SISTER, SISTER

Happy first day of fall!!!

There's been so much to do around here, that I've neglected the blog again.  We've been busy soaking up the fresh mountain air and sunshine, but we are super looking forward to a crisp autumn this year.  We'll often just grab a quilt and go outside to blow bubbles, draw chalk masterpieces, and take in the view.  I do my best to keep Lena from eating grass, but, eh, ya know...it happens.  Both girls are growing up so fast and I'm loving this season of life with them (minus the tantrums).  They both do and say so many cute things and so much of it is forgotten, pushed out of memory by a million other new things going on.  I wanted to take a quick snapshot of their lives as they are now so someday (probably just a year or less from now) when it's nearly forgotten because pregnancies and babies and sleep deprivation and laundry piles and grocery lists turned my brain to mush, I can look back and smile at the sweetness of this chaotic life I call mine.

Violet // 2 years, 11 months

Violet is a big girl.  I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but she there's no sign of baby left and that's kinda bittersweet.  She's independent and sassy and sweet and the wheels in her little head are constantly moving.  When she finds something that intrigues her, there's no stopping the obsession. 

//Eat//
Violet's pretty good about trying new things, which makes mealtime much easier than several months back when she went through a super picky phase.  Her favorite foods are raspberries, kiwi, peanut butter mach (PB&J), green beans, sardines and crackers, and pretty much any sweet food under the sun.

//Sleep//
Naps are a thing of the distant past, which is extremely depressing because naptime was my happy hour.  However, she has FINALLY started sleeping through the night without waking.  If she does wake up, she'll crawl into bed with us for a couple of hours, which Jon and I both kinda love...minus the sideways sleeping and kicking your face part.   

//Play//
Her current "thing" is the fifty states.  Y'all.  My TWO year old can identify every friggin state.  What in the ham sandwich?  She'll be eating her lunch, take a bite of whatever and hold it up and say, "It's Wisconsin!"  And then I've gotta go Google it because I don't freaking know what Wisconsin looks like, and sure enough, she's right!   And it seems we've officially entered the terrible twos because time-outs are a regular event in the Polk household.  And it's always over the dumbest stuff like she wants to go to the library, but doesn't want to wear shoes, or because I won't let her out the house with her shirt on inside out and backwards, or because Lena looked at her, or because I insist she pick up the 10,000 Q-tips she lined up in a train all around my room, or because boogers (which I don't really blame her for this one). 

Lena // 10 months

Lena is into everything.  EVERYTHING.  She's going through the phase where she tries to eat every little speck of whatever the crap she can get her little fingers on.  Sometimes it's actually food, other times it's carpet fuzz or paper or the fist full of cat fur she just ripped off our poor cat who doesn't realize playing dead isn't working for him.

//Eat//
I'm still exclusively breastfeeding Lena.  Thankfully, nursing this time around has been much, much easier.  I don't worry about a schedule like I did with Violet, nor do I worry about my supply, which has made motherhood way less stressful.  Lena loves food though.  She'll eat anything...everything.  Sometimes she'll be in her walker in the kitchen totally preoccupied with our cat or with Violet, and she'll hear some sound like me opening a package, or the fridge, or the clink of a utensil on a plate and she'll back-up in a sprint with this look on her face like oh haaayyy, what's that you got there???

//Sleep//
  I miss sleep.  So much.  During the day, Lena is such a sweet, smiley baby.  She's always so happy.  Then darkness falls and she turns into a vampire that sucks our souls out.  But, I know it'll get better.  And she's a pretty good napper, so I can't complain about that.  One of my favorite times of the day is putting her down for her morning nap.  She goes to sleep so quickly and easily, I'm able to rock her for a few minutes and just enjoy the sweetness of a sleeping baby in my arms.    

//Play//
Lena is so close to walking.  She's taken about three steps before, but usually she takes one step and just squats like she's realized she made a big mistake.  I really thought she'd be walking by now, but who needs to walk when you can crawl at lightening speed?   She's gotta be fast to keep up with Violet.  She just adores her big sister and wants to do everything V does, which is a struggle since she can't.  It won't be long though!     

SWIMMING & BISCUITS

It's been in the upper 80s here for a while now.  I'm pretty sure we just live in an endless summer.  I mean, we were wearing shorts on Christmas Day.  And for a gal that lives for cardigan weather, well, it's heartbreaking.  

Violet's been asking to go swimming nearly every day this past week.  And just in case I happened to forget, she'll point outside and remind me, "Look, it's a pool out there!"  So this weekend, we knew we needed to take a break from our usual, lay back, and enjoy some swimming and biscuit-making!

Violet is our little sous-chef.  She loves helping in the kitchen.  When Lena's napping, we get dinner prepped and she is so proud at dinnertime.  It's the sweetest thing.  She's a talkative little chatterbox.  All day long she tells me things like every time she sees a bird in the sky, or a lizard (she calls them wizards) crawling around, or that birds eat the red berries on the bush outside with their "mouth beaks."  And there's no sweeter sound than hearing her say, "I love you."  Absolutely nothing at all.

Lena is now almost 5.5 months old.  She's scooting around all over the place, especially during diaper changes.  I think it's rude, but she thinks it's her time to shine.  She flips over so fast, pulls herself up into a crawling position and then somehow she thrusts her body forward like she's about to take-off flying. 

I love watching my two girls loving and laughing at each other.  Their sweet innocence is my daily reminder to just enjoy these little moments.  And since I finally joined the rest of the modern world in creating an Instagram account, you can better follow our adventures @thepolkfolk or you can click on the handy little Instagram icon over on the right-hand side of the blog.

TWO YEARS OLD!

Our sweet little girl turned two a couple of weeks ago.  I know they say time flies, but man, it really does. 

Since we don't really know very many people here in Texas yet, we had a super low-key birthday party the week before her birthday with just a few friends and family members.  The weekend of her actual birthday, we put a halt on all baby-prepping and house projects to make sure and really focus on Violet.  We made cookies, we went to the aquarium, played in the sandbox, had dance parties, read lots of books, and let her cover us in about six dozen stickers.  Wanna know what happens when you accidentally shower with a sticker still stuck to your pregnant belly, but you don't notice because you can't see it?  It fuses to your body.

 

Here's twenty-four things about our sweet twenty-four month old that I hope we never forget.

1. Violet still loves to hop.  A lot.  Up until recently, we'd let her jump on the sofa knowing that someday we'd have to put a stop to the fun.  Well, the fun police arrived a couple of days ago after she totally flipped over the back---luckily she didn't hurt herself!  We felt super guilty about robbing her of probably her biggest joy, so we bought her a little indoor trampoline.  I don't think Santa will ever top this gift.  We literally had to drag her from it crying to go to bed.  I don't know if that's a win or a fail. 
2. She's learning words like crazy and she's talking in simple sentences.  At this week's midwife visit, which she used to just flip out at, she came over to me while I was on the table, tapped me to pick her up, and asked the midwife, "What are you doing?"  My midwife replied, "I'm measuring the baby.  Do you want to help?" to which Violet replied, "Okay!"  When she heard the baby's heartbeat, she leaned down and hugged my belly.  Mind blown. 
3. She likes to sing, though she's pretty shy about it.  Tonight she sang herself to sleep to, "The Wheels on the Bus."
4. "No.  Okay." means no and "Okay." means yes.  Swish are fish.  Fifles are waffles.  And all rabbits are called Bobby.  
5. Her two-year molars are coming in.  For Violet that means when/if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she's up for about two hours and totally isn't interested in going back to sleep.  Reading, yep.  Playing, yep.  Sleeping though, no way Jose. 
6. We went to feed the ducks (which are sometimes called gucks) the other day and Violet was eating more than she was sharing.  I made sure to make a mental note to not bring stale bread next time.
7. Violet is so sensitive to the feelings of others.  On her birthday I got her a cookie in the shape of an owl.  She didn't want to eat its face and when its eye (just icing, mind you) fell off, she cried out, "Oh no!!!!!!" and I had to put the cookie away to calm her down.  This kid would not finish her dang cookie. 
8. I used to have the hardest time getting her to eat meat, but no problem with vegetables.  Now it's the reverse.  Unless of course, it's off of my plate.  Sometimes I wonder if I should even bother making her her own plate.  And just because she eats something for dinner one night does not mean she'll eat it for lunch another day.  There's no rhyme or reason.
9. Trader Joe's is her favorite because she gets snacks and stickers.   The snacks usually cover her and the stickers on me.
10. Stickers.  She absolutely does not place them randomly.  She groups all the stickers of one kind together or she'll start a line of them---usually down my leg.  The other day she put forty-eight (this is not an exaggeration) fish stickers on her left foot.  Just the left foot.  It literally covered her entire foot.
11. Getting dressed is a game to her.  For me, it's a challenge.  She  totally takes advantage of the fact that I'm pregnant and am moving slower.  She'll run circles around me just out of reach, while laughing.  It's diabolical.  
12. She does not ever want to take a bath.  She also does not ever want to get out of the bath.  I don't get it.
13. I think she likes to quiz us like she's the teacher and we're her students.  She'll ask, "What's that?" and when we answer correctly, she says, "Gooooood!"
14. Her new favorite book is this little miniature sized Chicken Soup with Rice, but she just calls it "Soup with Rice."
15.  At this time, it seems like she's left-handed.  
16. She likes to draw circles.  And she gets really close to the paper like she's super focused on drawing the perfect miniature circle.  
17. There's not much she won't hug, including play-doh snakes and cookie dough.
18. She can count to twenty, but thirteen is three-teen and fifteen is five-teen.
19. Violet is 2 feet and 9.5 inches tall.  So, if you're half you're height at the age of 3, she's already going to be taller than me.  A lot taller than me.
20. Her hair is finally long enough for a tiny little ponytail.  I never thought this day would come. 
21. She really loves to clap.  After hymns at church or songs at the library, she claps and says, "Yaaaayyyyy!!!"
22. Before her nap, I ask her, "Are you ready for your nap?"  If she says no, it's usually a good sign, because if she says yes, she almost never naps.  It's like she's messing with me.
23. Halloween was the first time she had candy and she went nuts for like 20 minutes.  So, it's probably also the last time she'll have candy.  
24. She's just the best little person in the world and she's brought us so much joy these past two years.  We know she'll be the sweetest big sister and best little helper around. 

23 MONTHS OLD

Violet is 23 months old, and I am in love with this age.  She is so much fun to be around, to play with, and to teach.  I love talking to her and hearing what she has to say---especially when it's pronounced like a toddler would.

With fall finally here, though here in Texas I think it's called "the second half of summer", Violet has also fallen in love with pumpkins, or as she calls them, punkins.  We end up coming home with a baby one every time we go to the grocery.  She loves to put stickers on them, line them up, say "ffoooooooouuuurrrr punkins!" and hold up her hand like she's showing four fingers.  I'm really excited to bring her to the pumpkin patch for a little birthday party in a few weeks.  She's probably going to go bonkers with excitement.

Favorite activities: Dance parties to deadmau5.  Playing in blanket forts.  Jumping on the bed, or anywhere really.  Singing her ABC's.  Drawing circles---really, itty, bitty ones.  Craft time at the library.  Wearing socks and boots (but only inside because it's still like 90 degrees here).  Going down the slide at our neighborhood park over, and over, and over, and over again.

Favorite song: Violet loves any interactive song.  Her favorites are "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Pat-a-Cake," "If You're Happy and You Know It" and she loves, loves, loves singing the ABC song.

Favorite book: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen is still a favorite.  She also seems to have fallen back in love with Bubble Bubble by Mercer Mayer and Big Sarah's Little Boots by Paulette Bourgeois.

Favorite foods: This kid is such a ridiculous eater.  It is so difficult getting her to eat meat.  I'm hoping this is normal toddler behavior.  Sometimes I'll make a plate for her and she doesn't want to eat certain foods (almost always meat), but if I pretend it came from my plate, she's asking for more!  Some current favorite foods are: boiled eggs, raspberries, pears, peanut butter, and cheese.

Favorite toys: Puzzles and stickers.  She's also likes making sandwiches (or as she called them "maches") in her play kitchen.  She's quite the little chef, too.  Of course I'd love a salmon, cheese, fried egg, pickle, jelly, and ketchup sandwich, Violet.

I should also mention (because it's kind of a big deal), Violet is napping again!  After over an entire month of no napping, I thought all was lost.  But, I kept going through the routine every day, and eventually she just started to fall back into the swing of things.  Thank God.  

And I should mention (because it's kinda the cutest thing ever), that when I tell Violet there's a baby in my belly, she says, "Awwwww," and hugs and kisses my belly.  That means there shouldn't be any sibling rivalry, right?

22 MONTHS OLD

At 22 months old, my baby girl definitely isn't a baby anymore.  She is for real talking now.  I've said before how quickly she's been picking up new words.  Now it's like warp speed.  She is learning new words lightening fast.  In a matter of a couple of weeks, her vocabulary has quadrupled.  It's nuts.

Violet has shown an eagerness to learn new words.  She hands me things to tell her what they are and then she'll try her best to repeat it.  Some of my favorite learning tools that she also loves are her alphabet puzzle, number puzzle, her bath letters and numbers, and her learning flashcards.  (Right now, she's only using the alphabet, colors and shapes, first words, and numbers decks.)

Some of her other favorite things are:

Favorite activities: Jumping all over the house.  And every time she jumps, she says, "hop! hop! hop!"  Impromptu dance parties.  She also likes to chat on her play phone.  Whoever she talks to must be pretty funny too, because she is always laughing.  And she loves to read under blanket forts, but it's even better if Neil's in there, too.

Favorite song: "The Wheels On the Bus" and I'm almost positive it's because she especially likes the part where the "people go up and down, up and down, up and down" so she has another excuse to jump.

Favorite book: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.  Violet is sorta obsessed with this book.  It gets read probably a dozen times a day, at least.  She also has a slight obsession with hats, so she really, really likes to wear a hat while reading it.  And ideally, everyone else in the room is also wearing a hat or two.  (I should mention, most things can be hats----shorts, towels, tupperware, etc., so no one has an excuse to be hatless.)

Favorite foods: Pomegranate seeds, cantaloupe, and cheese.

Favorite toys: Her puzzles, and she really enjoys coloring and stickers.

We make her sing for her supper!  Now that she's a full swing talking toddler, she's gonna have to pull her weight!

This is such a fun age...definitely my favorite so far!  I love that we can be silly with her and she is just as silly back.  It's so much fun to see how excited she gets when she's learned something new.  I hope she always has this love for life and learning.

TWENTY THINGS ABOUT MY 20 MONTH OLD

This kid.

At 20 months old, Violet definitely has a personality all her own.  She is wild and sweet and funny.

Here are twenty things about this child that makes us love her more than we ever thought we could.

1. Maybe you noticed from the picture above, my daughter is wearing a swim diaper on her head. This is her new thing.  She has a fascination with hats and all things you can put on your head and pretend is a hat, including, but not limited to hand towels, a potty training seat, underwear, and pants.
2. She doesn't like food on her face, but doesn't mind at all if it's in her hair.  All in her hair.
3. She hides behind chairs and under tables to poop.  I can confirm it by asking her...and then she runs.
4. I've mentioned before how my daughter is a monkey.  I mean it.  She uses the handles to climb up the cabinets.  Next month, she'll be scaling skyscrapers. 
5. Violet likes to look in the mirror and make faces, which then immediately cracks her up laughing. 
6. There are two foods she dances for.  Bananas and milk.  
7. I don't want to jinx myself, but Violet has been a champion at brushing her teeth these past THREE days.  Before that, it was easier brushing my cats teeth than hers.
8. Violet is an independent woman.  She likes to help put away the dishes, sit in a real chair to eat, drink out of a real cup, and eat using real utensils.  None of that baby crap.
9. She says "thank you" when she gets something, and also when she gives something.  
10. She hates cartoons, but loves the most God-awful, early 90's sing-alongs. 
11. Violet learned how to jump.  So now she jumps all over the place, including her crib when it's supposed to be bedtime.
12. I brought Violet to a gymnastics class for the first time last week and she freakin' loved it.
13.  She's finally been sleeping through the night on a regular basis.  So I guess this means I have a couple months of good sleep before it starts all over again. 
14. She is a heathen in Lowes.  Jesus take the wheel.  We don't know why.
15. I think we're within the realm of the "terrible twos" because yesterday she flipped the eff out because I pulled the wrapper all the way off the cheese stick.  
16. Whenever Violet falls down or hurts herself, she says, "Wuh happen???"
17. And anytime she drops somethings or can't do something by herself, she says, in a very dramatic tone, "OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!"
18. She likes to crumple into a ball fold clothes with me.
19. Her favorite part about our weekly trip to the grocery store is the free cookie she gets from the bakery.  She called them ookie.
20. First thing in the morning is my favorite time with her.  She's super cuddly.  She'll rest her head on me and gently put her hands on my face.  She's pretty much the sweetest little girl alive. 

18 MONTHS OLD!

It's been a while.  Things have been pretty hectic around here, so I missed Violet's seventeen month update...and she's actually eighteen and a half months old, but better late than never, right?  (Right.)

I don't even know where to start.  Violet is like a nonstop monkey.  She can climb onto the table in like 5 seconds.  Today I walked in her room and found she'd climbed into her crib.  She's like the Chuck Norris of toddlers.

Our little ball of energy is also talking.  She's learning new words at warp speed.  About a week ago she learned how to say Neil's name and after that it was nothing but "Neil" all day, every day.   The first thing in the morning, I wake up to her saying, "Neeeiiilll."  We go for a walk, she calls his name. We walk in the door, "Hiiiiii, Neil!!!!!"  In her highchair, in the bathtub---she probably says his name about 78,000 times a day.  I tried to teach her the word "oatmeal" and now she calls "Neil"  "Meil" and giggles.  I'm not sure if she knows she's saying it wrong, or if Neil just makes her laugh.  She is also an expert at identifying apples and gucks [ducks].  And these past couple days, she occasionally yells out, "Bobby!"  We don't know any Bobbies.

She hops up and down all around the house.  The girl prances everywhere.  It's like she's totally excited to be alive all day long, except nap time, and that's when all is right in the world---my world at least.  I'm literally so tired I can't even think of what else to say about her even though I know there are a million more things.

16 MONTHS OLD!

Violet is 16 months old!  How did this happen???  

Violet's personality has really bloomed this past month.  She is silly and funny.  She loves to dance, read, give kisses, and when she gives you a hug, she runs at you with the force of an NFL linebacker. I literally have to brace myself for impact.  If you're caught off guard, she will mow. you. down.  

I thought it would be fun to tell you 16 things about my 16 month old.

1. Violet's favorite books are: Love You Forever, The Foot Book, and The Beginner's Bible for Toddlers.
2. She likes to sit in boxes.  If I were trying to set a trap for this child, all I need to do it put a box on the ground and she'll climb in. 
3. She tries to be such a little helper.  She likes to fold laundry---especially the already folded laundry that's been put away.  She also likes to put things away.  I find random items in my sock drawer all the time.  In fact, if I can't find my toothbrush, that's where I look first.
4. Violet loves when it's time to brush her teeth.  She goes into the drawer and gets her toothbrush herself.  And when she's done, she puts it away, too!  
5. Her newest animal noise is a snake.  She says "ssssssssssssssssss."  
6. Before she learned what a snake says, she learned what a cow says and her "moo" was the most depressing "moo" you ever heard.  It was so cute, I saved a picture of a cow on my iPhone's lock screen because she'd say it every time she saw it.  It never got old.
7. Violet goes through these intense food phases where she cannot get enough of a certain item.  A couple months ago it is was peas.  Last month is was blueberries.  And this month it's broccoli.  One night for dinner she ate like an entire head of broccoli!  (Don't worry, she ate other foods, too.)
8. Her language is exploding.  She's constantly doing her best to imitate words we say.  Some of her words sound like she has a British accent.  Is it bad I'm not trying to correct it?
9. Speaking of language, I am finally "mama"!!!!!!  She's long since said the word, but to her everyone was "dada".  Last week I walked up to her while she was at her bookshelf, and she looked up at me and said, "Hi, Mama!"  My heart melted.
10. She can say and identify where your nose, eyes, and bellybutton are.  I'm nervously waiting for the day she pokes someone's eye out.  I mean, it's bound to happen.
11. Violet loves to go outside soo much.  She will try to escape anytime the door opens.  It doesn't matter if it's freezing or raining, or both.  
12. This kid loves to dance.  There doesn't even have to be music on.  There's music in her heart...and I'm pretty sure it's funk.  
13. Perhaps the most annoying fact about my child is that she's figured out how to take her diapers off.  It's been fun.  (And by fun, I mean not fun.)
14. My daughter is a night owl.  No matter how often I manage to get her bedtime in the 8 o'clock range, she manages to push it back every time.  Luckily daylight's savings time is coming up, which I'm hoping will help.
15. Anytime Violet "reads" a book or magazine with pictures of food, she says, "mmmmmm, mmmmmm, nom, nom, mmmmmmmm."
16. And lastly, she's finally learned how to climb onto the sofa on her own.  As soon as she figure it out, she promptly got down and practiced climbing up again.  This kid...

I'm ashamed to say I didn't meet my February goal of reading Pride and Prejudice.  I have really been enjoying the book, though!  It's even better than the movie, which is my all-time favorite.  Part of why I haven't finished is because I got March's book at the beginning of last month, The Food Baby Way by Vani Hari, and couldn't help but read some.

15 MONTHS OLD!

Milestones:

Violet is definitely understanding more of what we're saying to her.  I can tell her to go pick out a book to read and she'll go get one, whereas before I might have to point at the books while telling her.  She loves to read and with the weather warming up, I decided to take her to the library a couple of weeks ago for the first time to pick out some books.  She was totally overwhelmed with the urge to pull down all the books from all the shelves.  So, let's just say it was an adventure for both of us.  I did find out they have a storytelling time for her age group on Tuesday mornings we are going to start going to, which I'm excited about.

Violet has also figured out how to climb on some of our chairs, which is surely a milestone in her eyes.  The first time she did it, she just sat up there with the smuggest little smile.  We're definitely going to be in trouble when she can finally climb on the sofa because she literally becomes a wild animal when she's on it.  I do not understand it.

Likes:

Violet loves going outside.  She knows the word "outside" and runs to the front door and practically hangs on it.  I've always taken her for walks in her stroller when the weather is decent, but now she just wants to run and explore on her own more.

Bubble baths.  I introduced Violet to the world of bubble baths a couple weeks ago and bath time is suddenly the event of a lifetime.  Before I would have to chase her around to try peel off her clothes and now she hangs over the tub trying to get in on her own.

Dislikes:

Um, discipline.  I know Violet knows what "no" means.  I know because she tells me no.  I think this is the part of parenting when things get fun and parents of teenagers make comments like, "oh just you wait..."  At least they can take away things from their kids as punishment and they'll understand there are consequences for their actions.  With Violet there's just mutiny, I sternly say "no" or something else equally offensive in her eyes, and then she has some kind of highly dramatic, emotional display of opposition.

Life Now-a-Days:

This past week has been a rough one on the homestead.  Violet's been teething/has a cold.  I can't ever tell if it's one, the other, or if it's both and I'm just that lucky.  Thankfully the roughest patch ended a couple days ago, but her runny nose has still lingered on like an unwelcome houseguest.  She was blowing snot bubbles the size of half dollars---I kid you not.  And she was skipping naps left and right, which made kinda feel like the mayor of Crazytown for a few days there.  So as you can imagine, besides her being a mess, so was I, and the house.

On another note, I finished reading The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson.  And whoa.  If you watch the show, Longmire (which you should if you don't), then just know it's different from the episode.  At the end of the book I was both shocked and saddened.  So, I definitely recommend it if you like mysteries.  I'm going to read the rest of books in series, but next month I decided to finish reading Pride and Prejudice.  I know it might technically be cheating since I said I'd read a book a month and I already started it, but February is kinda cheating because it has fewer days.