V on Ice!

You could almost feel the learning that was going on in her feet. I thought no way they'd even have her size skates! But they did (cutest skates EVER) and she was a rock star! Thank goodness we have great friends to help us push our limits!

Link to album

Conversations with Violet

Mama: (after being amazed that she could twirl her pasta onto a fork) "Wow, are you Italian?"

Violet: "No, I'm Wiolet!"

Mama: (after putting on all her clothes by herself) "Wow, you're a superstar!"

Violet: "No, I'm Wiolet!"

Mama: (after making me change her pajamas from purple polka dots to giraffe jammies, claiming wet sleeves) "You're a little rascal"

Violet: "No, I'm Wiolet!"

Mama: (after helping put on socks with the heal in the right spot) "You just have to be patient"

Violet: "No, I'm Wiolet!"

Slays me every time.

It's a good think you're so cute, because screaming every night at bed time and then getting up at 1am,4am, and then 6:15am for good ("All done!") is getting old. Santa please, please, all I want is one good night sleep.

A Day in the Life of Violet

Daycare had a "bring your camera to school" day a couple weeks ago. I thought this was brilliant and gives some awesome insight into some of what goes on there.

Picasa album link

My little monkey

Dear Violet,

You are growing up so fast! You finally decided that it is fun to climb out of your crib and did so with great agility for about a week untill I finally took the side off your crib. There was a rough patch there were Mama thought you might never go to sleep again. I was hoping you were just not going to fall out, but luckily I put some pillows down on the side, because I just heard a big thud and a little cry. We might have to put the rail back on for a bit. Not sure if falling out or climbing out is more dangerous. The upside of being able to get out of your crib on your own is that now you no longer call me to get you up in the morning. Instead, I just see a little person come into my room and poke me in the face around 7. You like to get in bed and snuggle now. Once you actually went back to sleep for a bit, but usually you just give me a million kisses and then demand that I get out of bed and go play with you.

As well as developing your climbing and jumping skills, you are still talking up a storm. One of your favorite words is "because"often followed by some unintelligible statement, but said with great conviction. You love to laugh. Today in the park, you laughed about a slippery moose that kept somehow jumping out of Mama's hands for about half an hour. I think you enjoyed being a monkey for Halloween. You like to put on your costume almost every day. At first you were afraid of the mom with the yellow hat, but after I showed you the book again, you fully embraced the idea and always made me put on my hat when you were a monkey. You were definitley into the idea of candy this year and had your first lollipop which was enthralling ("because it's good!")

I love you times a trillion.

Mama

School Pictures

picasa web album

Happy / Sad

This is from about a month ago, but it brings me such joy, I thought I'd upload it to the cloud for posterity (?) The iPad front facing video camera is pretty brilliant for making kids ham it up on the screen because they can see themselves.

V-I-O-L-E-T

Violet always gets her groove on when I sing her her song, "V-I-O-L-E-T" (to the tune of BINGO. I haven't sung it to her in a while though, but I guess it had an impact as apparently she can now spell her name!

Yoga

Violet: "Mama, I do yoga." (Puts hands in prayer like position) "Mmmmm"
Mama: "Ah nice! What other poses do you know?"
Violet: Does triangle pose
Mama: Puts hands at third eye center and bows "Namaste"
Violet: Puts hands at third eye center and bows "Mama stay"

That's quality day care.

2!

Dear Violet,
Today you are 2 years old! We had a great birthday bash for you in our back yard on Saturday. You had a blast with all your friends, Andma, Uncle David, Aunt Leslie, and all the pizza, juice boxes, and cup cakes you could eat. For fun, we had swings, a dinosaur dig, a pool, bubbles, balloons, toys, drawing, stickers- all your favorite things. Your favorite part (besides the juice boxes and pizza) was running through the garden paths with your friends. The look on your face when you run is so vibrant and full of life. I love it when you tell me "My run FAST, Mama!"

Today I left on a trip to Mexico with my UVA friends. It is very very hard to leave you, especially today. I worry that you will be sad and not understand that I am coming back soon. However I know that you are going to be very well taken care of by your Andma and I'm so happy that two of my favorite people in the world will get to know each other so well. I will be home soon bear. Mamas always come back! I love you, my grown up girl!
Love,
Mom

My kayak!

V and I went kayaking on the Charles River this weekend. At first, V's bottom lip was stucking out a lot in a big pout and she whimpered every time she got splashed with a little water from the paddle. However, after a little time, a little repositioning, and few snacks, she had a great time. She even wanted a turn paddling. "My kayak!!" That's my girl!

New family member

Violet and I have adopted a furry red homeless guy we found outside on the street. He has to eat everything Violet eats, drink everything Violet drinks, and use all the same utensils Violet uses. Luckily he is pretty neat and doesn't throw a lot of food on the floor. Tonight I discovered that this guy likes snow peas and carrots and when he eats them Violet wants some too.

So unfortunately, the angel light fell off the wall. The "as advertised on TV" super double stick tape apparently isn't so great. She didn't really understand what I was going for anyway, but she did coincidently start sleeping until at least 7am most mornings, so we're back in a good place. I'm happy to report on the sleeping front that night wakings have finally seemed to have stopped. I can say this without jinxing myself because V did wake up last night at 4am crying, which she hadn't done in at least a month, but it was only because she was cold. I went in and instead of jumping into my arms like she used to do, she just said in a very sleepy voice, "cover me up Mommy" which I did and she promptly went back to sleep. Ahhhh. We've pretty much stopped nursing now. Not sure if those 2 things went hand in hand, but it sure is nice to get a little more sleep now. Nursing is definitely something that I'll miss, but the weaning process was so gradual I think it worked for both of us.

23 months!

Dear Violet,
Today you are 23 months and 3 days old. Is this the last monthly letter that I'm going to write because soon you will just be "two"? The first of the month will always be a special day to me. You are growing up so fast! The last month has been a whirl wind of travel and fun. We went away our 3 weekends in a row and had a blast! The first weekend we went down to Rhode Island with some other families. You had so much fun playing with the other kids who you're growing up with and Mama had fun with the other Mamas! It was a little hard to sleep there because there was a really tall bed and your crib was wedged into a strange corner. You weren't into it. You woke up at 5am and said "Don't wanna do it" so I took pity on you and brought you into my bed. The next weekend we went to the Reine's house at the cape where you have been a couple times before and you slept much better. It was kind of a rainy weekend, but we still had lots of fun. You love to play with Patrick who is a couple months older than you and teaches you all kinds of new things. The third weekend we flew down to DC to see Andma and Daddad. You are a pro at flying by now and only got antsy the last few minutes of the flight. You carried your own backpack with your own sippy cup and pushed your stroller all the way off the plane outside to the car. Everyone in the airport thought you were pretty cute....good thing because you are a little reckless with that stroller. We had a great time in DC with Stephen, Baby Thomas and "TWO Shelby's!" We had a big party on Saturday night and you fell in love with Shelby Blake, Carol's daughter. It was great fun for Mama to see you have so much fun and let Mama talk to all her friends. You partied until 10pm when you hit a wall. I was pretty impressed.

You are definitely talking a lot these days. I don't understand everything you say all the time because you like to try out new words all the time. You can repeat almost everything I say. Your pronunciation of "caterpillar" and "Kamilah" are two of my favorites. Sometimes works with several syllables get kind of lost in your mouth and you just add lib with your tongue fluctuations - it's really outstanding to witness. I can see your memory expanding too. I know that you remember things now from day to day and one of your favorite things to say is "Oh there it is!" when you find something you've been missing. You remember things like the fact that you LOVE to play "airplane" with Mommy when she lifts you up on her feet. We also like to play harmonica dance where you play the harmonica and Mommy dances until the music stops and then she freezes and you giggle. That's a pretty fun game. Dancing is one of your favorite things to do and you often request music and dancing at night - you're fun!

This fourth of July weekend we are enjoying a quiet weekend at home. We're going to a couple parties and spending some time at the beach. You LOVE the water and are pretty fearless about jumping off things and/or sliding into it. I admire your bravery. You still never want to go to bed at night and are now pretty consistently waking up at 6:15am. Tonight we are going to try a new system where I set an angel light on a timer. The angel will light up at 7am when it's time to get up in the morning. Before that, it's time for sleeping. I suspect it might take a few tries to understand it, but we practiced today with our "awake and asleep" game so maybe.... Mama is still really tired because she hasn't been sleeping well herself....mostly because she just doesn't go to bed early enough! Oh Violet, it's so nice to spend so much time with you when we don't have to be anywhere or go anywhere specific. You are such fun to be around and the days are easier when we're together all day. Now, just stay asleep my angel until the angel over your head tells you it's time to get up!

Love,

Mama

22 months!

Dear Violet,

Today you are 22 months old!  Mamma has stopped telling people how old you are in months.  Now she just tells them that you will be 2 in August.  Many people can't believe you aren't 2 yet because you are so tall and talk so much.  I don't want time to go by any faster than it does though because you are such a sweet girl to be around and it so so fun to witness you learning new things everyday.  Yesterday you said, "How you doin' Mama?" when I picked you up from daycare - totally made my day.  You are pretty into books these days.  You love "reading" the "Yorker" and other magazines like "Dwell".  You also do a really nice job of reading "night night moon, night night lady, night night cow jumping over the moon..."  You still tell us that everything is green, but I know that colors are just around the corner.  

All these new things to learn make it hard to go to sleep at night and you've been trying to push your bed time later and later. You are not as interested in nursing at night anymore and the nights that you nurse yourself to sleep may be over. You've been sleeping about 9pm-6am the past several nights. While I love being with you, I miss the 7:30pm-7:30am days.  You are now in another new class at daycare and it's been a little bit of a harder transition because the teachers are newer to you. Hopefully this is all just adjustment pains and you will find it easier to go to bed at night soon. 

Winter has finally ended and we are entering into a very fun summer season.  We went swimming in a friend's pond last weekend and you had an absolute blast. You loved going down a little slide into the water and weren't scared at all when your head went under.  We are going to attempt trips together the next three weekends!  We are so lucky to have so many good friends and family to do fun things with. I am so lucky to have you by my side.

xoxo,

Mama 

22 months!

Latest Phrases

"I don't want it."
"I don't want to do it."
"Here you go!" (after removing finger from nose and handing me her booger)

Hopefully, "I love you Mommy!" is right around the corner - maybe by Sunday?

School Pictures

Much better than last time when she was crying!
more school Pictures on Picassa

21!

Dear Violet,
Today you are 21 months going on 21 years! Not only can you walk in heels, but today you counted to 10 and pooped in the potty! I'm not sure if either of these events are repeatable, but they sure were impressive. We've been reading lots of books about potties (is it a hat? is it a boat?) so I guess you do actually know what it's for. This evening you convinced me to take off your diaper and sat right down and made a poop came out. You cried a little when you saw what came out, I guess it was a little scary to you; mamma cried tears of joy.

We had a great day today. We finally got up at 7am (you were up earlier) and watched a little Elmo so that Mamma (now known as "Mommy") could just rest a little while longer. After eating waffles and fruit, we took a long walk down to the river which is beautiful with daffodils all along its banks. Much to your dismay, we passed the library park on our way, but we ended up at the Hancock street park where we ran into several friends who you were very happy to see. After lunch with our friends you took a 3 hour nap while "Mommy" did dishes, cooked, and preped our bike for the season. When you woke up we went for a bike ride. What a fun day we had!

One of your favorite guilty pleasures these days is watching videos of yourself. You don't quite understand though that to watch videos of yourself, you actually have to take them first. This is why it's so hard to take movies these days:



I love you very much sweet girl,
Mommy

She did it!

Violet is talking up a storm. In the past few days I've heard her say:
"Where did Dad-dad [Granddad] go?"
"I did it!"
"Water? Water? [runs into kitchen and looks around] Oh! There it is!"

Park fashion

I know the purple is a little over the top. She insisted on all of it. We just have a lot of purple stuff. She loves watching this video, she cracks up at the part where I hold the swing up.

20 months!

Dear Violet,
Today you are 20 months and 8 days old! Mama hasn't forgotten about you. She's just been busy...and stressed. The week before last I was sick, the next week you were sick with a fever that wouldn't quit. Luckily you were otherwise OK, but it was a tough week for me to stay home with you. My boss was in town and I really needed to be in the office. I had to scramble for a last minute babysitter to stay home with you because you couldn't go to school with a fever. Leaving you with a stranger when you were sick was definitely not ideal, but you were a trooper and we came out of it with a great new babysitter. This past week was better because your super Aunts Karen and Jorene came into town to see us. They took care of you while I went to present a paper at a conference downtown. You really had a good time hanging out with them. I could tell how much fun you had when I came home at night. It was great for me to get to stay out at night without worrying that you were being taken care of for once. My presentation went well; in no small part due to the fact that you were being so well taken care of.

Yesterday you finally went back to school and I know you were very glad to see your friends. You ran in and started playing right away as if you'd never been gone and I was lucky to get a kiss good bye! Unfortunately though, school really tuckers you out and you are often really tired at night and don't want to do things like put on your pajamas and brush your teeth. There is just so much to learn and do in the world, it's hard to wind down. You are still learning so much every day. I've heard you sing a pretty good rendition of the alphabet song up to about K and you are very interested in colors. Right now you tell us that everything is green, but I know you know other colors like purple and yellow too. I love how you say anything with an "L" sound in it like "yellow" or "blue" you like to just let the "L"s roll off your tongue like they are completely falling out of your mouth. Such gusto you have. Aunt Karen and Jorene took you to get your first real haircut the other day. They said you were very good as you currently really like to have your hair done. Your dear curls were enhanced by the cut. Well dear girl, I'm off to bed. Love you times a million,
Mama

19 months!

Dear Violet,

Today you are 19 months old! Everyone has off days and today was one of yours. You woke up at 5:30am and fussed for about 45 minutes before I relented and brought you into my bed. And I was just thinking how lucky I am that you usually sleep until 7 or 7:30am.... You actually are a pretty good snuggler though in that you stay pretty still, but you like to just lie there and stare at me when I'm trying to sleep. It makes me laugh. Apparently you are still having Florida with drawl because you didn't want to put your coat on to go to school or to come home. You got your first "was fussy" at daycare today in I don't know how long. I think you were probably just tired. Boy do you love school most days though. In the morning you run in and are so excited to see your friends. Yesterday morning you actually didn't want to get out of your crib until I started suggesting that we go see "Joseph, Tenny, Irma and Noemi". You can now repeat the name of everyone in your class. In the evenings you are still running around dancing and having fun. Yesterday you convinced your teachers to let you hang out with the "big kids" - the 2 year olds next door. They like to do things like sing all the words and actions to "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round". You like to watch them and copy just what they do. At home, you often ask me if you can "color" these days. Tonight you passionately made the drawing above while I was getting dinner ready. It is so amazing and beautiful to see you grow into the little person that you are becoming every day - even on off days.

Love,

Mom

Re-entry

Floridahhhhhh was absolutely wonderful. It was so fun to go back after we were there for so long over Christmas because Violet felt at home almost imediately. Mom and Dad are very kind about allowing their house to be turned into romper room and Violet absolutely loved going inside or outside whenever she wanted, "HI!" "BYE!". She also loved going on "BICYCLE!" rides and trips to the "POOL!" and the "BEACH!". Perhaps best of all was the trip to the strawberry patch where she learned to pick and say BERRIES! on the very same day. We also enjoyed getting to spend quality time with the Eidson clan.

Re-entry has been tough. Our series of weekly blizzards seems to have stopped, but it is still cold and wet and the huge icebergs didn't melt as much as I had hoped they would with a couple 50 degree days when we were away. Violet and I both can not WAIT until the weather turns better and we don't have to wear COATS, BOOTS, MITTENS, AND HATS anymore and we can ride our BICYCLE.

Here are more pictures from mom and shel.

Twinkle twinkle

Snow Shadow

Sun Shadow Snow Shadow

Life isn't easy here in the northeast this winter. The side streets have turned into icy luge tracks and street area has been reduced by a considerable margin. This makes it hard to get around. It took me almost 2 hours to get to work this morning and an hour and a half to get home because traffic is so bad with reduced lane space and challenges related to seeing around huge snow banks. Almost everyone I know has some sort of leak situation cropping up in their house including us. Water is leaking in from the windows in Violet's room and I'm not exactly sure how to stop it. 44 buildings have collapsed from the weight of all this snow.

I'm trying to focus on the good. Last night as I was chipping off the 2" of ice on my car, my neighbor, who was out helping another neighbor push his car out of a snow bank, came over and helped me chip. He hadn't even started on his own car yet which had been buried by the plow. Eager to reciprocate for him being so nice, I lent him my car to take his wife to the airport. Neighborhood camaraderie is one of the few good things about so much snow. As we were returning from our long drive home tonight, Violet was tired and hungry. She was a trooper though and wanted to walk up to the house. Suddenly, I heard her saying "hi, hi!" I looked around for neighbors, dogs, or cars, but didn't see any. Then I realized that in the light of the sodium halide street lamp, she was waving hello to her shadow as I taught her to do in Florida only this time it was on snow. What a dear girl. Weather willing, we'll be back in Florida soon and you can see your sun shadow again!

18 months!

Dear Violet,

Today you are eighteen months old! We have been spending a lot of time together this month due to all the snow we've been getting. I often remind myself that this extra time with you is a gift and I should quit worrying about not getting much work done. Sometimes it is hard to be cooped up inside though. You are a girl on the go and you have recently learned to run fast. You still love keys and purses and saying hi and bye...and then locking yourself in my room. Sometime it seems like you are closer to your teenage years than I think. When you do go to daycare, you never want to come home. The other night I came to pick you up and you were running back and forth across the room with your friend Joseph, laughing hysterically and having a great time. You're not so sure about what all this snow is about, but you are getting more and more used to it. Maybe tomorrow we'll venture outside and learn to make snow angels. You are still learning so many new words and I love that you're not afraid to try to say things like "alphabet" and "icicle" even though they are kind of hard and Mama sometimes laughs. I love it when you hand me things that you don't want any more and say "thank you" - it's so dear. Thank YOU Violet for just being you.

Love,

Mama

Icicle

View from window

Moo

2 Violets High

Total Snowfall in Boston for Winter of 2010-2011




Shaq-o-meter courtesy of the Boston Globe.
Interesting that the all-time record was set the first year that I lived here. Can't believe it didn't scare me away. New Englanders are hearty people. Day care was OPEN today and a crew of 10 strong men descended on my house this morning and shoveled us out of a fresh 10" in about 10 minutes. Then the sun came out. It was a good day.

Sick

The return to the North East hasn't been easy. Wednesday we were hit with a pretty big snow storm - we got a little over a foot which hasn't melted and just makes getting around extra hard. Thursday I had jury duty at 8am in Lowell, MA which is about an hour north of Boston. I was really concerned about getting there on time (not to mention being empanelled!) and had arranged with Violet's teacher to meet her at daycare at 7am. But because we were off the day before, she got confused and we ended up waiting outside of daycare for 1/2 hr in 20 degree temps minus V's mittens which she hates to wear (she also did not want to stay in her car seat in the warm car). I was late to jury duty, but it ended up being OK because they actually cancelled it after I had checked. Because I went up there, I got cleared for 3 years - phew! Friday was the first time I've gotten the call from daycare to come get V because of fever. We got home at around 3pm on Friday and haven't left since. V has progressively gotten worse and today we finally went to the doctor when she had a 104.5° fever. It took the doctor about 2 seconds to diagnose a double ear infection. It was quite a relief to find such a clear cause and to be able to start antibiotics right away. He said that our 3 week sojourn in Florida probably allowed her to let her immunity guard down so that when we returned to daycare, she was extra vulnerable. So for the last 124 hours I've been quarantined here with my sick girl. No play dates, minimal outside time in 18 degree weather and continual snow and sleet. V has spent a lot of the time stuck to me because she just doesn't feel good. It's amazing how much time you have when you can't go anywhere. I've have fully embraced the power of that little red devil Elmo and today I let her take tissues out of a box one by one and take them into the kitchen to thrown them away. Now that we've got her started on antibiotics we hopefully only have one more day in our little apartment. Not sure what we're going to do tomorrow. Another day of terrible weather is forecast, so I'm pretty sure it will involve more indoor activities.

Snow Day

We're back in Cambridge and back to reality. Today we were slammed by a foot of sloppy wet snow that downed trees and power lines. Day care was closed and I attempted to work from home although it was hard even with Sophia babysitting in the morning and V taking a 3 hour nap after lunch. We tried to get her to play in the snow, but she was a bit freaked out by it all. I guess I can understand. Just last week she was wearing sandals and learning about sand at the beach with her Grandmom and this morning she woke up and her entire world was white and cold and her daycare routine ground to a halt. I took her out a couple times to play in the snow, but she would have none of it - just wanted to be carried. I did catch her sampling a few of the flakes on her tongue though!

17 months!

Dear Violet,
Happy New Year! Today you are 17 months old! We are in Florida with Grandmommy and Grandaddy for a few weeks during the holidays. It has been wonderful to spend so much time with you and with our family. You have grown so much even since we've been here. You are talking and talking and it is so fun to hear you learn new words. You know more words than I can even count any more and you love to point out every bird (lots) and cars that you see and it makes my heart melt a little bit each time you scream "Mama!" when you see a picture of me. You know the names of many of your friends like Nina and Patrick. This morning you even said "Gorilla" ! All that growing sometimes makes it hard to sleep. You were doing really well when we first got here, but then you somehow got off track and the night before last you woke up at 3am and didn't go back to sleep until dawn. Luckily your Grandmommy is often up anyway and your Granddaddy has good ear plugs. Mama is tired, so she's going to bed now, but she will try to write more in this new year. Here are some pictures of our time here.