Pet the Fish

Violet likes to pretend that she's a fish at bathtime, which isn't really too crazy because she does try to swim around.

"Daddy, do you want to pet the fish?" she said from the tub.

"OK," I said, and I pet her head while she sat in the water.

"No, not yet."  She apparently wasn't ready.  She rolled over to her belly and stretched out in the tub.  "Now. I'm ready."  I guess she's not a fish until she's laying on her stomach pretending to swim.  "I'm an American Happy Birthday Fish.  Come pet me!"

How do you turn down an invitation like that?  "OK," I said and pet her head, wondering where she gets this stuff.

Simple Pleasures

For her 2nd birthday Violet received a rain coat that was purple with white flowers, with matching boots.  It's the kind of outfit that toddlers can look so incredibly cute in, but adults can't really pull off.

Today was a raw, rainy day, but Violet was excited because she saw the opportunity to wear her rain gear.  She wanted it on immediately, right out of bed.  Violet walked around the house this morning with just her rain boots, rain coat and underpants, and a smile plastered to her face.  She was so happy with her outfit.

I eventually got her to put on normal clothes and it was nearly dinnertime before we had to go outside.  The rain was still coming down pretty hard, so she put on her rain gear.  We got to the driveway and she stomped into every puddle possible.

We went to an outside redbox to rent a movie, and a couple of people were ahead of us.  I thought this might not go well, and that Violet would start to complain about being rained on and would want to go to the car.  It was just the opposite.  She was so excited.  She danced and spun and had a great time.  The only time I had to reign her in was when she tried to pick a piece of gum off the sidewalk.

We got our movies, run another quick errand at the hardware store (where she passionate wanted me to buy green zip ties for some reason) and headed home.  I let her out of the car and she just did not want to come up to the house.  She stomped and danced in the puddles with wild abandon.  I was happy for her so I just let her play for a while.

It was dinner time, though, so I needed to cut it short.  I called after her and she ignored me.  I'm not sure if she just wasn't listening thought it was a game or was having too much fun to care.  I had to go down to the driveway to get her, and she ran away.  We were halfway into the backyard before I napped her.  She giggled the whole way.  I carried her into the house and plopped her, raincoat and all, into timeout.

While I watched the clock on her sentence, I couldn't help marveling at how much joy she got out of stomping in the puddles in her raincoat.

Lila

This afternoon, Violet's sister, Lila was born.  Christie and Lila were both doing very well after the pregnancy, while Uncle Jerry was minding Violet.  The obstetrician gave us some good advice shortly after Lila was born, which was to considering waiting a bit before having the big sister visit in the hospital.  The advice suggested that perhaps we wait, get cleaned up and situated, because seeing mommy spent and hooked up to tubes and wires in the hospital bed would freak out a two year old.

We took this advice gratefully, and Violet and Uncle Jerry came to the hospital after dinner.  She exploded into the room like a tornado.  She wore a combination t-shirt and frilly skirt that read "Big Sister," and some pink pants underneath.  Uncle Jerry explained that they had argued about the pants, that Violet claimed her shirt-skirt was a dress and the she didn't need pants.  Uncle Jerry was firm on this point because he could see her underwear.

After we gave Violet quick hugs, she bounced her way over to the baby, who was sleeping in the clear plastic bassinet the hospital uses.  "Is that the new baby?" she asked.

"Yes," we told her.

"Can I pet her?" she asked.  Awesome that that was her first instinct.

From there, Violet literally bounced from person to person in the room, talking to Auntie Gillian, Daddy, Mommy, Memere, Pepere, and Uncle Jerry.  She was like a blur.

Auntie Gillian notice something on the floor, "What's that?"  It was a small puddle beneath Violet.  In her excited frenzy she had peed her pants, the first and so far only time that has happened.  We felt bad for her, but she was unfazed.  Auntie Gillian MacGyver'd up a skirt for Violet with an extra receiving blanket and a hair elastic, which had to keep being adjusted because Violet kept dancing out of it.

Violet asked, "Can I hold the baby?"  We were apprehensive, but said OK.  We put Lila on Violet's lap with Daddy sitting nearby for assistance.  Violet did in fact per her very gently on the head.  And she gave the new baby lots of kisses.  All in all, we really couldn't have asked for a better first interaction between the two girls.

Like a clock winding down, Violet visibly showed signs of slowing and being exhausted.  She plopped into the floor on her hands and knees before we could stop her.  "Violet, hospital floors are yucky," we told her and just about bathed her in hand sanitizer.

Violet gave everyone goodbye hugs and kisses and left for home with Uncle Jerry, but not before giving the baby one last hug, one last kiss, and, of course, one last pet.

Rapid Fire Synapses

Violet woke up very early this morning, so I went into her room to try to get her to go back to sleep.  I thought she was upset, but when I got in there, I found her all smiles and in rapid-fire brain mode.  When she's like this, it's like Violet's brain is going way too fast and the mouth is straining to keep up the speed.

She said "I can go to the library near the high school for library class.  At the library I got the Christmas book and it was so good!"  She spoke at a frantic pace.

She stopped, listened to my breathing and said, "You're making the snake noise."

I laughed.  "I didn't mean to, but I guess I am making that noise."

No segue at all she said, "Bees make a buzz sound," and she made a long buzz noise to illustrate her point.

She went on to "Bumble Bee start with a 'B.'"

"That's right," I said and tucked her in the covers and tried to get her to go back to sleep, doubtful that it would work.

Ploblem

I was putting Violet down for a nap and she called me back before I could get to the door.  She always dreams up some kind of issue as soon as you walk away, a pretty standard stall technique.

For today's stall, she called me back and said, "Dad, I've got a ploblem?"

That took me a minute, but I got it.  "OK, problem.  What's your problem?"

"Problem, yeah," she said.  "I've got a problem."  Excellent stalling.

"OK, what's the problem?"

"My problem is that I have all these animal friends, but they're bad," she said, holding her stuffed monkey.

"They're bad?"

"Yeah.  They're bad," she said, looking really sad about it.

The only strategy is to fight irrationality with irrationality.  "Well, just give them a big, big hug!  That will make them good, right?"

"Yeah!" she said, and proceeded to crush her monkey in a hug of death.

"OK, have a good nap," I said and sneaked out before I could get roped into any more stalling.

Actually...

It was story time again and Violet was picking out a book to read.  She selected a certain Sesame Street book that she really enjoys, but isn't a great story for us to read together.

She says, "I want to read this one."

Christie says, "Violet, Mommy doesn't like that one, can you pick another one?"

Violet says, "Actually, Momma, it's not always about you."

Where does she get this stuff?

Crazy Bert

We were reading one of Violet's Sesame Street books.  This book had little flaps that you lift to see other characters doing other stuff.

She got transfixed on one page in particular, where everyone is in a laundromat.  On the main page Bert is sitting on a washing machine while Ernie is washing clothes in the next machine, but the picture under the flap shows Bert drowning in a pile of suds.  Apparently Violet loved Bert in the Suds.

"Bert's in the bubbles," Violet said, lifting the flap.

"Yes, he is," I said.

"Bert's out of the bubbles," Violet said, closing the flap.

Then she went off flipping and unflipping.

"Bert's in the bubbles."

"Bert's out of the bubbles."

"Bert's in the bubbles."

"Bert's out of the bubbles."

I thought she was going to wear the flap out.  I really enjoy when something so silly gives her so much joy.

Beer?

I was cutting up a piece of fruit for Violet's breakfast.

She was watching me and got really excited.  She shrieked and clapped and almost screamed, "What I get to have is a beer?  Yay, I get to have a beer, Yeah, beer."

She gave more claps and cheers.

I searched my memory as to where her sing-song beer excitement came from.  Did I sing a "Hooray for Beer" song recently and it stuck to Violet's brain?

Then my idiot moment clears when I look back to the cutting board.  I'm cutting a pear.  Violet's not saying "beer," she's saying "pear."  In my defense, I was not the only one who heard "beer," honest.

Snow?

Violet and I were reading the Dinosaurs book by Sandra Boynton.  We got to a part of the book where both the left and right pages showed a bunch of dinosaurs playing in paint.

Violet asked, "Are they painting the snow?"

I didn't understand at first, but then I noticed that while the pages showed dinosaurs painting in different ways, there was no background behind them.  They floated on a blank white page.  Violet figured that the white background must be snow.

"Yeah, Violet, I guess they are painting the snow," I said.  I couldn't argue that one.

Acorn Corner

Violet took an acorn she collected on a walk and put it on the floor, right in the corner where the tub meets the wall.  She looks at the acorn at tells it, "OK, stay there 'til I'm done with the bath."

After a few minutes in the tub she decides that she has to go pee.  For some reason she decides that she's got to move the acorn.  She takes it and moves it to the floor where the tub meets the other wall.  She tells it, "OK, there you go."

I have no idea what goes on in her mind sometimes.

That Damned Backson!

A few weeks ago we first watch the Winnie the Pooh movie by Disney.  It's a cute flick and Violet enjoyed it.  At one point pretty early in the movie, Owl blames the disappearance of Eeyore's tail on "the Backson."  The characters launch into big song about the Backson and all of its misdeeds.

I didn't think much of it because the tone of the song struck me as not being really scary.  Violet surprised me that night, then, when she started screaming at bedtime because a Backson was in the room.  I calmed her down and explained that all she had to do was tell the Backson to leave and he had to because it was her room.  After a loud declaration of "Backson get out!" by Violet, she seemed calmed and slept fine.

We had a few more upset bedtimes when I had to remind her to tell the Backson to leave, but then she'd quietly go to sleep.  After a week or so of Backson evictions, Violet seemed to have forgotten about the monster and we returned to normal at bedtime.

Last night I woke at about four in the morning because Christie was returning to bed.  Christie is 38 weeks pregnant, so she gets up from bed a bunch of times at night while the fetus pounds on her bladder.  I got the sense this time, though, that she had been up for a while.

"Is everything OK?" I asked her?

"Violet was crying.  She had a nightmare.  I went in there and she just hugged me so tight," she said.

"That's so sad," I said.

"Yeah.  She said that the Backson's in her room.  And we had to kick him out."

That one damn song from the Winnie the Pooh movie keeps upsetting our kiddo.

Mommy's Bed

We were wrapping up the hair combing after bath time when Violet said, "Are we gonna read stories?"

I said, "Yeah, but it's getting late, so probably only two stories."

"We can read them in my bed?" she asked.

"Yeah, if you want we can read them in your bed."

"I want to read them in Mommy's bed."

"You know that's Daddy's bed, too, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.  After a pause she asks, "Can we read books in Mommy's bed?"

Website

Violet came over to my chair with a piece of paper.  When she showed it to me I saw that a few straight lines done in red crayon in the middle.

She said, "Daddy, see the website I made?"  She showed the paper proudly.

"Yes, Violet.  That's a great website."

She's a lot of fun.

Go Like This

I was using the toilet and Violet barged in on me.  "Are you making poops?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Go like this then," she said and made a grunt like GRRRRRRR.

I tried to repeat the noise as best I could, GRRRRRR.

Apparently appeased, she said, "Good," and left the bathroom.

Bunny House

Violet is a terrible napper.  We've tried to make her comfy for naps, we've tried different times of day, but nothing has led to a regular daily nap.  She naps maybe two days a week.

We try everyday, though, largely because being pregnant, Christie generally needs the afternoon rest if Violet will give it to her.

We would typically put her in her bed, and she would squirm.  Then she would fight sleep and get out of her bed and terrorize her room.  Christie can't sleep herself if Violet's not sleeping.  You really can't trust her not to do something to really crazy and hurt herself.

Shortly, we eased up onto the fight and decided that as long as Violet was on her bed, she could do whatever, even if she didn't sleep.  That seemed to ease up nap time and make it a lot less contentious.

One day, early in nap time, Violet grabbed all of her blankets and pillows and dragged them to the foot of the bed.  She put them together in a big pile.  She wasn't sleeping, so Christie went in to try to "reset" her back to sleep.

Christie said, "Violet, what are you doing with all of the blankets."  We didn't care what Violet did, as long as she was on her bed, but we were curious.

"It's my bunny house."

"Your bunny house?" Christie asked.

"Yeah, I nap in my bunny house."

On Purpose

Violet was pushing her toy vacuum around the room.  She got to the middle of the room and found our dog Doolin beached on the carpet having a snooze.  Violet bumped him in the butt with her vacuum.

She didn't really do it hard, so I just said, "Violet come on.  Doolin's trying to have a nap."

"I'm only doing it on purpose," she said, which as a phase caught me by surprise.  With the "I'm only doing it" part, I expected a "by accident" to follow, not an "on purpose."  It took me a minute to get my brain around that.

"Violet come on.  Be nice to your doggie."

"But Daddy, I'm only doing it on purpose."  Such a weird turn of phrase.  It makes literal and logical sense, but it's a phrase an adult would never say.

As weird and kindof cute as it was, that dog is a saint with what he puts up with, so I had to threaten to take her vacuum away if she didn't work on another spot of the carpet away from the dog.

It still sticks in my head, though, like maybe I can say "but I'm only doing it on purpose" to shift attention away from something bad I'm doing.  Or maybe you have to be two and a half and cute to pull it off.

Dance

Violet just got up from poorly trying to nap and joined Christie and me to watch the Patriots game.  Violet was all cute in only her big-girl undies.  She had totally slimed her pre-nap clothes in ice cream at the fair, so she hadn't yet gotten a new outfit.  She came over with her Fisher price piano, which has about eight keys and pressing any of them gives the correct next note in a couple of canned songs like the Muffin Man and this Old Man.

She has her little stuffed bear start playing the piano.  "Bear-bear's going to play," she declared.  She repeated rammed her bears head into the keyboard making a song.  Cute and funny at once.

Then Violet decided that sitting and watching the football games wasn't enough of enjoying the music for us.  "Momma, Daddy, dance while I play my piano."

"You want us to get up and dance?" Christie asked.

"Yeah," Violet said.

"OK," we said.

Together Christie and I danced in our TV room to the drone of the football game and the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel, played by our nearly-naked daughter smashing the head of her teddy bear into a Fisher Price piano.  Such romance!

Holy crap

Three years ago I used to swear like a sailor.  To me swears were words, and somewhat often the right word for the job.  While not nearly so surly as me, Christie was also a fan of the well time four letter word.

Then Violet arrived and for her first few months, we had a free pass because she didn't repeat what we said. After she gave her first "Dah" and "Mah" of communication, however, Christie and I have done a good job of not swearing in front of the kid.

We even had a phase of replacing every swear word with the word "cuss" a la the Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I think that phase ended after a week or so because it sounded too absurd and not nearly as satisfying as the real word.

And yes, I screamed the f-word at the guy who blindly turned out of the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot right in front of me and almost hit me (all without even looking).  Violet was in the car and must've heard it.  But thankfully no repeating.  Maybe because I shouted so angrily it was more of a weird f sounding grunt than a formed word.  Regardless, she didn't seem to pick it up, so no harm, no foul.

Despite our best efforts Violet gave a bit of a swear today.  Yes, it was fairly PG.  She didn't say one of the big ones, but she said one, one that we were trying to keep her from saying.

I was removing her nap-time diaper so that she could go to her potty and do her business.  She looked past me to the light fixture.  She said, "Holy crap, Daddy.  What's going on with the light?"

I was stunned, I wasn't sure I heard what I thought I had heard.  "Violet, what did you say?" I asked.

She repeated it clear as day.  "Holy crap, Daddy.  What's going on with the light?"

I figured if I make big deal about it then she would learn that the word had some power.  I nonchalantly asked, "What's wrong with light?"  I didn't see anything.

"There a bug," she said.  I looked and looked and didn't see one.  I told her so and she said, "Oh, OK," and let it drop.

As I mentioned, "Holy crap," is no big deal.  They probably say it on Sesame street now.  But we tried so hard.  Did it happen during one of our (most likely my) screw ups?  If not, where did it come from?  A mystery.

Lipstick

Violet came over to Christie and said, "Momma, I need more lipstick."

Christie said, "No, Violet, you've already put a ton on."

Violet replied, "But Momma, I can't dance without lipstick."

What kind of dancing has she been learning?

Princess Rules

Christie was going through Violet's fall clothes to see what still fit.  She said to Violet, "Come here so I can try these on you."

Violet same over and saw that Christie wanted her to put on leggings.  She said to Christie, "Mummuh, a princess doesn't wear pants.

Good to know.

Spoon Tracks

Memere and Pepere were watching Violet for dinner today.  Violet had done a good enough job eating that she'd earned an ice cream treat.  Memere went into the freezer and grabbed a Hoodsie cup.  Memere pulled the cover off and handed it to her.

Violet said, "I need a spoon.  I can't eat it with my fingers.  That would be gross!"

When Violet received her spoon she scraped a big spoonful off of the ice cream.  She looked at the pattern in the little ice cream and said, "I made spoon tracks!"

Lollipop

Last night, during one of our nighttime storybooks, Violet saw Zoe sucking on a lollipop.  "What's that?" she asked.  Daddy and I explained that was a green lollipop.  I realized she hadn't had one yet.  I told her we would get her one someday soon to try.  Violet replied, "I want a red one."

Today, without fail, Violet told me she wanted a red lollipop.  I told her we can't have candy all the time because it is bad for our teeth.  She responded, "Bad for my teeth?"  I reiterated, "Yes, candy is bad for your teeth."  She quickly responded, "But good for my tongue!"

Nothing gets past this child.  Nothing!

Hate Myself

I like to capture all of the standout moments with Violet here, not just the good and funny ones.  Here's one that's particularly sad.

I was working on the computer and Violet was being a haunt.  She said she was going into the living room to play and I encouraged that.  "Good.  Go in there an play.  I'll be in in a few minutes."

But she didn't.  She kept being a haunt and climbing on me.

I got loud and said, "Violet!  Please go into the living room and play.  I'll be there in a couple minutes."

Violet's face clouded into a frown.  Violet started some dry sobbing.  She said, "I hate myself."

I was saddened and stunned.  "Violet did you say that you hate yourself?"

"Yes," she said through puppy dog eyes.

So sad for me.  I pulled her up into my lap and tried to explain that we always love her even when she's bad, and that she shouldn't hate herself for any reason.

And just as quickly as our sad moment came on, we blew on Violet's pinwheels and watched them spin, sadness forgotten.

Superhero Jacket

Violet came up to me and said, "Daddy, I'm ready to fly."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She pointed up toward the ceiling and said, "I want to fly into the air."

I went to pick her up so to fly her around the living room, and she said, "Wait."

"Wait? I thought you were ready."

"But I need my jacket," she said as I put her down.  She ran over to her blanket, which was sitting on the floor.  She grabbed it and put it around her neck.  "There.  Now I can fly because I've got a superhero jacket."  It's not a superhero cape, but rather a superhero jacket.

With her jacket in place we had a good time flying around the living room.

Grapes

I was taking Violet out of her carseat, and I was playing with her before unbuckled her.

"Violet, can I eat your knee?" I asked, and I moved in as if I was going to bite it.

"No," she said.

"Can I eat your shin?"

"No"

"Can I eat your thigh?"

"No."

"Can I eat your foot?"

"No."

I put on my exasperated face.  "Well, Violet, what can I eat then?"

"Grapes," she said.