vonRoeschlaub Family News

Victoria is currently teething badly.  The cure that worked best for Claire had been a drop of whiskey on the gums.  Sadly, when I suggested it Diana revealed we don’t currently have any.  As I walked Victoria about trying to comfort her I tried to think up an alternative, finally asking “Should I buy a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label?”

Without hesitation Victoria nodded vigorously.

Technically Victoria has been taking one or two steps for a few weeks.  Diana even claims to have seen three steps once, but she wasn’t what anyone would call walking (unless she held your fingers for support).

Today that changed.  This morning she was drawing on the bench with a brown crayon so I pulled out a coloring book and tried to entice her away from the table with a call of “look, Victoria, paper!”  She was so excited that she started walking towards me and got all the way to the piano bench before she realized what she was doing.  When she did she lunged for the bench of support, but quickly realized she didn’t need it.

In the next hour she walked back and forth across the room several times, walked across the kitchen, then walked from the refrigerator all the way to the stairs.  The only time she fell uncontrolled was at the dining room table, when she hit her head on a chair.  She sat up, pointed to her head, and said matter-of-factly “ow.”

I did catch the following video: Victoria Walking

Yesterday we went to the pool for the last time this year.  It closed for the winter, but Claire and Avery had fun and Luke came with us.  Sadly, Luke forgot his bag and Diana went back to the house, spending an hour looking for it.  As it turned out, it was in the car.

I also spent some time in the morning trying to fix the oven knob.   It looks like the rheostat is completely frozen.  Very odd.  I think I’m going to have to unplug teh entire assembly and take it apart to track this down.  A replacement runs about $100.  Blech.

We went to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City yesterday with Melissa and Luke.  The kids loved it.  We saw the energy exhibit (which glossed over the issues of alternate energy production — like the places that generate wind power don’t have the ability to direct it to the places it is needed, so they run at lower power than they could so as not to destroy the national electric grid).  Then Claire and Luke went to see a special exhibit on fear while we took Avery (who really wanted to go, but we don’t need more nightmare fodder right now) to see the harbor exhibit.  Victoria enjoyed the fish too.

Afterward we went to see the communications exhibit (where you could learn Manderin, Spanish, or Cockney) and Claire and Luke took off again to see the Monsters of the Deep movie.  Avery and Victoria went to the kids zone where Victoria saw some little pika looking creatures and just stood, looked and laughed.  Avery played with an enormous ball ramp toy (as in two stories tall).
The giant Hoberman Sphere in the lobby (largest in teh world) entertained the older kids, but scared Victoria.  It’s interesting that she already understands enough to realize that the way it expands and contracts is unusual.

This morning Victoria woke up and romped a bit on our bed before Claire awaoke and sat with us.  Victoria got so excited she let out an ear-piercing yelp.  All three of us went “Shhh.”

She took a deep breath and let out an even louder yelp.  “Shhh.” we repeated.

She took an even deeper breath and as we all prepared she went “Shhh.”

Victoria knew it was a joke and laughed uproriously at our faces.  She’s quite the actress.

Went for an interview with Raytheon Last week.  It looked like it went well, but it’s so hard to tell and there is no way to really guess how many people were applying or their skill level.  I did get to see Rachel and have a little lunch with her which was nice.  I also had dinner with Kurt Mittelstaedt who set me up with the interviews in the first place.
This week Victoria started eating Cheerios (well, Oaty-O’s, I have to watch the budget) so she’s excited to be able to feed herself solid food.  She seems to be handling them very well, and preferrs them even to some of her favorite foods, like carrots.

The nickel chart with Avery seems to be working well too.  It isn’t perfect, and he goes some days earning only one or two nickels, but he gets very excited when it is brought up, and has been an angel in Church School ever since he started earning nickels for that.  It isn’t even that big a deal since his allowance is about whet he ends up earning each week. If perfect, he could earn about 50% over his allowance, but in practice he falls 25-30% short.

Claire is doing well with her piano lessons, and can now play a few complex tunes.  She is starting to learn other keys.  She still fights like a wet cat over doing her homework, and is not above staging a sit in that has her in front of her desk from 4-6.  Was I so bad with my homework?  I don’t remember.

Okay, I’ve gone a while without updating.  I’ll probably backdate an update on our trip to Disney for Christmas.

The big deal now is that Victoria is talking.

Diana and I have been playing a “game” lately where we say Mama or Dada whenever we pass her from one to the other.  She babbles “mamamama” a lot, but indiscriminately.  She also babbles “dadadada” occasionally so it is even.  But lately she has said “dada” three times in a way that might be considered intentional.

1. I was sitting next to her and twice she reached over and touched my leg, immediately saying “dada.”  Claire overheard and insisted it was intentional.

2. As Diana walked towards the TV Victoria caught sight of me in the study through the window and said “dada.”

3. I was walking past a mirror while carrying her and waved at her reflection, catching her eye.  She looked, smiled, and said “dada.”

Diana is convinced this is her first word.  I’m still not fully sure though.  Regardless, there are two more words that she definitely is saying.

We have been feeding her, saying “More?” doing the sign for more, and then giving her another spoonful of food.  She signed “more” a few times, then replaced it with saying “Mo’, mo’.”  I keep joking we just need to teach her to say “money” now.

Today I was feeding her squash and, after two bites she looked at me and said “Nanana! Nanana!”  At first I ignored her, but she kept repeating it and refusing to eat any more.  Suspicious I got bananas from the kitchen and gave her some.  At first she thought it was more squash and fought eating, but after one taste she said “nanana” one more time and started gulping it down like a baby bird.  After that if I hesitated even for a moment she would repeat “Mo’, mo’ nanana.”

Considering her favorite song at three months was “Banana Paradise” maybe she just loves the sound, but I suspect we have a real winner for first words here.

Victoria had her daily dose of semi-solid food.  Today it was bananas, which she loved.  But no matter how much she loved them she got more on her outside than on her inside.  As Diana whisked her away after the meal she announced “I’m changing the banana basted baby.”

Avery perked up immediately, “Basted?  No, don’t eat the baby!  I will miss her!”

I guess he knows what “basted” means.

My parents came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Diana broke out the wedding china and nice wine glasses. The kids ate off their Bunnykins plate ware, a log was in the fireplace, and we all relaxed a little, though everyone was also dressed up for the occasion.

Victoria had her first solid food. Well, if you call the paste like powdered rice “solid.” She happily sat on Noni’s lap as Diana mixed up the powder, then got a spoonful right in the kisser. The picture to the left was taken seconds afterward, as she suddenly realized Diana had filled her mouth with a strange gunk. She wasn’t very happy, but she didn’t cry either.