Ba la la

Here's a picture of Geneve and Vivian and Jo sitting outside on the driveway earlier today. Beautiful sunshine. 76 degrees F. Yummy crab bisque. Good times.

Time to load up the gifts and head out. Merry Christmas. Or, as Vivian would say "Ba la la".

Neck'ace

Vivian digs jewelry. She calls necklace "neck'ace". This morning, she and I go out to buy some last minute stocking stuffers. When we get back, Jo asks Vivian how it went. Vivian eagerly replies "Mommy neckace". Hmm - there goes the surprise. Then she adds "Grandma coffee cup". Good thing she can't read my Amazon email receipts - yet.

Another slightly more worrying aspect of Vivian's communication skills is her use of "Oh shit". She uses it correctly and in a very matter-of-fact manner. We can't draw too much attention to it because then she'd just do it more. And while Jo and I aren't potty-mouths, we do occasionally use that phrase - specially when caught by surprise - exactly when it is the hardest to watch what you are saying.

This morning Vivian was playing at the dinning table with her empty plastic glass which eventually fell to the floor. As expected, Vivian said "Oh shit". I tried out my new approach. I don't know if it will work. I explained that the glass hadn't broken. That no juice had been spilled. That it wasn't a big deal. How about just an "Oops", and save the "Oh shit" for the big stuff?

Bye Bye

Yesterday, we were trying to get out of the house to run some errands. Vivian was intent on coloring at her table and didn't want to come with us. In an attempt to get her moving, Jo and I wished her "goodbye" and went out the front door. Jo was already in the car before Vivian finally wandered up from the table and came to the front door.

Then she looks out at the two of us and gives us her best wave, yells "bye bye", and returns to her coloring.

Cool Lights

A couple of days ago, it got cold in Austin - by our standards. It was below freezing with a 30 mph wind. We decided it would be a good time to drag Vivian and her cousins to Zilker Park to see the Trail of Lights. Here are some pictures if Vivian trying out her winter coat before the trip. In the 2nd and 3rd pictures, Jo is instructing Vivian to smile and make her "fishie face" respectively.
At Zilker, I put Vivian in the Sherpani and carried her on my back. She got a good view of the lights from up there. I asked her if she was having fun. She said "Daddy - cool lights".

2008 Christmas Letter

So much happened this year. A few stories about Vivian from here and there…

The first big news of the new year was Vivian's two front teeth - the cause of much excitement and relief. Vivian was about 32 teeth behind her cousin Ava. Now she boasts a mouth-full of teeth and loves to eat everything from “a'cado” (avocado) - to zucchini. But she loves bacon above all. Broccoli comes in a pretty close second. Fish soon after. She is also crazy about ice. So last month Jo froze some juice in a fish mold, and Vivian went bonkers. “Ice. Jus. Fishie!”.

Almost as soon as Vivian started taking her first unassisted steps, she took to the furniture moving business. Favorite pastime: line up three bar stools and a couple of dining chairs and a side table or two and push them all over the house. Like strongman Magnuson pulling a truck laden with beer kegs, she’d lean into it and grunt. And we learned to live in a house that looked like a used furniture warehouse after a hurricane.

Coincident with her upright ambulation, Vivian developed a keen interest in shoes. Till this day, if she spots a pair of shoes, she’s got to try them on. Sometimes, Jo takes Vivian to Nine West, where Vivian carefully and reverently touches each shoe on display.

Back in Spring, Vivian threw her first bona fide fit. It happened at Amy's Ice Cream on Burnet. She was sharing our white-chocolate-and-chocolate-chip-cookie shake and playing on the cows. Then the shake was done and she didn't like that. So she threw her head back and screamed and cried and shook and wept and lay on the ground. And we gazed in amazement at our little angel. But in time, we got used to the fits and Vivian settled on her favorite flavor: hazelnut gelato from Mandola's.

One day in March when Vivian was exactly one year and one month and one day old, she was weaned. It was the start of a new ritual that continues till today. Every morning, she wakes up and says “Mommy” or “Daddy” and Jo or I carry her to the fridge and pour her a nice cold glass of whole “mek” and she sits on Jo’s lap and smiles at the world and drinks her milk. Being weaned also meant that Vivian and Jo could theoretically spend more time apart. At the end of April, Jo tested the theory by going off to Nebraska for a wedding. Vivian and I hung around in Austin for five days without Mommy. Everyone survived.

Summer was a blur of watermelon and pool and beaches and family. One day we went to Block Island with Alu and Michelle and my Dad. Jo bought Vivian a lovely little beach bucket trimmed in blue and a little yellow shovel to go with it. Vivian sat on the beach and played with her bucket and shovel but then it was time to catch the ferry back. She wouldn’t budge. So we pretended to leave and soon she had her hands up in the air like she does when she wants to be picked up. I walked back to get her. She reached up and took the bucket and shovel from me, turned her back, and went on playing in the sand.

In October, Jo and I took our first trip without Vivian. We left her with Grandma and took off for five days of Vivianless bliss. The first morning we were gone, Carol went up to Vivian when she said “Mommy” and replied “Mommy and Daddy are on vacation”. Apparently that was that. And Grandma and Vivian had a vacation too. Each day was filled with fun times. They hiked the nature trail. And took a boat ride and swam in Lake Travis. And went to San Antonio. And Vivian never missed us. When we got back, she said “Hi” and went about her business and didn't seem perturbed that we had left. Or returned.

Vivian absolutely loves dancing. She started with simple bobs and turns. Then more elaborate moves and spins and twirls and hand movements and belly patting. Now she sings while dancing too. Her current favorite is “I did it” - her remake of the popular Dora tune, “We did it”. A couple of weeks ago, Jo decided to sing a Christmas carol to Vivian. When she got to the “Fa la la la la, la la la la” part, Vivian picked it up after her with a “Ba la la”. Ask Vivian to sing, and she’ll proudly repeat “Ba la la”. And not that tunelessly either.

Vivian is a talker - takes after her mother. It started in early summer with a chant of "Daddy Daddy Daddy". I was tickled till I realized that she hadn't a clue as to who or what daddy was. After “daddy” the first real words she repeated reliably can't be printed in a family letter, but apparently they were Nicolle’s first words too. By July, Vivian had the basics: mom, dad, birdie, thissie (fish), ba (ball), sky, wawa (water), ice, jus, buppy (puppy), flo-wers. Since then, she’s picked up another word or two. Here's a conversation from earlier today:

Jo: "I'm going to the restroom"
Vivian: "Mommy potty?"
Me: "She thinks she is so sharp"
Vivian: "I sharp"

2008 is almost gone. People killed each other. The earth shook. The markets fell.

And the other morning Vivian woke up and hopped up on Jo’s lap with her glass of “mek” and looked at me and said "Hello Daddy" and laughed. And filled me with hope for 2009. Wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Oh No

Vivian learns Spanish from Ana and Dora. She is bilingual with respect to two words (water & cow). She has a book where Dora shakes fives stalks of rice, and we read out: "uno dos tres quatro cinco".

So, the other day we were driving somewhere. Jo said something that made me say "Oh No!". From the back seat, Vivian pipes up with "....dos tres".

The Power of Wii

Yesterday, Vivian wanted to play the Wii. I selected nine holes of golf and handed her the wiimote.

When my dad was here this summer, I had created his Mii - complete with a bald head and a fringe of white hair and nice big glasses.

So, Vivian looks at the TV and sees my Dad's Mii with a golf club and said "Daadu".

Gan Ma

Vivian jabbers all the time. I ask her: "Vivian - are you silly?". She replies: "No. I funny". At breakfast, after eating her yogurt, she looks at me and says: "Bacon, piz." And she tells Jo: "I love you, Mommy". But she can be slow about some things. She calls every other cat by it's name, and yet insists on calling both our cats "Abbie". And she won't say "Grandma", though Carol may be her favorite person in the whole world.

I missed the actual event - I was in Austin, and Jo and Vivian and Carol were at Nicolle's last Sunday. And Vivian said "Gan Ma". The effect on Carol? From what I hear, you couldn't tell that Carol had just finished walking 13 miles earlier that day.

Aminal Sounds

Typical pet trick that Jo and I have had Vivian perform all week for anyone with five seconds to spare:

"Vivian - what does a dogie sound like?"
"Woof woof" [used to "ffff ffff" - just so darling]

"And what does a kitty cat sound like?"
"Meeeaaawo" [very long and with much feeling]

"And what does a cow sound like?"
"Moo moo" [subdued and low]

"And what does an elephant sound like?"
"Waaw waaw" [with wrist in mouth and fingers waving up and down like a tiny trunk]

Halloween

Halloween came and went and sorta caught us by surprise.

We thought we had put more prep into this one than ever before. I spent days making a great big papier mache head and Jo bought fabric and snakes to make her outfit and she made Vivian a lovely costume. But on Halloween evening, we were just pooped. We moved the couches out to the deck and had a great afternoon chiling outside. Here's a picture of Carol and Vivian horsing around on the couches out back.

Vivian's cousins showed up, and got dressed. Jo had painstakingly put each one of their customes together - and they came out great. Devon looked more glamorous than Hannah Montana in her Rock Star outfit and blue hair.


Vivian took her costume off after trick-or-treating and decided to spend the rest of the evening in her diaper - very classy. Carol never put on her "woman of the night" outfit (we had a hard time explaining to the kids that their grandma was going to dress up as a "hoe" - a garden tool). I couldn't move around with my giant papier mache head on and all that was left of my costume was a green face. And Jo's one-eye in the middle of her face got smudged early in the game.

But the guests had great costumes. There were pretty corpse brides and vampires and sexy cops and pirates and egyptian girls and big fat loosers and Joe The Plumber and prison inmates and jelly fishes (yes, really), and the Popeye family and priests and nuns and my favorite - squash-ball-through-the-head, and many more. We didn't get pictures except for the following:

Boo

There's that little human girl in Monsters, Inc that the monsters name Boo. Vivian was Boo for Halloween. Here's a picture of Vivian in pigtails (one came off, and Jo wasn't home - and Vivian and I had to put it back together). This is a just a practice run. Once the pigtails came off, I ended up with a few more pictures of Vivian.

Diwali

We went to the Shahs for dinner to celebrate Diwali. And about a week later, we had dinner at Madras Pavilion with Simran and Jeanne. Vivian got to see a diya at the Shahs and in the lovely Diwali greeting card that Guri Uncle and Surjeet Auntie sent her from New Delhi.

Here's a picture of almost everybody who was at the Shahs that evening - Jagruti is taking the picture. Vivian's outfit is the matching Christmas gift that Surjeet Auntie made for her and Simran last year. And in the next, Vivian is hamming it up with Manju and Kaka.

Baby Alexandra

When Alexandra was about a month old (she came to this world a bit early), Grant took the now famous photograph of Alexandra who was almost as long as the two iPhones she was laying next to.

The other evening, Vanessa was away in South Africa for a wedding, and we had Grant and Baby Alexandra over for dinner. After dinner, we sat Vivian down in the big leather armchair and handed Alexandra to her. They hit it off. And when it was time to take Alexandra back, Vivian wasn't too happy to give up her baby.

Whee Ride

In India, a bicycle seats five (man on the seat, wife side-saddle on the carrier over the back wheel carrying infant, son on handle bars, daughter side-saddle on top-bar). Jo had a brilliant idea and bought a contraption on Amazon so we can start heading in that direction. Here's what the product picture from Amazon looks like:
On Saturday, Carol and Jo and Vivian and I found a semi-flat 2-mile section of the hill country and went for a spin. Vivian loved every bit of it. On the downhills, she'd grab her helmet with both hands (to stop if from flying off?) and scream "wheeeee.....". On uphills, she'd push her head back to look up at me a shout encouragements "Go daddy, go".

When she woke up from her nap, she asked Jo if she could go on a "whee ride". In the evening, when it got dark and stormy, Vivian and I stole out shoe-and-helmet-less and rode up and down the driveway a few times. She just absolutely loved the wind in her hair - and couldn't stop laughing.

I see some bicycling in our future.

Proud to be Red

My friend Saqib forwarded me an email that engaged in Red State bashing. How the Blue States were high tech and Harvard and lettuce growers and sequoias and wine. And we were mosquitoes and Ole' Miss and Rush Limbaugh and 3X sizes and creationism. My response:

Send us a postcard from hell, you godless socialist homo liberal lefties.
Texas - Proud to be Red. Go Palin Power!

Odors

At the Halloween Party, I confessed to Gwen about my super-sensory experience of smell. In the middle of the night, when I am half-alseep, I can smell everything. The lingering smells of yesterday's lunch. Dry cat food in another room. Soccer shoes on the porch.

The last few nights, it's been the smell of stale urine. The sharp smell of uric acid - like on a hot summer day when you walk into the head of a sailboat where the seals on the plumbing aren't working like they should. This morning, super-sensory smell moved into broad daylight and waking hours. I sit and tap a few keys on the laptop, and then wander around the house, sniffing and flushing all the toilets again. Even take a shower again. Finally, I give up and assign it to my stuffy nose and some as yet undiscovered neurosis.

Then I found a curious little white HEB plastic sac under my chair. It had a well-used diaper in it. Eva must have left it as a gift for her cousin Vivian when she stayed over the night after Halloween.

O!

Vivian - you are projected to have a new prez. May be we can still go to NZ - for a vacation.

Potty Training 101

We hadn't even considered potty training till Eleanor proudly showed us her underwear in a the park the other day - and it wasn't a diaper. So Jo went off and spent a few extra bucks for a Dora-themed potty that Vivian now affectionately calls her "dew-a potty".

Dew-a Potty has been stationed in the guest bathroom for the last two days, in front of "Daddy Potty". Vivian and I or Jo have spent a few fully dressed minutes on our respective potties, showing her how to sit on a chair with an obvious short-coming - a big hole.

This morning, after her shower, naked girl was running around the house. She field-disassembled and dragged the dew-a potty to the living room, set it up in front of me, and proceeded to sit in it. A minute later, I looked in the bowl and saw some liquid. Seeing our questioning looks, Vivian pointed to her naked butt and said "baby wawa". We shook our heads in amazement - what a coincidence - Vivian just happened to be naked and sitting on the potty when she needed to pee.

Tonight is date night. Jo and I had a nice slow dinner at the Taverna (highly recommend the saffron flounder risotto special). When we came back home, Ana had put Vivian to bed, but she had a story. She told us that earlier in the evening, Vivian took her by her hand to the bathroom and expressed a desire to use the dew-a potty. Ana took Vivian's diaper off, and she proceeded to sit on the potty and pee.

Here's a picture I added a few days later. Vivian is lounging fully-dressed on her potty, munching on her snacks.

Brand Names

Vivian loves to eat apples. One day, she walked by when I was working on my Mac. And she pointed to the glowing Apple logo and said "apple". Now she does it everyday.

Vivian's second brand name was Dora (the explorer). By sheer chance, her sipping cups have pictures of Dora. She used to go to bed with "Babby", her Barnes and Nobel Dora doll.

Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, she went to Carsyn's Dora-themed birthday party and explored with a gaggle of four-year olds and came back home with a handful of Dora stickers. She took one of the stickers and stuck it on her shirt and said "dew-a". Now she is the owner of a Dora training potty and proudly pointed to it and said, "Daddy, dew-a potty".

Chanel and Porsche can wait. Right now, apple and Dew-a rule.

Elitist Jerks

Back in the dawn of time herself, when the Barak, Billary and Romney campaigns were still in their infancy, Newsweek published the results of a poll on what Americans would not find acceptable in a president. At that time, I found it remarkable that a gay man has a better chance of becoming the president of this straight nation than an atheist. I remember thinking - oh my god (non-religous, non-personal, just figure-of-speech god) - do they let atheists marry around here?

After a recent argument with Nicolle, when we were both some distance from sober, I was struck by another thought. The pollsters need to poll for Elitist Jerks. Would they end up even lower than athiests?

Vivian - what's the lesson? If you end up being an elitist atheist running for prez, you'd better pick a gay running mate to get a dose of popular support.

Camping

On Saturday, Nicolle, Michelle, Greta, Lori, Lisa, Carol, Jimmy, and us (and eight kids - including the borrowed two) ended up in Jim Hogg Park not far from the shores of Lake Georgetown.

Jo spent the night with Vivian in my aged REI Half-Dome tent. About halfway through the night, Vivian realized that she was sleeping "out-sy" (outside) - her favorite place in the whole wide world. And that her dear Mom was trying to sleep next to her. At that point, it was too much fun to just sleep, so she kept Jo up for a couple of hours.

I was asleep a few yards away in another tent with six of the older kids (their parents/guardians were ensconced in their queen beds inside their respective RVs, and this was my idea of an adventure for the kids). We weren't exactly roughing it either - the tent belonged to Jimmy and had ceilings taller than my home. The kids were in one room, I was in another - in a very comfortable cot. We farted, snorted, snored, whispered, and had nightmares, but otherwise it was quite uneventful.

Now we are planning the next step - a short hike and a night of primitive camping for Vivian. Perhaps at "Animule Lake" near Enchanted Rock one of these lovely Hill Country fall days.

Repeat After Me

Vivian has attained some level of repeat-after-me skills. Jo says "Vivian, say 'I love you'". Vivian smiles and replies "I la u". Fun times. I am prepping her to tell her grandma "Grandma, I need a pony". Just to see what Carol does.

ps. If you read my angry post about Alice and Bush and Palin - it's gone. I feel much better now - I'll send President Palin a postcard from NZ.

Calculated Kissing

The other morning, Vivian was feeling particularly affectionate. She repeatedly indicated that she wanted to give Jo and me kisses, and when we put our faces next to hers, she obliged with her special open mouth kisses.

A little bit later, I was no longer in her good graces. Vivian continued to shower Mom with kisses, but waved a dismissive hand in my direction.

And yet another few minutes later, she needed something. "Daddy outside peaz" (dad, open the door so I can go outside). I said "Give Daddy a kiss". She responded with the talk to my hand routine again. Then, just for kicks, I told her "if you give Daddy a kiss, he may consider taking you outside".

In the three short steps to the front door, Vivian showered my face with kisses.

Do women learn this stuff very early in life, or is it just hard-wired in?

Bijoya

Growing up, I didn't resent an occasional friendly jab of "Angrez ki aulad" ("spawn of the English") from Raju. Raju meant that I wasn't being very Indian (or Bangali). That quality has traveled and aged well. In spite of residency and citizenship, nobody would accuse me of being overly Texan or American either.

But there's an exception - the Durga Puja.

Vivian - I can't read or write Bangla. But perhaps I can impart to you a bit of that other essence of being bong - the Durga Puja. I can recollect only a handful of Pujas - during my HPS years and occasional trips back during Puja. But the memories are powerful. Five days of celebrating and visiting and new clothes and late nights and the sounds of frenzied drumming and scents of dhoop and the tastes of bhog and the trips to the pandals and the kola-koli and pranam. In my world of festivals, there's Durga Puja, and there's stamp collecting.

Happy Bijoya greetings to all.

Vacation

We just returned from our first vacation that we took sans child.

Jo and I went to Chestertown for Lessie's wedding. In a good start to their married life, Jason served a pretty decent stout at the reception under his "Ball and Chain" label. Here are some pictures of the fat vacation home we stayed at. Plans are underway for a repeat trip.





Then we went to Ocean City - an atlantic seaside resort in off-season. We ate long slow dinners and took short beach walks, mixed in with lots of sleep.

During this time, Vivian was back at the ranch with Grandma. Carol told us that when Vivian woke up the first morning after we were gone, she, as usual, said "daddy". To which Carol replied "Daddy and mommy are on vacation". And that was that.

Each morning, Vivian and Grandma and Kirby walked Canyon Lake dam and then the nature trail on the Guadalupe river. Followed by several other activities. We'd call once a day and Vivian would hear us and run up to a picture on the window from the Burns family reunion in May'07 and point to Jo and me in the picture and say "mommy" and "daddy". And then she'd be off doing something else.

When we got back, she ran down and greeted us - but didn't seem very concerned by our absence or return. Me on the other hand - I wanted to squeeze her like a teddy bear.

Amazing thing is that she had grown up so much in five days - she even looked older. But next morning, I woke up to east coast time and was checking my email when I heard Vivian stir. The first word out of her mouth was "Daddy". For now, some things are thankfully still the same.

Four Letter Word

I get back home from soccer and Jo starts telling me a story: earlier in the day, something happened that caused her to say "Oh. Fuck it."

That's as far as Jo gets in the story when Vivian begins to sing "oh fak ee, oh fak ee....." (loosely to the tune of Oh bla dee). I tell Jo that I think I know where her story was going. And Vivian is still singing in the background. It starts to sound funny, so I crack up. Vivian takes this as encouragement and throws even more enthusiam into her singing. Jo tells me that I must ignore her otherwise Vivian won't stop. I try my best. After good few minutes, Vivian gets distracted by Abe and moves on.

Can you and your child get hauled up to the day care principal's office (do they have principals?)? I am glad I won't have to find out anytime soon....

8000 Words...

...or 8 pictures? Did I mention I am lazy.

Vivian and Mom and Eleanor and Amy went out to see a ballet. Vivian did very well. One day, we'll be able to go see a movie. Here are the ladies getting ready to leave for the Paramount Theater.


Several times a day, Vivian cries "shower" and starts peeling off her clothes while running to the bathroom. Often, she takes two showers a day - just because it's so much fun.


Sometimes, I let her run around the house naked after a shower. She loves it. I run around behind her with paper towels to clean up the pee.


Vivian and Mommy horse around. Here she's in a carrier on Mommy whose name escapes me now (I do remember mobi and baby bjorn, but it's neither of those ...). And playing on the couch.


Here's she's in the tunnel of the baby gym in the living room.

She spends a fair amount of time with her coloring book. She needs more work with the technique, but she understands the concept of coloring a picture.

Peas

Vivian is changing quickly. I am not - I am still the lazy ass I always was. So I haven't been able to keep pace with what Vivian says. She speaks more understandably now.

"Up peas" when she wants up on her chair. "Down peas" for the reverse. We have to thank Uncle Alu for teaching her how to say please. I wonder what she woud say if she wants more peas for dinner.

"Bess you" when we sneeze - or even cough. "Five" with hand up in the air when she wants to high-5. If you say "one", she responds with "two".

"Wawa jus gass. Peas" for "please could I have a glass of water spiked with juice". Followed by "tan-ku" when we ask her to be polite.

"Bubby" for any furry mammal - it comes from "puppy", but is also suitable for cats, bears, etc.

"Flower" and "shoes" continue to be her favorite words. "Daddy" and "mommy" are still among the most frequently. Other people often mentioned by name are: "Grace", "Kai", "Ana", and "Kaka".

"Foo" is food, but usually referes to cat food. Both cats are "Abe". "Boat", "eye", "ice", "car", "ball", "baby", "fishie" and "phone" are names of objects she frequently says. "Shower" when she feels ready for one.

I can't help but brag. My child knows more words than the leader of the free world.

Dr Z

It would be fair to say that the good doctor Z delivered Vivian at birth (see And It's a..... in this blog for details). We are so spoiled by him that we are doomed to dissatisfaction with any other doctor (yes - I did ask why my wife's ob/gyn couldn't be my primary care physician). After almost 19 months, mother, baby, and doctor are reunited for a photo op.

2G Swaddling

Jo is a swaddler. Not all moms are.

Vivian sleeps all night and has since she was about two and a half months old. For more than 99% of this time, we have never been woken up by her till morning. Jo credits some of this bliss to swaddling.

So I am a believer. For doubters out there, what would Jesus (or in this case, Mary) do?


Turns out Vivian is a believer too:

California Golden

The other day I am changing Vivian's poopie diaper. There is something there that catches my eye. I ask Jo to come over and take a look. I say "Honey - I didn't know that Vivian ate a whole grape".

Whole grapes are still a no-no for Vivian. She loves grapes, and we sit there patiently and chop them in half before we feed them to her. Lesser chances of having to test our skills at the Heimlich Maneuver.

After scratching our collective heads for about 30 seconds, we get it. Now I know what a California Golden Raisin looks like after it's hung around in Vivian's GI tract for a few hours. The next time I serve Vivian raisins, I chop them into little bits. The things I learn...

She Looks so Peaceful

It was a nice morning in Austin. We went to play in Bull Creek. Too many dogs and too little water. So we drove to Barton Springs and waded into the cool water just downstream of the pool. Vivian loved it.

Then we ended up at Chez Zee for brunch. Vivian was ready for a nap about the time we ordered. When that happens, she doesn't get drowsy. She gets moody. And she is ready to throw a fit without notice. So she smiled and charmed a few folks, but, for the next 30 minutes, some of guests around us were probably wishing they were somewhere else.

I overheard our waiter compliment the nice family at the next table. "These lovely girls are the best behaved little girls I have every seen". When he got around to us, all he could manage was: "...and she looks so peaceful".

Here are pictures of before, during, and after the morning swim:

Carpe the Day

Vivian - every once a while, an almost perfect day happens. And it's up to you to know when it does. For me, that was today.

It started at 6:30am, and didn't even seem as good as yesterday. Vivian woke up and didn't wave to me and didn't say "daddy, daddy". Instead she cried. But it got better. In a little while, she clambered up beside me and pointed out the window and said "go outside".

We got donuts and kolaches from Sweeties and, with Jo and Grandma, hiked down to the lake. I took off my hiking shoes, and Vivian took off her clothes, and we got wet in the turquoise blue waters of Canyon Lake.

Then we got to the pool and plunged in. It was Vivian's second day in her personal flotation device, and she had a blast swimming by herself, and hanging out in Grandma's not-so-personal flotation device. And in Mom's arms. And Jo and I practiced our synchronized swimming and diving routine. Divine.

In the afternoon, I lay Vivian down for a nap and I drove off to another lake - Travis. And spent the evening sailing and swimming with Grant and Vanesa and Alan and Kay and people with breathy European accents.

Nothing that I can quite put my finger on. But from the moment I opened my eyes this morning, it's just been an absolutely lovely day. The way the morning sun reflected in Vivian's eyes. The way Jo felt in my arms. And the wine tasted and the boat heeled. And the wind on the drive back home.

To put it according to Horace:

envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future

To put it according to Robindranath's Alo:

Nache alo nache, o bhai, amar praner kachhe --
baje alo baje, o bhai, hridôe binar majhe --
jage akash, chhoţe batash, hashe shôkol dhôra.

or

Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.

To put it simply, I walked around all day with the biggest freaking grin on my face. Dearest Vivian -this is what you live for.

Periodic Clan Pictures

It would be interesting to measure Vivian's journey by taking pictures of her at regular intervals. My neighbor does this by taking a picture of his son laying/crawling/sitting/standing next to his own personalized Louisville Slugger on his birthday each month.

Alas, we are not organized enough to mold the present, and instead must look for patterns in the past. One such pattern was recently discovered. For two consecutive summers we have taken family pictures at Alu's. The first is from May 22, 2007 in Ann Arbor. The second is from Aug 2 in Rhode Island.

This year, Vivian looks prettier. I look younger. Everyone else looks the same.

The Ocean State

We spent a few days at Alu and Michelle's home in Rhode Island. Vivian learned to play the piano from - surprise - Alu (sample lesson: "one finger, one key"). And sing and dance with Michelle. And climb up the stairs by herself using the handrail to go find Dadu. And ride (actually, be pushed around) in a lovely little trike that Eric and Kathy brought over for her. And ride in ferries and boats all over the place. And visit Beavertail lighthouse (the third oldest lighthouse in the US). And tour Newport harbour (including a couple of America's Cup winners) from a boat. And have tonnes of fun being spoiled rotten by her uncle and aunt and grand dad. And learn all kinds of new words. Some pictures from the trip: