"i melt for no one"

if you're annoyed by christmas trees before thanksgiving, you can take your bah humbugs elsewhere because how can this pic not melt your heart? i was excited for baby's first christmas last year, but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't WAY MORE excited for baby's second christmas this year.

we met friends for lunch at the grove farmer's market on saturday, but because violet has transitioned to one long midday nap most of the time, we took her down early to make the most of the outing before her nap. the dreamworks marketing team has erected a huge happy feet 2 display in front of the movie theater -- an apparent penguin habitat complete with dyed blue "ice chips" (with which violet insisted upon hydrating). violet ran around for a good hour.





she also kept tossing handfuls into the air like it was 1999. it's the small things like this that continue to take me aback. how did her little brain figure out that throwing things into the air and watching them fall back down is fun times? i don't know, but i love it. new baby trick: making it rain.



there was of course the vendor shilling remote-control toys that "don't break." i was happy to have that verbal warranty agreement before violet caught the car and flung it down.



we quickly moved onto another of violet's favorite play-places, the bench, where she plotted operation: shoe removal.



love you, grove. we'll be back for some good ol' christmas consumerism soon.

bonus pics of the day:





kevin had a shoot at universal citywalk last week, and he couldn't stop himself from picking up this awesome onesie. when i laughed at the irony that violet's already overprotective father picked out the green onesie for his daughter (you may of course remember the middle school urban legend that the green m&ms specifically would put girls "in the mood"), kevin defended that green is the only girl m&m. tell it to the boys at school, dada! nonetheless, i corroborated his defense on the official website, where lady green's featured quote is "i melt for no one." man, irony upon ironies! violet melts (down) for everyone! she is still the clingiest of mama's girls, and it's not easy on any of us... but that's fodder for another post.

as i think you all know, violet melted down at daycare drop-off for a good six months straight until poof! it was like a switch flipped, and the drama was over. but for the fourth week in a row, violet has been all smiles four days a week, and total meltdown on one -- oatmeal day. the first couple of times, i thought it was a fluke, but this morning i knew. as soon as she saw the bowl of mush and peaches, she started to sob. not only does she hate the oatmeal, but oatmeal day is the only breakfast where the kids have to don full smocks instead of just bibs. (shackled by velcro! must scream until freed!)

i had a hunch last week that the meltdowns were attributable to oatmeal, so violet and i left the house early on oatmeal day and shared a croissant and berries at bottega louie on the way in. (girl likes an overpriced pastry as much as her mama.) sure enough, when then offered the oatmeal at school, violet wept fat tears. today i unfortunately forgot to check the menu in advance and was disheartened to discover oatmeal on the table this morning -- but not as disheartened as my daughter, who will hopefully double down on baked chicken strips and sweet potato fries at lunch to make up for her breakfast strike.

the other irony is that violet gobbles my homemade oatmeal, which i make on the stove every weekend, so i can't blame her for having discerned that the lumpy instant stuff they serve at school -- cold by the time she gets there -- is a pretty poor substitute (if i do say so myself). champagne tastes, little green. (and how does that dirty colander taste?)