Maria walking with one hand now

The last few days, Maria has been making make progress in walking - she's only using one hand now.

Yes, I know, most people walk on their feet. And so does Maria. But she also needs extra support by holding onto other people as she walks. Previously she needed support from both hands, but recently she's been doing well holding on with just one hand.

Fresh salsa

Sue made some yummy fresh salsa, and I had some time to play with the macro lens.

Future physicist apparel

Maria's aunt Monica gave her a physics-themed shirt. Here she is modeling it, with a Physics Today for extra authenticity.

Sunrise over the Atlantic

As a consolation for Maria waking up too early, I did get a picture of a nice sunrise.

A now a word from our sponsors

When it's time for a snack, reach for Goldfish crackers...

And now our spokesbaby will show where to put the crackers.

Maria playing on the beach

Along with playing in the water at the beach at Jockey's Ridge, Maria played in the dry sand. A small drama ensued.

Act I: Situation normal. Playing in the sand.

Act II
Limb check: Right arm present and accounted for.

Left hand present and accounted for.

Legs. MISSING!!! Raise the alarm!

Act IV: Contact with legs reacquired. Everything restored to situation normal.

Maria with some guy in a goofy hat

Here's Maria at a sound-side beach, where the waves are much smaller and the water warmer. There's some strange guy in a goofy hat behind her. Don't know where he came from, or how he wound up in the picture.

Longing for the sea

Reading material for former presidents

While walking, we saw this sign with three names on it. But it sure looks like a commentary (or a suggestion) on the reading material of former presidents.

Where we travel to North Carolina and get lost in the desert

History repeats itself - previously we got lost in the deserts of Michigan. It happened again, only this time it was in North Carolina.

Though the people in the picture seems awfully happy for being lost in the desert.

Maria eats ice cream

We walked to an ice cream shop and gave Maria her first taste of ice cream.

But first, her picture with a pirate outside the shop.

The ice cream is mandarin chocolate chip (the orange and chocolate flavor together is very yummy)

The first bite looks good

The second bite receives a different reaction. Perhaps it's too cold.

Maria at the beach

Maria gets her first experience with the ocean at the Outer Banks, NC.

She wasn't so thrilled with the water (it may have been too cold), but she does seem to like running up and down the dunes.

I hate being described accurately by random strangers

As in this description of Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
Although I didn't quite follow the steps in order. Skipped step 3, but that should be rectified soon.

In the same vein, there's two entire blogs:

• Stuff White People Like. I read this blog looking for things that don't describe me, and use that to feel vaguely superior to other White People (it's not clear to me why being different is superior. Sometimes lots of people *are* right.) Or perhaps it's an attempt to retain some shred of feeling like a unique individual and not a zeitgeist zombie.
• Stuff Christians Like

(HT: Found all of these via The World Needs More Ninjas)

Maria's first blog entry

Guest blog entry from Maria:
j/. 00 / cxxxxxxxxxxxxx bv vv

Random thought and a parental concern

Random thought:
If/when the grunge bands from the 90s become lounge acts in Vegas, will they wear sequined flannel shirts?

Parental Concern:
Will I harm my daughter's language acquisition by reading her stories in Swedish Chef?

One year old! One year old!

Maria had her first birthday Thursday. Sue and I can hardly believe it's been a year already. To celebrate, we gave her a cupcake with one candle. She was a little confused by the cupcake as we normally give her food in small pieces and not one larger, whole object.

Camera geek note: Pictures taken with 50mm f1.4 lens that arrived Thursday, just in time for her birthday pictures.

Maria closeups

Technical details:
Canon 20D with 100mm macro lens.

For the curious - my Pentax was stolen about several weeks ago, and I recently bought this camera as a replacement.

Valentine's Day bib

Here's Maria with a Valentine's Day bib.

Maria feeds herself with a spoon

The other day Maria was feeding herself with a spoon!

Fine print: To make this an entirely accurate statement, the following definitions have been used

• "feeding" - food went from the bowl to a location on, around or near her face. Furthermore that location was largely, but not exclusively, her mouth.
• "herself" - her hand was on the spoon from when it left the bowl to her mouth. Dad may have assisted a bit with initial spoon movements and/or maneuvered the bowl so as to be contacted appropriately by the spoon.

Photograph of the aftermath:

(Unfortunately, she's sick and not smiling)

Maria in the mirror