Boooeeeee?

The title of this post is not a reference to Hallowe'en, but the sound of Violet requesting a movie. I do not exaggerate when I say she asks to watch a movie about 300 times a day.
I've heard Baby Einstein movies referred to as 'Baby Crack' and I must agree. For now, she watches it once a day. I can't say I'm not tempted to pick the 'repeat play' option on the menu and go get my nails done for the afternoon. It is educational.
Once I agree to let her watch her movie, she immediately runs to her fuzzy banana yellow chair and sits herself down, waiting for it to start. Occasionally I've put the DVD in, then gone to prepare dinner forgetting to hit 'play'. The menu screen alone is enough to hold her attention for at least 5 minutes, so I'm not concerned about ADD.
The second the credits start rolling on the screen is when she starts asking to watch a movie again.
Last week I just kept repeating "no" after every request. She stopped for a few seconds, looking at me, then said "news?". Nice try.

Gracias, Dora!

Let me just say that I will never end a post by saying "I'll write more tomorrow". Because I won't.

A couple of days ago I was sitting around with Aunt L, who frequents our abode. Violet was playing with her toys quietly, while L and I discussed which hunk on Lost we would like to pitch our tent next to.
I like to toss out words for Violet to repeat, because she'll say anything. It's so cute.
I called out "uno!", but instead of hearing it back, heard "dos!". Um...Apparently Violet can speak Spanish?! As I wracked my brain trying to think of how she can possibly know this, I remembered the 'Dora the Explorer' book that friends had given her. It in there is a part that reads uno, dos, tres! So there you have it. She also calls out "two!" if you say "one!".
She really amazes me every day.

Nana was just here visiting for a couple of days. Violet LOVES her Nana. We miss her already!
We were out for dinner last night, and Violet was getting antsy. What better distraction then the mysteries of Nana's purse? Violet rifled through the contents until she came upon a shiny tube....lipstick! And then Nana taught Violet how to put on lipstick. Violet couldn't get enough of it, and took it seriously. Pursed her lips out as Nana pretended to dab it on. HILARIOUS. I've tried to capture the pout on film today. This is what she does when you say "lipstick".

Violeta-Uki-O!

We went to a very nice wedding this weekend in Deep River. In fact, I was a bridesmaid!
Except for the part when the bride realized she had forgot the groom's ring (in the middle of the ceremony) it went smoothly. Ha! These are the memories they will cherish later. Probably even by now.

Violet travels very well. We bring her to most places we go, but she is a handful at weddings. The combination of large standing crowds, drinks left on the edges of tables, baskets of nibbles in reach, and the need to keep her relatively quiet results in one high maintenance toddler. Oh yes, and add to that the past-bedtime factor. Oooo eee.
Actually, what happens is Violet turns into an anime robot, Violeta-Uki-O!.*
Shown here:

























There's no good way to segway to other topics from here, but she did learn some new things this weekend. I'll write more tomorrow.
N

* This picture is from a war my sister and I have going, where we both manipulate photos to come up with better opponents. Back and forth. I use UV, and she uses whatever creatures she can come up with. Violet's totally winning. YOU HERE THAT SIS?

It's For You

The first second Violet set eyes on my cell phone, it was love. I barely even use the thing, but she figured it all out in about 3 seconds, her face aglow in it's soothing blue light. Her first two words together were "hello, Grandpa!" as she held the phone up to her ear. She always wants to call Grandpa. I have to keep the keys locked, as she has the uncanny ability to call people from the address book that I don't really talk to anymore.
Yesterday, she sat by my backpack and methodically checked all the pockets until she found the phone. She opened it, dialed a few numbers, held it up to her ear and said "hello, Grandpa!".
Then she had a very animated conversation.

Sorry, a private conversation.

Fort & Farm

Fort
We're in the middle of a kitchen renovation. I can't believe I just wrote that.
The cabinets arrived in huge boxes and were installed last Wednesday. Our eyes sparkled as we beheld the ultimate in fort making boxes sitting in our very own house! For Violet, of course.
I cut some doors and windows in the box. She's been popping out of them and saying "hello!". I also cut a hidden trap door in the top of the box for the cat. The cat finally sauntered across the trap last night, and it was totally worth the wait.

hello!

So, there are some pretty big plans for this fort. Think "Pimp my Fort".

Farm

We have a family membership to the Experimental Farm here in Ottawa. It's a great place to visit for a short afternoon, which is what we did on Saturday.



Violet will often come up to me with a book saying "amohwls! amohwls!", and I have to skip to the page with the animals. Immediately. She is not interested in any other part of the book.
You'd think she'd be crazy for the live animals at the farm. Not really. There are life sized models of the animals beside the real ones in most of the barns (depicting milking or harnesses or such). She was way more interested in the plastic pig then the stinky real ones. The pigs are somewhat disturbing, it's true.

She did like the bunny though!













This morning as I dressed Violet in yet another adorable outfit, I kissed her tummy. She laughed and said "mama kiss!". I'd never heard that one before, but I think it's my favourite.

N

Hats Off To You

Violet likes to put hats on - sometimes two at a time - then run to our room and look at herself in the full length mirror.

The camera has loved her from Day 1.














(Day 1 - see, told you)

Occasionally, there are mishaps. Perhaps we could call them mishats. Ha!




















Violet, no matter how drunk you get, that hat isn't going to love you back.
Sad.
In other news, J and I are officially at the point where there shall be no more swearing around UV.

Lumina Weekend

Weather...gorgeous
Food...yummy & plentiful
Company...most excellent and UV doting
Violet was in heaven.
Perfect.

Though the leaves had mostly fallen, the blasts of colour that remained were even more spectacular for it.










How the weekend usually works is this:
we eat, drink and play ping pong until it is time for a hike in the Park. At this point, the company divides. Half do a shorter hike at a leisurely pace, and the other half climb Mount Doom in Mordor in order to throw the One Ring back into the fire. I don't do that one because they don't bring enough snacks.

For UV, Nana (or as Violet says NAAANAAAHHHHHGH!), Teta P, and Mama Pack Mule - 'twas the 3.5 Hemlock Bluff trail!

As a small aside, we found the ultimate in baby carrying apparatus while visiting the Beautiful Aunts in B.C. this summer. It's called the Ergo Baby Carrier, for those of you wishing to carry babies or large vegetables for long periods of time.

In this photo I am carrying an actual baby, not a vegetable, but she does appear to have a pumpkin head.

Seriously, how cool are those sunglasses? She'll only wear them for 5.7 seconds, so this is a rare photo indeed.
It was a very nice hike. She inspected various foliage along the way. Ate some snacks at the top of the bluff. Said Allo! and BYYYYYYYYIIIEEEEE! to the fellow hikers.

She even got out of the carrier to help NAANAAAAGH! down a tricky bit of trail.

After the gruelling hike we headed back to the cabin to enjoy some MJ-esque dangling of UV off the balcony. Seriously, do you see how cute those boots are?

I'm going to be honest and admit that I spent an unnatural amount of time planning her outfits for the weekend. Please enjoy the photos below, and appreciate how not only does she coordinate with herself, but with her dad and the fall colour palette. Thank you.

Some other highlights:

1. Small packages of peanut butter while waiting for breakfast to arrive.

2. The dramatic rescue of UV by J from the squirrels. They wanted to hoard her for the winter.

3. A short but sweet visit with Oma in Killaloe on the way home.

4. As Violet snuggled into my arms for her bedtime bottle, I kissed the top of her head, which smelled faintly like wood smoke.

Hope you all had a nice a weekend as we did.

N

The Park

We moved in to a new house a few weeks ago (settled in nicely, thanks!). Our backyard borders on a large park, which Violet loves to visit. As soon as she senses the possibility of going to the park she runs to the door and says "let's go!". I have to drag her away to put some cute & warm clothes on her before she makes a run for it.

We climb the fence at the back of the yard, and head through the trees to the play structures and swings. She likes to pick flowers on the way, and look for stones. As soon as we hit the sand pit, surrounding the park much like a large ashtray, she crumples and digs her hands in ("hey, watcha got there Violet? oooh! a cigarette butt..nooo! not in your mouth...well, ok, if it's just one"). She is a very observant little person, and I love watching her discover the outside world.


This weekend is our annual Family Thanksgiving Trip to Lumina, a campy resort outside of Algonquin park. For me, this weekend rivals the fun and excitement of Christmas. Now that Violet is running around and can make her own espresso in the mornings, I'm really excited to introduce her to this family tradition. Last year she was only 4 months old. I spent a lot of time hanging out in our cabin nursing, while everyone else went for hikes in the park.

So, we're off shortly to see Nana, Cha-Cha, Voiko Tim, Teta Peach and marvel at the sheer numbers of Japanese tourists in goretex pantsuits enjoying Algonquin.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

N

Awesome stuff to teach your child!

It's so easy to teach Violet things. She just watches, listens, and repeats.
With this great power comes great responsibility, which up to this point we haven't really bothered with. Now we
know why Spiderman struggles with his burden.

Last week J and I were taking hits off a can of whipped cream while Violet was finishing her dinner.
After watching us solemnly for a few seconds, trying to figure out what the heck we were doing, she just opened her mouth and waited for her turn.

How could we resist?! Dinner was eaten: an 1/8 of a cherry tomato and 3 noodles (Have I mentioned she's a light eater).
She loved it.
Here is the photographic evidence.

N