Violet Pasta-Hands

Good and Tired

Are you guys good and tired after the weekend? I am. So is Violet, if this picture is any indication. The other day we were playing outside, running through the mini water park constructed with the neighbor's hose and our splash pool. Violet was having a grand old time, so much so that she zoomed right past her usual lunch and naptime. I decided to take a chance and get some lunch in her before putting her down. Well, I was happily sucking down my leftovers and Violet was contentedly eating her hummus and grapes. Finally it struck me that she was being awfully quiet. No food had been flung on the floor, no "more" had been uttered. So I look up... and find Violet practically asleep in her chair, lunch smeared all over her face as she wearily rubbed her eyes. Needless to say, she napped well that day!

Speaking of sleeping, I had an attack of insomnia Friday night. That. Sucked. My condolences to anyone suffering from it. I don't know if it was the migraine medicine (which contains caffeine but has never affected me in the past) I took right before bed or what, but I watched the clock slowly tick from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. And each hour that passed found me thinking, dumbfounded, surely I won't be awake until 2... surely I'll be asleep before 3... I tried sleeping on my stomach, my side, my back... I made Matt switch sides of the bed... I tried the couch... I threw in the towel and watched tv... I went back to bed, thinking, surely this time...

Saturday we attended the wedding of a girl I teach with. It ended up being a beautiful affair, held in a rustic barn not too far from where we live. I say ended up, because the wedding started with a crazy thunderstorm that had all of us a little nervous. The ceremony was under a lakeside covered patio, and at one point the wind blew about 50 chairs across the floor and the arch the couple was due to say vows under tumbled to the ground. Then a huge tree by the lake came crashing down. It was pretty wild. But things calmed down as the ceremony got underway, by the end the birds were all singing, and the evening ended with the most spectacular sunset. A good omen for the happy couple, I think. Plus it was a blast seeing my first grade team. Not even my lack of sleep kept me from hitting the dance floor and partying the night away!

Aren't we pretty?! (Thanks for the photo Katie!)

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day. Matt's parent came up to babysit and spent the night, so we all had brunch the next morning. Then we spent a lazy rest of the afternoon. I bought Matt three ties (in hopes that he likes at least one of them!) and the three of us ate a low-key dinner together. Altogether, not a bad weekend! Tiring, yes, but good all the same.

While Daddy's Away

Matt was out of town on business this week, so to break up the boredom, Violet and I headed south to visit with the grandparents. Single parenting is tough, ya'll. I have all the respect in the world for those who do it. At the end of each day, I was exhausted, but I stayed up an hour or two despite my desperate need for sleep because it was the only time all day that I had to myself. To shower. To watch something other than Sesame Street. To think.

Anyway, enough about me. One of the highlights of our little trip was meeting baby Jackson, first child of our good friends, Brian and Kelly. He is a munchkin! Seeing him in all his four-month-old glory, it is hard to imagine Violet was ever that small. As sweet as babies are, wow are they vastly more interesting as they get older. It really makes me appreciate Violet's age all the more. I am loving this stage in her development!

Such a cougar!

It was also great talking to a fellow new mom. Kelly is the first of our group to have kids after us, and it was so refreshing to have someone to swap war stories with. It's a relief to know I'm not the only one who experienced some of the new mom thoughts and feelings. Plus it's just nice to see friends and have adult conversations for once! There's only so many times I can sing Itsy Bitsy Spider without wanting to poke my eye out.


Next we had some pool time at Grandma's house. The grandmas brought  up a little splash pool for Violet to play with at our house, but she didn't really seem to love getting in like I thought she would. But she loves her ducky bathtub and totally understands how to sit and splash in it. So it has become our new backyard pool. That's not too redneck, is it?


Other only-in-Peachtree City activities included the requisite golf cart ride that Violet enjoyed perhaps a little too much. First she decided she wanted to drive. Then she decided she was just going to move in and live in the golf cart in the garage. Finally I managed to get her back to Mimi's house, only to have her drag me by the hand through the yard and across the street before I realized she was beelining it for the neighbor's cart. Girlfriend was brokenhearted when I had to explain we couldn't get in the golf cart, that the strangers across the road probably wouldn't appreciate her taking such brash ownership of it.

Only ten years and counting before she's allowed to drive one!

One morning we took a stroll to Lake Peachtree to hang out with the ducks. Don't I come from a beautiful part of the world?

"Dut!"

Lake Peachtree

Finally it was time to head back north, but not without a final meal. I've discovered that Violet loves corn on the cob. Can't you tell?

Can't think of a caption hilarious enough to capture her expression... Feel free to contribute!

Speaking Up

Well, the lazy days of summer are upon us. I've been doing my best to keep Violet busy, and she's been doing her best to keep my attention on her 99 percent of the time. So far I'd say she's winning.

Violet meets a kitten for the first time. She is still a bit unclear on the meaning of "soft hands". No animals were harmed.

It is amazing to me how quickly Violet is growing and changing. Every day brings a new, surprising discovery about what she has learned. For instance, I was singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to her the other day, and all of a sudden she started doing the spider motion! I guess she learned it in daycare. But even more, when we read a book together and came to the picture of the spider, she started doing the song motions. She totally connected the two. It's that kind of stuff that gets me - seeing her building those connections.

She's also learned quite a few words over the last week or two. Top three are: cheese, milk, juice. (Sensing a trend?) In fact, opening the refrigerator door is done at your own peril, since it is always accompanied by a little monkey hollering for "yoose!" (juice) and pitching a rather impressive fit if the beverage is not rapidly delivered. At least she's also learning the sign for "please" and is always good about enthusiastically signing "thank you" if I remind her.

Two other vocabulary words added lately are "stuck" and "hot". Violet was hanging out in the neighbor's playset the other day while I stood by talking when all of a sudden I was interrupted by cries of "tut! tut!" I had no idea what Violet was talking about until I finally turned to her and realized her foot was stuck between the fort and the slide. Smart girl. The "hot" thing is a little more complicated. She calls our coffee mugs "hot," for indeed they are. But lately she's been asking if everything is hot, from her food to the playground equipment. To be fair, the slides and swings sometimes do get pretty steamy under our fair Georgia sun. And true, sometimes food straight from the pot to plate is a little warm to the touch. But more and more I'm having to convince my little friend that "it's not hot, you can eat it... you can touch it... it's not hot".

And since Violet is doing so much growing and changing, I decided it was time for our house to do a little accommodating. I've decided to turn our sunroom, previously the room we eat in off the kitchen, into Violet's playroom. There is no way I'm going to get her to play in our bonus room upstairs all by herself, especially since the room is rapidly looking like we're auditioning for Hoarders: Buried Alive. Instead, I think we'll have a better chance of getting Noodlehead to play independently if she's more conveniently located in the middle of all the action (read: within eyeshot of mommy at all times). It's still a work in progress, but at least we have some new storage to hold the migration of all her toys from the living room. That's right, we are reclaiming our house! Ideally, a cute rug, some beanbags or other seating, and a tv/dvd set up will follow. We'll need to downgrade the size our our table and put up some kid-friendly artwork (Ikea, I hear your siren song!) to make it complete, but I think we have a good start.

Exploring the new playroom. Also, cutest outfit ever, a la Costco!

All Dressed Up

In all the riding in cars with boys Violet has been doing lately, I totally forgot to share pictures from our recent date night!

It's wedding season, and this past Saturday Matt and I were off to see my pal Jody get hitched. I had a flirty new dress for the occasion, my man got himself a new suit, and Mimi was on hand to take care of Violet. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Mimi introduced Violet to the wonders of the purse. I think Violet is going to want her own now! (As long as it comes with a set of credit cards, that is!)

Girls' night in!

Walking a mile in Daddy's shoes.

Heading out on the town. (You would not believe how many times we had to take this photo before we got one without Noodlehead in it. Girlfriend wanted her share of the spotlight!)

The morning after. Violet looks more rough than Matt! It was that one last glass of milk that put her over the edge, I guess.

Both Hands on the Wheel

No shoes, no service...

I took Violet to Publix the other day and for the first time let her ride in one of the fancy car carts. She loved it. And she expressed this new-found joy at the top of her lungs, all around the store.

We might be sticking to regular grocery carts from now on.

Love Bug

Finally, a car! I've always wanted to ride in one of these things! Now, if only I had a driver...

Ah ha! A willing chauffeur! He's so safety conscious, fastening his seatbelt and everything. And he's so cute!

Think he'll notice if I do the fake yawn, arm around him move?

The open road! Let's run away together! We've almost made it!

That's right, buddy, step on it!

Car trouble, sigh.  And there he goes, tinkering under the hood with his plastic shovel, thinking he can fix things. Call AAA already, I'm late for snack time! Such a typical guy, sheesh.