parenting for one year: check.

the dumpling is officially one. it was a pretty good birthday weekend, although we are turning into one of those households the queen and i didn't want to live in: too many plastic toys :( she did receive one wooden rattle with a snazzy orange handle, which of course she loves and plays with all the time. and truckloads of pink clothing. thank goodness my old friend from high school brought a bag of awesome hand-me-downs from her kidlet, which included a john deere hoodie and some tiny orange carhartts, so we still have a balance.

we took the dumpling to her first public pool experience. she was all "biggest bathtub ever! holy crap!" and had a great time. a small portion of the queen's family came out (the rest all working, or vacationing in various warm and/or more exciting places than this) and my parents drove down, and some friends from the city came too, which made it super fun. at the end of the day, i thought the dumpling would pass out from all the craziness, but of course she was too overstimulated and sobbed instead. a huge bowl of rice cereal eventually did the trick, after which the queen and i passed out on the couch.

to celebrate surviving one year of parenting, we picked up a nice bottle of oban scotch. we're simple folks :)

now the dumpling suddenly seems huge, with many skills. although she still needs me to operate the puppet and hold the tiny cardboard books, so no escape yet.