Feeling Under The Weather

Yesterday, Vivian was feeling a little off. A cough, a runny nose, and a bit of a temperature. So she and I stayed home and hung out together. We played, napped (not nearly enough), fed the outside birds and went for a walk. Vivian seemed to feel better by the evening, but had to be the drama queen during dinner, anyhow :)

Will Work For Food

All Dressed Up And No Place To Go

Fan Club

In early January, John came up to Pittsburgh to visit us. As always, he brought his guitar. For the first time, we were ready for him with his very own fan club.



Updated to add: I was just playing the video to see that it uploaded ok and Vivian started clapping and dancing in the living room. She's a fan of her own fan club!

Daddy's Baseball Cap ...

... Is lots of fun!

Catching up on pictures of the last couple of months. These are from late January.

Apparently, I Lied

Whenever I make any kind of a statement about Vivian, she immediately proves me wrong. Every time. (Except about her cuteness) I claimed here that she likes all food. I did forget to mention that she does not like ice cream ("You forgot to defrost that stuff!!!!"). Minor detail.

The real proof came today. While Vivian loves omelets, she apparently does not like the egg yoke from a hard-boiled egg. She spat that right back out at me. Thanks, Vivian!

New Best Friend

Vivian has a new best friend. Julia (with her Mom and Dad, Jeff and Kristen) visited us last weekend. The two of them became instant friends. Julia sang to Vivian, played with her, helped get her ready for bed and distracted her while I changed her diaper. Vivian on the other hand was simply enamored. She kept hugging Julia and shared her toys with her. Between the two of them, they've got the cuteness factor going into overdrive. It was a great weekend!

15 Months

Vivian had her 15 month check-up the other day. She was 31.75 inches and 24lb 3oz. This would put her at about the 95th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight. From off the chart/50th percentile. Even the pediatrician said they sometimes don't measure quite right. So, I think Vivian is taller. But now that I have measured the last mark on the door frame, I'm not sure. Either way. She's healthy. That's the important part. The pediatrician admired her fine motor skills, noted her "oh-oooh" and said she was totally endeared by Vivian. So all is good.

Other random things:

• Vivian's big thing these days is independence and helping Mommy. Oh, and Daddy is the flavor of the month!
• Will and I have a tendency to leave the lid of the trash can open. Every time Vivian walks past it she slams it shut. She probably thinks: "Will they ever learn?"
• Coloring with crayons is great fun. She even keeps it (mostly) on the paper provided. Just don't you DARE take a crayon away before she's done. Putting them into the box is at least as much fun as coloring
• Carrying things back and forth provides hours of entertainment
• I take advantage of that when I notice that Vivian has picked up something she shouldn't have. I ask her to put it somewhere and she'll happily oblige. I dread the day she outgrows that
• Temper tantrums are definitely in our future. So far, it's still easily possible to distract Vivian before she really starts
• Vivian still hasn't met a food she doesn't like. Except maybe the bread in sandwiches. The cheese/cream cheese/cucumber topping is so much better than the bread itself!
• Vivian insists in walking everywhere herself whenever possible
  
• The three words she says consistently are "oh-oooh", "shoe", "fish". She can also sign "food", "more", "water" and "milk"
  
• Her cuteness factor continues to be through the roof
• The days of Vivian walking with her arms above her head are long gone. She walks easily these days. Today, she even broke into a run of sorts when she saw Daddy
• She keeps waving at people. She is undeterred by the fact that most are too busy to notice her
• Vivian's "chores" include feeding the cats and carrying her lunch box to daycare
• A kid at daycare told Ms Sharon "I like Bibian". We do, too. And we adore her new name
• Vivian is starting to be able to match up shapes and colors in a shape sorter or puzzle
• She definitely understands both English and German ... she does what we tell her in either language
• There's nothing better than getting her to giggle uncontrollably
• Vivian loves love loves the rice table at the Seesaw Center
• Her sleep schedule is pretty predictable. Go to bed at 7pm. Wake up at 7.30am. Nap from 12.30pm to 3.00 or 3.30pm. I love it
• Vivian is pretty much self-feeding. Although it is messy. And I cannot wait for the day where she no longer crams so much food in her mouth that I expect her to choke any minute
• Vivian's got an incredibly good temper and we continue to be able to take her to restaurants with the expectation (which is almost always fulfilled) that we will be enjoying our meal without getting it to go in the middle of it
• Vivian has 12 teeth
  
• I will post more pictures very soon, I promise