Mimi and Papa's Visit

Virginia had another visit from her Alabama grandparents in early September. They last visited in early July, and Virginia was glad to have them back so soon! Virginia almost immediately began saying Papa's name, so we made a game time decision to change Memaw's name to something a little easier for Virginia to pronounce - Mimi. Virginia learned that name very quickly as well, and soon was heard murmuring Mimi and Papa all over the house.

We had a blast with the grandparents. We took Baby V to the Oakland Zoo, and Mimi accompanied her to gymnastics class, where she was a natural.

Crimson & Clover

Okay, we've been delinquent in posting again. The real reason is we've been busy going to different places and seeing lots of people. More posts soon. Here are a couple cute pictures of Virginia in her green dress, a gift from Mimi. Leslie used to wear this dress as a baby too. It was hand-smocked by Virginia's great grandmother - Great Granny.

Stinson Beach

Virginia went to Stinson Beach today for a birthday party. It happened to be for her long-distance boyfriend, Griffin Guidi, who lives in Philadelphia but was back in California to visit his family. Griffin just turned one (a younger man).

Stinson is often socked in with Northern California fog, but today it was absolutely spectacular. Virginia wasted no time getting down to important business on the beach and in modeling cute beach time outfits from her Great Auntie.

Connecticut

Last weekend I flew back to Connecticut to visit Gram and the Macks. I make a point of being there every summer. We had originally planned to be there earlier this summer, but our schedules refused to comply. With the August days ticking away, I seized the moment and caught a flight for a long weekend.

I managed to arrive just in time for the best Connecticut weather of the season, the kind of summer weather that makes every other moment of the year look inferior. Apparently Connecticut had alternated between sweltering hot and stormy for most of July and August. But this weekend, the sun shown down with complete and perfect benevolence. Afternoons achieved that ideal combination of slanting warm sunshine, a welcome accumulating layer of radiant heat, clean dry air, and occasional tickling breeze. We all sat around the pool holding sweaty bottles and chatted.

It was great to see Gram. Gram has been living at Carolton for some time, so on weekends the Mack gatherings around lunchtime typically occur at her room. Gram had had some difficulty the day before I arrived, but she recovered steadily over the weekend. On Saturday she mostly rested and listened as we all chatted together in her room. By Sunday, she had gathered back much of her strength and by all accounts was significantly better. I was grateful to have a good talk with her.

On Saturday, Uncle John and Aunt Joyce orchestrated a full-blown Bavarian cookout, complete with brats, knockwurst, potato salad, traditional slaw, pasta, sauerbraten (beef dish), German beer, and fresh rye bread and rolls. I piled my plate high.

Hard to say what was my favorite, but I definitely had seconds of the mild veal and pork brat on the right.

A few of the cousins were around too, including Buzz (up from NYC for the weekend), Sarah, and Katie Jane, who is just back after a summer of working at her camp in the Adirondacks. Katie used her Herculean strength to open up the pickle jar.

It was a great, great weekend. I wish I were back there already.

Wormy's Photo Frame

Last Christmas when we were home in Bama, I took Baby V to Robertson's Photography and got her all decked out in her christening gown for a special photo session. In my grandmother's house in Montgomery, Granny has a wall of photos of all of her grandchildren posing in this exact same gown (handmade by Granny herself) sitting in an antique high chair that came from Granny's family's plantation. I've always admired these photos and I knew we had to replicate the tradition for the next generation of Webbs!

The portrait came out beautifully, but the hardest part was finding a frame to match the ones that Granny has in her home. The frame was recently discontinued, but we found a match on Ebay. We are so thrilled to continue the tradition.

Word to Your Mother

Our little active toddler has become a fountain of language the past few weeks! As Virginia began to speak, I took the advice of a work colleague, and sent an email to myself documenting each new word that was added to her vocabulary. I'm at the point where I don't think I can keep up anymore, so here's the list of Virginia's words at 16 1/2 months:

• Uh oh (first word on April 23, 2010)
• Num num (food)
• Mama (also Mommy)
• Hi
• "Dis" (this)
• Bye
• Juice
• Book
• Dada (also Daddy)
• Wawa (water)
• Baby
• Hat
• "Dat" (that)
• No
• Shoes
• Nose
• Up
• More
• Eye

Virginia also has a number of animal sounds in her vocabulary. I think the sounds are actually what caused her speaking to really take off. Here are the sounds Virginia will say on demand:

• Wuh wuh (dog)
• Grrrrr (lion, also the Whiffenpoof dragon apparently makes the same noise)
• Ah-ah-ah-ah (goat, also a monkey and a horse say something similar)
• Meow (cat)
• Baa, baa (sheep)
• Sssss (snake)
• Cack, cack (duck)
• Booooo (cow - Virginia obviously prefers ghost cows)

Virginia also opens and closes little pursed lips to refer to a fish and sticks out her tongue and says "Ah" for a frog (just like the Uh-ah Little Green Frog song).

Weekend in Tahoe

The Argyris family invited my parents and us up to their cabin in Tahoe last weekend. Marcia Argyris wanted Virginia to have her first Tahoe experience up at their place. We were thrilled to get out of Dodge and enjoy summertime in the mountains.

It was great fun. Leslie and I had willing babysitters for Virginia, leaving us free to do a few things on our own. We played tennis, went on hikes, ate great food, read our books, played with the doggies, and went boating on Donner Lake.

Here's a video of Virginia out on the deck feeding the Argyris's dog, Casey, with her supply of Cheerios.

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.