Three

Three years ago today, at 3:33 pm (isn't that neat?) Violet was born. I started hyperventilating with joy when I heard "it's a girl!". The doctors and nurses had to tell me to calm down because my blood pressure had shot up alarmingly.
I don't think I have the right words to describe what she has brought into my life, but I feel enormously grateful to have this amazing person as my daughter. She is awesome.

I tried to capture the many faces of Violet -



My darling daughter, Happy Birthday!

All About the Dresses

A magical fairy arrived from Qatar yesterday bearing the most amazingly over the top dresses for Violet!Tomorrow we celebrate her third birthday!

Update interrupted by tragically short naps.

Violet reading to Jem. Books are his favourite thing. He has an amazing attention span when being read to, and really loves the books where he can flip things on the pages.

Jem started saying "Mama" (usually as a whining crawl towards me). I'm pretty sure he can say "cat " too. He adores himself in the mirror, smooshing his face against the glass. He's 9 months old today!

This One's for the Ladies

Jem loves a bath. I usually get into the tub with him (he will no longer stay put in the baby tub), and it's all I can do to shampoo and soap up a slippery wriggling eel that won't stop splashing.
He's pulling himself up on everything (including Violet), waving hi! and bye! (especially at himself in the mirror) and will say "da-da" if you ask him to say "ma-ma". TYPICAL.

In other news:
Violet explaining to me it's time to return the movie:
"We have to uhh...go to the movie store and....you know...unrent the movie".

Deep Thoughts

Violet had a bad day yesterday, full of bad behaviour and it's consequences. In the afternoon, she and I were snuggling on the couch and I asked her if she felt sad that I had been so angry with her.
"No, I'm happy. I'm just quiet because I'm thinking about something".
"What are you thinking about?"
"Things I would like to eat".

Nina Wuz Here

Violetisms

This morning she crawled into bed with us, leaned over Jesse's face and said "Hey little fella, your eyes are still closed, eh?"

This evening, Violet was being so sweet that I had to tell her I loved her.
She thought for a moment, then said "I love everybody. Grandpa, Oma, Jem...and Elsa".
No mention of her parents.

In other news:
In rare instances, when the stars a aligned, I will allow a picture of me to be taken.

Teeth

Violet has 20 teeth!
It was her first visit to the dentist, and she did very well.
Checking out the hygienist.
Outfitted with a bib and sunglasses (to protect her eyes from the glare of the light).
Trying not to squirm.Voila! Clean teeth and beaming parents.
After her cleaning she was offered a prize bucket full of goodies and chose a temporary tattoo.

Jem is in full crawling mode now. He's been trying to pull himself up to standing, despite not being able to stand yet - hence the bruised face. At 7 months, he's already got into more things then Violet ever did.


7 teeth on my smiling boy!

Some Oatsa

Violet kept asking "can I have some oatsa?" over and over again a few days ago. I finally clued in that she was asking for a samosa.

Big News

We've had some significant happenings in the last couple of weeks.

The Girl
Violet is pretty much toilet trained. I remember an optimistic post I wrote almost a year ago about how she was almost toilet trained...but then she realized that toilets are for suckers.
In typical Violet fashion, she's gone from using a diaper 99% of the time to using the toilet 99% of the time from one day to the next. I don't know what the change was, she wasn't motivated by any of the incentives we kept offering (gymnastics class! taking trains with Nana!). She's very proud of herself, as she should be. Now I don't have to worry as much when she 's running around as a naked fairy.
The Boy
Jem crawled yesterday! He's also working on tooth number seven (but that's not as exciting for me- he's been biting me). He's also reached the age where I can plop him down with some Cheerios and he will happily feed himself, somehow picking up the little Os between his first and second fingers (who needs opposable thumbs anyway?). His lips pucker when he's concentrating.Still is a strapping boy. Here he is showing off his 'come hither thighs'.

The Student
Lauren has gone back to Kingston for the summer to be with her favourite man - HER FATHER, and also that guy she likes..what's his name?...oh yeah, Alex. We're going to miss her a lot.

Spring Day

It feels like such a relief to have the snow close to gone and the backyard accessible again. It was a long winter, and I was getting pretty sick of it. A couple of days ago Violet saw someone walking by wearing shorts and a tank top. She cried out "SHE'S NAKED!" at the top of her voice.
Today was so nice that we spent the afternoon cleaning up the garden and setting up the patio furniture. Violet took a few trips on her tricycle up and down the driveway and Jesse wore Jem on his back while we worked. Grandpa came over and we all had dinner together OUTSIDE. Glorious. Jem was very happy to sit in the grass, pulling up fistfuls and trying to eat them.
Violet put grass on her head and in her shoes, then tried to cram her feet back in to them. Happy Spring!

Who could resist?

It was only a matter of time before I was going to dress them in matching outfits.

Knees and bum

Jem is going to be 7 months old in a couple of days, and I don't know where the time has gone. He is just such an adorable snuggly boy...also quite stubborn and not at all shy about voicing his displeasure about things.
He's reached the next level on his way to crawling - getting up on his knees and rocking. This is sooner than UV did this (she was content, and still is, to have us fetch things for her). Jem wants to get places! In other news:
Yesterday I was trying to set up a tricky photo-shoot for a client involving small and expensive pieces of jewellery. Oma was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Violet was wandering around between us trying to get us to smell her hand. We kept shooing her away, trying to finish up our tasks, but eventually Oma had to ask what her hand smelled like. "Like bum!" she announced.

Coconut

Jesse brought a coconut home to show Violet it's marvels. We all sat on the kitchen floor to watch them get it open. She had a good time hammering.
Jem had a good time watching her hammer (well, he finds anything she's doing fascinating). After much hammering and prying, the coconut was opened. Violet held a piece for a while as we encouraged her to try it, but in the end decided she wanted a yogurt instead. As Oma put it, it was a "little too organic for her".In other news:
Elsa's been feeling left out because I never post pictures of her. She insisted I post this picture of her with her coconut hat on.

Getting around

Easter

Jesse has been battling the flu the last couple of days, so we haven't been out much. This morning he felt a bit better, so I wanted to drag everyone to Ikea...but when we got there we discovered it was closed...then even the Loblaws that is always open was closed... but then we went for dim sum to cheer us up!...and then Violet threw up all over her bed when we got home.
Not sure if she's getting sick, or ate too much dim sum, or maybe it was the entire chocolate bunny she ate this morning. Whatever the cause, I'm stuck in a house with the sick and whining and have no food.
In other news:
We dyed some Easter eggs on Friday. Violet was disappointed to discover that they were still the same old boiled egg flavour on the inside, despite looking like candy.

Violet's really been into singing songs lately. When she sings, she's really into it - belting it out with her eyes closed and her whole body swaying. I took this photo as she was leaving with Oma to go to her playgroup. She looked so cute with this hat on.It took four days, but I finally got a good picture of Jem's goofy teeth. It looks like there might be another tooth coming in the middle too (those poor little gums!). In that case, he'll go from the vampire to a more of a hillbilly look.