"AUNTIE" ONE FRIED

Our dear friend, Sarah was just here visiting us from Seattle. It was wonderful but the weather couldn't have been worse. In fact, we're fairly certain the weather in Seattle was sunnier, warmer, and drier. Luckily, our friendship is old enough and sturdy enough to withstand even a week of being couped up in either the living room or the cab of the SUV, with a 14-month-old toddler no less.

Sarah and I met the first day of college in Vermont. We became room mates later freshman year, along with "Auntie" Maribeth and "Auntie" Katja. Sarah and I moved to Seattle together in 1990, Katja came a few months later and Maribeth a few years later. Sarah was the one who said, "I think you and Jack would make a good couple," which actually had not dawned on either of us yet. She lived with us and was our maid of honor.

She got the nickname "One Fried Sarah" when she visited us as newlyweds in Arizona. Jack signed the guestbook at a Bisbee silver mine, "Jack and Mary & Our Friend Sarah" except his handwriting was such that it read, "One Fried Sarah."

So through the years two things seemed clear. One, just because you became friends when you were in college and remain close to your college girlfriends over the next 20 years, does not actually mean time stands still. We felt painfully aware of that this trip, and both of us old girls ended up ditching the au naturale look for the fully-made-up natural look befitting most 40 year olds.

The second thing is even when you have a toddler that renders your house a perpetual wreck, your pace that of a glacier, and your hostessing skills completely nonexistent, your cronie doesn't admit to minding. In fact, "Auntie" One Fried feigned enjoyment, which Vanny and I found to be positively infectious.

On the day the sun broke, we made a break from the cab of the car to explore the pier. Nanners was so excited to show "Auntie" One Fried the pebbles, cigarette butts, and gull feathers stuck between the timbers she could barely contain herself.

Check out the video:

When the squalls started again, we hit the road so little VanNannerkins could get her daily nap: the whole, whopping 60 minutes of it. She woke up when we got to Cambria (listening to our kiddie CD made by friend Cambria). We were just in time for the Farmer's Market and we all needed lunch. Nanners was a big hit: she did not deny any admirers a greeting. Who said 14 month olds are shy? It took us an hour to cover 50 yards. "Auntie" One Fried observed VH1 approaching people for some interaction and noted, "She doesn't have that stranger anxiety most babies her age do." No. She sure doesn't.

See her here, sampling cherry pie. Later she ate cilantro-avocado hummus on pita bread, and domus. The vendors commented on her sophisticated palate. Oh yes, Vanners is an adventuresome little eater.

VH1 was sporting her new monkey backpack, which is really a poorly disguised leash. Its long tail enables Van to drag an adult with her wherever she wants to go.

Funny enough, we bumped into Baby Maya, who also had a monkey backpack and the same orange stroller Vanessa has, plus she was decked out in spots and stripes. A kindred spirit, indeed (or else her mom is like me). Nanners rushed right up to taste Maya's cookie, thinking, perhaps, she was a mini vendor. But Baby Maya was 20 months old and not really digging on the whole sharing scene. She had to ask V-Dog to step off.

The drive home was particularly beautiful, as the sunset was tangled up with storm clouds and rain. We saw not one, but two rainbows. Surely signs of a pot of gold for each of us.

When it came time for Sarah to migrate north again, the rain let up a bit but the wind was relentless. We didn't realize at first that windy weather was the reason for Sarah's 4 hour plane delay, but, while killing time sightseeing at the Mission, we thought, "Gee, listen to that wind!" Vanny was in full explorateur mode: concentrating on the rustling trees, varied ground surfaces, and scores of stairs. She dragged "Auntie" One Fried along like an apprentice.

Here is a video of "Auntie" One Fried and another of the wind...

You may notice two things about today's blog photos. One is, Vanessa doesn't offer up a cheesy grin for the camera. We did get to see that little smile dimple and hear her chortle quite a bit, but when she is out sightseeing, she is concentrating on taking it all in. The second thing is there are a lot more pics of Van's mama, since "Auntie" One Fried knows how to run the camera, too.

Daddio was off to Boston for a competition while Sarah was here. Sarah, who is Milo's Dogmother, took over Daddio's role as primary zookeeper. Max and Milo slept all over her whenever possible.

LATE BREAKING NEWS! "Auntie" Michelle and "Uncle" Pete and urban cousin Graeham welcomed their baby twins to this world. Babies Amelia and Juliette were born suddenly at 34 weeks. They are in the NICU, but apparently doing fine. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Congratulations to the whole family!

GIVE ME A SIGN, SOME KIND OF SIGN

Little Miss Vanessakins has been communicating with us in all kinds of new ways. Her vocabulary continues to blossom, although there aren't a lot of true English words spewing forth. She does, however, break into spontaneous sign language now and again. Her ASL words? "More," "All Done," and "Baby." In fact, I didn't even teach her "Baby" - she picked that up from the television.

Daddio was gone over part of the weekend and Mama and Baby Nessa were very occupied playing. In fact, playing is pretty much our job these days, to the detriment and overall neglect of absolutely everything else. I am celebrating my toddler's newfound independence and physical confidence in walking and climbing, but I do have to monitor her like she's a chimpanzee. No mean feat.





Life is grand at the level of a 13 month old. There are parks to explore, sand to sift, rocks to collect, puppies to poke, and drawers to dismantle. What joy! Yesterday was so exciting Vanessa forgot to nap. We forced her down at 5 pm, then back up again before settling into the full night of sleep. Napping is not optional at this age, sweetie pie. You will nap.





One of the funniest new things she's doing is akin to a dog bringing his master the leash to initiate a walk. Nanners brings me the boppy (nursing pillow) to initiate a snack. She laughs hard at the realization she can make milk happen.



Here are two photos of VH1 taken while she's in her stroller - my attempt to corral her energy but still feed her hungry mind with visual stimuli. The first shot, of a pensive toddler, is my favorite. Van is concentrating on what I am doing with my hands - one is holding the camera to my face and the other is waving the long, red ball-wand about. If I could read her mind it would probably be, "My mother is surely a lunatic. Just look at her."

Photo #2 was taken a millisecond later of Vanessa regarding her brother Milo sauntering by. That is her father's favorite.

Have I admitted lately that we are in love with our child? We adore her.

FEBRUARY THAW

Our visitors have left and we have been laid low with the flu. Luckily, the winds from the south have brought unbelievable warm weather to us here on the coast of California. My birthday was noteably lacklustre, thanks to fevers, chills, nausea, achiness, chest distress, and tissues galore.

Vanessa, whose virus was ahead of ours by a day or two, took advantage of the 80 degree weather, however. Our low key weekend resulted in improvisational backyard entertainment. Yes, we own a sprinkler. Nanners is no stranger to water, however the sprinkler did surprise her momentarily.

Once she recovered her water confidence, she was all business - an aqualine explorateur on the loose, as it were. She may not be smiling in these shots, but be assured she was talking up a storm. Or should I say a blue streak?

Being my birthday and all, Vanny must have felt right at home, liberated by her birthday suit or perhaps the California sunshine. I do declare, toddlers are amazing.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT

Well, the good news is I was able to fix the little camera. Turned out the lens was dislocated, so I simply popped it back into place and voila! All fixed.

The bad news is Vanessa, then Daddio, and now I have gotten the flu. Pretty hard to call in sick when you are a nursing mother. Or a baby, for that matter. And Daddio didn't get off any easier. The day he came home early from work with a temperature, I kicked up my heels and headed out the door to an executive board meeting and then dinner out with my moms group. Poor Daddio. He didn't make a peep when I came home after 10 pm. It was my first night out without Vanessa since conception - er, transfer.

Anyway, we are quarentined around here.

GRANDMA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Grandma Patty has departed for points East, but we sure do miss her. When she wasn't buzzing around doing chores or running errands, Grandma was goofing off with her littlest grandbaby. She seemed right at home with a room full of toys.

Here are some photos of her visit. She and Vanners are excellent friends. One of the most common things we all said was, "My, she's a good little eater." My mother is a gold card member of the Clean Plate Club, so this was high praise indeed. See Vanessa here, enjoying a pickle at Jocko's Steak House.



We spent a remarkable amount of time indoors during Grandma's visit from Vermont, while California was under a giant wet storm for a week. See us here, enjoying the return of a true blue sky. Phew! We have really missed our beach walks.




Grandma Patty went to one of Vanny's swim lessons and was amazed. You may recall, Grandma could not believe a little baby could swim underwater without scuba gear. At least that's what she said when I first told her Vanessa was taking lessons.


What does VH1 do when she's not swimming, beach-combing, eating, or pretending with Grandma? She's learning. This morning she had her stuffed lion in hand and was roaring with a toothy grin. Where on earth did she learn that little skill? I'll have to ask Grandma Patty.

Babies pick up the darnedest things. When Grandma Patty was here, Vanessa would look at her and chuckle and/or clap her hands together. You see, my mom is a giggler, and she also made a point to play Pat-a-Cake with Vanessa, so we think the clapping was an association thing.

One day Grandma had the baby doll and asked Vanners, "Where's baby's nose?" Van pointed to the baby's nose. "Where's Grandma's nose?" Van hit that, too. "Where's Vanessa's nose?" and lo and behold Van got that right, too. I nearly had a litter of kittens on the spot, since I surely did not teach her that. But Grandma admitted to giving Vanessa a brief facial anatomy lesson two days before. Gosh, I wonder what she'd pick up if her parents actually tried to teach her something.

VanNannerkins can also make fish lips - again, not sure where that came from - can slap you five, and kicks the ball around. She digs balls out from under the couch when we ask, "Where's the ball?" Her vocabulary includes "baby" (pronounced Buh Bay), "puppy" (pronounced Puh Pay), and "fish" (pronounced Fsst). If she comes around the corner and finds you unexpectedly she busts out a spontaneous and dramatic, "Hi!" (pronounced Oy). That one really gets us.

Grandma got a real kick out of watching our Little Monkey Princess plow through a pile of books, flipping through the pages, "reading" to herself aloud, and occasionally chuckling at Lord Knows What.

After Grandma left, the skies cleared up a little, so we got a beloved family walk in. But unfortunately it was so windy it blew over our little camera... and broke it. Here's a self portrait taken just before the camera bit the dust.