Violet's turn

What a month it has been for Violet. She is up and walking all around. It is just the cutest thing. When she first started walking, she looked like a little hula dancer, with her hands out in front of her and her little waddle. She still does waddle a bit, but she gets steadier on her feet all the time.

She is also talking up a storm. Her favorite videos are the Baby Signing Time videos, and she is learning so much from them. In addition to the words that I listed last month, she has learned "shoe," "hat," "socks," "car," "hot," "bear," "dog," "meow," "kitty," "Echo," "Emmy," "diaper," "tickle," "owie," and "water," among others. She sings the ABC song and "Wheels on the Bus" and does the hand gestures when she hears "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Pat-a-Cake."

She's so funny when she wants to watch her videos. The Baby Signing Time theme song starts with the lyric "Baby baby baby signing time," and Violet will just sing "Baby baby baby baby" a bunch of times but in tune while making the sign for "baby." It's not clear to me that she knows what an actual baby is; I think she just thinks it's the movie. She also has a video that plays children songs. "The Wheels on the Bus" is the first song, so she'll sometimes ask for "Beep beep beep!" if she wants to watch it.

It's amazing the sorts of things that she has picked up from us. When she is eating something that she knows is hot, she will blow on it to try to cool it down. She makes this little gesture with her fingers that Tom makes all the time when he is trying to summon the cats whenever she sees them. It's so fun to see her and Jack in the car together. They just feed off each other and copy each other and crack themselves up. One day they had a screaming contest to see who was loudest. I really should have nipped that one in the bud much sooner, because now Violet thinks it's funny to scream as loud as she can.

She is definitely beginning to make her opinions known. She wants whatever she sees someone else eating or drinking. Whenever she wants something, she makes this little wave with her hand, like, "Bring that to me." Or, if Jack is eating something, she'll reach for it and yell. The other day, we were at a friend's house and the big boys all had a bag of Skittles. And she really wanted some. She kept walking from boy to boy, looking up at them with her big brown eyes, practically begging them to give one to her. But I had told them not to give her any, because she doesn't have enough teeth for Skittles. I could tell they were all feeling pretty bad about it.

Because it's still relatively new, I still find it really cute when she yells, "No!" about anything. I suspect this will become less cute as the frequency increases.

She still very much likes to be held. She and Jack fight over who gets to sit in my lap. If she sees Jack on my lap, she will climb over him so that she is closer to me and then try to push him off. Even though she's walking, she is so often underfoot or holding on to my legs. She is more able to entertain herself when we're at friends' houses. There is more to do and see and less territorialism from her big brother to cramp her style.

One of her favorite things to do is to play with her brother's markers. This obviously is not great for us. She hasn't been too bad about drawing on walls or furniture, but she does tend to write on her hands and Jack's papers a little too often for my (or his) taste. She also likes the play kitchen and playing with balls. So far, she hasn't been to interested in dolls or stuffed animals. She hasn't attached herself to any lovey, but Jack was over 2 when he found his Pooh.

It's been such a joy watching how Violet has changed and grown. It almost makes up for the fact that my baby keeps getting bigger all the time.