The Princess and the Pasta

Violet's going to be a flower girl tonight. She refers to her dress as her princess dress. OK, fine. Whatever.

Well, this little princess just tried on her shoe options for this evening. When she was satisfied with her shoe selection she ran off to show her Daddy. Whilst visiting Daddy she laid on the ground and started calling for her servants...as in, "Servant Tyrone! Servant Pablo! Servant Austin!"

These three are characters from the show Backyardigans. I tried to reinforce the message that in the episode where the "princess" was calling her servants, the lesson was that even princesses should say, "Please" and "Thank you."

Violet's response: She looked at me with a puzzled look, said, "I don't know" and then ran off.

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During lunch:
VIOLET: "What's that? Is that manicotti?"

MOMMY AND DADDY: Look at each other with a look of, "Did she just say manicotti?"

MOMMY: "Uh, yes it is."

VIOLET@ TWO YEARS: Month Five

Dearest Violet –

Let’s start this month’s recap by discussing your language skills. Basically, you’re a parrot. Which is cute a lot of the times, and terribly inconvenient to your potty mouth Mother at others. Luckily your pronunciation is still off a little, so when you exclaim “Shit!” it sounds like “Sheet!”

Who doesn’t love a good sheet?

You’re definitely in full “two-year-old” mode. Sometimes you get upset for no reason at all. We try to console you, but that often makes it worse. Not that you’re not sweet. You’re incredibly sweet and loving (unless the TV is on).

We’re now able to have complex dialogs with you and you typically drive those dialogs…unless you’re watching TV. When you watch TV you become a total zombie. We’re having a lot of difficulty in dealing with this, but I’m not going to lie, we’re not willing to discard our most convenient babysitter quite yet. We value making dinner, showering, going to the bathroom, sitting…

When we ask you a question, a lot of times you say, “I don’t know.” Then you immediately answer the question. You must have learned this from a kid at school. You don’t fully understand what you’re saying and you need to knock it off. Just answer the question.

When you don’t want to eat your dinner, which is pretty much every night, we try to find ways of tricking you into eating your food. For example, “Violet, I’m going to eat your peas if you don’t.” This used to make you upset and you would eat your peas. Two weeks ago you turned to your Daddy and I and said, “Go for it.” We’re currently working on alternate methods to get you to eat – most nights we leave your food out and when you ask for snacks, we reheat your dinner. It’s kind of a pain. Let’s quickly move past this.

The things you do and say constantly make us laugh – which makes it extremely difficult to discipline you. Last night at dinner, you were sucking ketchup off your green beans (because that was the only way we could get you to eat them) and when we told you to not only suck the ketchup, but to also eat the bean you angrily flung the bean down on the table. It was the fact that you grunted and flicked your wrist when you did it.

Unfortunately we know exactly where you get your behavior. As I’ve stated before in your monthly recaps, must you be so much like Mommy? It both embarrasses me and makes me proud to see someone display so much of my “unique” personality.

It’s difficult to watch someone act exactly like you, only to know they will also have to suffer some of the same issues in life because of it. On the flip, hopefully you’ll also see the same sorts of amazing opportunities, experiences and success. Bull-headed, outspoken people receive a really mixed bag, Violet.

I absolutely love your confidence though. May it never be shattered (in a bad way – some leveling of the head is OK and necessary).

You continue to be obsessed with birthday parties – because you want cake. When a birthday comes up in conversation, you tell everyone that your birthday is “coming soon.” Uh…we don’t know where you learned that, but OK. You also love to stack items in a pyramid and blow on them, like you’re blowing out candles on a cake. You are really obsessed with cake (Mommy again).

You got your Christmas present early. It’s a trampoline and you love it. You love to jump with Daddy and you get annoyed that Mommy will not jump with you. When I explain that I cannot jump with a baby in my belly, you get annoyed. Rut roh.

You’re becoming a string bean. In the past year you’ve grown 5.5 inches and you only weigh a couple of pounds more. You’re really losing your baby belly and turning into a little girl.

Your hair is so long, I think we might cut it.

Tonight you’re going to be a flower girl in Cousin Amy’s wedding. Fingers crossed here kid.

You continue to physically excel. You jump and run and chase and climb. This is great until we’re in a parking lot. No running in parking lots! Safety first!

Potty training has regressed to nothing. You’ve confused both your teachers and your parents. No one understands why, but we’re not going to worry about it for now.

Yesterday was an important day; we went to your elementary school, because you will most likely start their Montessori program next year. There are no words about how much we want to freak out about the fact that you are starting school next year.

Last, but certainly not least, you’re excited to become a big sister. You kiss my belly and tickle your baby brother. It’s beyond words.

You’re becoming such a big girl. Don’t forget to need Mommy and Daddy (until it’s time for you to move out and then, even, occasionally, not for money, then too) We love you Mink.

Mommy and Daddy

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Monthly updates:

• TWO YEARS: Month Four


• TWO YEARS: Month Three


• TWO YEARS: Month Two


• TWO YEARS: Month One


• Twenty-four Months


• Year Two Photo Recap


• Twenty-three Months


• Twenty-two Months


• Twenty-one Months


• Twenty Months


• Nineteen Months


• Eighteen Months


• Seventeen Months


• Sixteen Months


• Fifteen Months


• Fourteen Months


• Thirteen Months


• Twelve Months


• Year One Photo Recap


• Eleven Months


• Ten Months


• Nine Months


• Eight Months


• Seven Months


• Six Months


• Five Months


• Four Months


• Three Months


• Two Months


• One Month

Backyard Rasslin' With Adele

Caught on Camera

The elusive Chupacupbra revealed! Is it real or a hoax? Inquiring minds want to know.



Possible Bigfoot sighting:

Welcome to the Thunderdome, Baby David

Violet has been calling her trampoline enclosure her "cage." I hope she has not been talking about her "cage" at school. Well, judging from these pictures, cage may be an appropriate description. I already feel sorry for Baby David. With Violet for a big sis, he's in for a world of pain.

More Bounce to the Ounce

The Name Game

Dave and I have pretty much decided on our son’s name. And we’re hearing negative feedback, which, I’ve gotta say, is super-annoying. You see, we don’t comment when people name their kids stupid, overly-used, generic-popular-for-the-masses names, or stripper-in-the-making names, or when they add in unnecessary letters or purposefully misspell the kid's name. Sure we might comment behind their back, but never to their face.

As of now, we’re going to name our son David Lo-Pan (the tradition in Dave’s family is for the men to have matching initials – the tradition in mine is keeping the father’s name – I’ve convinced him to keep ‘David’ as the first name).

I will honestly say that this name selection started as a joke for our "boy option" when we were pregnant with Violet, because Lo-Pan is such a badass in the movie “Big Trouble in Little China,” but when we did the research, it turns out that Lo-Pan really is an ancient Chinese bad-ass. He’s also the Chinese God of architecture, building and construction. He also invented the first flying mechanism (some bamboo kite thing).

If you know Dave at all, you know that these two points alone make the name perfect for his son. Also, we both like the idea of our son having a Chinese middle name. Another “L” option is “Lin,” which is Dave’s Mom’s maiden name. We just feel as though a boy will get his ass kicked more for having the name “Lin” vs. “Lo-Pan.”

Then there’s the issue of people suggesting arbitrary “L” middle names. We don’t want to name our kid something arbitrary. That might work for you, but it does not work for us.

So, really, I’m just putting this name out there so people can start to get used to it and keeping their feedback to themselves now. I’m not even sure why people react so strongly. Did you even know that my middle name is Diane? Probably not. And if you did, I bet you didn’t really care…because it’s my middle name.

Mainly though, we’re excited to welcome little Dave to the world…oh and little Dave now has a birth date. March 8, 2010…we’re on the surgery schedule. I am officially getting a baby for my birthday (well, the day after).

P.S. Please do not ask me, “But how do you know that this baby will ‘look’ like a ‘David?’” Someone asked us this when I was prego with V and told them we planned to name Violet, ‘Violet.’ I think this is one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever been asked. Please do not ask me to explain the flawed logic of this question.

P.P.S. I’m super grumpy today. (While at the airport…) After telling one guy to “look alive” so he’d get the point that he needed to move forward, I then asked another guy to push his items onto the x-ray conveyer belt. After asking twice, I then said, “You see, it’s not magic metal. You have to actually put your items on the moving part in order for them to go forward into the machine.” He still looked confused, and then security said, “Please push your items forward.” And he said, “Oh, OK.” Then I sat on the tarmac for an hour because there was a coyote blocking the runway. On the plane, someone moved my laptop bag, which drives me up the wall, and no less than five people stuck their asses in my face. Then I finally got to lie down to take a nap at my hotel and the fire alarm went off. Gah.

Oh Christmas Tree

And yes, that is the same shirt V wore yesterday.

Christmas Came Early

We're Violet's Parents, so we decided she could have her Christmas present from us early. Rest assured, she'll get plenty of other crap on the big day.

May I present Violet's present:






In case you can't tell from the photos, it's a 7.5' trampoline with a high safety rating.
P.S. We've also decided that we're putting our Christmas decorations up early...as in tomorrow. Seeing as this is my last weekend where I'm in town and not fully committed until after Christmas...I'm dismissing societal protocols. The tree along with everything else is going up.

Violet Was Right

TBD's a boy. None of the ultrasound photos are very good, except the ones where TBD's genitalia are fully outlined...and we'll save that for TBD and TBD alone.

Names According to Violet

TBD –

Your Sister Violet now wants a brother. We’ll find out in the morning if she’s getting one. Rest assured, we’ll love you either way.

In preparation of tomorrow’s doctor’s visit, we asked Violet what she would name her brother. She quickly gave us two name options:

“Bone-G” and “Two Bandaids”

Uhhhh…I’ve seen the names of the kids in her class. We’re in tune with the TV she watches and the books she reads. Never have the names “Bone-G” or “Two Bandaids,” or anything close to them been mentioned.

Your Dad now thinks “Bone-G Two Bandaids Gould” has a nice ring to it. This is why your Dad only has partial say in your name.

Feel free to one day thank me for keeping these two lunatics out of your naming process.

Mommy

P.S. Please call me “Mommy.” Today your Sister started calling me “Mom.” I don’t like it.