viola

Viola's First Steps

We shot this footage November 11. Sorry for the delay!

Month 11

Month 11 is upon us, and the mad skills just keep coming. Viola took her first unaided steps on November 11th, and she can now walk successfully for 5 feet or so.* Last night she even launched herself toward the crib from a standing position at a wall. Once she learns to stand up from a sitting position on her own, we're done for.

Here she is standing all by herself in the yard this weekend. She keeps herself balanced like a tightrope walker, with lots of arm movement.

The next skills we hope she develops are sleeping skills. Specifically, going-to-sleep skills, and staying-asleep skills. And ability-to-sleep-away-from-a-warm-lap skills. Any of these would be an improvement.

We closed out the month with a fun Thanksgiving celebration. Viola met her second cousins from Montana and kept them on their toes.

*(Some video of the first steps is forthcoming. That's Joe's assignment.)

Taking bets on when she's able to text.

"Uh, Papa, this phone is so old and slow. How am I supposed to text using this prehistoric device."

"Will you buy me the newest one, it has GPS, it's 3G and like 300 times more memory."

"So you can have even more pictures of me."

Beware the baby ninja

She might get you with her fierce nunchucks!*

She also has throwing stars in her arsenal!**

Look at that ninja creep in her step!***

*Made from wood-grain fabric and stuffed with rice and cotton balls
**Cut from industrial felt
***Also known as slipping on hardwood floors, occasioned by wearing mama's socks with no grippies on the bottom

It was pretty fun getting Viola dressed up for Halloween, but she didn't get an overwhelming reception from the wider world. No matter; we thought she was cute and hilarious, and we had a lot of fun making her cache of weapons. No doubt there will be self-chosen princess-fairy-unicorn costumes in her future, so the dark nature of Halloween '09 will stand in stark contrast.

Eating can be fun too

Making the mashed peas

The smorgasbord is presented

More pictures like these that remind us that eating isn't always dangerous can be found in our End of Summer album. Thanks everyone for your supportive comments on the allergy post. Viola is still doped on Benadryl, but we look forward to a return to normal in the next few days.

The New Enemy

There were the first nine and three-quarters months of being parents, when we didn't have to carry around an epi-pen, and now there's the rest of our lives as parents, when we have to have one within reach at all times.

The enemy is sesame seeds, so close to Viola in this picture taken at the Greek Festival 3 weeks ago.

Yet, she didn't ingest them until today, when Joe mixed some tahini in to her oatmeal, at the suggestion of our baby food book ("great source of protein!"). Every horrifying allergy symptom followed, including vomiting, hives, wheezing, and swelling. And then, an ambulance ride, the pediatric emergency room, more vomiting, and a lot of waiting and watching. We were all back home by noon, Viola sufficiently doped up on Benadryl and steroids. In a few hours, the swelling had subsided and she was her old self.

The next time she is exposed to sesame -- on a hamburger bun, in hummus or salad dressing -- she probably won't get off so easy. That's where the epi-pen comes in. The doctor actually referenced Pulp Fiction when he wrote the prescription.

The irony is that we've been hyper-focused on possible food allergy since the beginning -- eliminating dairy from my diet for the first six months, waiting until 6 1/2 months to introduce solids, and carefully waiting 4 days after each new food to detect signs of allergy. Joe was allergic to wheat, dairy, and corn when he was a baby, so we decided to wait until after one year to introduce those foods. We never suspected sesame; I didn't even know it was an allergen. But according to this article, sesame is now in the top ten most allergic foods in the U.S.

And now I'm staring at a blinking cursor like Doogie Howser, wondering what bit of wisdom will wrap up this post. Insert something here about working-mom guilt and the longest drive from Olympia to Tacoma, and the leap of faith that is bearing a child. I actually thought when I sat down to write this post that I might save some parent somewhere from feeding their child sesame too soon, but the chances of that happening are probably close to nil. And so, you see, I read a little too much Hermann Hesse in high school to find anything uplifting to say at this point.

Walker Walking

On her 9-month birthday, Viola learned a new trick -- walking behind this little cart borrowed from her friend Sascha.

Sock Trading

Viola's sounds

Joe's parents gave us a fancy video camera for Christmas. It later got stolen and then replaced by our insurance company. We've been using it to take a ton of video but haven't been sharing much of it with the outside world. Viola now has a few proto-words in her repertoire, so it seems an appropriate time to demonstrate them with video.

Exhibit A: "dada" (note that Joe goes by "papa," so she is probably referring to the cultural movement of the early 20th century)

Exhibit B: "mama" (note that she said this one first and that I go by "mama")

Exhibit C: "bbbbrrrrr" She has been saying this one for months, but only when she's dissatisfied. This usually has the effect of making us laugh at her when she's mad, which only makes her madder. This clip has a happy ending, though.

Waving

Today is the day that Viola said to herself, I am going to get serious about waving. She waved at grandma and her toys when Joe dropped her off this morning, and she was still waving at her toy pelican this evening when I got home. Pretty cute!