Twenty Months Old: What Was That Like?

Dear George,

It’s been years since Katja and I have spent much time around kids, and our granddaughter V is a vivid reminder of what a miracle the process of development is.  It’s almost inconceivable how tiny infants -- pretty much confined to gurgling, crying, sneezing, kicking their legs, etc. -- become transformed into a full-fledged human being who can do somersaults on a trampoline, master an IPod, and solve algebraic equations.  At 20 months, V is somewhere in the middle, caught up in the crucial transition from babyhood into kidhood.  She understands an impressive amount of adult talk, picks up new words left and right, and is getting increasingly sophisticated in her verbalizations.  It’s hard to even imagine what the world looks like from her perspective.  Here are some photos from V and J’s recent visit to Cincinnati which give us at least a few glimpses.

V has gotten a lot more mobile than when we last saw her in New Orleans, and it has opened up a much expanded physical world to her.  Here she is running down the street with Calvin.  She’s starting to keep up with the big kids.

Running is exciting, but it won’t be long before V can maneuver this scooter on her own.

We had a lot of toys available in the house, but nothing was more fun than playing peek-a-boo with the adults while hiding inside the big box.

The bird bath too held endless fascination.

And digging up the buried sandal that Eleanor had hidden in the mulch was the most exciting.

V was busy testing her mastery of the world.  While she gets a little steering help from her dad, she is definitely strong enough carry the big log.

It also seemed desirable to carry the heavy jug of windshield washer fluid back onto the porch. 

Even going for a walk in the neighborhood is more challenging if you can lug along the Sunday newspapers.

Well, V, that’s 160 pounds of sheepdogs that you have by the leash.  Are you sure you’re ready for this next step?

At 20 months, the people world is at least equally important.  Adult strangers, of course, are totally absorbed with and attentive to the darling baby.  Here’s dad and kid at Katja’s workplace.  V, friendly and secure in herself, responded to an endless parade of admirers.

All in all, though, V was happiest being with her own dad.

Love,

Dave

G-Mail Comments

-Kiersta KB (6-9): dave, you made my day! see you this weekend in california!

love, kiersta

V Pays a Visit

Dear George,

J and V flew up from New Orleans last Thursday for a long weekend.  We see V every 3 or 4 months, so she has always changed a lot.  This time, at 20 months, it was verbal development.  She could identify “donkey” and “squirrel” and just about everything else in the picture book and was busy learning to say an endless array of names (including “Kentucky” and “caterpillar”).  When we went to the zoo, I watched all the doting grandparents with their little grandchildren. I concluded that all babies and kids are wonderful, and all grandparents are a little loopy about them.  So it is with us.  I thought I would share some of V’s visit.  I know I’m a little excessive, but it’s hard to restrain oneself.

Meeting at the airport is exciting.  V was shy for one minute, but soon was giving hugs to Katja and myself.

I’d been to the thrift shop, and there were many treasures waiting at home.  V quickly started filling her castle with little creatures, and soon it resembled our overflowing attic.

We took V to Dunore Park down the street, and the little playground seemed ready-made for her.  She climbed up the slide herself and then came tumbling down.  

V bonded quickly with her grandma (Na-Na) and began calling for her urgently when Katja left the room.

She seemed to like her grandpa (Boppa) too, though she wasn’t always quite as comfortable.

We went to the Japanese butterfly exhibit at the conservatory, and V was fascinated by the brightly colored flying things.

The zoo was also a big hit.  Here V and the little owl are staring one another down.

V took a liking to this kid’s soccer ball, so he tried to escape (that’s daddy J rushing to the rescue).

Donna came over and gave V the second hair trim of her young life.

Playing with Eleanor and Calvin was a highlight of V’s trip.

Goodbye kisses are always sad.  But we knew we would be seeing V, J, and K again soon in California.  We were left with a lot of happy memories and feelings.

Love,

Dave

G-Mail Comments:

-Jennifer M (5-25): Great pictures of a great girl!

-Linda C (5-25): Wonderful story with pictures, thanks so much. Looks like every one had lovefest time.  It is hard to not feel loopy about her when she is so wonderful  see you all soon

 

Baby V at 18 Months: Mum Mum Linda's Report (photos by KKB & JML)

Dear Dave.

I told you I would tell you details about V’s stay with us in Half Moon Bay.  She came in really late and then adjusted to the time change so well, and mom K** said she did when she got home too.

 

V seems like such an independent child.  She can amuse herself and is not one of those whiny kids.  She saw her cousins Ben and Theo at night --  she called them Baaaaaan and Feo the whole time they were here,

 

I think she found Ben the most fascinating, and he really played and read to her.  One time I heard him say "V are you sure you want me to read you this book for the fourth time -- can't we read another one?"

 

As soon as she was lifted out of her pac and play in the morning. she started to call the boys and went down the stairs in search of them.  She has this thing if you are sitting on the floor she just comes and sits in your lap.  I had gotten her a cheap doll and a doll stroller; she did play with that a lot.  Ben tried to help her put the dog in and for a few minutes Bubbles........let himself be pushed.  V was talking so much and would try to say any word you would say to her.  For a few months K** said she thought V was saying my name but it sounded so much like mama that I thought K** was wrong,  K** would say listen to it.  iI is just a little different then mama.

So this time she called me mum mum clear as a bell, even though I had always said grandma to her,  I guess that was what she had been trying to say.  She would enter into block playing with Theo, and even he said she was good at it. They made a number of things, and she was real careful with putting the block on the higher one.  Up it went, and when it fell, she didn't cry, just started to make a new one.

 

 V loved the little dog, Bubbles and would drag him around a lot.  He never growled, just let her carry him.  She was into going around in circles with Theo and then acting like a drunken sailor, and she loved dancing with Ben.  She would follow Ben around a lot.

 

I took her to the store to buy her a pair of shoes.  I told the woman -- she owns the store and we know each other -- that it seemed her foot was fat, but it worked out good to put on a shoe that then had a strap over the top that could be adjusted. V loved the shoes and was very compliant about trying them on.  We finally asked her to pick between the three pair, and she picked a green pair with flowers,  She would look at them and say “dis” for the green one,

I decided to buy her the brown too.  She got a white helium-filled balloon as a result of her purchases.  She really liked it, and I tried to put the string around her hand, but no, she wanted nothing to do with that.

 

We got in the car, she got the balloon and I could see in the mirror that she was biting on the balloon at the spot it was tied to the string. I told her to take it out of her mouth.  I would look and she would have taken it out but then she wouldn't look up front, just the view from the side and put it in her mouth again.

 

Many reasons she should not be biting on the balloon, so I stopped the car and said 'V, I know you heard what I said, I am going to take the balloon away from you and put it in the front seat and we we get home you can have it back.’  She shook her finger at me and said no no no, but she didn't cry.

 

When we got to the house I said in a happy voice, ‘Here V, now you can have your balloon.’  I got out to get it and give it to her and take her out of her car seat, but she had her arms folded, her lip out in a pout, and when I said, ‘Here is your balloon, Honey,” she shook her head no.  What a character,  She finally decided to take it after all, but she is really funny when things don't go her way -- she doesn't really cry.

One evening the boys wanted K** and V to go to Kevin’s apartment, right down the street, to see the huge war fort etc. they had made out of legos  They kept showing her all their things, and she would look and act interested, but we didn't think about letting her bring her own toy down to play.  Finally she got her blanket.  She wrapped it all up and then rocked it like it was a baby doll.  She is just so damn smart.

 She would play with the toys and have them say things or attack or be nice.  She was getting out spoons to feed them, etc.  It was really cute.  She did ask for her dad, and I think when they got home she was really glad to see him.  She loves loves the books and never wants to let you stop reading them.

 Love to you and Katja,

Linda

 

Baby V's Great Adventure: A New Orleans Fable

                [all Baby V photos by parents J & K]

When V was a tiny infant, it was clear that she was a girl of great moxy and determination.  She could only crawl, but, even then, she was ready and eager to explore the great world that awaited her.

By fifteen months Baby V had mastered the art of walking.  She not only walked excellently, but she could climb onto very high things, do somersaults, turn around rapidly in circles, and run so fast that her dad could barely keep up with her.

It was time, V decided, to venture out into the world and find out what it held for her.  So she packed a few things and set out early in the morning before her parents were even awake.

Baby V walked and walked and walked.  Finally she came to a huge field where she saw a bunch of grown men running around and crashing into each other.  It was the Saints football practice field.  V watched for a while and thought to herself, ‘I am good at bumping people.  Maybe this is what I am meant to do with my life.’

She went up and talked to one of the big guys, who happened to be Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback.  V said she’d been watching and thought she could be good at this game.  Drew said, “You are definitely a girl of great moxy and determination, though you are sort of small for the NFL.  But our center was just injured, and so we’ll give you a tryout.”

V had a natural talent for centering the football, and Drew Brees was very complimentary.  Even so, he had to tell her, “As good as you are, you’re still not big enough.  Come back in a couple of years, and we’ll try you out again.”

 

V was not discouraged in the slightest, and she set out on the highway for the Big Easy.  She walked and walked and walked, and finally she came to a place downtown called Emeril’s.  It was a fancy restaurant.

Baby V went in and talked to a fellow named Emeril Lagasse.  She said she was a very good eater (which was true) and she was looking for a job.  Emeril said, “Well, you seem like a young girl of great moxy and determination.  It just so happens that our food critic has gone off to San Francisco. Let’s give you a try.” 

 

Baby V sat down, and Emeril served her Sauteed Escargot with Orecchiette Pasta, Creole Shrimp Gumbo,  Andouille Crusted Texas Redfish, and topped it all off with a Chocolate Torte with Whipped Double Cream.  V gobbled it all up with gusto and got more enthusiastic with every bite.  Emeril said, “You are just about the best eater I’ve ever seen.  But, unfortunately, our food critics need to be a little more critical.  Come back next year, and we’ll give you another try.” 

V was excited that the world held out so many fine opportunities.  She just had to find the right one.  So she walked and walked and walked, and soon she was at a place called Tipitina’s.  She went inside, and a big man was playing the piano.  V had already heard a lot of music in her fifteen months, and she recognized the piece as rhythm and blues, something she herself has often played on her xylophone.

The big guy’s name was Fats Domino.  V told him she liked his playing and she would like to be in a band too.  Fats was surprised to hear this from such a young person, but he invited V to sit down at the piano and he would see what she could do. 

V played her own renditions of “Blueberry Hill” and “Walking to New Orleans.”  Fats Domino was impressed. He’d never run across a fifteen-month-old who had such a perfect sense of rhythm.  Unfortunately, he told her, she had to be eighteen years old before she could play in a bar serving liquor, and so she would need to to wait a while. 

V liked Tipitina’s a lot, and she began wondering just where her place in the world was going to be.  But she walked and walked and walked, and soon she found herself in her own Mid City neighborhood.  She looked across the street, and there were some familiar faces.

It was Mommy and Daddy, who had been out looking for her all day. They were so happy to see her, and Baby V was so happy to see them.  She couldn’t wait to tell them about all the exciting things she’d seen and done.

So they all went home and had double servings of chocolate cake with blue and yellow icing.  And everybody was feeling very good. Baby V even decided that her future life had such promise that it would be all right to be a baby for a while longer.  Especially being a baby in such a loving family.  And she never thought about running off again. 

THE END OF THE STORY

G-Mail Comments:

-Phyllis SS (1-8-10): Dave - This was adorable.

-Lawdiva4 to Linda KC (1-8-10): Fabulous...loved it! Seriously, I could read these every day :) Keep them coming...

-Jennifer M (1-7-10): Great story and great pictures!

-Donna D (1-6-10): David this is the BEST one so far!!

-KKB (1-6-10):  that is the sweetest, most amazing story i've ever read!

J**, i would love it if you could print it up into a book.  K**

-Vicki L. (1-6-10):  David, These stories are just wonderful. Did you know that you can't easily put out a very professional-looking bound book via the internet. A client of mine just showed his (almost 300 pages) - said it cost him $15.00. This would make a treasured birthday or xmas present. What a grandpa!. Sis

-JML (1-6-10):  That was awesome Dad. I'm gonna make that into a book. Thank you so much, j**

-Linda KC (1-6-10):  oh my god, i love this so much i am sending it on to all my friends, thanks to a special grandfather and so creative 

We Visit Baby V in NOLA

Dear George,

We are just back from a holiday trip to New Orleans where we stayed with J, K, and Baby V.  We'd last seen V in August, and the changes from 11 months to 15 months are dramatic.  We'd always told J as a little kid that he was special and unique.  Despite his telling us that every kid in kindergarten had gotten the same message from their parents, we still believed it.  Now we believe it about V.  She is darling and precocious -- absolutely wonderful.  Here are a few photos that will give you a sense of our visit.

V is strongly bonded with her parents (and vice versa).  Her favorite and best articulated words are "Mommie" and "Daddie", followed by "Doggie" and "Ba-ba" (bottle).  She was a little shy with us strangers at first, but that only lasted for an hour or two.

Here's V's normal temperament.  She is a very happy little baby, and she's very socially responsive.  We gave her goodbye kisses at the end of our trip, and she leaned over each time to give us one in return.

We babysat V one evening, and it was remarkable how busy she can be and how she can entertain herself for long periods of time.  First she tried on her daddy's shoes and walked around in them.  Then she decided to graduate to Katja's high heels.

She also decided to show her Grandpa her artistic abilities.  Not only did she draw on her sketch pad but on her hand, her stomach, the tablecloth, and Grandpa's hand as well.

V's manual dexterity has increased so much since we last saw her.  She insists on feeding herself with her spoon, and, though it can be a little messy, she eats everything put before her by herself.

V and Titus get along excellently.  The dog is gentle and calm, and now and then he gives V a sloppy kiss.  She likes to pet and hug him, and, when she finished with her bowl of ice cream, she carried it into the other room and gave Titus the remnants.

We'd brought some Xmas presents, and V was very intrigued with them from the outset.

She particularly enjoyed undoing the wrappings (with great gusto).

Here's V in her new dress that her Grandma picked out for her.

We all took a lot of trips together -- to the Art Museum, the French Quarter, the levee dog park, and many good restaurants.  Here are V and J at the Aquarium, her favorite place.

Other times we relaxed at home.  V and Katja are watching a TV show together about the cutest dogs in the world.

Though a rare event, V would sometimes get tired by the end of a busy day. 

We had a lot of fun with J and K too which I'll tell you about another time.  There are always pleasurable things about coming back home (e.g., doggies), but right now we mostly miss our family in New Orleans.

Love,

Dave

G-Mail Comments:

-Vicki L (1-1-10): Hi David and Katja,  …It was such a pleasure to be able to participate, via your photos, in your sweet get together with J**, K** and V**. I'm so happy for you both….These little children bring such joy and light - they definitely carry the message if there's a message to be carried….Love, Vicki

-Linda KC (12-30): david, what a great tribute to your nola family in pictures and in words,   i must say that i feel i have been around very very smart 15 month old children, ben and theo, my own of course, and others, and i can tell a smart kid and she is one smart kid.   i told k*** and j***, i hope you can keep up with v***'s intellect

-Terry OS (12-29): My favorite sweatshirt says that if I'd known how much fun grandchildren were I'd have had them first….Your granddaughter is adorable and I have no doubt she is every bit as

exceptional as you claim.  Happy New Year!

-Phyllis SS (12-29): Dave, She is adorable.  I'm so glad Titus is good with her.  Phyllis-

-Jennifer M (12-29): What a doll!  I'm glad you all had such a wonderful time together!