Normally I would feel little to no guilt in posting Violets 18 mnth old stats, 3 weeks late...But she is changing so stink'n fast that I feel like she is noticeably different than 3 weeks ago! Maybe not really, but it seems like it! Her easily calculated stats are as follows:
Height: 30 1/4 inches (39%)
Weight: 21.6 lbs (11%)
Head: 46 cm (35%)
Violets nicknames: Videt, Short Stack, Baby, Independent Woman,
Violet's Favorite Things: Anything Benjamin has, her coffee pot and cups, her baby and puppy, her's and anyone else's shoes, her coat or anything with a zipper, rocking chairs, Benjamin's bubble bug, occasionally books, nail polish, nail files, make up brushes and velcro rollers, and anything else she's not supposed to have...:)
Miss Violet loves her big brother, and is very sad if Benjamin goes anywhere and leaves her at home, or if he sleeps in too long, naps too long, or dares play with anything without her involvement/direction. Just today, I thought I needed a little breather, and break from them, so I left them with Daddy and went back to our bedroom to take a breath without someone clinging onto me...and after 2 minutes the sweet sound of them laughing so hard at each coaxed me back out of my solitude and stripped away my previous state. It was one of the best noises I will probably ever hear. :)
Violet isn't a great eater, hence her 11% weight status. She likes eggs and cheese quite a bit and occasionally she'll down a piece of pizza, or gobble down two pieces of toast, but its more of a weekly activity than a daily one. She usually gets about half the amount of food on her plate than Benjamin, and eats about half of food on her downsized plate. Drinking is the same story. Today she went through two glasses of milk, but it was a rare day, as I normally have to force her to sit until she finally gets the first one down by supper. Needless to say, wet diapers are exciting to this momma!
Violet's isn't much of a book reader compared to her elder sibling, and doesn't have Dr Seuss's ABC's even close to memorized (as Benjamin did at this age) but when it comes to her vocabulary, and even her number of understandable words, she's way ahead. It's hard to say how many words she has, because I understand much more than others would, but some of her understandable words that I can remember now include:
- juice (for juice or milk) and also dnk (for drink)
- Baa, neigh, meow?, qua (for quack)
- Bah (for Boz DVD)
- kaka (for cracker)
- egg
- puppy
- dog
- sit
- inside/outside
- huh?/oh
- cheese (when seeing a camera or wanting to eat the dairy product)
- toas (for toast)
- eyes, nose, teeth, toes, hair
- baby
- bubble
- top (for stop)
- no/uhuh
- hi/bye
- wadah (for water)
- I did it, wohoo! (Yes she has a 4 word phrase, and no I'm not exaggerating)
- puzzle&noodle (they sound the same and I don't know how to even type them phonically!)
- Benin, Momma, Dadda, Nana, Papa, Hannah, Drew, Kk (for Kirk) (weak, but present - Tata for Tara, and lee for Elise)
- I eye ____ (for I Love ____ )
- Ha (for Hat) or HAha (for Cat in the Hat)
- C & Z( for the whole alphabet)
- two (for every #)
Violet's temperament is less compliant than Benjamin's. Daddy has also let me know that I tolerate quite a bit more with her than I ever did Benjamin. I am trying to fix that, but I don't think all is lost with her strong willed nature. She likes to disobey a lot, but after not doing what I ask her to, I simply have to ask again and use the phrase "obey momma", and she does so - 90% of the time. I don't think Benjamin got many second chances/pre-punishment, that second year, so we'll see how this plays out. Part of my lax attitude is the amount of joking we do with her and her brother, and the amount her brother does with her, and the amount she tries to do back to us. I guess I don't feel like its fair for her to have to guess when I'm being serious and when I'm joking, so she gets the warning phrase "obey momma" to know play time is over.
She sleeps like a rock start. Most the time. We pushed Benjamin's bed time to match Violets awhile ago, and it has worked great. Occasionally they talk before sleeping, but most the time they both just wipe out. This summer that has typically been closer to 9, vs the previous winter bed time of 8 o'clock. They sleep till about 7:20. Sometime's later, and sometimes earlier. The con of them being in the same room, is that one of them usually wakes the other one up. The pro, is that they play together, talking across the room for quite some time, before they start yelling for momma. Naps are great. usually around 2 hours. She went through about a 6? week phase. If Daddy was gone, mom could put her to sleep. If Daddy was home, and momma tried to put her to sleep, she would cry until daddy came in picked her up, and held her for a minute. She seems to have worked herself out of it, unless we're in a new place, which happens every weekend :)
Speaking of traveling Violet has done a really good job being hauled across the state/mid-west. We're about 1/3 of the way through our summer adventures, so I hope she keeps it up! She is such a joy, even when its joyfully tired! Now I just hope I start to keep better picture records for the rest of it! Here are some of our small stash of photo's of our many trips thus far:
