Violet at 27 Months

Violet has been a handful this past month, even with two full-time parents to handle her as Will was home on vacation.  Although, the below picture occurred with just me home.  While I was on the phone with my sister, Violet flipped out of the front door, through the screen.  I yelled, tossed my phone, and dove after her.  Fortunately Lucy picked up the phone and explained to my sister what had happened and that besides shaken (and in the case of the screen door, torn) we were all okay.

Violet has let us know in various ways that she is ready to be potty trained, so this past month we took on the challenge, thinking with two parents home, how bad could it be?  You would think our third time around too, that we would be completely prepared for the task ahead.  The first day we went shopping without a thought in our head, or a diaper bag in our hand, and were aghast when Violet alerted us to the puddle around her in aisle 8 of the craft store.  Will took care of the puddle while I took Violet to the bathroom.  I wrapped the wet underwear in paper towel and stuffed it in my pocket while coaching Violet to leave her dress down while we finished our shopping.  All was going well until Violet decided to show Emma, "Look Emma I no wear undies!" in the checkout lane.  A nice couple behind us spoke a different language to each other in hushed tones which I could only translate to: "We must keep our son away from this family!"

The first day or two we went through about twelve wardrobe changes a day.  We are now at an accident or two every day, but with a few days sprinkled in of no accidents at all.  We've washed and scrubbed so many things, and are now more prepared.  We bring back-up outfits as well as wipes and her little frog potty if we will be gone for too long.  Violet is still wearing diapers at night, and will wake up in the morning dry every so often too.  I am not ready for the laundry involved with night time potty training, so at this point, she seems okay with wearing a diaper to bed, so we will wait as long as we can before crossing that bridge.  Besides, she hasn't slept through the night a day in her life yet, and I don't want her worried about keeping her jammies dry to give her another reason to wake up.  She wears underwear for naps, since her naps are generally no longer than 30 minutes.

All in all, Violet is doing amazing with potty training, especially considering how hot our summer has been and the fact that she doesn't sweat.  This equals crazy amounts of peeing, as she has to drink more water than the average two year old to maintain her body temperature.

Violet had two ear infections this past month, and it was so hard to see her in so much pain.  They were her first, and it was heartbreaking.  Fortunately our chiropractor was able to adjust her at last minute appointments and as soon as she hopped off of the table, her ear felt better.  I'm wondering if all of our swimming has attributed to them and if perhaps we should look into ear plugs for her.  We have spent so much time in water play with Violet - every single day I have swimsuits hanging to dry and towels going in the wash.  It has been the only way to deal with the extreme heat of the summer while still allowing Violet to play outside.  I'm not complaining - in fact I think it has helped us enjoy all that summer has to offer to the max!

Now that I'm thinking about it though, her ear infections also could have been related to the fact that she is getting two molars!  This is a big deal for Violet, and once her molars are completely in, we can start the next step in her dental plan.  We are very excited for her teeth, but wow, has she been cranky and not to mention how it has affected her already poor sleep.

Violet learned how to use a big kid swing this past month.  She LOVES swinging!  She loved swinging before in her baby swing, but this leap to a big kid swing has elevated her love for swinging even more.  The unfortunate thing for Will and I though is that she demands us to push her and while we are pushing her, whines and complains about how we aren't pushing her high enough.  This gets old very fast.

Despite her being a handful, she is adorable and cute and squishy.  I am always telling her, "Violet, you are so cute!" To which she responds, "I not cute, I Violet!"  For which I respond, "Violet, you are so adorable!" To which she responds, "I not adorable, I Violet!" And on and on we go...

Violet loves playing with her baby dolls and spends much of her day taking care of them.  She also loves doing crafts at the table with her sisters including drawing, play-doh and painting and will demand play-doh non-stop which I usually say no to because it is so messy to clean up.  Violet loves painting our nails at her beauty shop in the basement, and also loves playing outside.

She is such a goof, and sometimes she is funny without even trying.  The other day Will went to grab his briefcase for work and found Violet's play laptop tucked on top.  She has a love of fashion glasses, and also will destroy any lip balm she gets her hands on.  She half chews it, drools on it and smears it on her lips.  Fortunately, it is all edible since I make it at home to sell for Harding Honey, but it does cut into my bottom line if I accidentally leave the lip balm within her reach!

Violet likes to tell anyone who comes too close to me, "MY Mama!" while squeezing her way in.  Lucy and Emma like to respond back that I was their mama first which makes Violet even more possessive.  Violet loves to impersonate people and even when tattling does a pretty good impression of the tone of voice and inflection that Lucy or Emma used when offending her.  She also is very expressive with her lips and likes to put on a pout face to be funny and can hold a straight face while delivering a joke.  She also loves singing and while listening to some of our well-worn playlists in the car can be heard from the backseat singing every third or fourth word which is amazingly cute.  Violet, you exhaust us, entertain us, and tackle life with such energy and fun!  You are the comic relief and the reason I can't relax or sleep.  You are lucky you are so cute!