Merry Christmas

Veronica spent a week in Brookline celebrating Christmas with her cousins. And Daddy spent the week taking pictures with Aunties' far superior camera equipment, so the blog content doesn't nearly match the amount of fun everyone had during Christmas week. Pictures of fun in the snow? Six hours of opening presents? Dancing to Beyonce? Appetizer Fest II: The return of cheese? You're going to have to look elsewhere for that kind of first class content.


Veronica wasn't feeling well during the entire week proceeding Christmas, but she tried her best to be a good sport about it. We did remember to pull out the camera when Veronica met our dear friend Kevin, but forgot when the entire McPartland clan came over. It's impossible not to reach for a camera when the cousins start playing together, even if it doesn't go very well. Carmen and Lucia played wonderful hosts during the most wonderful time of the year. A great time was had by kids of all ages.


And most importantly, we would like to congratulate all those who tricked their girlfriends into not receiving a Christmas present by distracting them with an engagement ring. Congratulations to Uncle Sean and Aunt Erin who got engaged on Christmas. And a belated congratulations to Alex and Tim who got engaged a few weeks ago.

This and that...

We just have a few loose ends to tie up before we fly off to Brookline, Mass to celebrate Christmas. Veronica's class picture finally arrived this week. You can see that she didn't want to have her pictre taken, but no, she isn't about to cry. This picture was at the end of a morning long photoshoot at daycare and the only way they could get her to sit still was to stuff her mouth full of honey nut cheerios. That's not a frown, that's what your face looks like when you try to eat cheerios without teeth.

Veronica celebrated a second Thanksgiving this year. Our friends Rhetick and Caryn were in India with real Indians on Thanksgiving and needed their annual turkey, stuffing, and sweet potato fix. Even with a second chance, we once again failed to get any pictures of the Thanksgiving celebration. Although, we did capture Veronica playing with Rhetick's piano. That's right, playing with the piano, not playing the piano.

We did get an early start on Christmas. The Heaters came over last weekend to spread some Christmas cheer. Henry kindly offered to open Vv's gift for her, but she managed pretty well on her own. The best gift of all is that the two of them played together for the first time. Henry was a really good sport and Veronica loved it. We had to hide the stroller after they left, otherwise she never would have gone to bed.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a fun family filled weekend with Grammy visiting from the east coast, a feast out in the 'burbs, and preparations for the Christmas season. The staff at Veronica Tales was asleep at the wheel on Thanksgiving before the tryptophan even kicked in and failed to take any pictures of Thanksgiving itself. But we did get some shots of Veronica in her Thanksgiving outfit before heading over to Uncle Sean's for dinner.

We went Christmas tree shopping the day of after Thanksgiving and Veronica helped us pick out a winner. And we kicked off a tradition of buying an ornament for Vv that symbolizes something she is really into each Christmas season. So we got her, what else? A birdie.

No week would be complete without a trip to the zoo. We found some more large flightless birds to gawk at and Veronica showed off her birdwatching skills with one her first words. We also got to visit with one of the family's investments. Not sure who bought futures in what can best be described as a dog-sized barking deer, but it's ours. We rounded out the day with some advanced birdwatching. The new ecosystem was initially perplexing, but Vv trusted her instincts, and not-yet-pointed-out-penguins met their match. Atta girl.

And for those of you toiling at work and looking for something to get you through the day, may we suggest a game of peek-a-boo?

Class picture

Anybody want a wallet size copy? Veronica's day care took class pictures this month. Sadly, we didn't get a copy of the picture of the entire class. But what we lack in class pictures, we make up for in wallet size copies of the photo above. Say the word and it will be in your mailbox in a few days.

...she cut her baby curls and she's got her act rearranged...

For some unknown reason, Mama insisted that Veronica get a haircut this week. The sudden neet to cut Vv's hair came out of nowhere. Daddy mullet it over for a few days before signing off on her first haircut, but the end justified that manes. Veronica was apprehensive heading into it, not knowing what to expect. But it was over before it started and impossibly, she looks even cuter.

Veronica's first words are starting to appear. It is with deep guilt that we announce Veronica's first word is "bye"...is the most common interaction you have with your child saying goodbye and leaving them behind? You might be a neglectful parent... Following behind "bye" are the rest of the B words; "birdie", "balloon", and "ball". Although, those three words would need parental translation. We've been trying to capture her words on video, but she doesn't so much clam up as ham up when the camera comes out. Most of Vv's communcation is still through sign language.

Otherwise, Veronica's days have been spent discovering the children's museum, playing in the autumn leaves (before they all blew away this week), and enjoying the occasional play date. Veronica is now the second fastest person in the house (hey, I still placed, so whatever).

Oh me, oh my, oh my Mimi!

Now that Veronica is a year old, there aren't anymore "first" holidays. But this was Veronica's first time celebrating Halloween. She liked her costume, but wasn't a big fan of the hood. And she thought candy bars were great and hasn't even figured out what's inside those shiny, crinkly wrappers yet. Veronica wasn't the only one celebrating Halloween this year, in fact everyone got in the act. Veronica was very unsure of the sight of Mama in a wig. But once she learned all this tomfoolery meant she could go and roam the neighborhood at night, she got into the trick-or-treat spirit. Even little Jackson went out and terrrrrrified the neighborhood.

Mimi was in town to meet Jackson, but Veronica is never shy about stealing somebody else's attention and she was sure to monopolize Mimi's hugs all weekend. Including at the zoo, where Mimi and Vv got up close and personal with gorillas, jaguars, tigers, and of course Vv's favorite, the emus. Veronica had a great time running around the zoo. The camera could barely keep up with her, let alone her parents. Veronica bravely faced all the animals, all except the wooden horse. Everything was fine on the carousel until it started moving and she jumped into Daddy's arms. Jackson, wise beyond his weeks, kept a safe distance.

Veronica has been frolicking in the brisk autumn air and fallen leaves while she can since Fall is an abbreviated season in Seattle. Wide-open sun warmed lawns aren't safe from this trampling toddler. But the trampled grass doesn't face near the danger the not-yet-pointed-out crows face when Veronica is on the job. Fly beyond my front door, without me pointing? Nevermore.

No time like the presents

It seems there has been a package leaning up against the front door when we get home from work every day since Veronica turned one. Veronica hasn't been able to contain her excitement with all of the gifts. She really appreciates all the generosity and the love and is way behind on thank you notes. Auntie Kristin capitalized on Veronica's love of the zoo (with a rhinosaurus of course). And Uncle Bill nailed his gift so well that Vv plays with it constantly and we haven't even taken it out of the box yet.


After all of the celebrating of her, Vv had to learn to celebrate others and watch Lena open presents at her 1st birthday party. She wasn't too sure about letting Lena get all the presents, so she stole her Mama's lap. Very clever sweetheart.


And of course the best gift of all was a west coast cousin to play with. Veronica was very excited to meet Jackson McDevitt Leary... or maybe Vv was just excited that Jackson's house has big girls to play with and costume jewelry to try on. Either way, congratulations to the Leary & Sebo family and good luck getting some sleep. Let us know when you're ready to start trading baby sitting duties.