Hop Hop

This morning when Phil was shaving, Violet leaned slowly around the jamb of the door, caught his eye, and said solemnly to him, "Hop hop! Hop!" And then she "hopped." She cannot hop. Her feet do not leave the ground. And then she said "I have milk now."

Today we went to a nature preserve thingy in San Mateo. I had to drive down El Camino Real to get there, because when I go on the highway I get so panicky it takes me a long time to calm down afterwards. It took like twice as long! And was ten times as fun. There was even a See's Candy on the road, but Violet was asleep, so I couldn't stop and get three raspberry cremes and one peanut butter cup. I wish I could just leave her in the damn car for the two minutes it would take to buy these gorgeous items, but I just know that the minute I leave her in the car is the minute a giant truck will smash into the parking lot, taking out the car. If the giant truck has to take out the car, I need to be in there with her. Similar logic prevents me from leaving V alone in the house when she's napping, even to nip downstairs to the coffee shop located in our apartment building to get some tea. I mean, what if a bomb were to go off just in my apartment? When the bomb goes off, it has to get both of us at once.

Anyhoo, we went to the nature preserve with Sena and Quirin and Thora. Vi has quite the obsession going with Baby Thora in theory. Ever since she made acquaintance with her on a camping trip, Violet has come to us with clasped together palms, claiming that she was holding tiny Baby Thora in her hands. "Baby Thora my hand!" she might say, for instance. But in person, Violet was much more excited by 4-year-old Quirin then 9 month old Baby Thora, and spent much of the day trotting after Quirin, trying to do everything just like Quirin. Which was cute when Quirin was running in circles around the aviary's waterfall, not as much when both girls kept dipping their hands into the spitty still water of the outdoor water fountain and running their wet hands through each other's hair.