Kids Update
After having totally blown it last year, I have to take this opportunity to briefly wish Digby a happy 2nd birthday today and to comment on his remarkable transformation since moving to Connecticut. As you might have heard me mention here before, Digby used to be the embodiment of pure energy, a non-stop white and black blur accompanied by a piercing soundtrack of barking. He was basically the Tasmanian Devil for eighteen months. Then we moved and everything changed. After breakfast in the morning (at 6:30, the dirty rat), he jumps into our bed and takes a morning nap while Veronika has her morning bottle. When I put Veronika to bed at night, Digby lies outside the door and waits for me the whole time, ears perked up like the perfect guard dog. After 8:00 p.m. you can find him curled up on the couch by us, paws tucked it like a cat (I mean lion). He is still an energetic dog but it's nice to see him able to relax occasionally.
In other child news, Veronika is in light-speed growing up mode. First she was crawling as we were moving out here, then walking towards us a few weeks later, now she's walking entirely on her own, all the time, all over the place, like she's never known anything else. She shakes her head (well, really her whole upper body) in response to us telling her "no." She hugs and kisses the furry friends in the book we read before bed (especially the seal and polar bear). She is in the 90th percentile in height. It is amazing to watch this development in progress, even more so now because she's much more expressive and curious than before. I can see the thought processes and reactions that I had only imagined were going through her head before. And I have a feeling that the best is yet to come.