Three!

Today you are THREE years old! How is that possible?! It seems like just yesterday you were such an unbelievably tiny helpless creature who came into this world full of vigor and mystery. You are definitely still full of vigor and are still sometimes mysterious to me, but now you can do so many things for yourself! You walk, you talk, you can tell me what you want (over and over and over) and ask questions (and questions and questions)! While you still don’t really like to go to sleep at night, you were a dream potty trainee and I thank my lucky stars that you figured it out so quickly even at night. You are full of silliness these days and you insist on being called “Sweetie” and shun any other nick names I try on you. You say it so much that when your dentist asked on her form what you liked to be called, I actually put “Sweetie”, Sweetie. And it’s true, you are a sweetie. You love to give me hugs and kisses and tell me that you love me. I love you too.

We had a really fun birthday party for you this weekend featuring the preschool Olympics. You were so excited that you could bounce through cones, climb through a tunnel, jump through hoops and get a medal! We got about an hour of fun in before a huge rain storm came and forced us inside. Your dear Granddad and Uncle David swept 10 years of dirt out of the garage in anticipation of the impending rain and managed a staged move into the garage with brilliant accuracy. THAT is true love. Andma and Leslie were their usual incredibly helpful selves too and even help enable my attempt to present a more worldly and relevant London Olympic context for the princess toppers that you so desperately wanted for your birthday cake. This probably flew over your and your friends’ heads (maybe even some of their parents’) but the boys definitely liked the bobbies and the double decker busses. You and your friends had a blast playing with balloons in the garage and stomping in the huge puddles outside that they rain brought. The adults all had a good time watching how much fun three year olds can have in any conditions.

You started a new school today and the YMCA in Central Square. It was sad to leave the Learning Zone where you have been your entire life, but I think that this is a change for the better and that you are going to love the new teachers, toys and friends at your new school. Sweet Violet, I’m so glad you’re here with me. Happy Birthday Sweetie! 

Suzanne

Violet, Suzanne and the "Mingo" Summer 2011

Dear Violet,

Yesterday, we lost a dear friend. You are too young to understand this right now, but I wanted to write you this letter to make sure you remember our dear Suzanne when you are older.   Suzanne and I shared some of the tougher hands that life can deal-- not finding the right life partner and being diagnosed with cancer in our 30s. However, we shared a lot of really fun times together too and through the years, figured out how to live the best life that we could on a different path than we had expected to take in our 20s. We met 8 years ago through friends in a ski house and spend lots of weekends skiing, laughing, cooking and enjoying a care-free single life. When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 6 years ago, Suzanne was a wonderfully supportive friend who helped me through some pretty dark times. When I recovered and decided to have you on my own, Suzanne helped throw me a wonderful shower and welcomed you into the world as part of the special village that is your extended family. We spent several Easters and many sunny afternoons at the Donahues’ beautiful home in Scituate.

When Suzanne was diagnosed with melanoma 2 years after I was diagnosed with cancer, it hit me hard - I didn't want anyone to have to experience any of what I'd just gone through, and from being around Dana Farber way too much, I knew that melanoma was bad. I think I was able to relate to some of the dark times that Suzanne went through. She was justifiably angry for a long time. I think she was able to open up to me about it since I knew about some of what she was going through. The amazing thing about Suzanne is that she was truly able to get through to the other side of that darkness. That is really a considerable life achievement given the cards she was dealt.  She lived her last years and months to the fullest. She took her niece to Paris and spent lots of time focusing on her friends and family. We were back up in Vermont with a group of friends laughing and having fun just 2 months ago. She spent time promoting the Melanoma Foundation to help others. She tried 76 out of “100 foods to try before you die” - more than any of my other friends.  The 40th birthday party that she threw for herself at Mistral in March was such an elegant, extravagant, and meaningful evening. I will ALWAYS remember how she got up in front of all those people and told her story and thanked everyone for supporting her so eloquently and without tears. There were certainly tears streaming down my face. When I went to visit her just a week ago, she told me how she was no longer angry and seemed to have accepted that her body was just not going to last.  I am so sad that we won’t have Suzanne as a part of our village as you grow up, but I want you to always remember our elegant, gracious, creative and wonderful friend who introduced you to pink flamingos, French children's books, and how to live the best life that you can.

Love,
Mama

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!"