Vita's Second Christmas

Vita had a blast on her second Christmas. We drove down to LA through the night, so that Vita would sleep through the six hour drive. When Vita woke up, we were at Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Vito's house! Here's Vita reading with Aunt Mary, and then playing with Uncle Pat. When the rain cleared, we went over to check out one of the many playgrounds at Griffith Park. Poor Vita, tortured with love... Next we went over to Uncle Pat's house for dinner. Once again, Vita made herself right at home. The next morning was Christmas Eve, and we woke up at Aunt Mary's house and enjoyed warm banana bread and coffee in our pajamas while Vita got warmed up for the main event by playing with one of her birthday toys that we had saved for just such an occasion. Since we started the day early, we had lots of time in the morning to just relax and cuddle and enjoy, and it felt so luxurious!

Soon, Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Vito came over, and the party officially began. I love the huge smiles in this picture!

Vita was enjoying dancing to Louie Prima, so the rest of us joined in the fun.

As the sun went down, the lights of the tree were so pretty.

We had another great dinner, and then we started opening presents. Again, Vita made out like a bandit. Here's Vita with Uncle Pat while Dad assembles Vita's new play tent.

Now here's Vita and Dad in the tent. FUN!

Vita also received a pop up caterpillar tunnel, which she LOVES! As soon as we opened this tunnel, Vita charged right through it... as Uncle Pat waited on the other end.

After a fun filled Christmas Eve, we headed down to Orange County on Christmas morning to see Grandma Victoria, Aunt Jen (not to be confused with Aunt Jennifer, or with Vita's mom Jenny) and Great Grandpa Jim, and Vita's cousins Natalie and Kyle. We started by reading some stories by the main Christmas tree.

There were lots of Christmas trees at Aunt Jen's, and Vita would look at the trees with wide eyes and gently point to the ornaments.

Vita met three more dogs, including Mandy pictured below. She also met two birds, and repeatedly said "bird" (a new word).

Vita with Grandma Victoria. Vita was given some vintage ornaments, and she loved them. She looked at each ornament in each box and had the most interesting reactions, laughing at some and talking to others. Then, she managed to stack all of the boxes on top of each other (a new skill) and even stack her sippy cup on top. She was so pleased that she sat down and applauded her accomplishment.

Through all the travel, Vita was in really good spirits, which made it so much fun... But here's the best part. On Christmas day, Vita put some of her new skills together. She had been saying "hi" and "mama", and she had been walking and hugging..., but on Christmas day Vita walked across the room towards me, with her arms outstretched, and said "hi mama" and gave me a hug! It was the best Christmas present ever!

Vita Walks

It's official, Vita walks! Sure, she's been taking a few steps here and there for weeks. Then, a few nights ago she took 17 continuous steps. But now, well... see for yourself. Here's a video of Vita walking (warning, it's a full one minute long). One of the cutest things is that you can hear Vita saying one of her new words "up". She says "up" when when she wants to be picked up. But when she's walking and falls down, she often says "up" as she stands back up.

Super Baby

Vita has so much going on these days. She is standing and walking more frequently (just a few steps here and there), she is saying more words, and she is enjoying books more also. In fact, the other night she picked out a book, brought it over to me, handed it to me, and sat in my lap. Christmas is coming, and we finally got around to getting our tree. To commemorate Vita's triumph over infant botulism, we got this Super Baby ornament. Vita enjoyed helping us decorate the tree. She's in awe of the tree. She looks up at it with big wide eyes and points and says "that" "that" "that" (or really "dat" "dat" "dat") constantly. On Saturday we went to a local pub to celebrate the retirement of a colleague, someone Vita spent a lot of time with during her days in the office. Vita got all decked out in her holiday dress and she put on a good show at the party... smiling and clapping and blowing kisses.

FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Vita is ONE YEAR old! It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In the past twelve months, Vita gained eleven pounds, and grew seven inches. She has two bottom teeth, and four top teeth just broke through her poor little gums this weekend. She still hasn't met a food she doesn't like. She learned how to turn over, and crawl, and now she can stand on her own and take a few steps. She spent two months working at a government agency with her mom, and travelled across the country in an airplane. She loves going to "school" every day, especially during circle time and sandbox time. She loves baths but hates having her nose wiped or her diaper changed. She overcame her fear of barking pumpkins, but she's still not sure about the crashing sounds of ocean waves. Oh, and she inhaled a spore of Clostridium from the air, developed the most toxic substance known to science in her intestine, flew in a helicopter to the hospital, became paralyzed, stopped breathing, took a rare new drug, and made a miraculous recovery... all without losing her sense of humor or her love of life. On Saturday, we had a very small non-party to celebrate Vita's first year of life... all that has occurred, and all that is to come. Here's the birthday girl with mom, and then with dad! The decorations were up, the food was out, and the cupcakes were waiting... Finally Grandma Marianne and Aunt Mary arrived! The non-party in full swing. We all sang happy birthday and presented Vita with her first real sugar... a carrot cake cupcake. She ate some of it, but she didn't go nuts like I thought she might. A nice moment with Grandma. Vita made out like a bandit! She got so many great toys, she really didn't know what to do with herself. We had to open just one or two per day for a couple of days, and then I had to put a bunch of them in the closet for a while so she could focus on just a few at a time. On Sunday, Vita was back to her regular tricks, including trying to get into her hamper. Instead of putting the hamper out of reach as I usually do, I decided that in honor of Vita's birthday weekend I would just let her have at it. She played with this hamper, and with the dirty clothes, for over an hour. Then we went to the park for some time in the swings. And now, as Vita's birthday celebration ends... it's time for the Christmas season to begin.

Bye Bye, Baby

One year ago tonight, at precisely this time in the evening, I was starting to wonder if I was finally going into labor. An hour later we headed to the hospital just in case, and an hour and a half after that Vita was born. My how our lives have changed. Vita is fast asleep at the moment, and Ernie and I have just hung a happy birthday banner, and some really big fluffy tissue paper flowers from the ceiling. Today was Vita's last day as an infant, and on her birthday tomorrow she will be a toddler. This morning, Vita learned how to blow kisses. As I left for work this morning, Ernie and Vita stood by the window and waved goodbye and blew kisses at me while I walked to my car. I looked up and waved back and blew kisses at Vita and I thought... Bye bye baby. Hello little girl.

You Can Dance If You Want To...

Hooray - the camera arrived in the mail! Instead of buying a new camera, my sister very generously offered to lend us a great digital camera that she isn't using much these days! To celebrate the new camera, here is a post with way too many pictures. (Ironically, all the outdoor pictures below were taken with the camera phone... as you never know where you will be when Vita will do something cute.) So below is a random cute doe eyed smile. But following that you will see something that had not yet been captured on film... Look ma, no hands! These days, when Vita feels like it, she'll stand up unassisted for long enough to take a picture. Look how proud of herself she is! Or sometimes, she'll stand up long enough to do a funky little dance! Vita definitely got her moves from her father, who is known far and wide for his "interpretive dances". Here's the robot: Here's the zombie: Here's the Elvis: And two more yet to be named moves: And finally, I leave you with Vita's best Marlin Brando impression. "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody..."