Last year, Violet was just about 6 months old for her first Oktoberfest. Too young for a dirndl (at least I couldn't find one for an infant) and too young to being to enjoy the festivities. This year, Violet looked so adorable in her first dirndl. My dad came again to celebrate but my Aunt wasn't able to make it. We'll just have to wait until the annual "German Dinner" she throws the weekend of Thanksgiving.
To see all the pictures from Oktoberfest click here.
To see all the pictures from September click here.
You know you've become a parent when you start spelling words to each other. "Bottle" is a perfect example. Saying the word could illicit a very loud and strong response from Violet. And given that we've been slowly cutting her back over the past few months means that we've found goods reason to spell it to each other.
Scene: Violet getting upset or otherwise being fussy.
Chip t0 Amy: "Should we give her a b-o-t-t-l-e?"
Amy: "Sure, why not." (Because I know it will make her happy and she'll stop being fussy.)
It's been a big weekend for Violet. She has officially kicked the habit. Not without some fussing and crying, but she doing great and I'm really proud of her.
So, in honor of the momentous occasion, I thought these pictures taken by Chip just a couple of weeks ago are fitting.
I don't have anything really new to report. I just had to post these pictures that Chip took last week while I was out of town. How adorable is she?!?!
Violet is growing in leaps and bounds these days and nowhere is this more apparent than when we go to the playground with her. One day something is too much or too big for her and the next day she's mastered something new that she couldn't do before. Here are two examples of this. The first is Violet walking along the border of the sandbox. She saw an older boy do this and not to be outdone, Violet immediately set her sights on learning to do this herself.
The next video is of her going down the slide all by herself. Opa (my dad) came for a visit last week and he went to the playground with Violet and Nana (my mom). Later that night he's telling us how Violet was going down the slide by herself and Chip and I looked at each other like, "Yeah, right." But sure enough, we took her to the park today and away she went!
Before Violet was even born Chip bought her a backpack. It was one of those impulse buys one day when he went to REI and saw this adorable little blue backpack with a frog embroidered on it. Violet now loves to imitate her daddy by putting on her backpack and bike helmet (the two things she sees Chip put on every morning when he gets ready to bike to BART) and dance around the house or ride on her pony.
How can a 15 month old be so funny? Violet finds new ways every day to crack us up. The best part is that she cracks herself up too. Case in point, watch this video...
We spent a wonderful weekend for the 4th of July up North on the Eel River with our friends. I think we counted 10 kids in all - the youngest was 7 months and the oldest was 9 years old. It was so much fun. Violet had a blast playing with all the children and she loved playing in the water and sporting her shades.
To view all of the pictures from that weekend click here.
At the beginning of June we went to DC for our annual trip to Chip's hometown. last year we didn't go since Violet was just born in April, so it had been a couple of years. Our dear friends, Lucy and Todd, threw a big BBQ for us so everyone could see us at once. It was so great to see everyone and see how the kids are growing up.
For Violet, this was her first trip to DC but her third trip involving an airplane. Just as before, she did really great. For the flight home she slept 3 1/2 hours of the 5 hour flight! She really enjoyed herself in DC. She seemed to get that we were on vacation because we were somewhere new and every morning, mommy and daddy were still there, waiting to hang out with her all day. For the first time ever, we were actually waking up before her. We don't think she ever adjusted to east coast time - she slept in late every morning and stayed up late every night. It actually worked out really well and she didn't go through any adjustment phase when we came home. A couple of mornings in DC we even had to wake her up because she was sleeping so late. What a change!
Violet also went swimming for the first time and loved it. We bought her some sunglasses knowing that it would be sunny in DC and we'd we out a lot but she always hated them when we put them on her in the store. As soon as we got outside and in the pool, she completely got it and loved wearing the sunglasses. They are her favorite new accessory!
To view all of our pictures from our DC trip go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chamy/sets/72157624373900144/
Yes, she turned one a month ago. But what can I say? Life with kids is busy! Anyway, April was a fun-filled month. First we had Easter and then shortly after, Violet's first birthday. We did exactly what the books tell you not to do for the first birthday - invite a bunch of people and hire entertainment. But we know Violet and knew that she would enjoy it. And did she ever! "Twistyman" was great with all his magic tricks and balloon animals. And Violet loved all the excitement and kids running around. It was great.
To view all of our pictures from her birthday and April go to: www.flickr.com/photos/chamy/sets/72157624076663296
It's official - our baby doesn't crawl anymore! We came home tonight to a little girl who walks. She didn't crawl once! Anytime she fell down, she'd get right back up and start walking again. And I was just reminiscing on my drive home how a year ago today was my due date and I just went on maternity leave and was waiting for Violet to make her arrival.... crazy.
So, since I've obviously missed posting any videos of her crawling (and she's an adorable crawler), I feel like I need to bring everyone up to speed.
Violet began crawling right at 8 months old and pretty quickly she discovered that she preferred a "downward dog" position while crawling - legs straight, butt up in the air, her knees never touching the ground. Then she discovered that if she found something to put her hands on and push, she could crawl even faster. Here she found a magazine and really went crazy!
Then, a couple of weeks ago my mom bought Violet a wonderful wooden push toy and she took to it immediately. She had already been crawling and pulling up on furniture and then began standing up in the middle of the room. Here she is trying out the push toy for the first time.
And then, a few days later, she stood up and took her first couple of steps. They were quick and she'd fall down, but it was only a few more days after that (on 3/22) that she took several steps at one time and it was official, she was walking. Which brings us to today, about 10 days later, with Violet walking all over the place. Clearly, she is very happy with her new found skill.
This is from back in November when we were in Seattle visiting my friend, Liz. I'm just realizing that Violet doesn't really do this anymore... (so sad) but she used to do this thing with her hands and Liz said it's like she's going "vroom vroom" riding a motorcycle.
Ok! So I've been having some technical difficulties with uploading videos to our blog but I found a website that explained a workaround, so I'm going to upload a bunch of old (as well as new) video. This one is fairly recent - from February. Violet loves her bath time. Enjoy Gramps and CeCe!
Way back on Thanksgiving in 2009, we celebrated with our good friend Alan and his family on Baker Beach. They've been doing this for over 40 years, or something crazy like that. Anyway, this is when Chip had a brilliant moment (one of his many), realizing that the picturesque Baker Beach would be a great backdrop for our first Christmas Card. It all sounded so perfect - Violet on the beach with the Golden Gate behind her. What could be more perfect? And while it did turn out great, it was touch and go there. First, there were a lot more people than we expected. It was actually a pretty nice day. It was sunny out at Baker Beach and there were plenty of people out enjoying it on Thanksgiving day. So just trying to capture a picture without someone right behind her was challenging. Then, there's the unpredictability of a 7 month old. First time we tried, she was hungry and wanted nothing to do with our little photo shoot. After feeding her we tried again a little later and she was in a better mood, but then we couldn't get her to look up. Chip stood behind me, waving his arms, calling her name but Violet was way more interested in her feet than in anything else at that moment. Luckily, we had a toy that rattled in her diaper bag and with Chip shaking that behind me, she finally looked up.
I think I took about 50 pictures and really only one was the best that ended up on the card. But these are a few others that we really like. To see even more pictures from that day go to: www.flickr.com/photos/chamy/sets/72157623398953605
Wow - so the holidays came and went quickly and yes, it's taken me longer than I'd hope to get around to posting about the holidays. They were great. At the beginning of December my great-Aunt Virgina came for a visit. We had a nice family gathering down in Los Gatos to celebrate the latest in my mom's remodel projects. The only thing that wasn't yet done was the painting but even still the place looked amazing. A completely different kitchen! Violet loved my great-Aunt Virginia. They both were very taken with each other. And for me it was the closest thing to my daughter meeting my grandmother/her great-grandmother, who passed while I was pregnant. Virginia is her sister and they are alike in many ways. I really enjoyed talking with her about old stories of her and my grandmother.
Then Chip's parents came for the week of Christmas and we had a nice relaxing time hanging out at the house. My mom and Susan were here for Christmas dinner and my dad came the day after Christmas. Violet enjoyed herself immensly, visiting with everyone, working on her crawling technique and learning how to open presents. And my mom made an incredible Christmas dinner. She may not eat meat, but she sure does know how to prepare it! For once I was her sous chef and it was a nice break.
