Violet is One (1)!

A great milestone has been reached: VPL is now one year old! Absolutely amazing to believe that it was 12 months ago that this little beast stepped into our lives. She's so wonderful and amazing and we love her so.

OK, so on to the pictures. Unlike many parents these days, Amy and I opted not to have a full-blown one year b'day party rager. We instead chose a laid back recognition that did not involve invitations, food prep or cleaning up the house. We had a little cupcake in Willard Park in Berkeley with Violet's agemate Lola B Hurst.














Thankfully, this being Berkeley, we were quick to make some friends who could round out the party a little bit.














We ended the afternoon with a great trip home on the bus. Who says Amy and I don't know how to throw a kid's party!?!

I've Been Blogged

I know this is basically a cute-pictures-of-Violet blog. But I do mention some stuff about parenting over at my other blog, if you're interested.

"KHAAt!"

It has been confirmed by both parents on three separate occasions over the course of two days: Violet Pauline has not only said the word "cat," but we are certain that she actually means it (this is an important distinction. When Violet was 8 months old, she clearly said "Kodaly Korond," which is a stop on the yellow line of the Budapest metro (the first underground metro in continental Europe, by the way)), but I know she had no idea about that).

She said "cat" when we pointed at her Big Sister (see below) and also when Amy picked up a cat this afternoon. Both were accompanied by pointing. Perhaps most mindblowingly, during tonight's reading of Goodnight Moon, I asked "Violet, where is the cat?" and she pointed directly at the two little kittens in the great green room (which is also filled with a little toy house, and a young mouse, and a comb and a brush and a..nevermind).

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised--we have read Goodnight Moon approximately 76 times. However, I also understand that language acquisition is some sort of "milestone" in human development.

Nonetheless, I am very proud.

Violet's Big Sister

People can be forgiven for assuming we have one child because it's technically correct. However, from the very start we have made sure that Violet understands that she has a big sister, and that her big sister is a cat.

Clementine is about 4 times as old as Violet and roughly 27 times as fast. They both locomote on all fours and rely on us for food. Neither Violet nor Clementine can dispose of their own waste and neither yet speaks English. Violet has six teeth and Clementine has about 16 or so.

Clementine has been sweet and open to Violet from the beginning. Thankfully for us, Clementine is basically fat and lazy, so she couldn't really be bothered to scratch out Violet's eye or anything--she'd much rather just walk away. Recently, however, Clementine and Violet have become more intimate, as siblings often do. They get closer than even this photo captures. Violet's new thing is to bury her cheek in Clementine's coat and laugh hysterically. It's so cute that is seems completely unreal.

Balancing a four-person household is hard for everyone involved. We've decided we can only afford to send Violet to college.

Violet P and D-A-D

Here's a shot we took the other day. I think she looks like me, but I guess I would, wouldn't I?

Violet P En Accion!

I know you've been waiting for these action shots. Violet does not just sit around all day finding her feet and shoving Cherrios in her mouth--she has quite an active life. It takes a lot for her to maintain her unique physique.