our feast of st. patrick

it's been a busy week. i'm not going to pretend that my absence here doesn't involve a power-reading session on the kindle because i suddenly didn't want to suffer any spoilers over the course of this weekend of hunger games madness. so while my baby-booking has fallen by the wayside, at least i know who lives and dies in panem. i'm confident that someday, while shopping for vintage t-shirts declaring her affinity for team gale or team peeta, violet will approve of my priorities.

so although there's a lot to catch up on in violet's world - her 18 month appt, her first dentist visit, her ongoing toddler room transition, even her first bubble bath - i'll hopefully get to all of that next week. in the meantime, a few pictures to celebrate violet's heritage.

this past saturday, we were lucky (must be the irish blood) to receive a package from grandma linden and grandpa chick filled with holiday-themed chocolate-covered strawberries. thanks so much grandma and grandpa! violet went for a yogurt-covered one first.



then discovered the chocolate.



and then was thoroughly confused to discover the strawberry within. hey, who put fruit in here?



once again, fatherhood has ensured that kevin's st. patrick's day didn't look much like those of his past. we've been diligently using our juicer about three days a week, so we blended up the usual mix of apples, kale, spinach, celery, cucumber and ginger. though it has a frothy top, i'm sure kevin was longing for his guinness. "geen," said violet. when offered a sip, she made the lemon face and said, "eck."



but don't worry. 10pm rolled around eventually for the grown-ups.



we'd met with two sold-out-of-guinness grocery shelves earlier in the evening, because who waits until 5pm to start drinking on march 17? but at 7pm, i carried violet into a liquor store and finally scored a 4-pack. third time's the charm, right? may the odds be ever in your favor too.

daylight: saved!

i've never been happier to lose an hour of sleep! it's so great not only to commute home, but also to arrive home, IN THE DAYLIGHT. while the still under 20 pounds violet remains face backward in her bucket seat, at least now she can see her snacks, toys, books, what have you, beyond the aid of the book light clamped to her snugride throughout these long winter months. i can't wait for the whole new world that awaits once we finally move her to the convertible seat and face it forward. i know that for safety, the babes are supposed to stay rear facing until their second birthdays, but i honestly believe that i will be a much safer driver during our 90 minutes daily in the car once she can see out the windshield and chat about the passing landscape with me. she's currently obsessed with the flashing red hand of crosswalk lights ("blink blink!" she says while flashing her own hand), and i have to believe that streetlights in general will provide diversion for a good deal of the drive once she's able to see them.

but back to the time change. last week, we took a family walk that looked like this



and this week we've been coming home for evening activities that look more like this



and (drum roll please) THIS







thanks to her five-year-old buddy grace, who had outgrown the slide, and grace's generous parents, violet is now the proud new owner of this backyard slide. on day one, she couldn't climb the ladder without help, but by day two, she was zooming up it no problem. i was practically mocking her insistence that she could spiderman her way up the slide itself ("don't you want to go to the ladder?" "no!"), as it's much steeper than the toddlertown slide that she ascends so easily, and in practice for her many years of telling me to shove it, she went and climbed up it last night.

in other news, violet has her 18 month check-up this coming monday, and although it's fodder for another post, i was counting up her "words" in preparation. it probably sounds crazy, but she has over 100 words at this point (only about 25% of which you and the rest of the world could understand), though she still doesn't really use any two together (with the exception of things like "mama hand!" which means she wants to drag me to wherever she wants to go). most impressive lately are her colors. she is absolutely obsessed with identifying the colors of everything. she says red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, brown and black. green, blue and purple are the most decipherable; orange sounds like a lot of her other mystery words, i.e. auntie ("ahn"). still, it was enough to keep her rooting for her dada's team today. it was a little touch and go there



but they pulled it out in the end. go "ahn"!



in other adventures, we rode the subway downtown on saturday for an outing to the central library - the biggest and baddest of all libraries in los angeles. i hadn't been in years, and i love it so much. conveniently, we swung by bottega louie for a beignet ("bay") as we walked the few blocks from the metro stop. i think violet was a little confused by the mode of transit, as i had been hyping a train ride - "choo choo!" she enthused as we waited underground - but she did so well that i have hopes for using the subway to get to work/daycare with her on occasion.



we made it to the library in time for a live reading of chicka chicka boom boom, a book she knows from both school and home, and we checked out a couple of things for the ride home.



here is kevin's favorite pic of the week. "the whole world is hers," he remarked.

about town

here's violet this morning watching my pour-over coffee being made at intelligentsia, and nailing the look of cool indifference shared by barista and customer alike. she may not have a quirky hat, but she definitely has a who-gives-a-shit haircut (or at least the appearance of one, given that she's had no haircut). it's pretty clear that neither a mom dressed in business casual from the banana republic clearance rack, nor a baby with a wardrobe upwards of fifty percent pink, embody the typical clientele at sunset junction, but o m g is the coffee good. it's probably all in my head, but it really tastes better there than it does when served at other places across town - not that i don't still enjoy it elsewhere.

in fact, i was craving a cup on saturday morning, so we went near home to olive & thyme ("proudly serving intelligentsia") so that i could have one, and we could share eggs & muffin for breakfast. said breakfast lasted around twenty minutes, and our visit out front with the pig



lasted more like thirty. in her not so many words, violet asked me to take her picture with the pig, and when i'd put away my phone, she'd want me to take it out again so that she could pose for more pictures. i'd instruct her to get closer to the pig, and she'd tentatively sidestep towards him while giving him an adoring look. she did not want to leave that pig.





in other cuteness, violet met jack for an afternoon rendezvous at the park. you should have seen lisa and i scrambling to get this pic.



being the photo talent that she is, lisa also managed to spy violet and i taking a ride on the train i call the $6 express (or the $9 express when dada is with us) across the crowded sunday farmer's market, and she ran over and snapped this one.



violet also enjoyed some good celebrity sightings this weekend. some usuals (jon cryer & family; ben lee & family) and some novelties (sofia coppola & family; johnny knoxville & family). you know you've been valleyfied when all of your weekend sightings have the "& family" tag. it's a wonder violet's first word wasn't "like." or "biebs." who by the way kevin saw last week dropping in, as all valley teens do, for some sushi... and followed, like no other teen in the world, by 60+ paparazzi.



"these photos are gonna cost you!"