new year, more new

"I WANT TO DO IT!!!" has reached new heights lately, in practice and in pitch. the above photo illustrates one of my favorite examples. she can put on her sunglasses herself, bitches. this after i fumbled through a pile of crap in my passenger seat to find them while she raged against the brightness of the light: "no No NO, sun! get out of my eyes! that's naughty, sun! you don't get to watch diego tonight!"

that's the latest in discipline by the way. if she's doing something naughty - common offenses include climbing to unsafe heights, i.e. onto the cheap folding ikea dining table to retrieve the kindle that she's not supposed to use without our presence; refusing to get into her carseat ("i want to make mischief like max," she says, referencing her favorite IQ-challenged bunny as she plays in the driver's seat pressing the mystery buttons); and "escaping" as she likes to call her sprints away from us in public places - we tell her that if she continues the naughty behavior, she won't get to watch her shows. sadly, it's probably the most effective tactic in our arsenal right now. whenever i read the earnest parenting advice about how your child should be motivated to behave well not for bribes but rather for the inherent pleasure of exhibiting good behavior, i wince. and then i have a good laugh as i drink my coffee, eat some chocolate, read a gossip website and remind myself that my workday ends in an hour. this morning on the drive to work/school, we were listening to cinderella's "the work song," and during the classical interlude that represents lucifer the cat's pursuit of jacques and gus-gus, violet scolded, "no mommy lucifer! that's not nice! you don't get to watch diego!"

i didn't know if i had much photo documentation to post today, but as i scrolled through the last couple of weeks, i was once again struck by how quickly violet changes. for example, she's on the cusp of being completely able to pull up/down her pants and undies, so we got her a little step stool for the toilet and a big step stool so she can wash her hands. she's super into these new privileges.

i forgot to get a picture, but kevin converted the crib too. i'm sure some of you are like OH MY GOD THAT'S HUGE NEWS but it's more of a shrug in our house. violet is excited about her "big girl bed," don't get me wrong, but i still hold her until she's asleep every night and then set her down (gently), so the motivation for the conversion was really to make this easier on me. the maneuver had grown so difficult that i was literally climbing into the crib to set her down without waking her. it's a lot easier to just shimmy her onto the toddler bed. i'd also hoped that when she woke up to come into bed with us (typically a couple hours later), she'd start walking down the hallway and climbing up herself ("i do it myself!!!), but i'm not sure when that will really happen. as of now, she just sits on her bed repeating her pitiful "mamas" until i come to collect her and flop us both into the big bed. i know in so many ways she's still just a baby, but...

i can't believe what a big girl she looks like here:

she's especially thrilled because the trike was a christmas gift from her cousin reese, who is thus far her only girl cousin (of the kid cousins), and who she idolizes even though they've yet to meet.

violet looks like a pretty big girl to me in this one too:

auntie courtney (who teaches child development online, in addition to first grade in the classroom) will be interested to know that violet has changed her pencil grasp from gross palmar to digital pronate.

although auntie (who hates cats) may be sorry about our little artist's choice of subject.

violet is also thrilled that her cousin declan, who she has also yet to meet, gave her this fairy tale art set for christmas. it's pretty great how well she understands that she has family in washington dc and how we're going to take a plane to get there. she also really wants to go to the fictional town of pineville, home of her buddies jingle and bell, and when i told her it was far away, she said, "we can fly to pie-ville in a hell-copter with diego!" OBSESSED.

whenever i get wistful about how fast she's growing up, it helps to have her wear her gloves. god she is still a tiny thing.