Vadajo

Suzette and I have been working on sewing dress-up clothes for the toddlers’ xmas gifts. Today we made wizard and princess hats. Vada got to model them for us, to make sure we were on the right track…

We’ve been wanting to go back to the gardens to see the fall colors for MONTHS. Stupid rain. We finally got a clear day on Friday, so we packed Vada up and hustled out there. Yes, we missed most of the color, but it was still lovely. Vada did great in the Ergo carrier, until the end, when we took her out for a few minutes and then tried to put her back in. Lesson learned: if baby is happy in the pack, leave baby in the pack.

This year we have more than ever to be thankful for. We have a wonderful daughter and a shiny new PhD! On top of continued health, loving families, amazing friends, awesome job, and a sweeping democratic victory in the recent elections, I’d say it’s been a banner year!!!

We went to Suzette & Gene & Kate’s place for a potluck thanksgiving feast. It was perfect – great food and great friends. Vada is starting to get interested in other babies, and she and Zak had fun checking each other out. Vada is a few months older. but Zak probably outweighs her. He’s also the most mellow baby you can imagine, and such a cutie pie.

Vada has two little toofies! I kept looking for them to show up on the bottom first, so they sort of snuck in up top. I don’t think she had any significant teething pain – maybe she’s saving that up for the molars?

A close up on the chompers. Please excuse the messy face – she had carrots for breakfast, and apparently I didn’t do such a good job cleaning her up… like any kid, she hates getting her face wiped! At least I cropped out the booger nose.

We’ve taken our success with Veggie Poofs and moved on to “Baby Mum-Mum”. Seriously, that’s what they’re called! They are veggie poofs in cracker form. Fun!

No picture, but I just wanted to spread the good news that Chris passed his dissertation defense today! Yay! Congratulations!

Chris ran off to Singapore to present a paper, and left me home alone with Vada for a whole week! On a whim, I invited Damian and Kathy to come out for a visit, since we never really get much of a chance to hang out. It was great for me – I was happy to have the company after 5 days on my own, Kathy was a huge help with Vada, and Damian installed a hot water dispenser for us. For them, I’m sure it was not so much fun! Unfortunately, it rained the whole darn time, so we hardly did anything outside. A trip to Powells, a drive through Washington Park, a wet walk around the little lake by our house, and lots of eating out… Yep, that’s Portland in the fall…

“Is this my new nanny? Can we keep her?”

“Nice watch. Mind if I suck on it?”

Veggie poofs: our newest and most powerful weapon in the “keep Vada happy” arsenal. They’ve enabled several amazingly pleasant restaurant meals in the past week – feels like cheating, but works so well! She’s not self-feeding yet, but she’s sort of trying to work at it, if pushing them around on the table counts. Meanwhile, Trudy’s learning to keep an eye out for flying poofs…