Violet Plays at 17 Months

 

This girl has a grin that can brighten any day.  Which is a good thing, because the days are long and the sleep is short with this one!  We are still trying to find the perfect recipe for sleep with Violet.  This month we are trying out a big girl bed of her own, under a ceiling fan with a gate on her bedroom door.

This has helped her sleep a tiny bit better but we are now trying to figure out our next challenge - how to keep her dry for the entire night.  Because she doesn't sweat she drinks more fluids to maintain her body temperature and as a result, we have yet to find a diaper to hold it all.  Here she is below, enjoying a plastic ice cream cone while she tries out the potty chair.  They say that when kids start to enjoy potty humor that they are ready for potty training.  Violet officially thinks farts are funny, and will go out of her way to pass gas for a laugh, and will also point her finger accusingly at one of us and laugh when she hears anything resembling a toot.  Potty training makes life more difficult, not easier, for a good stretch of time so I am officially over potty humor, meaning I am not ready to potty train.  So we shall continue our quest for a diaper that holds it all.

The biggest change this past month is Violet has evolved from destroying the house in her free time, to playing.  Don't get me wrong, she still destroys the house, but now she is actually playing while she makes a mess.  She loves feeding and changing her baby dolls diapers as well as pushing them in a stroller and snuggling them too.  There is no shame in taking a sip from the baby doll's bottle either.

She also seems to have a passion for shoes.  She loves walking around in different family member's shoes, and she has become quite good at walking around in Lucy and Emma's dress up heels.  In the bottom right hand picture Violet surprised me one morning by making a pretend cup of tea, complete with pretend honey and a play tea bag.  She handed it to me and proudly said, "TEA!"

Violet spends her entire day either playing with me, or practically yanking my finger off as she tries to drag me away from whatever I am doing so that we can play.  She is very determined and usually will not be convinced to play with Lucy or Emma, despite their trying to please her.  Fortunately if Will is home, he is a suitable playmate in her eyes.  She loves to get us to play with her by saying, "Roll?" for roll the ball, "Ride" for go for a basket ride, "Book" for read a book, and "Bo-Boat" for playing Motor Boat, which is similar to Ring Around the Rosie.  Once she has recruited myself or Will for "Bo-Boat" she will then search out every other member of the family and drag them over to join in "Bo-Boat" with us. 

It is just amazing to me the changes this past month in her play.  As long as I am sitting on the ground near her, she will do some play by herself.  The other day I slyly watched as she pushed a stuffed dog around on the floor while she kept saying "Ruff!  Ruff!"  She steals my heart when she plays a game that I have entitled Mama Polo.  Think Marco Polo but replace the words with Violet chanting my name in a sweet voice and me responding to each chant of Mama with Violet's name.  This usually takes place on car rides or stroller walks.  "Mama."  "Violet."  "Mama."  "Violet."  And on and on and on.

She still is up to her usual trouble, which she times nicely for when I am preoccupied with Lucy and Emma doing schoolwork.  The other day I caught her trying to climb on top of the stove.  Her efforts were foiled when the oven door handle she was using to prop herself up slowly opened the oven door instead causing her to hit her mouth on the door as she fell backwards.  Fortunately, the oven was not on, however it did make me wonder why our newish oven did not come with an oven door lock.  Our old oven had one, and at least now I know she can't be left in the kitchen alone if the oven is on.  Here she is below caught chewing on a stolen plastic eye dropper from a science kit in the left hand picture.  In the right hand picture you can see the results of chewing and swallowing a piece of green chalk.

Based on the above pictures, Violet is definitely teething!  She popped her sixth tooth this past month which was met with much celebrating.  We have been told to expect just a few teeth in Violet's mouth, so each tooth, no matter how it's shaped, is cause for rejoicing.  It is much easier to cap a misshapen tooth than it is to put an implant in.  Around two and a half years old we will begin the process of getting her fitted for partial dentures, and they will use her existing teeth to anchor it in.  Her teeth don't hold her back too much when it comes to eating, however she does prefer softer foods and is my number one fan of the soups I love making.  I can't tell you how great it is to have one of my children appreciate my cooking!  Just having a couple of front teeth has not held her back from corn on the cob or apples though, and she is always so proud to eat food like her big sisters.  New words this past month include "apple" and "cheese stick".

Since receiving Violet's diagnosis, Will and I have come up with canned responses for when people make comments about Violet's appearance.  We have decided that the responses aren't really for the people asking, but more for confirming to Violet that she is loved, beautiful, and made exactly how she is supposed to be.  This past month I thought I was facing my first real challenge.  It was the girls first yoga class of the year, and I was dropping Lucy and Emma off while Violet sat in her stroller and ate her lunch.  Our beloved yoga teacher was excited to see the girls after a summer off but when she looked at Violet she immediately exclaimed, "What is wrong with her mouth???"  I took a deep breath and I launched into my speech.  After saying far too much, our sweet yoga teacher looked up at me with the most confused look on her face and asked, "But why would that make her mouth BLEED???"  Shocked, I leaned down to look at Violet's mouth and saw red, dripping all over her face.  It took me a second to realize that it was raspberry juice and not blood, at which point I started nervously laughing and turned the color of a raspberry myself.  After explaining to their teacher that Violet just finished eating a bowl of raspberries you could have cut the awkwardness with a knife.  When I returned to pick up the girls after their class was over, their teacher had recovered from her shock and had lots of loving questions and affirmations for us.  I regret that I wasn't recovered enough to apologize for the information overload.  Most importantly, I realized that I need to shorten my canned response and to always assume less is more when it comes to information!  I just hope Violet knows that I am learning as I go, but am oh so proud of her and her beautiful smile.