violet's irises (and other lovely and not lovely things)

this is a photo of a photo that's on the wall in violet's classroom. it's like the little artiste knows exactly what it means to render a still life! we've gotta work on that pencil grasp though.

violet frequently stashes books in her cubby that we borrow for home, and we kept vincent's colors for the better part of a month. it's not a narrative work. it opens with an introduction about how van gogh wrote letters to his brother that described his paintings, since his brother couldn't see them, and then it's just page after page of paintings with a few adjectives for each one. she always wants to know the city/museum of residence and insists that we travel to new york, paris and amsterdam. "twist my arm," i tell her. that's another favorite thing lately, expressions. she especially loves "raining cats and dogs."

her favorite of the paintings is irises because the book describes them as "violet." last week when i picked her up and asked about the paint all over her arms, she exclaimed, "i painted the violet irises! and the vase is silver!" sure enough, the canvases -- each one a collaboration between two kids -- were hung on the wall yesterday. i couldn't whip out my phone's camera fast enough.

in other news, violet just got over yet another awful virus. it started off with a tiny splotch of rash on her cheek that i wouldn't have thought twice about, given her cheerfulness over her cocoa and croissant.

about two hours later, daycare called to report hives, and i picked her up to find this:

the fever started around bedtime and proceeded for five straight nights. the first attempts at motrin and tylenol ended up barfed into our open palms.

she'd been sipping a drug-juice mix, which obviously her stomach disapproved of, so we quickly nixed that in favor of a syringe jammed into her mouth and discharged between screams. she did get better about taking her medicine as the week wore on, but i'm sure she was scared of throwing up again. in fact, she told the doctor, "i'm just a little 'cared." "you're just a little kid?" the doctor laughed. "scared," i clarified. violet volunteered, "i don't say my s's too good, like i say cawberry instead of cawberry." we've been practicing ssssstrawberry.

so violet ate nothing but crackers for a week. at night, she would sit under the spout of her tepid bath and just stare at the water running down her cheeks into her lap. one night she actually nodded off like that. it's a special kind of stress when you see 104.5 on the thermometer at 3am, but i'm happy to report that she's better now. her appetite is back

her energy is back

she met auntie's new cat

and went to the san diego zoo for the first time.

unsurprisingly she was more excited about the animal statues

than the real animals.

i boosted her onto this eagle

which auntie identified as an extinct species. violet grew solemn and said, "but it's america's bird." she was cheered to learn that the bald eagle isn't extinct yet. when we later walked by the elephants, she looked at one with tusks and said, "i think it's a mammoth." when i reminded her that mammoths are extinct, she replied, "maybe it's the last mammoth on earth, i don't know." touché.

i was about to say she's in the little litigator phase, but i realize it's not a phase, and that she's just going to get better and better at it. i encouraged her to tell her teacher what she wants to be when she grows up (scientist), and her teacher whispered to me, "i thought she was going to say lawyer." i wonder how it would go over if i got a gavel and start shouting, "order! order!" she'd probably deny me habeas corpus.

the big argument right now is underwear. "i don't like how they connect!" she yells as she yanks them away from her crotch and bellyaches about how "uncomfy" they are. her teacher called me last week to make sure, um, that she didn't have, um, you know, um. "she doesn't have a yeast infection," i assuaged. she also refuses to wear pants or shorts. i'll give it a couple weeks before i start investigating sensory issues. in the meantime, she's enjoying the exclusive wearing of skirts and dresses. uncle mike was visiting for a few days, and she gave him the hourlong fashion show of twenty dresses from the garbage bag in the closet of "still too big" clothes. "isn't this a cute outfit?" she likes to say. whose child is this? she also likes to play beauty salon.

as usual i'm sorry for the long inactivity here, but check back soon for my backlog of vacation photos from our summer trip to DC. everyone loves vacation photos, right? right??

bonus cute pic. she's wearing a plain black t-shirt "like daddy."