Baby Flashdance

Baby Flashdance from amber on Vimeo.
Violet was Baby Flashdance for Halloween. I am inordinately pleased with this, considering I can't watch this video without snickering to myself. Your enjoyment mileage may vary.

Violet. My girl.
She's SUCH the drama queen. The highs with her are unbelievably, giddily high, and the lows are oh so teeth-grindingly low. I honestly think much of it is tied to teething. She recently cut four top and bottom molars and it took FOREVER and I think I can say that she spent the vast majority of that forever in a state of duress. Crying inconsolably when I left the room, or if she ran out of milk in her cup, or if I didn't immediately comply with her constant demands for CACKUH (cracker).

But then. The clouds parted and the sun shined through and the angels did come from on high and my beautiful daughter had the sweet personality to match. That has been going on for about a week now and she is this glorious beacon of gloriousness. There is no hyperbole that fits her sweet side.

She squeals with joy when she sees me or her father. It's an actual spasm of joy; her entire face smiles, she flails her arms and lets loose a high-pitched laugh/squeal that is absolutely infectious.

She sings to herself and sings along to her favorite songs. She particularly loves "People C'mon" by Delta Spirit, pretty much anything by Thao ("Bag of Hammers," "Violet," "Travel" and "We Go" are her favorites) and many Backyardigans tracks (but mostly "WIOWA" and "We are Badbots").

When I sing to her, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands," she claps along.

Madeleine is her favorite person in the world, maybe even more than me. She almost always wakes up from her nap before Mad does. When Mad does wake up from her nap, I'll ask her, "Do you want to go get Madeleine?" and Violet will do that happy joy-spasm she does and say, "Na na na" which is her melodic way of saying "Madeleine." When we walk into Mad's room, Violet breaks into a huge smile and says, "Hi!" in her sweet, clear, happy voice.

And the biggest deal of all: she is FINALLY figuring out how to walk! Late last week, she was standing at the bathtub, getting ready for me to put her inside for her bath. I was standing just to the side of her. I said, "Come here, Violet," and held my hands out - she just turned, let go of the tub, and took two steps to get to me. Then, a few days later at my mom's house, she took three steps from the coffee table to me. Of course, my back was to her so I didn't see it.

That's the thing with Violet. I think if she gets the slightest indication that we are expecting something of her, she'll dial it back. She's this stubborn, willful, very focused little girl who just very much seems to be on her own agenda. With everything.

That means every day is a challenge, and every day is full of surprises. Some of them are....UGH, ARGH, PLEASE SEND HELP, DROWNING. But many are the sweetest, most wonderful bits of moments that just.....she's enchanting.

Attack of the Babies from amber on Vimeo.
Oh, man.
My favorite things about this video:
1. The way Violet's expression pretty much whole the time is "Don't mess with me; I will CUT you."
2. The way Madeleine the whole time thinks it's a bunch of fun; little does she know her sister's intent to bring me DOWN.
3. I think you can tell pretty easily from this video why we call Violet The Menace.

What We've Been Up To

What We've Been Up To from amber on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Little V!

I told myself I'd post on Violet's birthday today if it KILLED me, and look at this: 11:19 and I am just getting to it. Part of the reason is that I was making another one year video. It's better than the other one. I feel quite sure of this.

Also I am late posting anything because there is no time left in the world; my life sucked it all up. I'm sorry if that's inconvenienced you in any way.

Violet One Year from amber on Vimeo.
I believe the video conveys all the mushy-gushy feelings I have about this birthday, but it does not convey some of the vital stats:

- FINALLY CRAWLING (okay, there is some of this in the video.) She started at the end of her 10th month and now she is quite good at it, also at pulling herself up to her knees and getting into everything she possibly can.
- She just cut her 7th tooth. It should also be noted, if I haven't noted it already, that she cut her top teeth out of traditional order: her fangs came in first, and lo, it was funny to me.
- Still a blue-eyed little girl, despite the fact that neither of her parents has blue eyes. We are smitten with them.
- She is still as demanding and cuddly as she ever was.
- She appears to be transitioning to one nap. WHY GOD WHY?
- Her check-up is Thursday, but I believe that we will learn she is tall and hefty. My guess is that she weighs around 20 pounds. Though everyone looks at her and seems to think she is a porker of a baby, she is still wearing 6 to 12 month clothes and some 12 to 18 month clothes. Anything bigger swallows her. I think people must think that she is so big because of those massive cheeks and delicious, chunky thighs.
- She does adorable little dances where she bops her whole body up and down.
- I swear she tries to sing her favorite songs, including "New Soul" by Yael Naim.
- I love her so much I can hardly stand it, and am often threatening to squeeze her so hard that her head will pop. I don't really think I'd do that, but you can never can tell.

Okay, and also, there were these at her birthday:

Watch out! Army of Violet is gonna getchoo!

Turning one soon!

One year from amber on Vimeo.
Maybe I will change this if anything exciting happens before her actual birthday.
(song: "Butterfly Nets," by Bishop Allen)

I got this smile from Violet by singing the Wonder Pets song to her. Never fails.