My parents came over this weekend to celebrate Niki's "birthday," even though she doesn't really turn one until later this week. We had a glorious time watching Niki experience all the traditional joys of turning one. For instance, she got her own little cake, and Daddy helped her blow out the candle. 
Niki then took the cake and smeared it all over her baby doll. I guess she was sharing. I got a great video of her attempts to figure out what she was supposed to do with the cake, but it's nearly four minutes long, and I don't even want to think about how long that would take to upload, so you're just going to have to come over and watch it yourself. But she insisted on sharing it with her baby, 
which made for a very sticky baby. 
She then crawled all over Mommy, but we don't have pictures of that. Suffice it to say that the room was much stickidified, and the dog was disappointed that we wiped it up before he got at it. Then we moved on to presents. Like all babies, she doesn't quite get the unwrapping bit, but she was ecstatic to get new toys. She's been wanting her own cell phone ever since she figured out that Mommy and Daddy's cell phones made noise. (She still tries to steal our cell phones, but now we have a way to distract her.)
She also got cds, clothes, blocks, and dishes, but the cell phone took the cake because it made noise. 
Not even the ribbons intentionally chose to entertain her (as part of that "the wrapping is more interesting than the present" tradition) could compete with it for long. Note that in all these pictures, the cell phone remains firmly in her hands. 
She did, however, take a moment to read her cards and say thanks to everyone who sent presents. 
And finally, a picture of my little activist. This picture was taken about six months ago (see how much she's grown), but I finally got a copy today. Choose life, that you may live. Amen. 
