Time Out Take Two

After her bath, Violet and I were having fun. She was chasing me around the living room.  It was cute.  Once the chase wrapped up, though, I wanted to keep us marching toward bedtime, so we started to brush teeth.
Maybe Violet was still wound up from our chase and still being silly.
Whatever the reason, she punched me in the face with her little fist.  That doesn't fly, so she got a time out.  She did her time standing in the corner and I got an apology out of her.  We picked up brushing teeth and I thought that she'd settled down.  The minute I looked away while brushing, she punched me in the face again.  I was stunned.  I couldn't believe it.  She had seemed genuinely sorry the first time yet she immediately did it again.
She's a great kid, but man, sometimes it's tough to keep your cool with this Daddy job.

Nice Day

Violet and her Momma had a good day.  Christie had taken Violet to play at the park.  She played in the swings and the sandbox and just had a great time.  
Christie told Violet that it was time to go.
Violet asked, "Is it nap time?"
"Yes, baby girl," Christie said.
Violet was tired so she was glad to get going.  On the way out of the park, Violet announced, "Goodbye Everyone!"
In the car on the drive home Violet said, "Mommy, i'm having a nice day!"
I wasn't there, but I'm sure Christie just about melted with love.

Mirror

Violet was looking at herself in the mirror, wearing only her pamper.  She said, "Look at my boobies!" and turned side to side over and over to look at each one.

I'm Fine

Lately Violet's been peeling off her pajama's in the night.  Instead of waking up cold, though, she's still very warm in the morning.
Upon getting Violet up in the morning, Christie asked, "Do you want to put your jammies back on?"
Violet looked down at herself, only pamper on and says, "No, I think I'm fine."

Sigh

Violet, Auntie Nicole and I were finishing dinner.  Out of nowhere, Violet fell into a laughing fit.  Her laughing got Nicole and me laughing.  For some reason after our big round of laughs ebbed, we all gave this big recovery sigh.  I think Violet thought that sigh was funny because as soon as she heard that she started up again.
Honestly we did this at least five times.  Huge laugh, sigh and inhale, and the sigh sets Violet off again.
Is there anything better and more heartwarming than the whole hearted laugh of a two-year-old?  I can't think of anything.

Reading

I'm not usually a crazy parent who gets wrapped up in how smart his kids are, but Violet surprised me this time.
Last night we read one of Violet's books, one of the Boynton books about little Pookie.  There are a couple pages that have the text "Ooooooooooo!"  I explained to Violet that when we have two "O"s together it make an "ooh" sound.
Violet, pointed to the Os and said, "Oooh."
"That's right!" I said.
When the Os came up in another page, I asked Violet, "What sound do these letters make?"
Violet pointed to the Os and said, "Ooh."
I was glad that she was learning what sound some letters make.  We moved on to another book, one about puppies.  In that book, I pointed to the word "Woof" and asked Violet, "What sound does that word make?"
She put her finger on it and puzzled over it for a few seconds and then she said, "Woo."  She didn't catch the "F" sound, but she did put the "W" with the "Ooh" sound from the last book.  This was the first time she put letter sounds together.
It was a small thing, but at two years and four months old, I was pretty impressed.

Bubble Man

Memere and Pepere gave Violet an awesome toy.  It's basically a gun that shoots oodles of bubbles when you pull the trigger.  Violet loved it!
Pepere said, "Wow, look at you.  You're Bubble Girl!"
Violet shook her head and said, "I not Bubble Girl.  I'm Bubble Man!"
I can see Bubble Man hangin' with Batman and Superman at the Justice League.

Pickles

Violet loves pickles, so at lunchtime I pulled a couple of them from my sandwich to give to her.
I said, "Violet, I have two pickles here.  How many do you want?"
Without missing a beat, Violet said, "Three."
I should've guessed.

Sure

We talked about going to get ice cream because Gramma Kelley over and it seemed to be a nice night for a drive.
Violet said, "I bring my milk to the ice cream house."
It didn't exactly seem like a question, but I said, "Sure, you can bring your milk."
Gramma Kelley held up her wine glass.  "Can I bring my wine?" she asked Violet.
With a queenly nod, Violet answered, "Sure."

Honey

Violet has a little pink seat in the living room where she likes to sit while we sit in our chairs.  She was parked in her seat while we had cheese and crackers with Gramma Kelley.  Violet chewed her cracker while Gramma Kelley was talking.  
Violet interrupted her with a nice tap on her arm and said, "Honey, please be quiet while I'm eating."
A bit stunned, Gramma Kelley said, "You mean everyone or just me?"
Violet wagged her finger at Gramma Kelley and said, "Just you."

Nodding

Momma called from work, while Violet and I read stories and got ready for bed.  After a few minutes of catching up, Momma had to hang up and get back to work.
"I love you, Violet," Momma said.
Violet didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"Do you love Momma, too?"
Violet nodded.
"Can you say you love Momma?"
Violet nodded again.
"Violet, Momma can't see you nodding.  Can you tell her?"
Violet looks like she gets it.  I think she's about say a very nice goodbye and goodnight to her Mother.
Instead, she says, "I'm nodding!"  It's funny how when I'm literal, I'm a jerk, but she does it, it's cute.

Furry!

Auntie Coles was babysitting for Violet.  She happened to be wearing shorts and sitting in a chair in the living room.  Violet went up Auntie Coles and rubbed her legs.
Violet said, "Furry!"
"Hey, I shaved yesterday!" Coles said.
"Furry," Violet repeated and went back to her toys.

Cookie Feeding

Violet sat in her crib with her stuffed monkey.  She was holding a piece from her wooden toy food set.  It was supposed to be hamburger patty, brownish-gray with black grille marks.  To Violet in that moment, though, she was holding a cookie.  In the other hand, she held a small wooden toy butter from the same set.  

In a random moment, she said, "Here, Monkey, have a cookie."  

I tried not to laugh, but I think I did, mostly because of how aggressively she was shoving the cooking into Monkey's face.

"Here, have some frosting on the cookie," she said and shoved the butter into Monkey's face along with the "cookie."  I laugh at how she abuses Monkey with love.

Auntie Stephanie

Yesterday we had dinner out with Auntie Stephanie, and then Stephanie stay at our house for the night.  I asked Violet, "Did you have fun with Auntie Stephanie yesterday?"
With a small shrug and nod she said, "Yeah, she's cool."

Goin' to Work!

Violet was playing in the living room, having a good time.  She grabbed her toy laptop and hopped on her rolling horse.  She scooted herself out of the room with the announcement "I'm going to work like Daddy."  

She waited at the end of the hall for a couple minutes and then scooted herself back.  When she got back to the living room, she announced, "I'm home!"

Another Memory Surprise

Violet wanted to read "'Twas the Night before Christmas" and her Thomas the Tank Engine book before bed.  After reading, seeing these two books together jogged my memory back to Christmas time.  Violet, Christie and I went to Edaville railroad to ride their train and look at their huge Christmas light displays.

"Violet, do you remember when we went to Edaville Railroad last Christmas time?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you remember a ride on the train and seeing all the lights?" Christie added.

Violet looked thoughtful for a minute and then said, "I eat goldfish cookies on the train."

At first, this didn't register because I was thinking of goldfish crackers, which Violet has all the time.  Then it sank in that she said goldfish "cookies."  We had gotten two sample packs of these goldfish sugar cookies at the Aquarium, the day before our trip to Edaville.  Our turn for the Edaville train ride happened before we could get food, so we gave Violet a pack of these cookies to hold her over.

I was stunned that she remembered because we hadn't had those cookies since.  It could be that she has extraordinary recall, or maybe her brain revolves around food like mine.

Pillow

Auntie coles was trying everything in the book to try to coax Violet to sleep for nap time. Auntie Coles said, "Look how soft your pillow is, it looks so comfy."  To this Violet responded "My pillow is CUTE!" and proceeded to slam her head down in it.


Apparently the cuter something is, the more we must smash it with our head.

Busy!

I took Violet to the playground today.  Two of her friends were also playing there.  "Violet don't you want to play with Maggie and Avery?"

Violet, who was arranging woodchips on a bench, said "I do not want to play with the girls.  I'm busy."

I asked her, "You're busy, Violet?"

Without even looking up from her "work" she said, "I just too busy, Momma."

Loud!

We had just had a nice dinner out and we were all in a good mood.  On the drive home, Christie selected the Beastie Boys CD on car stereo.  

Violet normally doesn't like this CD and gets afraid easily with loud noises.  

She surprised us by yelling, "I want it louder!"  Momma obliged and we put all the windows down.

Violet was doing a crazy kind of arm waving, head-banging, dance in her carseat the whole way home.

I'm talking to you!

Violet had just been a crank.  She was getting under Mommy's nerves.  Violet was asking something.  Mommy said, "I'm not talking to you."

Violet got really upset, and started in on this really dramatic half-crying.  "But I'm talking to you."

I feel bad, but sometimes it's funny when she gets all upset.

Deli

More often than not, Violet is well behaved on shopping trips, much better than we have any right to expect a two year old to be.  And occasionally, Violet reminds us that she is two and entertains herself with mischief.

The deli line got a bit long, so we'd already waited a while by the time we got our meat.  When we got into the line to pay, Violet's patience was long gone.  She started kicking the woman in front of us in line. She had kicked her several times before I noticed.  The woman finally noticed.  She turned around and gave us the stinkeye.  I reigned her in and she was good while a few more people paid.

Finally we got to the front of the line, which was good and bad.  It was good that we were about to go, since Violet was near meltdown.  But it was also bad because right next to the register stood a low table full of loaves of fresh bread, at the exact right height for two-year-old fingers.


I'm not 100% sure, but I think Violet may have worked her fingers into the plastic bread bag while I was paying.  Sorry to whoever bought that bag.  Violet's hands were clean.  Probably.

Dinner

I took Violet to the butcher shop.  She likes to smear her fingers all over the glass and point to each cut of mean, saying "What's that?"

She found a tag on the metal of the case below the glass.  The small tag showed the label "Hillside Phoenix."  Violet pointed to the letters and said, "That spells 'dinner.'"  While her reading skills are not yet developed, I give her credit for being close.

Yeah Baby!

Out of nowhere Violet says, "I have cute legs."  She then did several spins, dancing on the kitchen floor.  She added, "4-5-6-7-8-9," and then another spin.  

She stopped the spins and said, "Yeah Baby!"

Then she came over to the kitchen table and said, "Hi Momma. How are you doing today?"

Before Momma could answer, she ran out of the kitchen with a yell of "Yeah Baby."  When did my two year old watch "Austin Powers?"

Poop?

We were eating stuffed pork chops.  They were very tasty, but Violet wasn't too fired up about them.  I took her plate and removed some of the food, since if it's too full, sometimes she's overwhelmed.

When I gave her the plate back, a small bit of the stuffing had gotten away from the pork.  She looked at it and said, "Is that poop?"

The question surprised me.  I said, "No Violet.  Daddy wouldn't put poop on your plate."

The funny part is that she wasn't upset, like it was perfectly reasonable for poop to be there.

Hug

I said to Violet, "Mommy needs a big hug."  Violet gave me a very quick one and then ran away.

I said, "No, I need a big one! Can you count to ten?"

Violet gave me a hug while she counted.  "One, two, ten."  Then she ran away again.

An Open Apology to the Old Lady at the Aquarium

I'd like to apologize on Violet's behalf.  I'm sure she felt sorry for using your coat as a towel.  She had just come from touching the baby manta rays and her hands felt slimy.  No harm done, I'm sure.
Thanks for understanding.