The day is unseasonably warm, and the family is gathered in the Vecchio backyard. A birthday cake with one lighted candle is ceremonially placed on a picnic table, and as the singing comes to an end, two men blow out the candle from opposite sides. The star of the occasion, dressed in a new blue-and-white jumper with a sailor collar, is placed on the table and held as she plunges one fist into the icing. Adults cheer and children make faces, and the rest of the cake is quickly sliced and distributed into waiting hands.

~~~Saturday, April 30, 2005, 3:23 PM~~~

The scraps of brightly colored wrapping paper and bows have been collected and placed on the edge of the picnic table. The birthday girl, finding herself free to crawl rather than trapped in parental arms, quickly makes her way to the chair and stares up at the enticing ribbons. She cannot reach them from the ground, so after a moment's thought, she takes hold of a nearby chair, pulls herself unsteadily to her feet, and takes two shaky steps to reach the edge of the table. The ribbons and bows come with her as she falls back onto a diaper-padded bottom. As her fathers and grandmother exclaim over her achievement, she laughs and drapes the bows over her head.