More jibber jabber

As much as Violet's constant chatting can annoy me - and believe me, it can - she does say some really funny stuff.

She has been using the toilet a lot more regularly now.  One of the (many) downsides of this, however, is that she is still too small to do much than actually poop or pee.  The consequence of this is that I am frequently sitting on the bathroom floor for several minutes, waiting with her as she works it all out.  Because God forbid I actually leave the room and give her the privacy a normal person would want.  As her captive audience, I am privy (heh) to her never-ending play-by-play commentary of the proceedings.

"Oh, that's a big poop.  Oh, that's a baby poop.  That's a splashy one.  Poop is yucko.  It's gross. Disgusting."

Yes, yes, it is, which is why I don't particularly enjoy being witness to someone else doing it.

I have written several times about her endless requests for food.  Now, she has taken it a step further.  When she really gets it into her head that she wants something, she will tell me, "I want mac n cheese [for example].  I want to eat it in my mouth!"  The "in my mouth" is new.  I don't know why she think the clarification is necessary, but she provides it nonetheless.

After a particularly long (or at least it felt that way) car ride, where she must have asked for mac n cheese 73 times, she felt that she needed to provide further detail in case we didn't quite understand: "I want to eat mac n cheese in my mouth with a spoon in my hand."

Got it.  Thanks.

My kids are generally pretty good with each other.  They don't really squabble as much as a lot of other siblings I hear about.  But the one quarrel that I do find myself having to mediate is stupid arguments.  Either Violet will say something that is incorrect or she will contradict something that Jack says, and then Jack will get sucked into an debate where he insists that he is right.  He typically is, as you would expect from a five-year-old who is disagreeing with a two-year-old.  But Violet will absolutely stick to her guns and passionately voice her stance no matter what.  I've told Jack several times to not even bother arguing with her.  She is contradicting him because she's two, not because she has any logical belief that she is right or that he is wrong.  I told him that he should just feel secure in the knowledge that he is right, because there is nothing he could say that will convince her.  Teaching him this ability to be flexible and let things go is honestly one of the big reasons I wanted him to have a sibling.

The other quarrel that I hear is usually when he is playing with something and she wants in on the action.  This is the one that usually will end in tears from Violet.  Sometimes I will hear her yell at Jack, "NO! NEVER!" which I find inordinately funny for some reason.  Or she will be specific, "Stop hitting Violet!"  I well remember having a little sister who would get me in trouble, so I try to be fair to Jack and recognize her role in provoking him (including, several times, hitting him first).  But as the older one, I tell him that a lot of times his job is basically to keep her from crying, because I just don't want to hear it.  Keep toys he doesn't want to play with out of her reach.  If she is getting mad and looking like she's going to swat or push, move away from her.  He's five, he's going to be able to outrun her.  But it is a fine line for sure.

Many of my friends are finally starting to notice Violet's loquaciousness.  She doesn't limit her inquiries of "What doing?" and "Why?" to just me anymore.  The other day, one friend very accurately called her a "motor mouth."  She definitely is that.