Karolina is 11 months old...

Wow, that month went by quickly. Here she is at 11 months:

Only now she can do THIS:

I think all of my readers are bright enough to extrapolate what the next Step will be (pun intended).

In other news, I think we have a little daredevil on our hands. Instead of shying away from the VERY LOUD NOISE that the Blue Angels make when flying directly overhead, so close that you can read "U.S. Navy" written on the side and actually SEE the pilot, Karolina gets excited and points at the planes. We took her to Fleet Week in San Francisco last weekend (thanks for putting us up, Aubrey and Tom!) and Karolina LOVED the air show. Riding back to the car on dad's shoulders, she put her hands up in the air as if she were riding a roller coaster. Or maybe she was pretending to be an airplane.

She loves riding on dad's shoulders.

That's out at the farm during one of the very enjoyable member potlucks that we were lucky enough to attend. The grandparents got to come too:

Yes, we had THREE grandparents visiting at the same time. A new record. And now, we have none. Jana departed a few weeks ago after spending nine months in our little town, and countless hours with the wee ones. It made us realize what we are missing, living thousands of miles away from our closest relatives. Both Martin and I grew up seeing our grandparents on a regular basis, and we kind of took that experience for granted until we realized that our children will not have the same experience. The situation is what it is, and we feel lucky to have the time with our family that we do have -- I just hope Peter and Karolina feel as connected to their extended family and their ancestors as we do.

In that same vein, I finally put up some family photos, including a classic shot of my grandfather and the Buick that he drove across the country so many years ago.

Dad, Dave, what year was that? In the early 30s? Funny that Martin and I drove a very different Buick the opposite direction across the country so many years later.

I also put up our Day of the Dead altar recently, again in an effort to make our family feel more connected to those who came before us. I finally have a picture of my paternal grandparents up there, thanks to Uncle Bill's photo collection. The altar got a bit crowded this year after losing two uncles late last year, but it's nice to see their handsome faces in a prominent location in our house.

But this post was supposed to be about new life, and the burgeoning little light that is Karolina Annalaura Kosina. The kid radiates happiness. She is taking her time learning how to walk, but the words just can't come fast enough for her. Her babysitter's mother read her cards and has declared her "The Arguer". I'm hoping this means she will be an attorney. We'll see.