Violet went to her first movie today, WALL-E, on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank. She slept through all but the last five minutes, which she watched with mild interest. It’s a great movie. Go see it soon, and then you’ll know what I mean when I say to you, “Directive.”

It’s been a week of firsts. Violet had her first taste of baby rice cereal, a mixture of ricey powder and milk. Her doctor had warned us she might find it “unfamiliar.” Indeed, with no expression on her face, she rejected it as a foreign substance. Day 2, same thing. We’ll see about day 3.

She continues to roll over onto her stomach and prop herself up on her elbows. She is usually quite pleased with this for about five minutes. Then she starts to fuss with increasing volume until she is flipped back over by a tall person. She also loves to be held up “standing,” although she’s quite a dreamer; her feet will have to be a lot less like little dinner rolls if she is ever going to use them for standing on. She also continues sucking on the same two fingers that Steve was known for sucking on when he was little. Every day she seems more and more like him in subtle and overt ways. (Her eyebrows and ears are really filling in.) The little Steveling.

Most characteristic of this stage with the kid are the sounds she makes. She takes great pleasure in the sensation of making noise with her mouth. There are many variations, but my favorite is, “Ooooooooh!” Overall, personality-wise, she is a baby who seems to enjoy just being alive most of the time. A smiley one.

My nose is still bleeding and crusting and bleeding again. Thank you all for your advice, I’ve tried a lot of it, and it’s helping. And yes, Cheri, I will stay away from the scary ER.

I’ll leave you with this lovely found poem from our restaurant menu today; may you learn from it and feel happy: The important thing …

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year, from Stevel, was the DVD “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” the documentary of the career of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I’m not exaggerating when I say watching this DVD brought me GREAT ROCK JOY. Not only is it extremely well put-together so as to be entertaining in that way that makes it hard for me not to tell you everything that happens in the story of this most talented and focused group, and not only is it a nice history of rock n’ roll itself, it’s also about TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS!

Now, I do love John Mellencamp, and I adore the great bands of my earlier youth—the Cars, the Bangles, Pretenders, Seger, come to mind, snob me if you must, Indie Lovers, but the radio-rock moved me, OK—as well as some of the great bands of now; it’s a good time for rock yet, with the White Stripes, Spoon, the Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and so many others. But no one—NO ONE—has had my fandom in the palm of his scrawny, Southern paw since SECOND GRADE like Tom Petty has.

It all started with Mrs. Bleyer, my second-grade teacher (she was old, so I’m going to assume a “God rest her soul” is due here, for the great woman she was). Mrs. Bleyer was a kind, wonderful woman. She had a cardboard refrigerator box in the back of the classroom with a door and windows cut into it. There was a desk inside. On your birthday, you got to sit in there all day.

On your birthday, you also got to pick something from the Treasure Chest. This was a large cardboard box in the shape of, well, a treasure chest. The aging Mrs. Bleyer had to lift it down carefully from above the coat rack to give you a view of the delights inside. In retrospect, these were likely things she got for free at McDonald’s or curbside on summer evenings after her neighbors’ garage sales had ended. But to a second-grader on her birthday (or, for a summer baby, his or her pseudo-birthday), it was the raddest collection ever. EVER.

September 27, 1982. From the treasures I selected: A folder. The kind you put your papers in. But this folder was cut in the shape of an LP coming out of its record-case. And on the record cover was a picture of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I don’t think it was one of the actual albums. Just a publicity thing? Don’t know, don’t care. LOVED IT. I doubt I had ever heard of these guys. I have no idea if I even heard them soon thereafter, or if years passed or what. All I know is, an entire chamber of my heart was forever thereafter devoted to these pale and lanky men holding guitars and looking so very, very rebellious.

I know the sexiness of Tom Petty is debated. Some call him snaggly, some call him dopey. To me, he is the epitome of sex appeal. And it all goes back to the Treasure Chest. Something was determined in a developmental part of my impressionable, little brain. It was fandom. I was digging my My Little Ponies. I was digging 3-2-1 Contact. And I was now destined to dig—DIG!—The Heartbreakers and their soulful leader.

Do yourself a favor and get ahold of this DVD. Borrow it from us if you are local, list it on your Netflix. I guarantee your enjoyment. And listen to some Petty today. Appreciate the awesomeness of that art form so often forgotten in our admiration-at-large of the finest arts of humanity: ROCK.

I just watched a trailer for the upcoming movie “The Darjeeling Limited,” thanks to a link from Karen’s blog. Man, I can’t wait to see this movie. If you haven’t downloaded from iTunes the free short film “Hotel Chevalier,” I recommend it!

We saw a sneak preview last night of of “Ratatouille.” It was better than good. If you told me you could only see one movie, I’d be torn as to whether to send you to this or to “Knocked Up.” Both are excellent. “Ratatouille” is sweet and moving and clever and fun. Everything about it is cute beyond cute, and it’s dense with charming details. It looks great on the big-screen, and I think it’s worth seeing that way. The story is moving and smart. The entire audience clapped a number of times at various points; you couldn’t help it. I don’t know what else to say. Don’t miss it.

Go see “Surf’s Up.” Lots of smiles, a sweet story with a unique twist on it (“mockumentary” style), and cool-looking waves and penguins! What could be better?!

See the movie “Knocked Up.” It is really funny, and smart-funny, not stupid-funny. No one should miss out on it. The entire (sold-out) theater full of people was obviously loving it the entire time. Ignore what you know about the plot, because it will surprise you with its charm.