daddy donald

just a quick post to document violet's latest love affair. she's been watching mickey mouse clubhouse for about a month now to the exclusion of nearly every other show, and she has zeroed in on donald as her favorite character. i'm sure some little girls take a shine to minnie's affability or daisy's daintiness, but our little girl cherishes, above all, donald's raw fury. the angrier he gets, the funnier it is. i don't think this bodes well for kevin and me in her teen years.

after keeping a lookout for donald all day at disneyland, i'd given up on seeing him. why is he never at his boat? (why did i not realize there would be a character finder on the mousewait app? there is! i just looked at it, and he's in toontown as i type! they think of everything!) violet knew she had a gift card from grandma linden and purchased her new donald toy accordingly. (when i told her that she had enough money left on the card for one more toy, she replied, "tomorrow, my card is going to get more money on it!") then, as we were literally 20 steps from the exit gates, there he was in town square! we only had to wait about five minutes to see him, but the whole time violet kept repeating with delight that i cannot possibly capture, "i'm going to tell him, 'you have a temper!'" when it was her turn, donald was thrilled that he had a true fan on his hands, and he grabbed her toy and started playing with her.

i'm terrible at planning for these things, but i thought to switch to video just in time for violet to cajole him into the hot dog dance.



yes, this was a different day than the photo at the top of this post. that one was taken a few weeks later. there were several characters available in town square that day, and i told violet that we were only going to wait for one. i honestly thought she might pick mickey. absurd, i know.

i've been meaning to mention for awhile now that i've realized one more reason why kevin is the best dad ever. his voices! some of you probably don't know that he has taken voiceover classes and is really talented, and now that violet has discovered that he can talk like pretty much any character she wants, she rarely lets him talk as just daddy. many of his requests these days aren't met with compliance until he himself complies with hers: "say it in donald's voice, daddy donald."

i had the MOST ADORABLE video ever of one of their exchanges, and i cried for days after i accidentally deleted it when i went to edit it. i tried for a redo the next night, but you know it's never the same. you get the idea though.



donald is literally the only "voice" that i can do. that was a few weeks ago, and violet has started to do her own donald impression now. i've tried to capture it on video, to no avail. i'll stay on it.

just your average month

hanging with friends.

drinking cocoa on a chilly afternoon "in pineville" with jingle the husky pup.

eating grapes on safari with my baby simba in his sling. (mom note: her sling, sorry. HER sling.)

AUNTIE COURTNEY BOUGHT ME LICORICE!!! if you want a $24 cat toy with a manufacturing cost of six cents, the american girl store has you covered. I KNOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!!!

auntie also bought me these minnie ears, counterfeit version $6 at the farmer's market. doesn't dad look fab? disneyland sells them for $20.

good thing auntie recouped some cost because she needs more shoes. i went into her closet for the first time and - completely unprompted - screamed "SHOE PARTY!" before helping myself. my mom, as i love to say, "looked a little nervous."

i also enjoyed a jewelry party in nana's dresser. my mom remembers this drawer as being off limits for her entire childhood. i guess nana just trusts me more.

i watched the kentucky derby with poppy. i wanted to put all my money on a horse named charming kitten, so i guess it's a good thing i don't have any money. who needs it when everyone just buys you shit all the time, am i right?

i could totally be a jockey, if i ever get up to 114 pounds. only 90 pounds to go! i was obviously born to wear goggles.

i surprised mom by writing this on my easel. i may only be two, but i know that my signature will increase the market value of this study for a work i call ants playing ring around the rosy. can you say masterpiece? i can't yet.

(mom note: i have actual stories to tell, but regrettably this is not the week. in the meantime, wishing you all a happy mother's day with your loved ones. i still can't believe this adorable child was once, like, a mutant in my stomach.)

it's spring

and i can't seem to tend this blog any better than i tend houseplants. nana once gave us some delightful potted basil, parsley and chives. RIP.

though i only have this itty bitty picture

violet's class has been tending a garden at school. community gardening is obviously a hip enrichment activity for schools to tout in their recruiting efforts - i know this because kevin and i have toured several preschools recently, all proud to show off their lone strawberry on life support - but also, it's awesome. violet got some adorable kiddie gardening tools for easter, and i'm dying for nana, cuzzy kristy and aunt bonnie to consult for us at home. nana thinks i might be able to keep a tomato plant alive. anytime violet is sitting on the counter and there's a tomato in the bowl, she declares, "i yike tomatoes now," chomps it, spits in disgust and amends, "no i don't yike tomatoes." her speech gets clearer everyday, but the "y" for "l" is still all over the place, along with the "s" for "th." "mama, i have somesing on my yips!" oh let me see. why yes, that's tomato seeds from the blood-let tomato i'll now be adding to my dinner.

in keeping with the spring theme, i took violet to descanso gardens one morning when neither of us was feeling all that great but needed some fresh air. it's a beautiful space - a much humbler version of huntington gardens, its stately neighbor - and has an "enchanted train" and a children's maze, where violet made some new friends.

almost as cute as the friends she made last week at the petting zoo.

she was so excited to "take a nap with the piggies." she snuggled them with such ardor you'd have thought they were en route to the slaughterhouse. she is terrified of the chickens, and we also had a traumatic experience involving a ladybug recently. it was in her path, and she insisted that i move it. i nudged it to "wake her up" (i.e. make sure it wasn't dead), and when it started walking, violet began shrieking in terror. "don't worry, she's a nice ladybug," i said, but violet was in the throes of blind panic. i picked her up, comforted her and promised that she would like ladybugs when she was an older kid but that it's okay to be scared of them now. you really can't know how you'll handle these situations until you're in them, can you? some days i feel like i'm back my hospital gown, awkwardly holding a screaming newborn, worried i'm going to drop her.

violet had her 2.5yo check-up, and right before it, we gave her the fisher price doctor kit, which she is totally obsessed with. "dr. violet" (as she calls herself) gives very brisk and conservative check-ups to her stuffed animals and imaginary friends. we make sure to rule out fever at least a half dozen times for each patient. i've always made a point of prepping her for her own shots with "it's going to hurt a little bit but then it will stop" but she insists on telling her patients that "it's not going to hurt." "it might hurt a little bit," i interceded with mr. hats, a monkey. "no, it's not! it's not going to hurt, mr. hats!"

a few mornings ago, her eyes fluttered open, she looked at me and said, "one time, i pinched my finger in the shower door." she then fell back asleep for an hour.

here she is, enjoying the kiddie cocoa she was promised for doing so great at the doctor's office.

the other day we were dancing in the kitchen, and when the song ended, she asked for another. i clicked forward on the ipod, and when i looked back at her, she had the saddest expression on her face. "mama, sometimes i don't dance so good," she said. my instinct - so fierce and immediate - was to tell her that she's the greatest dancer i've ever seen in my life. and she is, of course. but i didn't say that. i realized that this was just a flash of what it's going to be like for years, forever, the instinct to shelter her from the failure and heartache that's going to make her a better person. but i mean, she's two! i'm not ready for her to be feeling self-conscious already. wherever did she get the idea that she's not good at dancing? does she see bigger kids dancing and feel badly that she can't do it the same? did some little punk actually tell her she sucks during freeze dance? does she watch kevin and i bust moves and realize she's doomed? i just told her that she's a great dancer for her age, and that if she keeps practicing, she'll get even better.

i mean, please. i know you can see the rhythm. step on stage the girls boo too much, i guess it's cause you run with lame dudes too much.

speaking of dudes, violet is boy crazy. i'm 100% not joking. we were looking at our wedding pictures with her, and she would not relinquish a photo of my bouquet because she needed it "to marry schroeder." we went to our friends' house for dinner, and anytime her friend viv's 10-year-old brother atticus left the room, violet would ask where he was, and when it came time to go home, violet would not leave without finding him for a hug. she talked about him the entire ride home and insisted that she wouldn't take a bath unless atticus took one with her. at least by then the real atticus had morphed into imaginary atticus, so we were able to accommodate. after all, we're used to "my big brother christopher robin" joining us wherever we go. here's violet, her big brother (can YOU see him?) and pooh, who is evidently MY big brother. i wouldn't question it if i were you.

in other spring news, we had a wonderful time at nana's house for easter. it really is one of the best days of the year on my side of the family, and we were lucky that almost everyone was able to be there. so, roughly twenty adults trailed violet on her egg hunt, and given that nana had filled 27 plastic eggs with candy and stickers, it was a long one. as kristy put it, "this is getting a little boring. she needs some competition." where the hell is christopher robin when you need him? violet consumed plenty of sugar, but it wasn't as crazy as last year. i guess she's building up a tolerance. in the picture with auntie, she's screaming for lambie cake.

we were also lucky to have uncle mike in town on business last week, and he came bearing a gift from aunt erica and "baby noah" who at 16 months is not such a baby anymore. do you think violet + uncle mike = bff 4 eva?

violet could not stop playing with her new minnie doll, and when it came time to get a picture of her with uncle mike, we of course could not get her to look at the camera.

violet + minnie = bff 4 eva.

tawny lions and bengal tigers and polar bears, oh my!

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 a blue macaron at bottega louie. always blue. its flavor? earl grey tea.

and in case anyone's little grinch heart needs an upsize, here's violet and jack on the seesaw.

long weekend!

we had a really fun long weekend that started with a visit from close family friends rich and sandy on friday night, a visit from auntie courtney on saturday, back-to-back 2-year-old bday parties, a family outing to the santa monica pier on a gorgeous day, and an extra vacation day for me on tuesday during which kevin and i got our taxes done (refund, yes!) and enjoyed a lunch date of shellfish and cocktails followed by coffee and ice cream. it was just a really great weekend. and thus an excuse to use the above "touchdown" photo that somehow got missed during actual football season!

actually the weekend really kicked off with valentine's day on thursday. kevin left a trail of rose petals that led straight to the couch, where we enjoyed channel surfing and chocolate in our pjs, except for the rose petals part. sweet daddy kevin also brought home a heart cookie for v.

jack turned 2 and was celebrated with the most adorable kids bday party ever, and i'm stealing a pic from lisa's blog of violet and her "best friend gak" in their most enjoyed enclosed environment since the womb.

so i've got to run and pick up the little miss, but with my last few minutes, here's the latest.

chocolate cakes at jack's and gabe's bdays! and we returned to jack's house after nap, and she ate another piece!

tons of swinging! she's obsessed with the swings these days more so than ever before.

she's gotten into building sand castles and making sand angels. tickles from dada's empty coffee cup are always good too.

she didn't want to walk out onto to the pier, so we ended up just hanging on the beach with our nutella croissant from farmshop. the love affair with ritzy pastries continues thanks to mama the enabler.

i promise to come back with actual stories next week. as for this week, the most important lesson that violet learned is that all good things must come to an end.