Oden Adventures

On February 8, sweet V turned 22 months old.  Her year of being one is slipping so quickly through our fingers - and yet, we're trying our best to soak up & savor as much of the cuteness as possible.

This was our first photo shoot at our new place, in the backyard.  Vianne loves the new house, loves having her own bedroom, loves the backyard where we do a lot of playing in her house, running, and "catching the ball".  She loves to color with Mama or Daddy and chooses our color for us and where on the page we should be applying that color.  She's added Doc McStuffins to her list of favorite shows, loves dancing ("I spinning!") when there's music on, loves playing her saxophone & with her trains, and helping Mama & Daddy with whatever we're doing.  She does a lot of work sitting at Daddy's desk ("I working!") which consists mainly of banging on the keyboard.  She also loves to "go to work" which consists of putting something - anything - resembling a purse or bag over her arm, giving us kisses and saying goodbye.  She usually returns within seconds, "I back!"

She's been counting to eleven lately, and singing the alphabet song with about 90% accuracy.  Never does either for the video camera, of course :-). 

On the morning of our fifth anniversary, I told Patrick I had something for him...and I sensed the brief moment of terror, as we had never done anniversary gifts, and had reconfirmed we weren't doing them this year.  Well, it wasn't a gift per se, just a little tune I'd composed in the prior months, and managed to (hastily) record in (my few) solitary moments...

We were up in Oregon for New Year's so we took advantage of my mom's very capable grandkid skills and her generosity and braved our very first overnight (well, my first overnight) without Vianne for a lovely time away in Forest Grove, OR, at McMenamin's Grand Lodge.  (Vianne apparently did great, and I didn't do too poorly myself.) 

We had the Mozart room, very charming...

...king-sized bed with a private bathroom...

...well, private to the rest of the hotel, anyway...

...drinks and the must-have tater tots at Pat's Corner...

..another stroll around downtown Forest Grove, though a little too late to see anything, and then back to the hotel for a lovely dinner.  

Even more lovely, though, was the breakfast we had at the same place the next morning.  Who knew McMenamin's had one of the most incredible breakfast menus around?  Not us!  We were floored (and I sure wished I was feeling better).  I (still) enjoyed the Brioche French Toast and their delicious coffee, while Patrick indulged in the Chicken Fried Steak with eggs and these fabulous biscuits that were like croissants and possibly the closest thing to heaven on earth.

We took another leisurely stroll around the grounds, cameras in hand...

Woke up to a frost-covered wonderland

Posing under our window (top center)

Blessed with this gorgeous view of Mt. Hood for 10 or so miles of the way back!  Softened the blow of returning to normal life :-).

We were in Oregon for Vianne's twenty-one monthiversary (1/8/14), and it was raining, so I just took a few snapshots indoors while she was distracted with her milk (she even stopped to say "cheese" several times, which infinitely beat chasing her around the yard at home).

What I've heretofore reported on Vianne is escaping me, so forgive me for repeats.  Vianne is an adorable little helper these days.  She loves (read: insists on) carrying out the bag from the diaper genie when I empty it; loves helping to unload groceries from the car; loves to be in the midst of any outdoor activity like watering plants or raking leaves; and usually will respond to requests for help picking things up (even if they often get dumped right back out again...).  She also has developed a very sympathetic side and likes to ask, "What's wrong?" and if she senses someone is sad or frustrated or not feeling well, she likes to give their head a pat and say, "Oh, [insert name]!" and give out extra hugs and kisses. 

She is very attentive to vehicles and always points out fire trucks, buses, motorcycles ("Jon!"), airplanes, and helicopters in particular.  She rarely hears a noise without wanting to know, "What's that sound?"  Another favorite question is "Where('d) Daddy (or whoever's left the room) go?"  She also for quite some time has gotten a kick out of calling people "Silly [insert name].  She also does a lot of fake laughing, crying, sleeping, and coughing these days because she seems to enjoy the attention they attract.  The sleeping is adorable.  The crying, not so much.

She is starting to learn to count and recognize some alphabet letters.  She still loves to color, loves playing with all her fun new toys from Christmas, loves to "read" her books - more than let Mama read them to her.  She still loves "Bob and Yarry", and Peppa Pig and Mickey Mouse & friends (she looks up at the sky and says, "Oh, toodles!" often throughout the day).

Another pet phrase is "Dinner soon!"  I told her one evening we would have dinner soon, so now whenever she wants to eat, she says "Dinner soon!" even if it's 7:30 in the morning or around noon, and sometimes even if it's 10 minutes after she just ate.

In other speech cuteness, k's and hard c's are t's right now.  So milk = milt, our friend Cammie = Tammie, Christmas = Tristmas, Costco sounds a bit like Tattoo, okay = otay, school bus = stool bus :-).  She also calls Target "Targer", Margot "Marner", and Miriam "Mirmer", in her attempt at two-syllable pronunciations.  She's actively exploring possessives and plurals at the moment, with relative accuracy ("It's mine!" and "Cookie mans").

We left early on New Year's Eve morning...but not as early as planned...after settling in & reviewing the safety procedures...

 ...we found out that due to fog in San Jose (?!), we had to wait, and wait, and wait in Ontario to take off.  After an hour of sitting, we left about the time we should have been arriving, but still made it to PDX on time since we'd only shortened a two-hour layover. 

We spent New Year's Eve at Mom/Grandma Gustafson's with the Blairs and had way too much great food and tried our hardest to stay up 'til midnight after a long day!

 Enjoying some grapes...

Reading with Aunt Jenny

 Getting to know Cooper ("Topper")

 Mom & I attended the Blairs' church to see the girls as angels in their Christmas pageant

 When it's sunny & dry in January in Oregon, one must take advantage of it & take a walk into town.

 Can't pass up a puddle

 Tea party with Miriam

 Playing musical chairs with Aunt Jenny

 Playing with cousin David - they are so cute together!

 They love Grandma's wind-up toys!

 A post-nap snuggle with Aunt Vera

 A duet with cousin Grant

 Crowd of cousins