nerd to be

That’s right, as my first birthday present to myself, I stood and walked several steps from my aunt to my ouma with no help or support. I AM SUCH A ROCK STAR.

Just a few pics from the celebration (thanks to my god-mommy for the party favors, to all my grand-folks for their wishes and gifts):

So there I was, only 364 days old (doll)…

… when suddenly my world turned upside down!

AUNT SAMANTHA! (we love Aunt Samantha. she was waiting for me when I woke up.)

As you can imagine, today is an exciting day. I’ve already gotten so many lovely emails and text messages from family and friends all over the world; I’m verklempt, totally knotted up…

Ouma and Oupa also arrived last night, and I’m looking forward to seeing them again (promise to upload pics soon). In the meanwhile, mommy gave me my first ever birthday present, which daddy helped me to open (including the sequel to my favorite book, The Gruffalo!).

BIRTHDAYS ARE DELICIOUS.

More soon from the big girl: 1!

OK, so this is a bit late, but that’s what academics do. Like Ross Geller once said, “Yeh, like, when was the last time HE got a conference abstract in on time!? HA!” (See my friends video.)

Hit up my first conference on Consciousness in Wales, something I’m slowly coming into… Below are some pics of the surrounds, along with titles of my fave papers.

“Who needs a womb with a view: Postmodernist Postfeminist Postnatalist mediations on the (un)importance of looking at things before you put them in your mouth.”

“Consumption and Subversion: thinking the between of candy and coffee.”

And finally, “On the Boardwalk: Judaic traditions and their (non-)existent Welsh interrelations, or, Flock of Seagulls: re-birthing Benjamin in Aberystwythian penny arcades.”

Altho we have not been able to get her to repeat it since, Sid said her second word about 5 times on Monday night. She pointed at a painting of a little furry thing on the wall, and exclaimed “Cat!” followed by many giggles.

(She also says “no” and “ow,” because she likes the “oooh” sounds her mommy thinks, but we are discounting those because we don’t like the former, and the latter is less a word than an exclamation… “Hello” is uttered at least 2 dozen times per day lately…)

OK, so it’s not the best “hello” she’s said yet - often she actually manages to do the full “h” sound, and doesn’t go up at the end, so you can really hear it enunciated properly (like mother, like daughter); but we thought it was great to finally get something on video - and it’s in context, so you know it’s real, people! Click to play.