The Luckiest

Violet is changing so fast these days, it takes my breath away. Just look at her!

Stealing my heart on a daily basis.

Remember when she had no teeth? Well, look at that mouthful now!

I finally resigned myself to the fact that cold weather is here to stay, and Matt and I made a Walmart run while the grandmas were in town so we could stock up on every five dollar pair of 2T pants we could find. Violet has totally outgrown her wardrobe and it is time to accept the fact that she's officially moved up. She is getting so big.

Speaking of the grandmas, they came and played on Saturday, and Violet boo-hooed the saddest tears when it was time for them to leave. I casually mentioned that they were going to go home and the floodgates opened. It took an episode of Elmo to get her calmed down, and every day since then she's announced to me (about 47 times in a row) that Moo-Moo went bye-bye. (We're pretty sure she calls both her Mimi and Grandma by the oh-so-affectionate "Moo-Moo".)

I was reading an article the other day about the little milestones we forget about until they've passed. Sure, we all document the biggies - first smile, first step, first word. But now that we've hit the majors, I'm starting to get wistful about the tiny ones. Violet used to have the sweetest affirmative "yeh?" when we'd ask a question. Now her answer comes out all big-girl and definitive - "yash". We used to play this game where we'd tell her to "go crazy!" and she's shake and head-bang away. Well, I asked her the other day and she looked at me like I was the crazy one. Sigh.

On the other hand, Violet gets more fun by the day. Call me biased, but she's pretty darn awesome as kids go. She talks constantly and gets frustrated with me when I can't quite figure out what she's saying. She figures things out so quickly - show her once and she's off to the races. The things that amaze me most are the ones she comes home with. We taught her that a monkey says "ah-ah-ah" months ago. But the other day when I asked, she busted out with "ah-ah-oo-oo" complete with tickling the armpits (the universal sign for monkey, in case you didn't know). I certainly didn't teach her that! She's learning amazing things. (Okay, the monkey thing doesn't sound that cool, but imagine if your kid did something you'd never seen before that you obviously never taught them. Wow!)

Violet loves books. We can't get her to bed without a ten minute pit stop by the bookshelf. She's growing into her wooden puzzles and other toys that she wasn't quite ready for a few months ago. Both Matt and I agree that we've hit a really fun stage (minus the terrible two's temper tantrums Violet has also learned). And we know we've been blessed with a happy, smart, beautiful little girl.

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am
The luckiest

- Ben Folds