Happy second birthday, Veronica!

You had a good day, starting with a visit to the doctor's office for a check-up. You're currently 23 lbs., 12 oz. and 35 inches long. This puts you in the 10th-15th percentiles in weight, and the 75th-90th in height. Your head is in the 50th percentile. So basically, you're tall, thin and have a normal size head. Oh what a legacy to live down. ;-)

Plus Dr. Rodgers said your teeth are in good shape, that your vocabulary is on track, and that she didn't have to give you any shots today. What a good doctor's office visit.

Then Debbie had a little party for you with the other kids. You all had cupcakes, and all got a bottle of bubble soap as a gift. I picked you up early and blew bubbles for you until Daddy got home. You would try to poke them or stomp on them, saying "Pop!" everytime you tried. However, sometimes the bubbles got away from you and you'd ask "Where d'bubble go?" You even peered around the corner of the house to see if they'd escaped to the backyard. Too cute.

We had some dinner, then you opened your presents. You weren't too thrilled, at least for the moment, with the plush fairy doll that your Grandma and Grandpa Alonso got for you. But you liked the book and the Baby Einstein DVD from Coby and Chad. You liked the pack of Matchbox cars I bought for you. Mommy and Daddy appreciated the clothing from Coby and Chad, and the cards from everybody. But you loved your Little People sets, specifically, the playground set and the Ramps-Around Garage. We could barely get you to bed because you were playing with the garage and the cars, and even now, you have the swing set and the little girl from the playground in your crib with you. "Mine wing!" you said, meaning "my swing," and pretended to sleep when Daddy went to take it from you. I'll guess that's a winner. :-)

We got you a giant cookie saying "Happy Birthday Veronica!" in your two favorite colors right now: green and yellow. We had some after supper. You liked it a lot.

And that was your second birthday. I can't believe you're already two. I'm glad I keep this blog, so I'll know I haven't just blinked for a second before you turn three.

Happy Birthday again, Veronica. We love you.

So Veronica was running through the house tonight, playing, when she ran past Pita and accidentally stepped on her tail. Pita pulled back and hissed. And Veronica looked down and said "Oops! Sorry!" then went about her merry way.

Jason looked up from the book he was reading. OK, so I didn't imagine it. She really said that. "Honey," he said to me, "you've gotta post that on your blog tonight."

So here it is. And man, was it cute.

It's getting late, but there's one thing I need to say before the day ends:

Happy Second Birthday, Zane!

I'm sorry the weather was so bad today - snow and wind at the end of April, ya gotta love living in Ohio sometimes - but I know your day was bright and happy. So I'm wishing you lots of love and happiness for the coming year, little man. Can't wait to see you on Saturday, and I'm sure your cousin Veronica will have lots of fun with you. :-)

Last night Lynn brought our new kitten home from Marietta. She has been caring for him for the past week or so and considers him to be Veronica's birthday gift.

He's about eight weeks old, playful, and seems to be pretty smart. He's litter-trained and weaned. He's a black and grey tabby, beautiful markings, short hair and a black nose. He's precious.

We gave up our idea to name the cat ToadKiller Gary and decided to let Veronica name him. So when Veronica was checking him out in Lynn's little cat carrier, cooing "kitty!", I said "That's your new kitty, Veronica! What is his name? What do you want to call him?"

Veronica said, "Open the door!"

So welcome home, Janus. :-)

Just a quick note to Jason:

I know you think that birthdays are overrated, but I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday once more today. One more year for me and Veronica to spend with you. :-)

So I hope you're enjoying wrestling with Veronica on the floor, as you bench-press her or she head-butts you in the chest. You're both laughing really loudly and having a wonderful time.

Happy birthday, hon. I love you. :-)

The latest at Chez Warren:

First off, the announcement of a possible new addition to our family. No, Veronica isn't getting a younger sibling. Rather, Pita is probably getting a younger playmate, a male kitten in need of a good home from Marietta. Anne or Jason's mom Linda have picked up said kitten for us, and further details will come around later.

Jason and I have tried to compromise and come up with a name for our new little kitty. He wants to name the pet after one of the animals from Glen Cook's book series on The Black Company. I want to name him after SpongeBob's pet that's pretty much their underwater version of a very smart cat. Hence, our new pet's official name will be ToadKiller Gary. Jason is much more pleased with this than I am.

In the meantime, we are trying to wean Veronica off her pacifier. She only uses it when she sleeps, and even then, only at our house; she hasn't had one at her babysitter's in well over a year. As her use of this is limited, you would think this would be easy. Hardly. Oh, she just went down for a nap about forty minutes ago without incident, and didn't seem to notice its absence the first time we put her to bed without it on Friday night. But man, every other nap and bedtime has been a battle. My kid is very willful, and will cry and fuss until one of us gives up. We're holding strong, but she isn't making it easy on anyone. She's turning two in less than two weeks, she's getting a toddler bed sometime in the next month or two, and we're trying to warm her up to the idea of the potty. She hardly uses the pacifier anyway. We know it's for the best, but it's hard not to feel bad when she's crying for it.

That's all the news for now. I'm probably forgetting something, but what else is new? I will post again with any information, either forgotten from this post or new by the time the next one rolls out.

Today brought about a new milestone: When Jason tried to take a crayon away from Veronica after she'd scribbled on the floor with it, she jerked it away and for the first time ever, screamed...

...


"MINE!!!!"

Whee. What a step. So glad THAT happened. :-P

On a more positive note, she and I played music together tonight. She rapped on her xylophone while I shook a plastic toy maraca. I'm not saying it'll be on your iPod anytime soon, but it was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed herself.

Yesterday was a return to the Columbus Zoo. I shan't bore my readers with gripes about some of the amazingly stupid people we ran into there, nor with my bitching about exhibits that were closed. I will say that Veronica had a good time, and enjoyed seeing the giraffes and a bear. She officially did not like the inhabitants of the reptile house, and was underwhelmed by the giant aquarium. Her favorite thing by far? The twisty slide in the playground area. I think we'll just save our money and take her to the park next time.

One thing of note: She did love the fake prairie dog tunnels, set up next to the now-empty prairie dog exhibit (which really disappointed me, I love those things). She would run through them with great glee. But then she took my hand for me to run in with her. I did. I went to stand up, thinking I'd cleared the tunnel. I hadn't. I knocked my noggin on the ceiling, and when I instinctively jerked down as a reaction, I head-butted Veronica. Jason was waiting on the other end, and here came Veronica out crying, and me out crawling and seeing stars. While Veronica seemed to recover rather quickly, I have a reddish-purple lump now over my right eyebrow. Not one of my finest moments, for sure. :-P

She's a very good kid and her vocabulary is through the roof anymore (well, to us anyway; our friends Susan and Heather stopped by last night, and they didn't understand a word of it.) Off I go to get some laundry done, to welcome a new day at the new job, and hopefully will post again sometime soon.

Sometimes, y'know, you can never tell what your child's favorite toy is. Case in point: Jason gets Veronica a Happy Meal tonight, and as part of a McDonald's promotion with Pixar, she gets a little Woody figurine, from "Toy Story." It's cheap, it smells funny, it's got limited mobility and isn't all that great. But she barely set it down all evening, finding numerous ways to play with him. She "hid" him in her Dora trashcan. She turned his head backwards and said "where he go?" then turned it back and said "there he is!" She put a blanket over him and whispered "Shhhhh, quiet, Eee-Dee night-night." (OK, so she can't quite get out "Woody." It comes out closer to "Eee-Dee.") You get the idea. In the meantime, the SpongeBob doll I got her for Easter has spent the past week going "night-night" on our computer speaker, untouched, and lord only knows what has happened to extravagant gifts and big, fancy toys. All I know is, Woody is currently night-night on the kitchen table and will probably be the first thing she goes for in the morning.

Huh.

Check out my online photo album for the latest pics of Veronica. It's under February and March, 2005. Yeah, it's a total brag book, but hey, I'm a mommy. This is what we do. :-)

One of the funniest things you will ever see as a parent: Your child, after a bath, taking a naked dash or two around the house. :-)

A very quick update:

1. I've accepted the new job with Amy, the family law attorney.

2. Demers & Cohen is no more; yesterday was my last day, and I'm more than a little pissed at a couple people right now but overall am going to miss everybody else.

3. I've got a horrible headache.

That's about it, folks - nothing about Veronica. Still cute, still growing, etc. I'm still stressed, probably the cause of the headache. More later.