Violet at 15 Months

Violet's personality has really blossomed this past month!  She seems to understand what we are talking about, and is getting really good at telling us what she wants.  In the below picture we were eating lunch at a local restaurant with friends.  Violet was getting loud and agitated in her high chair so in order to save what was left of the meal, I took her out and seated her on my lap.  I handed her a french fry and she almost rudely took the french fry, pushed my hand away and leaned over to my plate and dipped it in ketchup!  From then on she ate contentedly, as long as each bite of food she was able to dip!

From that moment on, if she sees us dipping food, she insists on partaking as well.  Here she is below enjoying hummus.

Also new this month is her interest in using utensils.  She is surprisingly good at spearing her food with a fork and getting the food into her mouth.  She still has a ways to go on using a spoon but that doesn't stop her from trying.  She is very adept at imitating us, and is extremely motivated, no matter how difficult.  Here she is below trying to walk in Lucy's flip flops.  Violet has a new found interest in shoes and loves bringing the shoes to their respective owners when she isn't trying to wear them herself.

Violet wants to ride her big sisters bikes so very much.  Here she is below trying to make Emma's ziggle work.  She pretty much just uses it like a walker and walks while pushing it.

We found a great bike for Violet at a friend's garage sale this past month and she is so proud to finally ride a bike with her sisters.

Violet loves reading books and can focus for quite some time.  I found her the other day, laying in her room, reading a pile of books and just relaxing under the ceiling fan.

Ironically though, if I try to read a book to her sisters, she turns into an attention monster and tries ripping the book out of my hand, climbing into my lap and screaming while jumping up and down and just makes herself a general nuisance to the point where my voice reading the story cannot be heard over her fussing.  Her older sisters story time isn't the only thing she destroys.  Here she is below leveling an entire community of ants.

She is not afraid of bugs and has been known to pick up beetles and other insects and even put them in her mouth.  The other day she picked up a honey bee on our driveway and got stung.  It took her by surprise and I felt so sorry for her.   After applying all of my bee sting remedies and calming down my own mom guilt, I am happy to report that I can now say all five members of my earthly family are not allergic to honey bees which is a relief.  I haven't seen Violet play with bugs since, so I'm not sure if the sting ruined her innocence with insects, which of course makes me sad too.  For now I think she is sticking to more safe, inanimate objects like pebbles and wood chips.  In the below picture she is sampling a garden variety wood chip.

I swear we feed her actual food and I am happy to report that her lactose and corn allergies seem to be clearing up.  Lucy and Emma both began tolerating dairy around 15 months, and so Violet is right on track.  It is so nice to put a dash of milk in our scrambled eggs again instead of water and be able to feed Violet everything that we are eating.  In the pictures below, she is enjoying coconut ice cream cones as I've still been introducing dairy to her diet slowly.

Not only does Violet imitate our actions, but also our words.  She can repeat anything we ask her to and we have documented the following new words: "tickle tickle" as she pokes at us, "no", "mine", "bawk bawk"when she hears or sees our chickens, "argh argh" when she hears or sees a dog, "Arlie" for Charlie and "wa-wa" for water.  She still refers to both of her sisters as "ma" and of course still calls Will and I "Dada" and "Mama".

 This past month we have spent a lot of time outdoors and because of that, Violet has developed an excitement for airplanes.  She is the first to hear them and she will start pointing at the sky and then squealing when she finally sees the airplane.  This is fun and exciting for the whole family to join in with her and share her interest.

 Violet has also started throwing full-fledged fits this past month which has taken us all by surprise.  How did our sweet little baby become a toddler so fast?  Right now her fits are still adorable to us and fortunately can be redirected fairly fast.  Usually they are more prevalent if she is tired or hungry so that has given us incentive to stay on a fairly predictable schedule, to avoid the fireworks if we can help it!  Here she is below, finishing off a nap at home, after she fell asleep on a stroller walk.  You better believe I parked that stroller, grabbed my lap top and got some wonderful work done at the picnic table next to her.

Violet's sleep is still worse than a newborn, but we are finding ways to cope.  Will has been taking the first shift of the night since he's had the month of July off of work, which has helped my energy levels.  Here he is below watching Jimmy Fallon while holding our sleeping girl.

I have to say that Will as gotten to be a pro at getting Violet to sleep and I will miss his abilities when he goes back to work on Monday after his month vacation.  This past week we had our appointment for Violet at Children's Hospital and he was even able to get her to take a nap in between doctors.

Violet did very well at her appointment and we are now waiting for our insurance to approve some blood tests.  As of right now they believe that the main challenges facing Violet with her new diagnosis of Ectodermal Dysplasia are her teeth, and her reduced sweating abilities.  They are hesitant to say that she doesn't sweat at all, and so Will and I are hopeful that as she gets older we will see signs of sweating.  In the meantime, it will be a wait and see approach as to how many teeth she will get (she currently has 5) and we will continue to monitor her body temperature to ensure that she doesn't over heat.  I have heard from other families with ED children that once the child is able to communicate their body temperature needs that things get a lot easier.  So, with that being said I have been working with Violet to tell me when she is hot.  If we are washing our hands and the water is hot, I tell her hot, over and over.  If the slide is hot, I have her touch it and I say hot over and over.  If the food is hot, and on and on.  I am happy to report that my favorite word that Violet has learned this month is "Hot" and that she uses it in all of the appropriate settings.  Here's to life improving for Violet from here on out!