I went down to Knoxville this weekend for my niece's 1st birthday. I would say birthday party, and that was the original intent, but the party was postponed until today, and I got back last night.
On the second leg of my flight down, I shared the flight with a Washington Redskin. His behavior, while not deplorable, still didn't shine the best light on him. He spent a good deal of the flight chatting up the flight attendant (not that I could blame him). When he found out she wanted to be a journalist, he began complaining about sports journalists and how "we" hate them (upon getting home and trying to identify which player it was on the flight, I came to realize why "he" wouldn't like journalists). Anyway, rather than make snarky comments, I'll close this anecdote with an observation, he was listed at 6'5 1/2", but appeared to be at least an inch, more likely two inches shorter than I am. Although it is hard to tell in the confines of an airplane that might have had six feet of headroom total.
My niece is well on the way to being a real person. She is just starting to walk and seems to be able to understand some of what is going on around her. I was hoping to hear her say something, but it all sounded like baby babble to me. Although she does seem to understand shaking her head to say no (which I mostly got when I tried to pick her up).
Apparently I am still too much of a stranger for Veronica to enjoy being around. Although Melanie says she was a bit grumpy because she is getting a new tooth in. Also she was a bit out of sorts because Melanie was sick and couldn't play with her.
So, Melanie found out she had Strep on Friday. Just in time to tell me before I got on the flight down. I didn't change my plans as a result, but the party was pushed back from Saturday till Monday, so Melanie wouldn't get people/children who came to the party sick. It is also hard to setup a party from quarantine.
One of the "upsides" was that I got to bake the cake for Veronica. Not the really cool bear cake Melanie ended up making for the actual party, but just a normal cake. It was actually the first time I'd made a cake from scratch, and it turned out pretty well, especially with Melanie helping as she could. The icing I made ended up being a little too soft to make great decorations (I was going to try to make icing roses), but it tasted pretty good.
When it came time for birthday cake, Veronica didn't demolish the cake as Melanie and I were expecting. We gave her a big slice and she delicately pulled crumbs off the corners. No handful of frosting, no big mess. But it was still a good time.
