balloons & lollipops

both of our dogs have nicknames. petey's is derived from his kevin-penned theme song, "balloons & lollipops, balloons & lollipops, the happiest dog in the world!" so long as the majority of humanity and caninity is kept away from him, petey is the most happy go lucky dog there is - a true dog's dog. if left to his own devices, he'd chase squirrels that he'll never catch until he dropped dead. he's all sunshine, head in the clouds, balloons & lollipops.

rudy, however, is at the other end of the spectrum. before his second birthday, the vet started calling him "rudy old man." at home, his nickname is even more indicative of the ugly-truth universe that he inhabits. he's known around the house as snaggletooth beefbeard rastapenis.

as it should be, the world of the baby blog is almost wholly balloons & lollipops; the snaggletooths and beefbeards and rastapenises either get omitted or transformed by humorous anecdote. but i don't want violet's history to be some glossy facebook fiction, so in honor of keeping it real, rudy-style, i just want to say that it's been a bumpy ride in the lynn house the last couple of weeks. everyone is hacking up ectoplasm, no one is sleeping in a crib for more than two hours at a good stretch, and high beams aren't enough to sight the end of this tunnel. the house is filthy, the menu is frozen, and there's a big snot smear on my second to last pair of work pants that isn't in the to-be-dry-cleaned pile.

but thank god, somewhere in between lollipops and rastapenises is a lot of laughing.

to wit, i just wanted to shoot an innocent little video of violet with her favorite new toy (okay, and perhaps catch a "mama" on camera, despite her stubborn resistance to provide the evidence), but kevin's (admittedly well compensated) 13-year-old comedic sensibilities have finally corrupted mine. things turn inappropriate around the 40-second mark. apparently she's been watching b&l and sbr "at play" a little too often.



*amending because just as i hit publish, kevin sent me an email about this book. (grandmas, close your eyes and repeat after me: "balloons & lollipops!")

down but not out

ours is a perpetual sick house, and violet's runny nose rarely turns off these days, so kevin and i didn't think much of the latest sniffles until the eye goo. kevin took her to the doctor for the diagnosis: ear infection, sinus infection, bronchitis, and conjunctivitis. so much for "just another cold." i have also been sporting the pinkeye horror show and playing the eye-contact evasion game while simultaneously trying to conceal a hacking cough, but things seem a little better today. five days of a pretty hardcore antibiotic prescription later, violet's doing much better, but she is supersad to have missed her trip to san diego for "easter saturday" (when my family celebrates because traffic is better). the only sign that it was easter weekend in the lynn house was the lily blooming in our backyard.



i was disappointed to miss my family to say the least, and not only because i suspect that "the easter bunny" has some see's candy with my name on it. nana is hopefully going to make it up to los angeles for easter the sequel next weekend, so we saved the frilly dress photo op. in the meantime, violet finally fits into the adorable nautical outfit that auntie courtney bought her, so she happily modeled that instead.



violet has been refusing solid foods throughout her illness, until saturday night, when she finally welcomed a return to peas. on her roster so far: cereal, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, and bananas. the only gag-inducer has been avocado, and the biggest surprise is that she likes the vegetables better than the fruit. oh wait, the biggest surprise is actually that she likes her (admittedly overpriced yet super awesome) high chair. only for short periods of time, and only if she gets two of her own spoons, but i count it a success.



before the bacterial invasion, kevin got in a little fun daddy-daughter time on his hiatus week. since we live so close to universal studios, he took violet over to citywalk and carried her through the sensory storm in the bjorn. he confirmed that she's her father's daughter when her favorite thing turned out to be the wafting scent of donuts. her eyes went wide and she craned her neck, eager to inhale more of the sweet smell of clogging arteries. she also enjoyed the wave machine outside the billabong store, the rainbow of saltwater taffy inside the candy store, and bar-fighting at the saddle ranch with her partner in crime.

family fiesta day

kevin recently sent me a very scientific article about how 32 is the age that women turn into their mothers. from what i can tell, the isolated test factors appear to be grocery stockpiling and nagging, so i'm not quite sure what he's trying to tell me about our supply of canned tuna or the fact that the jumparoo isn't going to just assemble itself.

this past week was evidently the "nationally celebrated week of the young child" - who knew? - and my first reaction was "isn't every week the week of the young child?" this eerily echoes what my mom used to say every mother's day that me and my sister brattily whined, "when is kiiiids' day?" "every day is kids' day," my mother would reply to eye rolls while driving us to "her" celebratory dinner at (fine dining establishment) the corvette diner, where she was rewarded for another year of boundless self-sacrifice with a spilled milkshake in her lap.

violet's daycare heartily embraced this mysterious week of the young child with all kinds of activities that culminated in family fiesta day on friday - a party complete with panda express takeout for all parents and babies who enjoy kung pao chicken. all were invited to don cultural wear, which meant changing from work trousers into jeans for me, and a black t-shirt for kevin, along with offers to rub jack daniels on the ailing gums of any teething tots. kevin generously dressed violet in a mommy-centric outfit, but daddy and daughter stole the cuteness show in my eyes.





violet's daycare is awesome. every week they have a music teacher who comes to do "sign and sing." there is a gardener on staff who makes sure that all the vegetation is non-toxic - for example, there are several planters of cilantro and "edible dirt." but they really stepped things up this week on the activities front. the university marching band came, and apparently (future band nerd?) violet was riveted. the painting started off tame - a handprint here, a footprint there, and then a few more footprints for good measure.





but by thursday my little (future sorority?) girl was determined to start young with her training for wet t-shirt contests and mud-wrestling championships.





in my own training for parent of the year, i'd forgotten her bottles that day, and when i got back from commute-from-hell number two of the morning, i was immediately cheered up by the chaos. i managed to feed violet without getting any paint on my white shirt AND get to the office less than two hours late. employee of the year, anyone?

liftoff

forgive the red-rimmed eyes at the end of a long daycare day, the sad outfit from her cubby stash, and the drool all over the puzzle pieces that i realize aren't really a chew toy, but i just love how thrilled she is with her new skill. the video runs long because her attempts at downward dog pose make me laugh.

flaunting the new skills

violet's showing off her baby skills; mom's showing off her tech skills. "skills" is obviously pushing it on the latter. my old (like OLD) cell phone up and died, so i ran over to the nearest verizon store and, with the swipe of a credit card, walked out with a droid. i can barely make a phone call on it yet, but i think i've figured out the media. you know, the important stuff.

i'm sorry for the "look what my baby can do!" nature of this post, but this stuff happens so fast, i don't know how else i'm going to keep up with this, her "baby book."

she's sitting:



she's "standing":



she's playing with blocks:



and after a couple weeks of crocodile tears because she could only move backwards and in circles, she's figured out how to go forward.



this is the first video footage i've shot since a family vacation to butchart gardens in the mid-90s ("here's a blue flower, here's a pink flower, oooh this one smells nice"), so my apologies for the lighting, focus, duration, etc., and for making my child play fetch for the camera.

and last but not least, she's staying asleep in her carseat even after we move her inside the house!



well, at least she's done this one time, after a tacos-and-beer afternoon at the farmer's market with friends this past saturday. (i didn't sedate her with alcoholic milk if that's what you're thinking.) kevin and i took advantage of her nap's extra hour to talk about how she was definitely going to wake up, aaaaany minute now.