last friday by the hourish

7am













8am







9am (a cheat with photos sent recently by dcp)





11am





12pm





1pm





2pm (the realization of navy pants, black shoes)





3pm (another cheat)





4:59pm



5pm (mystery paint on sweatshirt, mystery solved)







6pm





7pm



8pm






9pm







10pm

ding ding ding

i don't know if 9pm is beyond the appropriate range for bedtime, but it's pretty much violet's standard. ten hours of nighttime sleep, 2.5 hour nap. it seems to be enough for her. while kevin and i don't have a ton of grown-up time on weeknights before his shoulder is drenched in my drool, the 9pm bedtime has a lot of benefits, not the least of which is evening outings on the weekends. this past weekend, we took violet on the grove's trolley for the first time, and now she is obsessed. she rings her imaginary bell anytime we say "ding ding ding" -- it's the same hand motion she uses for "choo choo." for a car, she does a steering wheel gesture and says "vrrroom" and also does "beep beep" for the horn.

she's picked up more words and signs, many of which have been learned at school, like "bubbles" and the sign for "eat." while of course this is awesome, it tugs at my heart when she so clearly knows exactly what she's talking about but i can't interpret it. on friday, we were driving home, and she was singing something that appeared to have the word "caca" in it. i asked the staff, and although they weren't sure what the song could have been, they burst out laughing when i reported violet's use of "caca." apparently they were doing a little spanish on friday, and that of course was a favorite. violet also does her bird sound as "caw caw" so i'm trying to prepare myself for the confusion this could cause.

my latest favorite animal sounds are seal ("ar ar" complete with hand clapping) and crab ("ch ch" with pinchers). kevin does a perfect impersonation of mickey's laugh, and when violet tries to mimic it, it sounds a little like her "evil laugh" from the halloween days. whenever i try to do mickey's laugh, violet smiles and says "dada."



violet has so many "latest favorites" that i'm a little overwhelmed trying to report them. i got her the my first purse, complete with her own debit card, which she loves. i often let her hand over my credit card at any cashier, so she's developmentally advanced in the art of spending money she doesn't have. and while she enjoys the other lady-purse items, it's all still a poor substitute for my actual poly-canvas tote bag and its wonders (ziplocs, boogie wipes, cookie crumbs), which i often find strewn across the floor or stuffed into unused diapers.

the shoe obsession continues.





we were lucky to discover a magical kids play area in the burbank mall thanks once again to best bud jack. i think violet would have been content to stay there until bedtime, but mom of the year here forgot to bring liquids, so when the begging to nurse began, it was time to say farewell. jack practiced his waving.



we were also lucky to have a visitor in auntie courtney (affectionately called/grunted "unh"). violet is big into dancing these days, and i think she appreciated her first lesson from a real life dance teacher.

spidey skills

i just realized i meant to post this video from last weekend. i'm sorry i forgot to shoot it horizontally. i know it may not seem like much, but people at the park just about lose their minds whenever violet does this. of course i know her ability here is due to her below-the-charts weight, but i can't help but beam with parental pride anyway. (i also try to summon a vision of our tiny girl on the gymnastics gold medalist stand whenever i'm trying to get her into her high chair as she furiously screams "all done" and stomps in her plate of lovingly prepared food. who rejects a meal with that much butter?? you'd think i'd have learned to set down her plate after she's seated by now.)

the tracks

thanks to an endorsement from her best pal jack, violet took a trip to travel town this past weekend, and it was a hit. we're fortunate to live about five minutes away from the sprawling griffith park, but so far, violet has only visited once many months ago -- of course to the trails, a cafe where i picked up coffee before a quick "hike" with her in the bjorn. we made it about 1/5 of the way to the observatory before i chickened out.

travel town is a great family place -- large grassy areas, picnic tables, a play area and an actual miniature train ride -- but in my opinion the coolest part is that you can explore actual train cars. there's a kind of train graveyard feel as you go from empty car to empty car, stomping for echoes.

i told violet she had to pick which side of the tracks she wanted to be on, but she was undecided about whether she'll be a molly ringwald in the breakfast club or pretty in pink.





after stomping through a bunch of train cars, violet took her enthusiasm to the metal walkways over the tracks. this was almost the most fun of the day.



travel town entry is free, but what parent can resist the heartstring pull of her kid watching the other kids play with their trains? violet's first thomas? $12.99. violet's joy as she hung with the boys? $12.99. i mean, priceless. priceless!



after watching the "real" choo-choo train circle the park a few times, violet was more than eager to ride. she was surprisingly patient as we waited for all the kids to board and the conductor to start the engine, but she was excited nonetheless. it was really sweet actually.



i thought the train ride would be the highlight for sure, even after all of the stomping and thomas, but i was wrong.



look at that face! when we were coming back from our beach walk in san diego, violet was literally squirming out of my arms, desperate to get to the many benches we passed. "she loves benches!" i said to my sister, who thought that statement was hilarious and absurd. but man, this kid loves benches!

the fun continued saturday night, when kevin and i took her to the wrong side of the burbank tracks -- the media center -- and let her loose on a mall playplace. watching her run and climb with the big kids (many of them exceeding the height limit, despite the friendly reminder of the mall cop, whose warning was unheeded by many of the parents, grumble grumble) made me once again acutely aware of just how tiny she is. tiny and fearless, it's kind of remarkable.



and then we made our first of presumably hundreds of family trips to islands. forgive my phone's inability to realize that it needs a flash in a dim restaurant environment, but here is violet with her first taste of endless fries.



on second thought, i think the blurry image is rather fitting, as the fries are, in fact, pretty dreamy.

oatmeal day oasis

violet's weekday mornings have been a little rocky these past two weeks. more than a few tears have been shed at daycare drop-off, but her teachers assure me that she perks up about 30 seconds after i'm out the door. it's still pretty hard on both of us, though, when i have to pry her fingers from my hair as she screams. it's probably harder on her in the moment, but at least she's onto other things while i'm still trying to shake it off en route to my desk.

luckily both of us have oatmeal days to look forward to. "hot cereal" is served at daycare once a week on tuesdays, thursdays or fridays, but as previously noted, it's never hot when we get there, which i have to imagine is part of the reason violet so fiercely rejects it. thus we've turned this hated day of the week into an increasingly happy tradition (and an excuse for croissants). here we are at bottega louie last thursday:




signing for more:



and then again yesterday:



changing it up with chocolate:



(that's a banana "smoothie" pouch nearby. nutrients aren't always overlooked.)

(and i know violet needs longer pants, but she's so freaking skinny that nothing ever fits right!)

i ate the vast majority of the chocolate section, but i did save a piece to give her in the car, to make the last eight minutes of the drive easy on myself. (she has taken to writhing and screaming "all done" as we try to strap her in.) not sixty seconds after inhaling the bite, she started giggling and kind of singing to herself while waving her arms around. considering how much chocolate i consumed while she was in the womb, it's not too surprising that she's a junkie already.