Kate turned 1 year old on Super Bowl Sunday. We had her party the day before at the Irvine Park Railroad, which is located within the monstrously huge Irvine Regional Park, California’s oldest county park.

About 40 people turned out for this gala event. Macaroni Grill handled the food and Sprinkles took care of the cupcakes. I baked Kate her own giant cupcake and she enjoyed shoving her fingers into the icing immensely.

On Sunday she said her first word – “Happy” – although we haven’t been able to get her to say it again.

Her one-year doctor’s appointment was on Monday (yesterday). Everything’s humming along according to schedule. She’s in the 65th percentile for weight and 85th for height. Did you know they’ve got a chickenpox vaccine now? I didn’t. But she got it!

I intend to shoot up Kate with every available vaccine to help strengthen the herd and counteract the effects of non-vaccinators everywhere. Thank you This American Life (episode 370)

Her doctor told us we should stop giving her formula (finally!) and start giving her whole milk. This pleases me greatly because 1- Formula is expensive, 2- I am so, so sick of cleaning bottles, and 3- I love milk and want Kate to love it too. Unfortunately this makes traveling a little tougher because we can’t just mix water with powdered formula anymore – we’ll have to start keeping ice packs and milk in the diaper bag.

Her doctor also said that her self-induced vomiting is not uncommon, and the best way for us to cure her is not to ignore her when she does it – but to actually get up and leave the room when her fingers first go into her mouth. She only does it three or four times a week, so this shouldn’t be too hard to do…

Anyway everything’s going according to plan. Kate’s super healthy! Whenever I get home from work she goes totally crazy, screaming and yelling and smiling and running all over the place! It is at this moment when her face is the most delicious, so I eat it.