Sunday, February 22, 2009

Catching Up...again





We have a lot to catch up on! Since Christmas, we have been busy with lots of things, sad and happy.

As you can see from these pics, Violet still loves to be in the kitchen - she 'cooks' something everyday. We had a system going for a while where she had her spices that she played with and that seemed to keep her happy but now it seems to take every messy ingredient in the kitchen to make her 'cooking' a success. She has started to wash all the vegetables for dinner - she will spend a good half an hour at the sink washing anything she can get her hands on.

Here is a picture from her first day at dance class - she LOVES it.



We celebrated the New Year with friends and Violet was the perfect party animal - stayed up past her bedtime eating junk food and dancing and collapsed in bed without any fuss when she was totally partied out. We were able to stay out past our bedtime too as she slept away in Matt and Liz's spare room until the pots and pans started banging at midnight (a west coast thing I think - everybody goes outside at midnight to bang on pots and pans and scream and shout!!??) when we bundled her up to take her home to her own bed.

Two of my pals from university came to Victoria for a visit in early January - Alicia was on one of her west coast adventures from Toronto and Renee, Jarod and Sam came to visit on their way back to White Rock from Tofino. It was a short but fun visit - the boys kindly went on a little pub crawl one night to give us girls some time on our own. Aren't they sweet :) Violet is a few months older than Sam - they are very cute together and have a lot of fun playing. She asked for baby Sam for a week after they left.



We had a lot of worry in the early days of the new year trying to get an understanding of dad's diagnosis and what it really meant. We thought we were just getting our heads around it when he was taken from us so suddenly. Everyone is doing ok I think. We miss dad terribly and worry about each other a lot. I don't think it is really real for anyone yet. Mom is coming for a visit next month which we are really looking forward to.

We had a pared down birthday for Violet this year, we were thinking of having a party for all her little friends at a rec centre but with all that we had on the go, we decided on a smaller gathering with a few people who spend the most time with Violet and would want to celebrate the day with her. Even though it was a pared down event, Violet had a fantastic time - a few friends, helium balloons and a cake totally make a party for a two year old!

Here is a link to some photos and videos from her birthday. Violets Birthday Album

Note the Elmo cake which was baked by her mother and decorated by her father - we are very proud and are already planning the cake for birthday #3... that plan involves ordering a cake from a bakery!

Here is Violet's big girl bed which she has been in for a couple of weeks now. She LOVES her bed and loves the freedom of getting up when she is ready too. We have had a lot of early mornings that started with a toddler staring us in the face - delighted to be waking us up in person.



This is Violet and her buddies TJ and Taite going for a ride in the wagon around the neighbourhood. They chatter away with each other - its very cute. This trip also included their favourite babies.


A little diddy that Violet put together for you all... You wouldn't know it from this video but her language skills have just exploded over the past weeks. Its really fun to see her experimenting with bigger, more challenging words and longer phrases. Some of her favourite things to say at the moment are... no (obviously - she is 2) but her no is usually in a phrase like 'no mommy I do it self' or 'no doggy no doggy'

A recent favourite of Jon's is 'I go upstairs wake up mommy now' (evil grin included)
A few other favs that she uses all the time are - 'no way dad', 'dink a waya (drink of water) pease', 'I done now' and of course "I wan watch (insert favourite show of the day - Elmo, A Aygo (Diego) or gabba gabba) now pease" - this one is often repeasted at increasing volume and pitch until her parents find a distraction or give in. Happily she has also started saying 'yes' instead of grunting 'em'....



Still writing... The last quick updates - we have had plans drawn up to add an extension to our house for a master suite - just finally deciding if we have to gumption to build it! Jon is doing lots of painting and really doing some beautiful work. Work is good for me - like most businesses, we have had some setbacks due to the economic times but are rallying and planning to be busy in 2009.

Love to all! (If there is still anyone out there... :)