Totally Tubular

Since Violet had 5 ear infections in less than 6 months (4 since November), she got to have tubes put in her ears this morning. She and I got to Riverton Hospital at 7:00, surgery was at 8, and we were home by 9:15. Everything went really well and every person who encountered her at the hospital had to comment on how cute she was. While we waited for the nurse to take her back for the surgery, a child life specialist hung out with us and brought toys for Violet to play with. The only time she got mad was when they weighed her. After they were done getting her vitals, she got to play and really warmed up to the child life specialist, dancing for her and giving her a hug at one point.

Waiting for surgery
She had to remove her binky so that she could "read" the book to me.

Then when the nurse came to take her away, she didn't even cry. A half hour later, they brought her back to me all groggy and sleepy. We snuggled for a while before I made her wake up and get dressed so we could get home and send Dave to work.

The doctor (the father of one of my good friends from Price) said that she really needed the tubes. Her ears were full of fluid that was not draining, so they would've kept getting infected a few days after every round of antibiotics. We have high hopes that the tubes will help her finally start sleeping through the night consistently.

11 Months Old!

Violet is 11 months old today! In celebration of this event, Violet took her first step! She also got an ear infection… again. Since she has now had 4 ear infections in 5 months, she gets to have tubes put in. That will probably be happening in the next couple of weeks.

Besides being a lousy sleeper (hopefully because of the ear infections), Violet is a very happy girl. Some of her new favorite things are driving toy cars around the house (with sound effects), spinning in circles, hanging upside down, and trying to figure out how to use the remote control. She still doesn't have any teeth, but one is threatening to pop through at any moment. I maintain hope that it will come through by Christmas. She is becoming very curious. She loves exploring the house and getting into everything that she should not get into. She has discovered the one cabinet in our kitchen that is not locked and loves to bang it open and closed. She dives into the toy box trying to reach stuff in the very bottom. She removes movies from our drawers daily and throws them all over the living room. She has what I call "gate radar" because she always knows when the gate is not in place at the bottom of the stairs and makes a break for it. And she has been trying to figure out how to climb on Eddie's bed. Luckily she hasn't succeeded yet.

She is also becoming quite the chatterbox. Here are some of the words she says that we've been able to identify so far:

Eddie

I think that "Eddie" was Violet's first real word. Usually the only times I hear her say it is when we go into Eddie's bedroom or when we get into the car and Eddie is not with us and she sees his empty seat. Apparently she knows where Eddie belongs.

Dada

Violet's babbling always sounded like, "da da da," but I think that "Dada" was among her very first words. Ever since our Portland trip, Violet is not so anti-Daddy as she used to be. She gets very excited when he gets home in the evenings.

Mama

The only times I have heard Violet say "Mama" are when she has been in some sort of anguish. The first time, she was trapped under one of the drawers on our entertainment center. The next time, she was being prodded by the doctor. She doesn't say it very often.

Uh-oh

This is probably her most frequently used word, which I posted about a few weeks ago.

Batman

Yes, as mentioned in the previous post, Violet says "Batman." The first time I heard it, I thought she said "Mama," but the more she said it, the more I could tell the difference.

What's that?

Violet says "sat?" when she makes her surprised face. I am sure she got this from me and Eddie because every time we hear any sort of noise, we always make funny surprised faces and say "what was that?!"

Good girl

When Violet follows verbal instructions (i.e., come down the stairs or sit down in the tub), I say "good girl!" Now when I say it, Violet responds with "goo ga!"

Dance dance

Violet loves music and will dance to any sort of beat. There is a little segment between shows on PDS Kids called Dash's Dance Party which Eddie always sings along to. That got me started on singing the Dance Party song every time Violet dances, so now she sings it, too. She also sings along with The Cat In the Hat song, "go go go go!"

Little Weirdos

Our kids are weird. Really, they never had a chance to turn out normal. I just didn't expect the weirdness to exhibit itself so early in their lives. I have said many times that we are raising Eddie to be a nerd. Here is proof (as if proof was needed):

Eddie is frozen in carbonite

Since the rest of us are nerds, Violet has a very slim chance at normalcy. She already says "Batman," and has always loved playing with R2D2 and C3PO. Her newest quirk is her surprised face. On Tuesday, she woke up from her nap and started being surprised about everything.

Violet is surprised

It took many tries to get this face in a photo because when she gasps and makes this face, she also shakes her head around and whispers "zat! zat!"

Ten Months

Violet is 10 months old today! She amazes me with how quickly she learns new things. Just this week, she started standing up by herself (without needing to hold onto something to pull up). There's not much point to it since she just stands there for a minute, then sits back down, but I guess it is a step on her way to walking. It is one step that Eddie skipped, so it was a bit unexpected. I really think she could start walking any day she decides to, but she hasn't tried yet. She did learn how to come down the stairs backwards, so she doesn't fall down them as often. She loves to go up and down over and over, stopping at the bottom to clap for herself. Violet has started saying several words including hi, Eddie, uh-oh, Momma, and Dada.

Violet is turning into quite the little weirdo. She still loves hair so much that it is ridiculous. She has now figured out that she has hair on her head she can hold onto, too. So when she's sleepy, she'll hold whatever hair is nearest. She also holds things on her nose when she's tired. It started with hair, but has extended to other items as well. My favorite was when she held a bag of salad on her face while we were grocery shopping last week. She has also been known to hold chunks of food on her nose if she gets tired while eating.

In Violet's opinion, it doesn't get much better than this.

Violet also loves fuzzy things. She loves our touchy-feely Puppies book. We took it with us on our plane ride to Portland and Violet sat there, running her fingers through the puppy's hair, groaning loudly. When she does this, she gets zoned out and groans louder and louder until one of us can break her trance.

Violet loves to play peek-a-boo. She often lifts her shirt to hide behind it. And she occasionally entertains Eddie in the car with a good game of peek-a-boo. She likes playing with our phones, too. She will hold the phone on my face while I say "hello" over and over again.

Violet is still a Momma's girl, but has started to like Dave more since our Oregon trip. Apparently she figured out that he's not just some guy who comes to our house for a couple hours every day. She still seems to prefer me at night, though, which is something I am trying to break her of. I now refuse to nurse her at night and have cut her down to 3 nursing sessions per day after she got a little too aggressive about getting the goods in the middle of the night. Once she started trying to remove my clothes, I put my foot down!

The Ice Age

After meaning to use some discount passes to the Ogden Dinosaur Park for months, we figured last weekend would be one of our last chances to go before winter hit. But large snowflakes started falling as we crossed into Davis County. In no time a full blown blizzard was raging, but still we pressed on.

Luckily, once we got to Northern Ogden, the snow had slowed to a gentle flurry. It certainly was a strange juxtaposition seeing all the dinosaurs and their surroundings dusted with snow—almost as if the ice age was just descending upon them.

Eddie does a pretty convincing T-Rex impression.

Violet is so rosy and plump, she would make the perfect afternoon snack for a hungry dino.

It actually turned out to be quite lovely having the park all to ourselves as fall and winter collided.

Nine Months Old

Violet is now 9 months old! Eddie and I took her in for her check-up this afternoon. We have all been sick for over a week now (and Violet has an ear infection), so I think that her weight isn't as high as it would've been under normal circumstances, but she still weighed in at 19.9 pounds (71st percentile). She is 28.74 inches tall (87th percentile). Here's some fun stuff about Violet:

Favorites

Eating Out

When Eddie was a baby, he would get totally overstimulated by restaurants, but eating out with Violet is hilarious. She sits in the high chair, dancing like crazy to whatever music is playing, smiling at everyone, and eating everything we put in front of her.

Eyes

Violet loves eyes. She likes to poke the eyes on all her dolls. And if a doll has the type of eyes that close when the doll lays down, those eyes will entertain Violet for a long time. She also likes people's eyes, but we try not to let her play with that kind.

Outlets

We have had most of the outlets in our house covered since Eddie was a baby, and he never really showed any interest in them. Violet, however, finds all the uncovered ones and tries to stick her little fingers in them. Once I can find the rest of our outlet covers, Violet's efforts to electrocute herself will be thwarted for good.

Bathrooms

Violet loves to explore the bathroom at every opportunity. Luckily, we have been able to train Eddie to close the bathroom door most of the time. Every once in a while when things get too quiet, I find Violet in the dark bathroom, patting the stepping stool. She has not yet discovered the wonder of the toilet and I hope it stays that way for a few more months.

New Things

"Momma!"

Yes, Violet said, "Momma" for the very first time this last week. That is the only time I have ever heard her say it. She doesn't even babble "ma ma ma," so that makes me think she said it intentionally. She loves to crawl over to the drawers under our TV and pull out the bottom one. She had pulled it out, but got herself wedged underneath it, so she looked up at me with an anguished look and said, "MOMMA!" It was a lovely word to hear.

"Uh-oh!"

Violet has started to say uh-oh when she "drops" things. When we think she is ready for a nap, we take her into her room, put in her binky, and hand her Dora doll to her. If she is ready to lay down, she will quickly place Dora's hair against her face and lay down without a struggle. If she doesn't want to lay down, she will throw Dora on the floor, then remove her binky and throw that, too. So then I will rock her while she continues to throw the binky and the doll until she gives up. Now when she drops one of them from the rocker, she has to peer over the side at it and say "uh-uh," and continue to look at it until I pick it up so she can drop it again.

Stairs

Violet learned to climb the stairs. Luckily, she started doing this the day after we brought home a gate for the bottom of the stairs. Now her favorite place to play is on the landing, holding onto the gate. Unfortunately, she doesn't understand how to come back down, so she has fallen down a few times and gotten a few bruises. She can no longer be left in the living room alone.

Real Food

We have almost given up on baby food and instead, just feed Violet whatever we are eating. Since she has no teeth, it's a bit complicated, but she eats a lot of bananas and bread. She also likes cheese and grapes. Most meals, she eats more than Eddie does, but that's not really saying much.

Preview of Coming Attractions

I have been getting really excited about Eddie & Violet's Halloween costumes. Eddie is going to be Sheriff Woody and Violet is going to be Little Bo Peep. Eddie's costume has been relatively simple to piece together since he already has boots and a vest (seen here). So all we had to do for him was buy a shirt, a hat, a holster, and a badge.

Violet's costume is a little more complicated. Lucky for us, I found a pink & white polka dot princess costume at Kid-to-Kid. With a few alterations, it is going to work great. The biggest issue was making her bonnet, which I completed today. I was planning to make it solid pink, but then I decided to add a little lacy embellishment that was cut from the sleeves of the dress. I think the final product turned out pretty cute.

Now we just have to figure out how to keep it on her head.

Our Kiddos

Our kids are really cute... most of the time. We have had some fun times over the past week or so. Check it out:

Eddie went on a pony ride at the Thanksgiving Point Farm. He wore his cowboy boots and his Woody vest and insisted that I not walk alongside him the whole time.

I think that pretty soon Violet will be as big as Eddie is. Then he'll get a little taste of his own medicine. For now, Violet adores her brother.

Violet is such a dainty little girl. She holds her hands out like that a lot. I am excited that the weather was finally cool enough yesterday and today for her to wear some of her long sleeve shirts before she grows out of them.

Yesterday, the kids and I took a walk and arrived home just as it started pouring rain. Eddie said he had to get in his cave to be safe from the thunder and the rain.

Violet puts up with a lot from Eddie.

Too Fast

I think as the parent of more than one child, it is impossible to not compare the kids in some respects. While Eddie had low muscle tone and gross motor delays, Violet definitely does not. Since we went through physical therapy with Eddie and he didn't crawl until 11 months and didn't walk until 14 months, we had plenty of time to prepare ourselves for it.

Violet, on the other hand, is giving us no time. She is just ready to go. It has only been a week since we lowered the crib mattress one notch after she learned to sit up by herself. Then yesterday, she surprised us all by learning to pull herself to standing. Since then, we have found her standing in her crib several times, so we had to lower the mattress the rest of the way today so she wouldn't fall out. She hasn't quite figured out how to pull herself up on all the furniture (where she can't get a good grip), but keeps trying to stand unsupported. It won't be long before she starts climbing the stairs and walking, which is a little scary.

Trying to climb into the tub with Eddie

I also suspect that Violet is starting to learn some words. I think that she sometimes says "Eddie," but nobody else has heard it, so I could just be hearing things. She also says "Dada" a lot, and when asked "Where's Dada?" she will look at Dave.  But I'm not sure if she only says it in reference to him. Seriously, she is growing up way too fast.

Sitting & Sleeping

Over the last week, Violet learned to sit up on her own! I went in to get her up from her nap last Tuesday and she was sitting in her crib with a big smile. Since then she has practiced a lot and is becoming more and more mobile by the day. She likes to get onto her hands and knees and bounce, and we suspect she will start crawling soon.


We also started sleep training last week. I had just started reading Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber and the very first example he gave described our problems with Violet perfectly. Apparently she had some less than ideal sleep associations we needed to break, like being held by her momma in order to get to sleep. So we are working on teaching her to fall asleep on her own. The first night, she cried for 25 minutes before going to sleep. The second night, she only cried for 7 minutes. Some nights she'll go to sleep without crying at all. One of the other associations we had to break was how she liked to hold my hair while she fell asleep. We found her a small doll with yarn hair to replace me and now she sleeps holding Dora's hair. And when she wakes up in the night, we just give her Dora, pull her blanket back up, and she generally goes back to sleep on her own. I was amazed at how quickly her sleep improved, which makes life easier for all the rest of us, too.