Welcome to the holidays, Viola

In the past two weeks, some stuff has happened.

We put you in the car at bedtime and picked up your grandparents at the airport. You woke up when we walked in the house, near midnight, and stared very seriously at them for 15 minutes or so, then gave your grandpa the full lower-lip treatment. We left you at home the next day with these strange people while we went to work.

Your laundry built up for a day or so while the pipes to the laundry room froze.

Your mama went to Seattle for work and forgot a part for her breast pump, so spent most of the day worrying about the front of her shirt. Then she waited on the wrong side of the street for the bus for 90 minutes before making it home with mammary glands ready to burst. Meanwhile, your papa took the car in for an oil change and found it needed $500 worth of new rotors.

We dragged you out in the rain and dark to pick out a Christmas tree. You marvel at it every day, and we tell you not to touch it.

Your parents left you alone all night for the first time. While they were staying in a luxurious waterfront bed and breakfast, you were wondering where your nighttime food source had gone. You banged hard on the windows the next morning as we walked up the sidewalk.

You picked up a mouse turd off your cosleeper bed. Your parents and grandparents started getting jumpy when they entered new rooms. Some strange people came to set up traps all around the house; another thing you aren't allowed to touch.

You mistook your mama's nipple for a chew toy, and drew blood. You cried with her.

You were trapped at M-Space for two long days for the annual blow-your-own ornament event. You were nap-deprived and walking-deprived.

And then tonight, you sat on the floor of the laundry room while mama shut off the valve to the hot water heater, to stop it from spraying energetically around the laundry room. You watched while we carted out soggy photo albums and lots of other old stuff from before you were born.

On the other hand, you got to spend a precious seven days with your grandma and grandpa Balsam, who you adore and who adore you right back. They got you lots of fun new toys and clothes for Christmas already, though mostly you're interested in the box they were shipped in.

All this, and Christmas isn't even here yet!