MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Vanessa doesn't realize she has many relatives who have served her country... both grandfathers, all four great uncles, three first cousins, a second cousin, and even a first cousin once removed. And at least one of her great grandfathers was a WWI soldier.

We enjoyed our freedom by taking to the open California highway system. On Friday we hopped into the car and drove down to Malibu.



We cut through Santa Monica to check out the scene at Venice Beach. It was deserted!



Van explored the kiddie park by the beach, which had the softest sand in the entire universe, I think. She played on her first-ever teeter-totter (That's what her Daddio calls it. I call it a see-saw.) with her parents and showed us how to ride the horsies.











Next stop was Long Beach, where we pulled over in the Belmont Shore district for some vittles. We found it very charming and reminiscent of the Wallingford neighborhood in Seattle, replete with dark skies, pouring rain, a Starbucks and a giant Washington Mutual.

Jack got us into a nifty Italian restaurant. We sank into our chairs, dripping wet with rain, and our hearts skipped a beat as we soaked in the alluring aromas and ambiance: For a millisecond, believed we were on the threshold of a romantic Friday night dinner out. Enter Vanessa, who made it onto the table top faster than you can say Santa Maria. So we ordered a pizza off the menu, took it to go, and ate it at our motel room in front of Larry King Live.

Saturday we had a leisurely drive through the O.C. and Oceanside to the northern outskirts of San Diego. Vanners and I accompanied Daddio to a regional California high school track meet there for recruiting purposes. He was specifically scouting out a 7 foot high jumper who was also QB1 of his football team last fall for an undefeated season.



We left San Diego in a hurry - luckily traffic was light all weekend - to make it to an elite track meet in Santa Monica Saturday afternoon. Vanessa crawled all over the stadium, watching elites "Auntie" Nell, "Uncle" Chris, and Aris.

Poor VanNannerkins. We had to put her back into her carseat and drive all the way home that same day. What a tough little traveler.



On Sunday, she finally got to play around with other little toddlers at church. Then we hit the local strawberry festival.










The highlight of the weekend? After touring the strawberry festival all afternoon with NO NAP, we were heading back to the car when Vanessa spied a piece of kettlekorn on the ground. Before Daddio could catch her, she grabbed that korn, made a dash for it, and raised it up to the mouth of the 3 foot tall carved statue of an elephant. She was trying to feed it.

THE LOOK OF SEVENTEEN

Today at our moms' group, I compared notes with Liz, who also waited a number of years for her baby, Grant. We were both so amazed that a baby was born into our lives after so much waiting, wondering and daring to hope, that we are consequently caught off guard that our little gippers keep aging.













So this is what seventeen months look like. I find I'm floored Vanessa is this old. I also find that seventeen months is not old enough to pose for a self-portrait.

OLYMPIC "A" STANDARD

Quick update: Sharon made the 1.95 Olympic A standard on Saturday! Her jump of 6' 4.75" makes her one of four people who have jumped high enough to represent the U.S. at Beijing in the high jump. She had some seriously good attempts at 6' 6", too. Sharon's jump is also the 4th highest jump in the world for the 2008 outdoor season.

Blogmaster's note: if you want to view a video of this jump, see the Big West Conference website, which is

www.bigwest.org

"Shae Day, '08!"

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Last weekend, Vanessa and I road-tripped to LA to be spectators for the hepthlon/decathlon portion of the conference championships. Daddio is back there, today, with his team again, where the "rest" of the events are being contested. Daddio says it should be 105 degrees on the track today.

You're all experts on the heptathlon, thanks to my earlier blog explanation, right?

Daddio's three collegiate heptathletes happen to be three of Vanessa's most beloved babysitters, Sarah, Katie, and Sharon. See them, here, celebrating the end of their competition with an ice bath. All three scored for the conference championship and all three topped their best-ever score. Nice going, Mustangs!



Competing in the decathlon were two of Daddio's little freshmen, pole vaulting phenom Connor and Cousin-Desmond-look-alike Corbin. They are quite the entertaining duo. Unfortunately, Connor had to pull out of the competition early with an injury. Liittle Corbin didn't get a mark in the discus, but still managed to place 6th overall - which is just crazy for anyone, let alone a freshman.



Vanners was darling and a bit of a rascal. Let's just say sitting quietly and intently watching a sporting event is not her forte just yet. Running, climbing and jumping were much more her bent, however, there are rules about non-competitors entering events.








Whenever she'd see Daddio standing alone quietly, concentrating on an athlete, she'd let out a howl and a screech that could surely be heard in the O.C.. Coach Daddio had to ask that his wee daughter be removed from every event requiring his focus. Even so, I was able to manage a couple pictures. But I'll bet you a buck the Sports Illustrated photographers don't tote around a 16 month old toddler.




So let's talk about Sharon, shall we? She's known for her high jumping. Most women in the U.S. jump their own height plus an inch or two. Sharon is 5' 9" and she has jumped 6' 4". She's pretty good. She's vying for a spot on the Olympic team, actually.



This year, Sharon - Shae or "Auntie" Shae-Shae as we call her - has jumped 6' 3", which is good enough to qualify her for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Oregon. To make the U.S. Olympic Team you have to place in the top 3 at the Trials and also make the minimum standard - 6' 4.75" - sometime in the year leading up to the Olympics. Shae hasn't made the standard yet. Only two Americans have this year.

But Sharon was competing in the heptathlon last weekend - not the high jump.



Her coach, Daddio, introduced the idea of the heptathlon to her in 2007 and, on ***two weeks'*** training, Sharon placed second in the conference heptathlon. In 2008 she trained longer for it, but not much. She was busy with soccer then the indoor track season (high jump only), so training for the other 6 events didn't really begin until, oh, late March.

Okay. So. Sharon won the heptathlon. She broke the meet record. She broke the school record. Her mark qualified for Division I Nationals - second in the country. And she qualified for the Olympic Trials.

"How'd you do, Sharon?"

"Okay."

Um, I think "Historic" would not be overstaing things.

But, see, here's the thing: at both the Division I Nationals and the Olympic Trials the heptathlon is contested before the high jump. Sharon will skip the hepthlon to save her legs for the high jump, her marquis event. At least this year it's her marquis event, but all that is perhaps about to change.




"Hey, Shae: are you a high jumper or a heptathlete?"

"Heptathlete!"

You may know that college track and field athletes cannot get any kind of sponsorship while they are NCAA competitors. To even accept a free pair of shoes from a shoe company results in ineligibility, and Sharon had to decline prize money for all her elite high jump competitions. But a [shoe company] rep contacted Jack after Sharon's heptathlon and said he'll attend Nationals and would like Sharon to sign a contract there, as soon as the high jump finishes. He also said the [shoe company] wants her to continue to train as a heptathlete with Jack as her coach. Isn't that nice? Sharon is Daddio's first professional athlete!

How did Daddio know Sharon would be such a prolific heptathlete? She can jump, she runs a smoking 400 meters, and Jack saw her do a throw-in in a soccer game that could have scored a goal. "So I knew she could throw, too."

The school newspaper wrote she may be the most talented athlete in the school's history.



So, you heard it here first, folks: Sharon Day, London, 2012.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Okay, yesterday was Mother's Day, but I'm still feeling happy. In fact, Jack and I celebrated the day almost exactly as we do every day - every day as a family feels like mother's/father's day to us now. The one exception was that I got my major wish granted - cleaning the garage. Vanessa graciously napped from 2-5 so I could do that.

Last week, redheaded niece Corey asked me my thoughts on motherhood. I'll post them here:

MOTHERHOOD

Oh, Lord, niece, what can I say? I love it. I wrastle with it, sure, but in general it rocks. I have to point out the problem areas, but I think that's just so I don't sound so saccharine sweet people can't stand to be around me.

I love, love, love cuddling my toddler. I love, love, love that she enjoys being with me and is wanting to share everything about her new world with me. I love, love, love that I have the opportunity to do this - be a mom - after so many years of realizing it's not a right, it's a privilege. And of course I love sorting out the "how's" and "why's" of parenting decisions with my beloved husband. It's a new wing of our marriage and it's not disappointing either of us. In fact, I love that we discuss things and have - so far - always agreed on how to parent this adorable child.

Hmmmm. I could go on and on and on about motherhood.

The downside, in a nutshell, is that I get tired, nobody tells me I'm doing things correctly, and I can get absolutely nothing else done besides being a mom. Not such bad complaints, are they?

A week ago Daddio and Nanners and I hosted Seattle friends Sarah and Andrew. This week, we road tripped to L.A. for a track meet. A picture is worth a thousand (or more of my) words...

Daddio, Milo and "Uncle" Chris took Sarah and Andrew for a beach hike while Vanners and I exercised Max at the park.

We think we own our little park. We sure do draw attention. Bright, white Max is perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser, with his decidedly canine ways.

Andrew, a college soccer player, did have a little time to teach Vanessa a few modest soccer drills, like dribbling, and pass-and-go. I'm sorry we don't have her best moves on video, but suffice it to say Andrew was very impressed. No headers yet, but we feel confident VH1 will do fine with them, considering how um, ample her target is.




The Curly Hair Club. Everyone should be so beautiful. They smile so because they know their hair always looks fabulous. Don't be jealous.

Sarah and Andrew had to go home, but we were so happy to get them for even a short visit.

We Seattle defectors have carried on, inhaling the California life with great gusto. See Nanners here, showing Daddio that no slide is too big for her. We were at the Avila farmer's market, on the beach. She likes the slide. She loves the swing.



And here is Van sharing her burrito with her Best Guy. This is perhaps my all-time favorite one-minute video. Hear "Uncle" Chris in the background with me. Our little carnivore's cheeks are stuffed with shredded beef, but she had clearly hit the eating wall.











We have fun around here. Can you believe it? I have many more photos and a couple more video clips from our weekend in L.A., but I think I'll post those separately. I never dreamed life with a toddler could be so silly and fun.

POTTY TRAINING


Yes, yes, we've been attempting potty training. Not that we are in any rush or that we feel the need to push our daughter, but we have a little pink potty so we tried it out. With success. Again, we have no urgency with getting Vanessa into underpants. This is just an option for her right now.

I got the potty six months ago, and there it has sat, in the bathroom. "Don't push it," the experts warn. "Let them decide," they say.

Well, I decided that, because Nanners takes a whiz every single time we undress her for her bath, that I'd park her caboose on the potty at that time. Voila! She tinkled! I was so excited I thought I'd pee my own pants.

Daddy tried it later that night - it worked - and again the next morning - worked again. I don't want it to sound like we have it all figured out... we don't... but there has been some success. Mostly, Van loves to be diaper-free. She L.O.V.E.S. it.

Milo could not keep away, as you can him see, here, spoiling my shot. Surely he was wondering, "How could you have been keeping this covered up all this time?"

One day, when I noticed V-Dog hunched over, bearing down, redfaced, I grabbed her and ran through the house, shouting, "You have a number 2! You have a number 2!" After plunking her down on the potty, then bringing her back to her room to change her, I set Vanessa down on the floor and she took off. I located her in the bathroom again. She had perched her own baby doll on the potty, and was talking to her. What a little dear!

I have so much more to post I'll just have to do it later. Hope y'all don't mind this one being short!