the smirk

violet walked into the kitchen and handed my phone to kevin the other day. she constantly asks to "type," so i let her. usually what i find is a google search for qqqqqqaaaaqawaqqq. her left thumb must like that corner of the keyboard. the other day, no lie, i discovered an open website dedicated to getting your anxiety under control. what's she trying to tell me? anyway, kevin accepted her offer of my phone and then asked me, "why does the screen say SD card deleting files?" well... problem "solved"? i never made it to the verizon store for help retrieving my locked data, and thus you will never see the video of violet flawlessly performing mozart at carnegie hall.

on the upside, my camera works again, allowing me to share more cuteness with you.

swimming lessons! kevin and i have been taking her to the (politically correct) parent-child swim classes at the ymca, and she is doing great. we weren't sure what to expect, but they really are teaching some valuable skills to the 6-36 month range. violet can pull herself out of the pool and has gotten (too) brave about jumping back in to us. she kicks vigorously while holding onto her kickboard, and she is starting to figure out that she's supposed to circle her arms while we tow her around on the noodle, chasing after rubber duckies. she can monkey crawl along the wall, but she is not down with being floated on her back. unlike several of her classmates, she'll tolerate being dunked, although i won't say she enjoys it. she talks about the "swih pooh" all week, and about "tee-cheh cho-cheh" (teacher joseph), who referees a cutthroat race of red light/green light.

the latest neighborhood happening is dandelion hunting. or "daa-lie," as violet calls them. "wah boh daa-lie." when she blows, most of the florets end up in her mouth or ours. when kevin walks the dogs alone in the morning, he takes note of the patches of grass with the best finds for later. unfortunately violet now seems to think that she's allowed to pick any flowers, anywhere. a farmer's market vendor was not pleased to see a stalk of bamboo go missing from his stock, and i'm sure the trader joe's security cameras have violet on watch for petal-lifting. neighbors' flowerbeds suffer the most. this photo excepted, we grab her hands to stop her, but she's quick.

her quickness is noted regularly by the daycare staff. if she goes to smack/shove/pinch another kid, the teachers will pin her arms (hug-style) as they recite the "we don't hit our friends" party line, but before they know it, she's kicking her legs, still trying to get at whatever kid stole her plastic dinosaur or looked at her sideways. the teachers tell me they're often stifling their laughter behind their backs, but man, i know violet knows they're laughing and am sure it only eggs her on. do i smirk a lot? does kevin? because violet is smirking ALL THE TIME. i know you probably think i'm reading adult comprehension into her expressions, but i'm telling you, she smirks. i've tried so many times to capture the smirk on camera, but do you think that little rascal will give me the satisfaction? she's so over posing for photos that i spent a half hour trying to get a decent shot of the "ladybug tattoo" that she came home with the other day. i finally resorted to the bag of shredded cheese to get the job done.

she's long been obsessed with kevin's tattoo and was quite pleased to have her own, until i washed it away in the bath. she has declared many times, "vivi wah tattoo TOO!" "do you want a butterfly on your lower back?" i asked her. "YEAH!"

uh oh.

and OMG how could i have almost forgotten this milestone. 20 lbs in 20 months! "new cah seat!"