candy grab

violet may have turned three, but kevin and i limited her to two halloween costumes.

she wore this cat jumper to school last year too, as we were reluctant to send her in the "real" costume for fear that it would come home soaked with paint or pee. here she is with her friend maile

who is exactly one year older and a confirmed only child, which means her mom gives me bags of awesome hand-me-downs, including the cat jumper. "it outgrew me," maile explained to violet.

violet insisted for weeks that she would be a jaguar again, and since the costume still fit and i'm cheap, i was like, great! but then two days before halloween, maile gave violet her old cinderella gown and light-up "glass" slippers, so violet decided she wanted to wear that instead. she also changed her mind about what piece of candy she wanted before trick or treating -- she said milky way but then went with a reese's (i acted nonpartisan, but i approve) -- but she stayed true to her post-trick or treating choice, a kit kat.

as was the case last year, she was super hyped about trick or treating. last year after every house, she would say, "i want to go to the next house!" this year after every house, she would say, "i want to go to 20 more houses!" on the child development chart, i can checkmark her understanding of more = better.

the funny thing is she doesn't really like candy, but she thinks she loves it. her face lights up at the mere mention. she grabs candy bars off the shelf at the store. but when she has an actual piece in her hand, she kind of licks or nibbles a corner for awhile until it starts to melt, at which point she says she's done: "it got too yucky." she does love to play with her candy haul though. she's been doing this

everyday since halloween. also here she is, as is our tradition, watching it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown after trick or treating.

as is my usual, i have a bunch of photos and updates that i want to post, but i thought i'd quickly get the halloween photos up before the starbucks cups turn red. or am i too late already? ah shit, you know i know i'm too late, and i love it, grinches!

three! (or as she says, free!)

violet may have turned three, but kevin and i limited her to two birthday parties.

since so many friends and family were in san diego for my parents' anniversary party, my mom got a cake for the next morning so that everyone could celebrate with violet. the prodigal granddaughter's 3rd birthday shalt not be overshadowed by 40 years of wedded bliss/"bliss"! 

nana fell down the proverbial amazon rabbit hole and bought all of the max and ruby paraphernalia she could get her paws on. she even found actual max and ruby beanie babies that are, needless to say, going to ruin my life if they ever go missing. ruby got dropped in the gutter on day two, and last week, max was lost for a night because violet hid him in the spaghetti pot and forgot about it.

if there is one thing i'll remember most about violet at this age, it is her near constant imaginary play, and in particular, her imaginary friendship with max, ruby and their whole neighborhood of bunny friends. as you may know, there aren't any parents in their world, only grandma, so that's who i get to be when i'm included in the play. fellow trader joe's shoppers were no doubt baffled when violet chased after me shouting, "grandma! grandma!" violet mimics a lot of max's expressions, and her favorite one is his mischievous face. her class did a singing performance at school a couple of weeks ago, and in the middle of it, violet made shifty eyes, hooked her little paws in front of her, and exaggeratedly tiptoed off the stage to "sneakily" grab a big drum that she'd obviously had her eye on. anything for a laugh. no idea where she gets it.

her annual check-up went fine. she's still tiny. as usual, i won't post her stats because it stresses me out. despite reminders that it was going to hurt, she was pretty excited about the two shots she was scheduled to get because dr. violet and her schoolmates had been playing with toy syringes all week like a bunch of giddy junkies. i don't know who to feel worse for, the kid or the nurse. sure, violet perked right up after i hurried her to the front desk for a lollipop, but the look of betrayal she gave the nurse was brutal. apparently she has already learned that misery loves company:

for birthday party #2, violet invited a small handful of buddies to this indoor playplace in our neighborhood that has a bounce house and huge twisty slide into a ball pit. it's so freaking cute how much these little kids understand that it's their big day, and how much enjoyment they get out of it.

a few parents remarked that they had never seen violet so animated. she was racing around that place like she owned it. this is six weeks ago, and she still talks about it on a regular basis. in the week immediately following, she piped up to anyone and everyone, "do you want to come to my birthday party? it's tomorrow/thursday/yesterday/this weekend."

she liked opening gifts of course, but not quite as much as she enjoyed settling into "the chair that me and nana sit in to watch tv" while eating leftover pizza.

thufferin' thuccotash, it's the land of the three.