OUR EMERGING PERSON

The day after Halloween, our sweet Baby Nessa got her very first cold. She gave it to both parents, too. It's not easy nursing when your nose is congested and runny, you haven't mastered the art of blowing, and you refuse to let your well-intentioned parents aspirate your nostrils. Nanners was furious with her cold. She was miserable.

We had to miss two swimming lessons due to the cold. Daddio gets to make them up, which he's thrilled about. He didn't even mind much when he got her same cold.

This week Granny Ernestine came back for her monthly visit. Her observation? "Oh. She's a climber."

Darn it.

At least she's not walking yet.

Granny took us on some sunset walks. Vanny loves, loves, loves those walks.

We're learning some new things about our wee daughter. She is bookish, for example. She crawls into her library - the pink bin - and picks up her books one by one and tosses them over the side. See Nanners here, rummaging through her books on her own. She just loves to turn them pages. Yeah!

Other things we are learning is that this Little Monkey Princess has a great sense of humor. Sure, we've known that from early on, but it's getting better. She is the one to play peek-a-boo with us - she hides her face and takes great delight in revealing it. She doesn't laugh - she's the comedienne!

The other night we were watching the movie "A Night at the Museum," and she burst into uncontrollable laughter when Ben Stiller got into a slapping match with a monkey.

We also know VH1 is a party girl, who loves to be out in public, especially playing or eating at a restaurant. She smiles and tips her head back alluringly whenever a camera is pointed her way. "She's destined for stardom," her Daddy says.

VANESSA THE LIONESSA

Our little cherub celebrated her first Halloween! Family and college cronies will not be surprised to see our sweet Wahkeenah dressed as - that's right - a lion cub.

You see, my mom gave me a big stuffed lion for my first birthday- my best friend, named "Lion." You've heard of Calvin & Hobbes? We were Mary & Lion. Maybe you've heard of us. Then, thanks to an '80s hair mane and a penchant for the prowl, I got the nickname "the Lioness" in college. No surprizes, baby Nessa is a natural jungle cat.

The poor dear cried pretty hard when we put her in her suit. We thought she was uncomfortable, but really she needed a snack. Lions get hungry.

The evening walk with Daddio was really trick-or-treating to the three houses next to us. Then mama ducked out to go grocery shopping while the lion cub answered the door and passed out treats to a host of strangers. She loved it.

Nanners was a believable lion cub, and drew many comments of, "Her hair matches the lion costume!" I guess both Vanny and Milo have lion-colored hair.

I can't tell you how it felt to hold a live, stuffed lion in my arms. What a cuddly critter! How many times, as a little girl, did I wish my Lion was really alive? Purrrrrr.

We've decided she can wear her lion suit in lieu of a snowsuit when we go back East for Thanksgiving. What? There have been lion sightings in Vermont. Heck, ever heard of the University of Vermont Catamounts?

UNCLE MARKY AND THE MAGIC AUNT

Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt are visiting VanNannerkins. They hail from Rhode Island and are very, very close to being her biggest, most vehement fans. In fact, they out-and-out told us they came to visit her.

The day they arrived was also the day Vanessa and I hosted our Thursday moms group at our new home by the sea. What an absolute blast! Good thing Daddio helped us prepare by cleaning the kitchen floor, because we had 8 moms and 8 babies all over that floor!

Here is a shot of us storming the neighborhood. I am behind the camera and Nanners is fast asleep in her stroller. In fact, when we got back to the house for lunch, I had to leave her outside in the stroller napping for an hour whilst we all partied down inside. (Normally Van naps in my arms.) When she was awake, she was full steam ahead, relating to all her little contemporaries. None of the babies cried, it was that fun.

Uncle Marky and the Magic Aunt arrived after the moms' party, and Baby Nessa was only a teensy weensy bit scared of the bearded man who grabbed her and hugged her. We shot out for a quick sunset walk, though, and all was mended. See here, sunsets made magic by the recent fires in southern California.

The next day was extraordinary in one particular way. Vanessa took two naps - a 10 minute nap and a 15 minute nap - all day. We were blown away! She had such a good time she couldn't sleep and she didn't cry all day, either, until the very end. Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt said, "You didn't tell us she was pefect!" Yes, our Perfect 10 month old.

That day was an action packed one. We had gone shopping, walked on the beach, did a little commercial real estate business (a site visit) with The Magic Aunt, walked along the resort-studded bluff, hit the petting Farm, sampled ice cream, ate dinner on the back patio, and attended a women's college soccer game. Um, Vanners was awake the whole time, pretty much.

Vanessa spent the rest of the weekend impressing her relatives with beach walks, reading board books, eating grown up food, swiming in her 90 degree indoor pool, and taking in the college cross country championships. We also caught some of the World Series games. In a particularly comical moment, she started chuckling uncontrollably while nursing when she heard her Daddy clapping to urge the batter on. Did I mention she was nursing at the time? That rascal. I warned her to not laugh too hard or she'd shoot milk out her nose. That really got Uncle Marky going.

See Nanners meet and greet a spindly, orange and likely unsuspecting starfish:

Sunday was a thrilling day because Daddio led us on a high-tide "beach" walk involving thundering white water and rock scrambling, topped off by a lovely dinner at Jocko's steak house. Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt couldn't believe our sweet Wahkeenah was a-OK with so much stimulation without a melt down. In fact, the only time Nanners got fussy was when we had to sit around and wait an hour past our dinner reservation time to get seated. Once seated, however, she was golden. She ate like a horse and flirted with the nice, nice man at the next table. A Perfect 10.

Uncle Marky and The Magic Aunt have to leave, but we are mutally pleased to be seeing each other all over again for Thanksgiving. Phew! Can't have too much family time when we have this much fun, can we?

OUR SWEET WAHKEENAH

As you probably noticed, we use many different names for our beloved baby girl, Vanessa. Mostly, Daddio calls her Pumpkin and I call her Little Kitten. Well, this past month I inexplicably started calling her Wahkeena (Wakina?). I couldn't figure out where I got it. At some point I thought maybe it was the Hawaiian word for girl or woman, but no, that's Wahine. Last night I finally looked up Wahkeenah and found it's a Pacific Northwest Indian word (Yakama/Yakima) meaning "most beautiful." Wahkeenah, indeed!

Vanessa's swim instructor Cindy calls her Pumpkin Pie. Nanners had another swim lesson yesterday - Cindy said, "She's so advanced!" without me even asking her to brag. Daddio phoned me up on his break to "hear the latest" on swimming. He always requests a blow-by-blow account of her swim activities, how she does, what the other babies are doing, and what her instructor says.

When we walked into the pool area yesterday, Cindy was in the middle of an adult private lesson, and there was a senior water aerobics class going on. Vanners let out such a monkey screech of obvious delight everyone stopped, looked, and cracked up. She proceeded to make eye contact with each swimmer, to to personally greet them with a screech of excitement.

Later yesterday, as I was looking up "Wahkeenah" no doubt, Vanessa rambled by on her exploration route. After a few moments of silence I went to check and I'll be darned if I didn't find her sitting in the bathtub playing with her bath toys.

She can get herself through the house on her new tricycle by pulling it along with her monkey feet on the floor. We can also push her through the house on it, and you'd think she was the Homecoming Queen in the Homecoming Parade, the way she grins and gushes at the crowd as she passes. Too bad her parents haven't taught her to wave bye-bye.

Here is a photo of the trike, with the handle tucked under to make it a rocking horse. She can't touch the pedals yet. Cephalocaudal principle at work, I suppose.

Yesterday Baby Nessa also cut tooth #4, so she has both front teeth now. If she takes after her mama, those two front teeth will be big, square ones. We shall call them Chicklets. The poor dear.

Today, as I kept a close watch on her scrounging around on the bathroom floor with her bath toys, I said, "Hey, bring that one with you." She looked at the toy and I distinctly heard her say, "Uck." It was her yellow duck! Can I count that as a word? Probably not, I know, but it sure was fun to hear her say it.

I will say that "dog," "dad," and "duck" sound an awful lot alike. Here is her vocabulary - can't wait until she can speak English, though!

"Ma Ma" = feed me

"Nay Nay" = I'm tired

"Da Da Da" = my, isn't this interesting/how nice

"Milah" = Milo

"Uck" = duck (I think)

She knows her name (Vanessa, that is), and the word No, although No gets her laughing hysterically, maybe because it is typically accompanied by our running towards her and/or a funny finger sweep.

There are two times when I use the word No - when she eats the dog's food (because dogs bite people who eat their food and because kibble is a choking hazard), and when playing with the houseplant becomes eating its dirt (because that dirt has fertilizer in it). See Nanners after I have delivered my severe "No!' for her offending rule number 2.

When I was a kid, I remember having a conversation with my father whereby I was trying to apologize for letting him down, for not measuring up in some way. I was shocked when he said, "Sweetheart, I'm proud of anything you do. I'm proud every little burp and fart you make." I thought he was bananas at the time, but notice how the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.

P.S. These many faces of VanNanners were shot inside of two minutes. My inner stage mother/aspiring baby photographer had her immobilized in The Machine with a decidedly girly new bow in her hair. Note the teething drool.