15-month old girl was "right in our wheelhouse." Virginia put on her best John Wayne face and trotted that pony around the pen like an old hand.

All Tied Up

We took an unannounced summer break from posting on this blog. Various events at work and at home have been keeping us busy. Sorry, folks.

But rest assured that we have been having lots of fun with Virginia, and that we will be updating soon!

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.