Humanoid

Violet's progression from less of a bundle of nerve endings and flesh to a little human being is a constant state of amazement for me. My new favorite things to do with her is to make her giggle. Nothing... NOTHING sounds better to my ears than the laughter of my daughter. It's like a drug. I find myself mock eating her neck and "zerbus"ing her belly as often as I can to get one more fix of her laughter. It's the best sound in the world.

Violet is healthy, strong, and vibrant. We finally see teeth in that little mouth of hers. Two bottom front teeth that are razor sharp. I think the older we get we tend to take the whole tooth growing thing a little too much for granted. If you think about it, having sharp, calcified protrusions erutping through the sensitive tissue of our gum lines is really not a pleasant experience at all. I don't think I'd want to go through growing a new set of teeth. Once is enough. I suppose the reason why I don't remember growing my teeth when I was a baby was probably not because of my age, but because of it being such a traumatic experience that I've psychologically blocked it from my mind.

Melissa is still V's primary caretaker while I'm at work. She's pretty content with the whole affair. I think she's doing a hell of a job. Melissa has weathered every storm with speed, tact, and grace. Violet's tantrums have become less frequent and we've managed to get her back on a longer sleeping schedule. For a while there, I was really starting to worry about Melissa's lack of sleep. V's asleep as I type this. Her bedtime is 7PM and she'll stay down until about 5AM when she'll want another bottle. After the 5-6 AM bottle she'll stay asleep for another 1-2 hours. With some training on our end, we've managed to get her to self-regulate. A lot of her neediness stemmed from the cold she had recently, and that was no fun for anyone.

Violet is still working on the whole crawling thing, but she does a really good job at holding herself up and starting to walk with our assistance. She's incredibly grabby and getting better at manipulating and moving things around with her hands. It's really awesome to watch her interact with toys and the world around her (with the exception of her grabbing onto my face and pulling at it with her razor sharp talons).

Well, on to what everyone wants to see the most:


This was taken in early September. It's as if she's
winding up to deck the paparazzi.


Meow.


Aunt Vicki feeding the monster. Cool thing about having
people over is that I can shirk my responsibilities on others.
Little did I know that Vick was a pro.


Dad and his budding little rock-star.


V at 6 months. One of the coolest thing about
having kids is that you can accessorize them.
Glasses=brainy kid.


Apple Fest adventures. This was taken while waiting in
line for apple pie I can buy any time during the year
but am compelled to wait hours in line for during Apple Fest.
The older she gets, the more I see me in her.


V's 1st Halloween costume. Ugh. Can't take anymore cute.


Now Melissa and I have even more reason to love
Halloween season.


Mother and daughter.


Almost 2 feet tall at 6 months.


Fusstank in motion! Live and in 3-D!