A not quite thanky thanksgiving day post.

...6 months have gone by since I've updated this. Not for lack of desire, or absence of something to say (if you're reading this that means you know me and also know how ridiculous that is), but for a number of other reasons. None of these reasons, however, are particularly interesting and you've likely heard them a million times (ie., no time, fatigue, procrastination). What sense of grief I feel concerning this blogosphere silence is that this is one of the few ways I'm able to somewhat reliably archive our daughter's ephemeral childhood. I have more than a few times returned to my own blog as a source reference for these gone-by moments. It's the age of electronic scrapbooking, and so here I keep coming back (although I really must navigate away from this application given the mysterious demise of the first post of same name.) Now our rather conversant 2 year old is spitting out words at a rate I can no longer retain in short-term memory alone. I have been meaning to get these flashbulb memories down before they begin to push one another out of my already dwindling mental real estate. So I'll start there.

The day before V's 2nd birthday, she was sitting on the grass running the green blades through her fingers when she looked up at me smiling and said matter of factly, "I toe happy mama." 

When I asked her the other day if she was ready to have dinner her exclamation was, "Of course!"

Just before a much anticipated date night, Clark and I were both upstairs getting ready while V watched tv downstairs. She called up to us from below only to be met with "just a minute!" She tried several more times before she refuted our replies with a very astute, "Your minute gone!"

After coming back downstairs following a shower tonight, V came and asked me "what doing?" I said, 'well, I just took a shower', to which she replied "good job, mama." 

She ate 25+ mussels in as many minutes and launched into a mini-meltdown after being told that she needed to save some for the adults. (both cute and really not so cute)

Watching the expressions of gratitude float across my facebook feed today reminded me to continue to pay attention to the little things. It also reminded me to take a few moments to archive bits of the toddler narrative playing out in front of me. So lest I forget what else we did this Thanksgiving day... we took a walk in the backyard with a friend (in blinding preparation of potential trespassing hunters) in the sun, and wind, and warmer than usual temperature. We watched two black dogs in flashing neon playfully romping through dry brown grasses. I spent 6 hours in the kitchen preparing a meal for just the 3 of us, blatantly pretending that butter, salt, cheese, and cream are in fact healthy in large doses. I cuddled with my little girl in my favorite grey chair before I listened to the murmurings of her father tell bedtime stories and tuck her safely into bed. 

Springaliciousness

Oh dear, it's May already. How I've neglected this blog. Yet a beautiful spring Mother's Day is the perfect opportunity to breathe some new life into these virtual pages and show off the newest incarnation of VP. She is growing quickly, constantly testing her physical endurance by running, climbing, and dancing new jigs. Every new day brings novel words and even newer sentences, many of which Veda is working hard to construct. She has the possessive bug, pointing out which things belong to whom, "Mama's bag. Dada's shoes." Veda's fill-in-the-blank, because let's get this straight, everything is hers. (sigh) Our smallest of actions are up for narration by a little voice, "Mama, you sleeping?", "Veda eating dinner too". Many things are "too" right now - even when they aren't. Like, drinking beer for instance.

For mother's day, we stocked up on favorite picnic items (sliced sausage, gouda, curry chicken salad, berries, and beignets... heck yeah) and headed to Pheasant Branch Conservancy for a picnic turn hike with a playground break in the middle with picture perfect weather. 

Bye bye plague.

Okay so maybe we really didn't have the plague, but it sure did feel that way. We are now in the dead of winter in Wisconsin, and I had grand hopes to have updated the blog by now with pics and stories of our winter travels to California. Alas, I was too busy blowing my nose at this never ending cold, and tag teaming with dear husband while we took care of our very sick girl. Veda has only recently recovered from what we *think* may have been a doozy of a hand, foot, mouth disease... or at least some other virally contracted super uber bad body juju. Eleven days of illness, eight days out of daycare and as many "omg do I have any sick days left?" exasperations, our girl is finally on the mend minus a very noticeable 10% of her body weight. Veda finds herself currently making up for this loss by eating a goat's weight of organic chicken nuggets (quite literally, an entire box a day) and pints of coconut yogurt. This is one of those times when I find it useful to let go of whatever preconceived ideas I had about what my child will and won't eat and just sit back enjoying the fact that she is no longer despondent and sedate, no longer vomiting, no longer has a mouth full of ulcers, no longer sick. And with that, I will send myself off to work on updating the blog with those sunny California pics and will leave you with this video capturing the rare California Veda Bird.

November News

This fall is just whipping by unbelievably quick. From sun up to sun down (well, if you consider 7:30am sun up, which we do), it is move move move. Get dressed, pack up, get out of the house, WORK, get back in the house, get undressed, and sleep sleep sleep. Repeat said pattern until it's time to collapse on Friday night in exhausted little heaps while you watch the mess of the house cave in around you. Okay so maybe that's a touch dramatic, but no lie, this place is a mess and we are t.i.r.e.d. All this to say, we have some catching up to do.

Veda continues to grow and learn and smile her way through life. Toddlerhood is in full swing, which brings advancing communication, running at full speed, and and the lovely world of rapidly shifting moods and dreadfully impressive tantrums. She is quick to tell you what she wants and when she wants it (now), however at least these days this is accompanied by words and useful sign language. She currently enjoys pointing out cars, meowing at pictures of cats, and singing "La Bamba". She even has a little boyfriend at daycare who jumps up and down upon her arrival yelling, "bay-duh! bay-duh!" before they embrace in a morning hug. Um, ridiculously cute?  Yes.

Going outside is always fun, and this afternooon of raking is no exception.

Ending the afternoon with a little light reading. 

Pumpkin Patching

October it is.

 I love October.  Back in San Diego, October meant another month of tiresome heat paired with warm Santa Ana winds.  With the a/c running, my summer wardrobe still in full swing, and only a handful of trees turning color, it was hard to tap into the traditions of Fall.  In the midwest, October is the month that bridges the rituals of summer with those of colder days.  You drink the last of your stash of summer brews after picking apples from a local tree.  As I write this, I am nibbling on freshly baked pumpkin bread.  The leaves are turning before our eyes and we're enjoying the last days of warmth and sun and shoes with no socks.  On this particular beautiful 2nd day of October, we headed out to 'the farm' for a Whiskey Farm rehearsal and family potluck.  We stuff our faces with comfort food while the kids mill about, guitars get strung, and harmonies sorted.  It is a few hours of the simplest of pleasures as we reflect on another summer's passing and completely ignore that after glorious fall comes...

If you look closely you'll notice Veda has been testing the strength of her forehead against various hard surfaces.

Clearly, this girl is ready to rock.

VP is loving this new bipedal method of exploring the world.

Growth spurt means new clothes.  Fun for all (well, at least fun for mama anyway.)

Fun with sun.

I'm with the band.

The dog is with the band too.

In the world of frenetic toddlering, finding time for food can be a tricky task.  These organic food pouches are the saving grace when sitting down for lunch is just too much to ask.

This girl likes her some honey grahams.

I suppose a break must be taken at some point.

Chris being swarmed by the little ones, including dog.