Chitchat, Violet edition

Violet is getting ever closer to turning 2, along with all that entails. While she is still sweet and sunny, she is also showing that she has a sassy side. I'm happy to see that she is a girl who knows what she wants and will go for it, even if it means tangling with her big brother. I like it less when it means tangling with her mother, but I know that comes with the territory.

Like Jack before her, the concept of "share" and "taking turns" is particularly interesting to her when she wants someone to share something with her or let her have a turn. Now, when she sees Jack on my lap, she'll tell him, "Ah turn! Away, Jack-Jack!" ("My turn! Go away, Jack-Jack!" in Violet-ese) as she alternately tries to push and pull him off.

She does the same thing whenever she sees our cat Emmy on my lap.

"Away!" she says, and she'll give the cat a shove.

Whenever she sees something she wants (especially food), she says, "Ahnt some! Have it!" while making the universal sign of reaching out and opening and closing her fist. ("Ahnt" = "Want")

Just last week, she started really enunciating the "s" at the end of "Yes." So now, every time we ask her a question that she answers in the affirmative, she nods and says, "Yessss!"

Conversely, however, she has started mispronouncing "more." She adds an "n" at the end, so that whenever she asks for more of something, she actually says, "Morn" while making the sign at the same time.

If she doesn't know the answer to a question (for example, "Where is your Pooh bear?"), she says, "Ahnt know."

She is definitely developing her own sense of fashion and will frequently fixate on a particular article of clothing that she wants to wear on any given day. Once she does, it's usually pretty difficult to get her to change her mind. She favors dresses and even demands to wear "boomers" (bloomers) over her diapers. She likes to twirl around and see her skirts flare up, which is just so cute and unexpectedly girly from a daughter of mine. She also loves wearing boots. She has a black pair and a brown pair that she wears pretty regularly. She likes the idea of flip-flops ("flop flops," as she calls them), but can't seem to keep them on her feet for very long.

Violet is also turning out to be pretty fastidious. She wants to "wash!" her hands and "brush teeth!" any time we are within eye shot of the bathroom. She demands her "soap!" and "too-pate!" (toothpaste). Regrettably, she enjoys eating the toothpaste more than actually brushing her teeth with it. A couple of days ago, I walked in on her at the bathroom sink, licking a tube of toothpaste. When she saw me come in, she said to me very calmly, "No no. Away!" Whenever she spills something, she'll complain, "A mess!" She is constantly asking us for a "wipe!" whenever she gets something on her hands. Whenever I change her diaper, she will keep repeating, "Ewwww. Yucky. 'Gusting."

She always wants to know where Jack is and what he is doing. I love hearing her call for him: "Jack-Jack! Are you?" or "Jack-Jack! Doing?" That, calls to watch "Deetah" (still her favorite "Signing Time" videos), and demands for "numi numi" are the three things I hear from her the most whenever we are home.

When she doesn't get her way, she has begun throwing mini tantrums. They don't typically last very long, but usually after she is done, she will tell me, "Crying," as if I didn't know that's what she was just doing.

She is starting to get interested in using the potty. "Potty!" she frequently insists. She always wants sit on it, but so far she hasn't done anything productive on the toilet. It's a bit of a hassle to go through the whole thing: take off her diaper and pants, let her sit on the toilet, let her wipe, put back on her diaper and pants, have her wash her hands, etc. I'm hoping that overall this is an indication that she will potty train sooner than Jack, but he was so easy once he was truly ready that I'm not really in any hurry to have her start.

She is such a chatterbox, particularly in the car. Whenever we are driving somewhere, I hear her constantly in the back: "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy? Mommy!"

She wants me to continually respond to her, "Yes, Violet. What, Violet? What do you need, Violet?" And usually it's just to tell me "Hi" or that she's "hongy!" (hungry).

It's nice that she's so verbal, but sometimes I could use a break from all the jibber jabber. However, I do think it's really adorable when she talks to her dolls. We have one boy baby doll that I had gotten for Jack when he was Violet's age that he never really took to. Yesterday, Violet was playing with Baby Bobby (as I've always called him in my head) in the car, and she was talking to him about all the food that she was going to feed him, including "numi numi" and "dobbies" (strawberries).

We are having so much fun watching Violet grow up and into her own little personality. Jack is such a strong personality himself that I used to be afraid that she would be overshadowed by him. It's good to see that she definitely holds her own.