The Super Suit

One morning a month or so ago, I appeared at the park early in the morning with Violet. It was quite cold, actually, and Violet was woefully underdressed. She began to cry and I had to carry her all the way home and keep her warm. It was then that I decided to do some cold weather clothes shopping to get Violet climate-ready.

One of the things I picked up at our local used baby stuff place was this fleece suite, dubbed forever after The Super Suit. Just look at Violet's mobility and big smiles, all the while toasty and warm.

Before and After

What a difference 7 or so months makes! Here you'll find two pictures of VPL with her friend and "play cousin" Lola B Hurst. They are mere weeks apart in age.

In this first picture, we clearly see signs of babyness: excess cheeks, no hair, complex neck systems, unstable floppiness, looks of trepidation, inadvertent touching, clothes that just don't look right, redness, drool.

In the next picture, taken just a few weeks ago, toddlerhood is rising. Cute outfits, stability of body, gazes of certainty, clear intentional grasping, tongues out but mouths and faces more or less dry, and did we mention cute outfits?

I suspect this whole "development" thing will continue for some time.

Old School VPL

There hasn't been an update for about a week, and everyone knows that you need to keep it coming if you want people to visit your blog. Therefore, I added this classic VPL shot from about a year ago.

It's amazing: you can see her little face in the midst of all that cheek-chunk, and, although I may be crazyI think her bald head makes her look somewhat menacing. It's also clear that after more than a year, Violet still does not have any wrists to speak of.

As the holidays come, VPL's gonna see both her Grandmothers, which will be good for her and great for Amy and I, as we find some time to hit the town.

Violet at the Necropolis

READER ADVISORY: This post has pictures of a baby in a graveyard and some jokes about graves and babies.

Today, Violet and I visited Mountain View Cemetery here in Oakland, one of the absolutely coolest places around. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, right after he designed Central Park (if you've been to New York City, Central Park is the big green area behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art). It is absolutely beautiful in a decrepit/shabby chic type of way and is filled with tons of famous people, like a Stanford or two and the Ghirardelli family, of chocolate fame.

My idea was that Violet could walk around on the grass and climb on people's mausoleums (mausoleumae?) and have a generally good time. However, the grounds of Mountain View have seen better days, and there is scarcely a smooth walkway or flat expanse of grass in the entire place. Instead, roads are crumbling, stairs are moss-covered and tilted and most graves are on steep slopes. The effect of the whole place is fantastic for memoralizing dead people, but it's not such a good play area. Put that one in Olmstead's (admittedly small) Failures column.

So, I decided to get a little weird and shoot Violet next to the tombstone of Elmer Wilson, a 4 year old who died in the early 20th century. It says "Our Baby" on the stone and indicates that the child is "A Native of Oakland," and I thought that despite the ninty or so years of age difference and the whole dead/alive thing, he and Violet had a few things in common.

The situation on the hill with the stones was precarious, so I brought Violet down to a relatively flat area, where the tombstones are embedded in the ground. Here, Violet is maintaining a flower arrangement.

A little later, Violet was joined by the ghost of Elmer Wilson. Just kidding! That's actually Eliza B Van de Water, who brought her mom to come share a little playdate in the cemetery. Since she's so young, one need not worry about her falling or tripping or anything, so anyplace is basically as good as any other. She appeared to enjoy herself in that "I'm not completely miserable" way very young children do.

Just a caveat to those who think this whole expedition is completely beyond the Pale: Mountain View has been around for decades and is considered by many to be akin to a public park here in Oakland. People regularly jog, ride their bikes, picnic and even walk their dogs through here. I mean, at least Violet and I had our legs covered! I did think a few times that it would be nice when I kick the bucket and am buried in the ground somewhere if some kids would come and play on my grave every now and then.

Stomach Problems All Around

So, for the last two nights, Violet's been (how should I say it?) barfing right before bed, or in the early hours of sleep. It's quite disconcerting, obviously, since we care deeply about her health. It's also quite disconcerting when you realize the sheer volume of stuff a little 14 month old's stomach can hold, and you're holding her on your lap! I had to crouch both of us up together to step into the tub to take both of our outfits off for washing.

I had a stomach bug all day yesterday, and moaned and groaned and felt sorry for myself for hours. Violet, however, just seems to puke and get on with it. She's just such a little wonder!