Violet at Two and a Half

Violet is officially half way through being two.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again,  I love having a toddler in the house.  Her fierce love, her happiness and her sadness are all so straightforward compared to the other members of our family.  

I think the reason why I love the toddler age so much is because I love the affection and cuddles that come with toddlers.  They speak effortlessly to my love language, and I can speak so easily to theirs.  We both have the ability to make each other happy at the same time.  Here Violet is below, snuggling with Will on his first morning home from his six day hospital stay.  She had forgotten that we had picked Will up the night before from the hospital, so she was so excited that morning when she woke up and found him home.  "MY PAPA BEAR!!!"  In the right hand picture below, I am snuggling Violet in our favorite sweater, that wraps around both of us while I "play baby" and feed her water from a bottle.  Violet is obsessed with bottles lately, which I find interesting since during her babyhood, she had such a traumatic time eating from a bottle.   

I try to remind myself of the merits of toddlers, as I deal with the mischief, tantrums, potty accidents and the general inability to go anywhere fast.  In the top picture below I found her in the closet playing on the iPad.  In the bottom picture below, she is falling asleep after throwing a fit.

Fortunately Violets tantrums are short lived.  Lucy still holds the title for Tantrum Perseverance in our house.  Violet usually throws a fit until I put her in her room, at which point she stops immediately and comes downstairs just as the timer is ringing at the end of two minutes.  Her attitude is then one of apologetic sweetness and says things like, "Okay, mama."  "Sorry, mama."  "Violet happy now."  

She is starting to phase out of naps and some days really doesn't need one, especially if she slept enough the night before.  Notice I didn't say slept well.  Good enough is what we take these days.  We are having good luck with remedies given by our homeopathic doctor that are helping Violet sleep, and helping her with her latest sleeping hurdle - night terrors.  We had five days in a row this past month where she kept sleeping worse and worse than her normal night time struggles.  The fifth night she was up every half hour screaming out with night terrors, and inconsolable by Will or I.  It was so very stressful and I didn't get more than an hour of sleep total that night.  Fortunately our homeopathic doctor had a remedy that worked the very next night and she has been sleeping better than she has in a really long time.

Violet may not sleep that great, but she continues to eat really well.  The other night we did Italian take out, and we ordered family style several different entrees to share amongst us, and to ensure that everyone liked at least one item.  We ordered meat sauce, meatballs, Italian wedding soup, fettuccine Alfredo and pepperoni pizza.  Violet ate EVERYTHING, her favorites being the "big" meat balls and the "baby" sized meatballs from the Italian wedding soup.  The rest of us just watched in awe as she continued to eat and eat and eat.  One of Will's favorite food groups is Italian, and I have to say, the level of pride that he exhibited was like she just learned to ride a bike without training wheels.

Another great thing about two year olds is that they are just happy to go along for the ride with you.  Most of the time for Violet, that means tagging along while her sisters have their vision therapy, dance, yoga, swim, catechism, piano or art lessons.  I have decided to capitalize on this time with Violet while we wait together for Lucy and Emma's various lessons to finish.  I pack a bag full of things to do, always including story books and then various little games or toys that she and I can play with together.  I am cherishing this time, away from household pressures, with just Violet and I.  It is so much easier to be fully present with Violet when I don't have mom chores hanging over my head or the interruptions of two other kids.  Violet and I get quite a bit of "special time" as she calls it, throughout the week and I am very grateful for it, especially since our homeschooling mornings require her to play independently for the most part.  Here she is below, reading stories with me while the girls are enjoying their swim lessons.  I love everything about the below picture, from the curve of her chubby, kissable cheeks, to the fact that her baby hand is the same size as the one pictured in the book "Ten Fingers and Ten Toes".

 Violet is very playful and loves to wrestle with Will.  An open invitation for Violet to wrestle with Will includes any point in time he isn't standing.  As soon as he lays on the couch or in bed, sits on the floor or in a chair - he is fair game.  Here she is below, tackling an unsuspecting Will as he plays a game with Emma.  In the bottom pictures below, Violet is playing various stages of House with her babies.

This past month has been extremely challenging with Violet's potty training.  Her night time diapers have been leaking or just flat out not working and she has regressed from being potty trained for naps.    On top of that, she has been having at least one accident a day, usually in the evening or while playing outside and I have been doing so much laundry it is ridiculous.  Of course she pees on the part of her bed that isn't covered by the flannel pad (any sort of plastic or vinyl waterproof mattress cover results in her overheating) and so the latex mattress acts a sponge, and is impossible to clean.  Or, on our first floor which is 90% hardwood, she manages to find the one square of carpet to have her accidents, over and over and over again.  And thank God we have leather couches, as I shudder to think the state our cushions would be in if they weren't so water resistant.  Don't even get me started on the amount of time I have spent in public restrooms either, as she LOVES using public bathrooms and is obsessed with them whenever we go out.  It is such a process to have her use a public restroom as the toilets are too big, the sinks are too high and the germs are just too much.  For a one hour church service, we will visit the restroom on average three times.  For a grocery store visit, at least once and for a wedding reception we went to last weekend, I lost count after five visits.  I keep reminding myself that this too is a phase, and I will miss the happy things that go with the challenges when they are gone.

I love my toddler and the cuddles, affection, and humor outshine the tantrums, sleeplessness, and potty accidents!