caption this contest alert! eh, forget it. you old schoolers all know: violet models her mom's circa 1994 dream outfit. this is how kevin dressed her on a daddy-daughter day. i almost died when i saw this photo. like, died of jealousy. i only wish i could pull off this look in 2013. docs! nana would have never allowed that shit. she did permit me to wear chucks with my green satin dress to an 8th grade dance - with my dad's flannel shirt as my jacket! that was rad, nana. hopefully violet will have such warm fuzzy memories of me one day.
the biggest news is that violet has officially transitioned from the toddler room (dolphins) to the preschool room (orcas). that's her at her bye bye party. it's been a little dramatic, mostly due to staffing issues at the center, and the first couple of days were especially rocky. she kept fleeing the play yard and running up the toddler ramp, crying that she wanted to go back to dolphins. on the drive last week, when i told her she had to nap in orcas that day, she replied, "i don't feel too good. i have a fever." a fever! unaccustomed to the new bathroom set-up, she wet herself in the yard and stripped off her pants on the spot. that was a low point. kevin and i each spent some time playing with her in her new space, getting to know her new teachers, and i suppose not surprisingly - seeing as how these things seem to work out just fine in spite of the fact that i saw the sky falling - violet already seems comfortable in her new room and proud of her new status: "i'm a preschooler now!" she likes to clarify that "ackshuyee it's junior preschool, not upper preschool yet." they separate preschool into 2.5-3.5 and 3.5-5 years.
violet came down with a gnarly cough on sunday, so she stayed home with kevin on monday. they snuggled in bed and watched mickey mouse clubhouse for the first time, and evidently there is a character named pete. when i got home, kevin told me that there are two petes - pete our dog and pete on the show. violet interjected, "ackshuyee there are three petes. pete our dog, regyer pete and little pete." why yes, kevin concurred, regular pete had a little angel/devil pete who appeared on his shoulder. this is the kind of thing that i love lately. she corrects us all the time. it's not something i would have thought would be so cute. she was bickering (adorably) with kevin about whether or not the grove had gelato - she said yes - and it occurred to us that we needed to distinguish between ice cream and gelato because she clearly and correctly remembered eating chocolate ice cream at the grove. is she too young for a discussion about milk fats? on monday she and kevin saw a picture of the witch from snow white, so she was obsessively talking about it when i got home, and when i said something about the witch's green face, violet told me that no, in fact, she did NOT have a green face. she added, "i saw a witch wif a green face on a neighbor's door at hayoween and it scare me." the memory like an elephant stuff is astounding. halloween! i remember exactly the witch decoration she is talking about, so i guess i shouldn't be surprised that she does too (and better). but still!
the other major news is how much imaginary play violet engages in now. can you spot her in the jungle? shhhhh! there are pumas out there! even though charlie has replaced diego as #1 in violet's heart, she still insists on classifying animals diego style - spectacle bears and white-tailed deer and ringed seals. you will be shocked, but she hasn't wanted to watch diego in well over a month!
a favorite lately is playing polar bears on ice floes. she invented this game with kevin, and when i tried to join and referred to the pillows as ice floats, i got the "ackshuyee" treatment. we jump into the ocean and swim with baby ringed seals; we brush our fur; we catch fish and eat them. last night we caught flounder, and i assumed she wanted to play with him, but she cooked him over the fire and ate him. then we went from floe to floe, reading different stories on each one. i decided to try to introduce the concept of narrated stories, so i started telling her a tale about a bunny king and queen. it was so lame. i'm going to have to work on this. she got up and ran to her bookshelf to find the "book about the bunny castle" and was disappointed that there wasn't one. she settled on pooh's bees, which reminds me of another hilarious thing i keep meaning to mention - how coy she is when she sees pictures of her favorite male characters. whenever we get to the page with an illustration of christopher robin, she grins and averts her gaze, and sometimes she literally gets up and flees the room, giggling! she seems to be half truly shy but also half feigning it. i mean, where is she getting this from?? it's not like i'm twirling my hair around my finger as i bat my eyelashes at kevin. my feminine wiles involve more sophisticated things like remembering to buy beer.
speaking of femininityism, here's violet waving the magic wand at the disney store's magic mirror. appearing is aurora, least feminist of all the disney princesses! or maybe she was subversive enough to realize that she could score a nap while a man did all the work? i'll let violet puzzle that out in women's studies, if she doesn't run off to be an artist with some dandy brit hipster first.
look at her trying to be a lefty. we think she's probably a righty.
what else? oh of course! what post would be complete without mention of baked goods? here she is, baking bunny cookies and bunny bread with nana.
and please agree with me how cute violet's bakery selections are. bran muffin at susina. of all the options! bran!
and in case anyone's little grinch heart needs an upsize, here's violet and jack on the seesaw.
