Little voice

I love hearing Violet's little voice. She is talking more and more every day, and it's so fun and funny. Even when it's not.

Last week, we went to a birthday party (the same one with the airplanes), and they were handing out paper bags for the pinata candy. While she was holding the bag, she ended up ripping it. She was inconsolable.

"It's broken!" she sobbed. "Broken!"

She wouldn't be comforted until we gave her a new one.

And now everything she has that isn't whole is "broken." She likes flowers, but she rips off the petals when she has them.

"Broken!" she says, as she holds it up. "Broken!"

I love when she is doing or eating something that she enjoys.

"I like it!" she'll declare, although she pronounces it more like, "I yak it!"

The other day, she was standing on a step stool trying to reach something on a counter that she knew she shouldn't. She was calling for me, but when she saw me, she realized that I would pull her down.

"I don't want it!" she told me, completely with sweeping straight arm. "Go 'way!"

It's also very funny when she is looking for something or someone. The other day, she was looking for this stuffed bunny that she likes.

"Bunny!" she called. "Are you?" The "where" is implied, obviously.

My delicate flower of a daughter has a regrettable habit of picking her nose, but then she wants me to take her findings off her fingers. She laughs when I say, "Yuck!"

She is also developing a twisted sense of humor. As I have mentioned before, she has started swatting at me when I tell her something she doesn't like (like "no" when she wants to nurse). But now, instead of swatting at me in reflex, she will actually look at me, very calmly hit me, and then laugh and say, "Funny!"

It is NOT funny.

This disturbing sadistic streak aside, she actually is very empathetic and will usually cry in sympathy when she sees someone else crying. She actually starts to tear up when I pull a really sad face in response to the hitting. I'm hoping that will help break her of this unfortunate hitting phase. Timeouts haven't proven to be that effective.

When I tell her, "Be gentle to Mommy," she'll repeat back to me, "Gentle" and then rub the side of my face with her fist. I don't know if this is actually the sign for "gentle" or something I just did when I first started using that word with her, but she does it every time she hears us say it. If we tell her to be gentle with the cats, she'll try to rub their cheeks with her fist. Unfortunately, she's a little too zealous sometimes. The cats will actually flinch because they think she's about to punch them in the face.

Speaking of nursing, I feel that she thinks that the whole nursing operation ("numi numi," as she still calls it) is its own separate entity. I'm really starting to tire of the whole thing, so sometimes I tell her, "All done, numi numi. Bye-bye, numi numi," when I want her to stop. So now, she says it too.

"Bye-bye, numi numi," and she gives a little wave at my chest. "Bye-bye!"

She is starting to show a preference with her toys. She favors balls and stuffed animals generally. Of the stuffed animals, current favorites are her Pooh bear (Jack calls his "Baddie," so that's what she calls hers too), Elmo, the pink bunny I mentioned before, my sister's old Cabbage Patch Doll, and a doll that her aunt and uncle gave her over Christmas. I love seeing her carrying them around like babies. I'm so used to seeing her do everything that Jack does, and this is something that he never really did when he was her age. He didn't start loving his Pooh bear until he was nearly 2 1/2. She also still likes Sophie the Giraffe and this little music box that plays "It's a Small World" that my sister and I had when we were kids. Still, nothing has achieved "lovey" status for her, but again, Jack didn't find his Pooh bear until he was almost a year older.

But her favorite playmate is still her brother. I love bedtimes.

"Tiss! Tiss!" she'll say before it's time to leave her brother's room. And she duly leans in for a good night kiss.

Then we all sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" together, complete with hand gestures, and she says, "Nigh-night, Jack-Jack!"

Afterward, Tom goes downstairs to play with her while I have some one-on-one time with Jack. Depending on how well she napped that day, she will usually stay up and play for another 30 minutes to an hour. The most reliable way Tom can get her to go to sleep is by walking her around in the backyard and singing her songs. Now she asks for it when she's ready.

"Outside! Songs!"

She'll give me a kiss and wave "Bye-bye!" Sometimes I can also get an "I wuv oo."

Aww. My sweet girl. I wuv oo, too.