It's not showing up!!! :(

It's definitely a mother's right ;)

That is something every mother should say.

Typical Friday night I reckon.. :-)

LOL, I did the same thing to my daughter because she wouldn't have any part of grabbing that cake and eating it.

Ah, there she is! Oh god I totally want to lick her face. And not just because there is chocolate frosting all over it.

Is that weird?

She is absolutely edible.

Leta looks SHOCKED that you, of all people, YOU, have marked her as the target of laughter.

mmmm, she looks magically delicious.

As long as the child not served au flambe, One's kids are a perfect selection for desert after a fine meal.

Chocolate therapy? I think I may need that, myself.

Very cute pic! Sweet little chocolatey-goodness Leta!

*giggles* FROSTING! She doesn't seem to mind it, which is good. Cute!

Absolutely gorgeous! Did Chuck get to help clean her up? :)

i think you followed the "sacred rituals upon presentation of the first chocolate cake" to the letter. in a tradition brought down from the days of our forefathers hunt, one is marked with the "kill." quite frankly if that was devils' food cake from sweet inspirations on market, i'd look the same way. happy birthday leta!

I think now we all understand the lack of clothing from the previous post...i wouldn't have wanted to add frosting covered clothes to the undone pile either.

Wow. That made me lol. Literally! Your theme music for this picture should be "It's My Perrogative." It's not just Brittney's perrogative anymore.

Swamp monster! So cute.

awwwwww

Now I know why she hasn't any clothes on!

Yummy, messy and FUN!!!!!

Great times!

Just one more reason to eat up her cheeks. She is just TOO CUTE!! Happy Birthday Leta!

Coolest. Baby. Ever.

Seriously, even with the frosting everywhere, I'm sure she could still kick my ass. Happy birthday (again), Leta!

Please tell me that's chocolate.

Johnny, if it isn't chocolate, she'll definitely need the therapy.

We should all be so happy and carefree at our birthdays. I resolve to dive into my own cake when I hit my next one. And that would be 33. :)

BTW, do we get to see the whole chocolate mess that I'm imagining happened??

krissy pants, that is very clever. Except she can't be 'S.B. Two' until next year. For now, it must be 'S.B. One-A,' don't you think? ;)

I bet Leta loved picking it off her face and throwing it on your Persian rug... but she must have looked darn cute doing it. She is the most adorable 11 month and 27 day old baby I have ever seen!

Don't worry - in a couple of years she will be doing that to you for fun so its good to get your turn in while she is young!

Ah, first birthday. Did you have 2 cakes? One for her, and the other for Actual Consumption? Because that looks homemade, but I know even grocery stores will throw in a free little cake for a first birthday.

I dropped my fist in the center of my first birthday cake. Okay, my first three, to be honest. My neice, memorably, ate the frosting off the perimeter - turn, chomp, repeat. What did you/your kids do with the first cake?

Nothin' says maternal lovin' like a baby with chocolate pasties.

Dooce, is the aforementioned "stuff you smeared on her head?" Dammit, why didn't MY mom smear chocolate on my head when I was just a tadpole? Oh no, SHE had to smear...oh.....I'm not ...um...supposed to talk about.....uh.......LOOK OVER THERE! (points, excitedly)..A DISTRACTION!

Moxie I saw that. I was not going to comment but how funny is that.

Happy B-day to her. Cute kid.

That is fabulous! Thank you for showing us Leta in all of her chocolate glory. :) I love the smiley face of icing. That is just priceless.

You Rock!

How friggin cute! I had the same thing happen to me for my first birthday. Except it was cherry pie. Mmmmm....pie. Happy early Birthday Leta!

Doesn't look like chocolate. Sorry, Leta.

AWE! everyone should have a picture with cake all over their faces on their 1st birthday. :)

it hurts me to see icing that is not being eaten.

Yummy!
You'll never get the chocolate off the Prima Poppa though!

caption: "i am not a monster...i am a human being!"

Chocolate Covered Baby...
Have we ever figured out why we, as parents call our children delicious, edible, yummy?

That must be good for your skin. Now is when the baby cheeks should smell like saliva from all the eating of the face.

hmmm...a new marketing ploy.

chocolate covered baby cheeks.

you see what happens when you let her in the toilet?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thanks for calling yesterday, sorry I didn't pick up.

Man, I want cake.

ha, brilliant! i just knew there'd be an after pic!

Aww, come on, it's chocolate! She doesn't mind a bit.

You mean, she had to have you do that to her? I thought the logical progression would have been doing that to herself on her wee first birthday!

She looks absolutely stunned. That's great. :) Happy birthday to the cutie!

From a parent with thousands of pictures of my own kid--this is one of the funniest pictures I've ever seen!

Tell her when she's older that you did it to "clear up her pores"...or just that you were getting her ready for her hard partying college years. :)

Great picture. The Leta stories are always good and hit home b/c our Louisa is one year old on January 30th. Thanks for writing. Louisa's chocolate here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fickes/4050382/

Oh my God, that has to be one of the most hilarious pics ever!!! Look at her little face under the icing. She looks so mild mannered about the whole thing.

I remember one of the first 1st bdays I attended as an adult...

The boy was sitting in his high chair, surrounded by expectant adults.
An ENTIRE cake was placed before him.
He looked up at the crowd with an un-understanding expression.
He looked down at the cake.
He looked up at the crowd again, just to be sure.
Suddenly, his entire face was IN the cake.

It was like the kid folded in half! There was no attempt on his part to bring parts of the cake up to his mouth, he literally DOVE IN.

It was great!

What a great picture!

You know, had you not put icing all over her face, I'm sure whe would've done it herself.

She's got that "whatchoo lookin' at" expression going on. As if having a face full of icing is the norm.

mmmmmmm......yummy chocolatey cheeks. bet you just wanted to gobble her up!
Happy 1st Leta!!

That's totally what my little girl looked like at *her* first birthday! It is a rite of passage.

How adorable!

Nice way to start off a Monday morning in the office. Hope you all had a blast. :)

My husband saw the picture and noted that at our child's first birthday party, we will not need to stage the cake-face if it takes after him. He has the amazing ability to get more of his meal on his face than in his mouth. Give him a piece if pizza, and half of it will end up somewhere between his nostrils and his hairline.

Oh, Heather. That's not a therapy-worthy picture. You have so much to learn, grasshopper. That picture is adorable. It's the pictures of her naked with a potty on her head and such that merit therapy. This one hardly even requires an apology. ;)

Holy MOSES that's a lot of Google ad money!

Nice that you're doing something generous with it. But still... yikes. One bows one's head in respect at the amount of traffic that must represent.

Congratulations, Heather, on the NYT article. (By the way, the twist on the article kinda reminds me of that Sex and the City episode when Carrie was featured in an article as "Single..and Fabulous?" instead of "Fabulous!") Anyway, my mom sent me the link to the article and it made me happy because thus far nobody I know even knows what a blog IS, much less do they actually take the time to read mine. Plus, I've been reading your blog for a while, and this article makes me feel like my favorite underground music just hit the top 40, and I can feel like I knew it first.

I can just picture Chuck sitting underneath the high chair, twiching and convulsing from all the chocolate shrapnel he picked up. Happy Birthday (early) to you Leta!
COngratulations Heather, you made it a year!

Going to read the article now... Just dropping in to say Happy Birthday, Leta; and to add you shouldn't put post photos of chocolate-frosted babies, in case there are hungry pregnant women viewing, such as yours truly. Hee. Off to eat a danish...

So the cuteness that is Leta will have to step aside for just a bit so that I can mention the piece of heaven Tequila that is CORRALEJO. Snazzy blue bottle...THE BEST TEQUILA EVER. I'm not joking.

I've learned a lot about tequila from the Latin Lover that I married...I'm just saying.

Congrats on surviving Leta's first Birthday party!! For my Ella's first, we threw a luau, with 50 people, some of whom travelled from around the country to be here for it. Talk about pressure. I finally unclenched after about 4 maitais. Luckily, we could have the party in the backyard-it was June. You are a FAR braver woman than I, to let 30 people into your house for a birthday party.

Just when you thought they couldn't possibly come up with a new dessert.....

LETAMISU!

CHOMP! SLURP! Buurrp...

Sorry, I just had to gobble her up whole! WAY WAY WAY TOOO CUTE! choco covered baby~ yum!

Niffer -- What can I say? I've finally found a community full of bright, interesting people who think poop is as funny as I do!

Thanks, Heather, for giving us a home for our scatological giggling.

Hee hee. . .poop!

Boy, you learn something new every day. Not being a parent myself, I found it a little odd that anyone would smear food on their child's head, and then I come to learn that it's a widespread (no pun intended) and commonly accepted parenting phenomonon. I'll be darned.

Either way, I'm craving chocolate frosting now.

Gaaaaah. Just read the NYTimes article. It's more like an editorial, isn't it? Nice of the reporter to have shared his hypothesis before hand, eh? Or maybe he's projecting....

When we hear about journalists being paid by the Bush campaign to prop him up, small time, cynical, sour grape, opportunistic journalists like mr. hochman (or was it hockman) need to be put in perspective. He's a little guy with a little job. I fill a small pair of shoes in this cubicle but I keep my nose clean and don't bullshit around at the expense of other people. Not wise to gamble with your integrity, especially in the journalism arena.

I can think of nothing more exciting right now than being covered in chocolate cake.

VOTE DOOCE! -SHE’s GOT 4 BLOGGIES NOMINATIONS! http://2005.bloggies.com/

Speaking of poo.....

It is *totally* freaky when you speed poo (as I usually do) and when you wipe its clean (gotta love that) _BUT_ when you look in the toilet there is no poo.

You feel it come out, but that is the *only* proof any poo vacated. Freaks me out everytime.

My first time commenting at Dooce, but am a long time reader.

I just will never understand all of the mommy blog hate and disdain that goes around. How is what we do any different than how our parents bragged to everyone and their dogs about us as kids and showed our pics whether those people wanted to see them or not.

If you don't want to hear about my life (which includes being a mom, how dare I?) then don't read my blog. If you don't want to see pics of my kids then shut your browser window. That's why we have keyboards and a mouse for these computers.

Heather...I don't have a registration with the NY times, and I was able to view the article...so your dad has no excuse :)

how was the sugar high afterwards?

Yay! Now she's even more edible!

Oh, thanks Heather, I was freaking out there for a minute. Yeah, journalists always betray their sources -- they have to cozy up to you to get you to talk freely, then they do what they want with your quotes. It always leaves the source feeling violated to see their words and experiences used to promote what they will often view as a false, hostile, or biased agenda. But I'm not as shocked by this bit of trickery and betrayal (as awful as must be for you) since it's a common phenomenon and not considered a violation of journalistic ethics for the writer to dupe the source, so long as the reader isn't duped.

Still -- the article is so biased that it borders on falsehood. Nowhere does the writer indicate what compelling writing one finds on mommy blogs -- even for readers like me who are childless by choice. I read blogs like dooce.com because they're brilliant -- not because I have some sort of voyeuristic fascination with somebody else's poopy diapers, or because I'm a desperate mom in need of validation.

My m.i.l. recently asked me if I'd read any good books lately, and I recommended this site because it's the best writing I've found anywhere in recent months. And I'm a picky reader. The NYT writer made it seem as though this site is just Heather's chance to expose her linty navel to the world, not the highly crafted, vivid, funny, smart writing that it is.

The NYT's slant is so wrong that it verges on lying. But the saving grace here is that NYT readers can simply check out dooce.com for themselves -- in contrast to other, non-web news, which is not so easy for readers to check against its representation in the media.

Not to sound like a preachy person, but please tell me Chuck didn't lick any chocolate off of Leta...chocolate (especially Baker's chocolate) quite posionous to dogs yah know.

I checked out the Times article. It does leave the reader w/ the idea that these blogs are written by a bunch of self absorbed people who need attention & therefore use chronicles of their child's development to get it. I never would have thought that to be the case. I also thought.....how are these blogs all that different from articles written by Dave Barry and the like? Being able to see humour in normal, everyday, otherwise unremarkable things is a gift. It's just that some people don't get paid by major publishers to share that gift. More "mommy blogs" doesn't mean people will get tired of them all. It means people will continue to be attracted to the writing which is truly good all on it's own, regardless of topic. You were a witty & talented writer back before Leta as much as you are now. Thanks for writing this site. I enjoy it daily.

Sorry if this has already been said, but it takes too darn long to read all of the comments. (my childs nap times are short, and there is much house to be cleaned). Anyway, on the NY times article, it was mentioned that over 40,000 people visit this site. If everyone just donated $1, Heather (who makes my life much saner!) would be able to make a living off of this-which she should. It's great reading! (Or donate it-it's up to her. That was a nice gesture, by the way.)

That's just my two cents worth (or is that $1 worth?)
:-)

I'm sorry, but does Leta use a binky?

Torrie, go here: http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/06_10_2004.html

Leta's wispy, coppery hair is so pretty. Happy Birthday baby.

did she give you choco flavored kisses?

wow...I had no idea Leta's birthday was almost the same (or the same?) as my daughter, Bethany. I've been reading for so long and didn't know that. Happy Birthday kiddo!

Looks scrumptious! Happy birthday, Leta!

Hearkening back to Chuckacabra--did that dude commenting on your hubby's site ever send the "ACTUAL PICTURE" of a chupacabra? 'Cause that would rule.

Classic Picture. I have been telling my teenagers for YEARS that I will pay for their therapy. I have even encouraged them to start a list of stuff to talk about when they get around to hiring a counselor. They think I'm joking. I'm DEAD serious.

I don't know how it's possible, but every picture of her is cuter and cuter! This whole first birthday is so exciting! Congrats again on making the NYT! (Sorry for all the exclamation marks - I'm kind of an !-addict)

Why should bloggers be viewed as self-absorbed? Blogs are forums for which people communicate with others, exchange stories, ideas and points of view. If they aren't doing that, they're just horsing around with eachother for pure enjoyment. Truely self-aborbed people wouldn't bother going through the trouble of setting up a line of communication with others in any way, shape or form. The reason is because they're just that, self-absorbed. Plain, basic, meat and potatoes. Submerged in their world, doing their own things with their own people and being right comfortable with it. I suppose it depends on your point of view but keeping a blog takes time and effort. The blogger has to really be committed to it. A "self-absorbed" person, as I would define one, wouldn't give a damn about sharing anything with anyone who wasn't of consequence. I see a contradiction in terms.

Strange that it all get twisted around into something thats perceived as self-serving. If there's an ulterior motive that bloggers have I've missed it.

When I heard the NPR piece I was disappointed, and now reading this NY Times article was disappointing too. I loved hearing your voice, Heather, and seeing Leta's picture in the NY Times is totally awesome! But that NPR piece seemed to be only about "losing one's job because of blogging" and now this NY Times article seems to portray bloggers as "self centered". When is someone going to report on the true story: Why 40,000 people visit your site each day?

Alicia, I think you too are skirting the issue. One particularly insidious side effect of 25 years of neo-conservatism is the celebration of motherhood -- indeed all parenthood -- as though this generation were the first to ever engage in the endeavour.

Also, it's fine to want more, but it's important to admit it. If not for yourself, then for those who are fighting that fight.

wow - i can't believe how wrong that article got blogging. or maybe it's us?? all the hundreds of us who are, apparently, completely inept parents with multitudes of questions and concerns which seemingly no one else has. it's not honesty we're writing through our blogs - it's payback to the precious children whom we love more than anything else - including ourselves and our signifigant others - to use against them during their adolescence!
damn - we've been caught, folks. the gig is up. the big, bad, NY Times found us out.

ps - ADORABLE photo of Leta none the less! :) :)

You are, far and away, a GREAT mom! I hope to follow the whole cycle of Leta's growing up: the teeange years when she turns on you, then her new-mother years where you pay her back for EVERYTHING by using her spawn as lethal weapon!

Summary of post at mihow.com: Toby Joe's chafed thighs and Running Dog's ingrown ass hair.

LMAO - Fish! ME ME TOO! (and my kid)

To respond to what megan said at 12:51, I think the blog world has in some cases taken the place of the extended and close families that came before. While it's not the same as having a physical network of people in close proximity to you, the networks of information and support that people form online can take the place of ears and mouths that listened and advised in years past that were cousins and grandparents and other family members that all occupied the same town or nearby towns.

that was really the ugliest goddamn cake i've ever seen. it brings back all kind of pleasant memories of my mom's horrific attempts at baking.

i think the cake looks better on her face, actually.

It's called professional snobbery. Journalists are a little pissed off that blogs offer better, more imformative and quicker news than they can offer. Plus blogs are global and can be accessed at any time, anywhere.

Don't worry. It's just jealousy.

Leta's hair is definitely getting long enough to do a fantastic EmoHawk. I hear icing makes a good gel.

Happy birthday to the Leta!

I think the NYT article is completely fair. The sad truth is that many parent (and especially, mother) blogs ARE me-me-me-me-me collections of self-centered drivel that mostly serves the purpose of drawing attention to the author(ess), thus boosting her self-confidence.

Dooce is occasionally amusing, but it's the exception that proves the rule.

Basically I am sick and tired of the self-importance of bloggers as well as ponderous articles about blogging as a "hot trend".

I don't give a poop, even if it's smeared across the face of a toddler and then photographed.

Everyone is looking for, and needs validation. It doesn't matter if you are a high-powered executive, a journalist, or a SAHM. It is a basic human need to feel like what you are doing is important.

For moms who choose to blog, maybe the blogging is a way to feel valuable and connected. Being a mom doesn't preclude a person's need to have connections to the outside world, or to need a hobby or an outlet to voice frustrations and feel like others are going through the same thing that you are.

Back in the day, moms stayed home with their kids because they didn't have a choice. Now, when moms choose to stay home, it is a CHOICE, and they can voice their needs and be honest when it is hard or frustrating.

This comment is coming from someone who is not a parent, and is in fact in medical school, so will probably never be a SAHM. But I think that being critical of someone else's choices or how they spend their time is a sign that you are questioning your own life choices.

We all read Dooce for different reasons--to connect with other moms, because the writing is good, to get a daily laugh, to see the great pictures, or b/c of the community that has developed in the comments section. Similarly, I'm sure that mom-bloggers all blog for their own reasons too--as a hobby, to voice frustrations, to connect with other moms, to keep out of town friends and family updated, or because they love to write. It was judgemental of the NYT writer to assign a negative motivation (self absorbed validation-seeking) to what other people do.

Thank you, Dooce, for my daily laugh, and for the good writing. Whatever your motivations for keeping this website (which readers have a pretty good idea of, even if the NYT doesn't), I hope that you keep sending the laughs our way.

BTW, how many Erins are posting comments here!?

(Super cute pic Leta! Chocolate is your color.)

Ahem.

Not being a parent, but contemplating it, I think the NYT got it ALL WRONG.

When my mom and possibly your mom were raising us, they could talk over the backyard fence. They could ask questions and share a laugh because, in parenting, laughs must be shared in order to prevail with one's sanity intact.

In parenting, THERE IS NO MANUAL THAT COVERS ALL SITUATIONS. Each of these little bundles of arms and legs and screaming is so different that it is a RELIEF to read about someone else's experiences. To know that it isn't just you...it isn't a case of everyone else "getting it" and you don't. It feels good to read these blogs and know, "Well, okay, that happened to her/him, and they lived, so I'll live, right?"

Did the media trash Jean Kerr for her book, "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" in the 50's? (Which was made into a movie and tv series.)Was Erma Bombeck self-absorbed when she wrote "At Wit's End" in the 60's? HELL NO! Time Magazine put Erma Bombeck on the cover, FFS! Why? Because she was speaking out against this "you must be the perfect mommy or you've failed myth: that society has saddled many parents (especially moms) with. Bombeck was a passionate feminist.

So, I'm all for parent bloggers. Keeping it real for our generation. And Hochman? You may bite me.

la depressionada? You may also bite me. Neo-conservatives want to banish any women who they can't use to further their agenda back to the pre-feminist age. Blogging about the realities of balancing parenthood and life and word and health (versus the myths) flies in the face of this and I'm all for it. Every molecule of my lefty self.

What I don't understand is why people feel the need to comment on something that they CHOOSE to read, but then upon finishing the reading, they decide they're pissed and want to say something. If you don't like what I (or another blogger, like dooce and all ya'll) have written, then move the fuck on. If I come across something that doesn't interest me, or bores me, or doesn't trip my trigger, I don't read it. I don't check back a few days later to see if what I disliked before is something I STILL dislike now.

I wrote a post last week on my site about my own personal opinions on alternative schools and the people I deal with while I'm at MY job. It was MY opinion on MY blog. I was not representing any company, business, or organization. A fellow blogger felt the need to call me ignorant, bash me for not having my own children, and then tell me that she would never let her daughter meet me. Great! Who cares! I was voicing my opinion, because I can.

These people who feel the need to name call and just plain act like assholes because they don't like what someone has said are wasting their time, if you ask me. Just like La Depresso or whatever her name is and the other one, Magda-something. You KEEP COMING BACK to see what people wrote back to you. You must get off on this shit, this internet conflict, and that must self satisfy YOUR ass.

Leta, I like your Choco-Cheeks!

I wonder if those people who are bitching about the me me me me thing are the same ones who teach their kids that it is necessary to put themselves down after every activity. Just in case anyone should think they are too proud of themselves or having fun.

Ego and empathy can co-exist. It's called human nature.

Dear Archie Bunker, I mean Morgana,

Why ARE you here???

As if her cheeks weren't getting eaten enough!

teehee.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, she is just too cute for words.

Bucky,
So sweet of you - but acourse I'm thinkin deep. I've shit 4 brains today!