Violet continues to blossom as our family comedian. She makes us laugh all of the time, and her antics are always a pleasant surprise to me. Will claims that I found Lucy and Emma equally as funny, but I have to say, there is something different about her humor and I think it is because she has learned everything she knows from her older sisters. When I ask her to do something, she will yell "NO WAY!" and run away laughing. When I tell her no, she will respond by saying in a very whiney voice, "Whhhyyy?" The other day we were reading a little farm book while we were waiting at the doctor's office when she spotted the udder on a cow and started yelling, "BOOB!" Or how about sitting in church last weekend when she started saying "ewwww" to the boy sitting behind us. I swear she knows when I am trying to divert her attention too, as she will just keep saying whatever word it is that is getting the reaction. Fortunately for all of us, we think she is cute so her toddler antics are funny and not tiring yet. Yet. Here she is below, throwing a fit. Adorable. And yes, she likes to wear snow boats around the house for fun.
She has been playing on her own a little bit more this past month, and loves drawing, or as she calls it, "Draw", playing with her baby dolls, with the play kitchen and her pull-along toys. She is obsessed with Lucy and Emma's Barbies and will scream, "BARBIE" while knocking on her sisters' bedroom door. Fortunately, Lucy and Emma have figured out that Violet can be bought off with a decoy Barbie and will leave the rest of the Barbies alone if given just one Barbie to hold and play with.
She loves reading books, and her attention span is growing as well. She loves the book Little Quack, which she refers to as "Quack" and I love when she says the title of the book, "Moo Baa La La La."
Perhaps the best part of her growing attention span is her new interest in watching TV. I know that aspiring for your kid to watch TV may sound a little backwards, but keep in mind that Violet only sleeps in 30 to 40 minute increments and that my only chance for a diversion is the TV. She asks to watch Elmo, which is a bit frustrating for Lucy and Emma who have better ideas on what they would like to watch during their screen time.
Parenting Violet is both exhausting and wonderful, all at the same time. Here she is below, clearing the table of the counting bear manipulatives Lucy was using for math. Sigh.
I also caught her swiping a carrot and applesauce muffin that was cooling on the kitchen table. Imagine my pride when I saw that she knows how to peel the paper off of the muffin no problem.
When I asked what she was doing with the muffin, she responded by saying, "Are-eee" which means sorry. How could I not laugh? Especially when she gave me a big grin and then took a bite of the muffin! Violet also will say "PEASE" for please and if she wants to take part in something other family members are doing or eating she will yell, "ME!" She refers to herself now as "ViVi" which sounds a lot like "ByeBye" and she has mastered her biggest sister's name finally, calling her "Ooh-See". Violet has started calling me "Mommy" like her older sisters do and loves making sure each member of her family is involved in whatever it is that she is doing or eating. For instance, if I give her a snack, she will say, "Emma?" until I give her some snack to bring to Emma. Then she comes back and says, "Ooh-See?" and on and on. She is so thoughtful as she really does bring the food to her sisters.
This past month has been difficult with Violet's health. She has had constant head colds and coughs since October, and then she had croup. This was my first experience with croup and it was very scary. I was just barely surviving before croup, waking up with Violet every 30 to 40 minutes throughout the night. Three nights in a row of her being up all night with croup and I was done for. Pushed over the proverbial mental cliff. We had barely recovered from croup, when she had an overheating episode where she went from fine to a fever of 104 in a matter of minutes. The silver lining to all of this is that we have learned some important clues to managing Violet's challenges. We are learning more about Ectodermal Dysplasia and it's effect on breathing and sleeping. We have been able to integrate some new techniques and I am hopeful that we will continue to find solutions. In the meantime, it has been 19 months of very little sleep and it is hard. I feel extremely overwhelmed when I look past today's challenges, so I am trying to stay in the present moment. I know of far worse things that parents are facing with their kids, and that isn't to try and minimize what we are going through, but I am confident that we will find a way through this, one day at a time.
The past 19 months have had drastic effects on my personal growth and I have Violet to thank for showing me what perseverance is, and for finding out who I can count on when life gets tough. Violet, it is true when I say I love you more than sleep itself and nuzzling your soft chubby cheeks and burying my nose in the nape of your neck while breathing in your sweet baby scent as your fuzzy hair tickles my nose is one of my favorite ways to live present in the moment.
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