Late Birthday Wishes for my sweet Vivi Lu

Violette enjoying her Birthday chocolate mousse.  Yum!

Wow Violette!  I really dropped the ball and haven't even written to you on your Birthday!  And, it's actually my Birthday today, so that's funny.  Your Birthday was on October 6th and because I've been frantically trying to dry and preserve all the fruit in our garage, as well as making apple cider, and hosting many parties, I haven't had a moment to sit down and relax!  We just had our apple cider party yesterday and now that that's done, I have some free time and I can't wait to talk about you!

Keeping warm at Lake Tahoe

Violette, you are so precious to me.  I am cherishing every moment of your beautiful little life.  You are a very lucky girl because you have never had to live with a pregnant mother and be neglected and yelled at because I wasn't feeling good or was too tired to notice all the cute little things you do.  Your brother and sisters had some difficult years with me being sleep deprived and sedentary, but you have had my attention at my full faculties your whole childhood.  You are loving it and so am I.  It's funny that when you don't have a younger sibling, you still think of your youngest as a baby.  To me, you're still a baby!  It helps that you don't say much yet, but even though you're two years old now, I still baby you and I love doing it because I'm a baby hungry kind of girl and I hope I can live with not having any more babies, so thanks for still being my baby. 

You really love Clementine

Violette, you are such a feisty little thing!  You look and act just like I imagine your father acting as a child.  Your face resembles aunt Courtney to me, who looks the most like Justin and you are an extreme sport junkie already.  You have zoomed down the driveway at a million miles an hour, smashing into the rocks on the other side of the road in a walk along car toy, you climb up and jump off really high rocks, you are a super hiker and love going on fast rides like the alpine slide and mountain coaster.  You truly have no fear.  You get attacked by our mini roosters and you never hesitate to come out to collect eggs with me and still run right up to them, provoking a fight, but usually mommy launches them with my super kick before they can get to you.  Maybe you'll be my pro mountain sport athlete!  We've got to have one in the family!

You and your sisters love eating apples!

Playing in the cat tails in St. George

Violette, you are so adored by all your siblings.  You act like the cool kid in school who everyone wants to play with but doesn't care about it.  Your siblings beg you to play with them and hug and kiss them and you usually just turn your head and say, "no", so that when you actually do interact with your brother and sisters, they really appreciate it.  Clementine puts up with so much abuse just so you'll play with her.  She lets you body slam her and tickle her and chase after her as you play monster.  They are always holding their arms out for hugs and asking for kisses and you're very selective to whom you dole them out to.  You're just a natural for leaving people wanting for more.  Clementine is usually your first choice and you rarely leave her hanging.

At the Zoo with your siblings(and cousin Colton picking his nose in the background)

Because of the fact that you can wrestle with your siblings with no consequences, you think it's okay to wrestle with anyone, including babies.  You are famous for wrestling boys a head taller than you to the ground and putting them in legitimate wrestling holds(saw it on tv once).  You do have a tendency to push kids and body slam them if they fall to the ground, but you'll say sorry and give them a hug and usually stop when you're reprimanded.  Which leads me to your best quality...

You took swimming lessons this summer and were the youngest one of them all.  You're so obedient though that they made an exception and let you in.  You really loved it!

You're so obedient!  Every time I tell the kids to get their shoes on because we're leaving, there you are finding your shoes, coat, blankie and baby and are waiting at the door to leave while the other kids haven't even budged.  I never have to ask you twice to do anything.  If you're on the table, I ask you to get off and you do it right away.  I tell you to sit in your booster seat and you do.  I tell you we're going to change your diaper, and you find another one and lay down with your legs in the air.  Many other adults at church and out in public have also noted how obedient you are and I really appreciate it! 

Butterfly face at the Park City Arts Festival

One fun thing you have just started doing is saying the prayer.  Every time I ask who wants to say the prayer, you raise your hand and say in a loud voice, "me!!"  One thing you can say is "thank you" which sounds like "Ae- yoo" so we just say a long list of thank-yous in the prayer and you just copy me.  The kids can't help but giggle at your pronunciation but you do such a great job. You also copy them while they're saying their own prayers which usually leads to an angry Clementine or a giggling Bea and Henry. 

Looks like you're going to be a pediatrician someday!

Vivi, at this stage you're kind of a picky eater(compared to the other kids).  You'll try anything and eat a little, but often you will abandon your plate and ask to be removed from your high chair only to find yourself on my lap eating the exact same food....which was mine.  You walk around the house asking for apples, and good thing we have about 10,000 apples in our garage because you take them and eat them all day long.  I frequently find apples with one bite taken out of them all over the house.  I think you got one bite of a honey crisp and you'll never go back to an old mushy golden delicious again! You love to eat seaweed snacks, eggs, soup broth, pasta, fruit, dried fruit and nuts and fruit leather and any kind of delicious steak or fish.  You still struggle with some vegetables, but as I always say, roasting tastes the best and you'll eat a roasted carrot but not a boiled one. 

You will chew a carrot up, suck the juice out and spit out the pulp...and usually choke a little during the process. 

 Even though you are quite rough and tumble, you also have a wonderful nurturing side to you.  You love babies and I watch you wrap them up, hold them and shush them all day long.  You love to push them around in strollers and pretend to be their mommy.  You love to read books, especially the ABC book we read every night.  I have read it to you every night for a month now and I've taught you all the ASL signs to all the objects and you are so amazing at doing them all!  I decided that because you have a hard time speaking I needed to teach you some more signs to build your communication skills and boost your confidence and you're really catching on and loving it! After we read your books at bedtime, I turn off the lights and you fall to sleep on top of me as I hold your tiny body and sing you to sleep. I just love how you try to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in my ear.   Justin can't figure out why I take so long to put you and your siblings to sleep, but that's my most favorite part of the day.  I love spending individual time with each of you and snuggling with you one by one.  I just love having your little head on my shoulder and feeling your breathing and you heart beating.  I am so grateful for your presence in my life.  Vivi Lu, you are such a blessing in my life and I couldn't imagine life without your fun personality and sweet smile.  I enjoy every moment we're together and I just love looking into your super light blue eyes.  You are so wonderful and I love everything about you.  Love, Mommy

You love the tire swing in the back yard

Mute Child

You can't wait to be in ballet someday! I think you'll have to wait another year though and you might be devastated. 

By now(20 months) all my other kids were talking up a storm and you are content to say just a few words and sign everything else.  I'm pretty in tune with what you want and you're really great at gesturing what you want, but you won't say much you little trouble-maker!  The only things you actually say are...
1. Dada
2. Mama
3. Owie
4. Vivi
5. Heh-rie(Henry)
6. Miao(cat noise)
7. No(but only sometimes.  She usually shakes her head for no and nods for yes)
8. B-B(for baby)
And that's pretty much it.  Clementine would say Bea all day long, but you won't even attempt it!  You're picking up a ton of signs so I guess that's great so you don't get frustrated, but we would like you to start speaking soon! 

You take after your sister, Bea and are also kind of a baby killer, Vivi.  I take you to the gym every morning and while your siblings take tennis and mommy exercises, you hang out with all the babies and you are so mean to them!  I even caught you slapping our friends' baby in the face while no one was looking, over and over while his poor little head was in your lap.  You pull hair and push the babies too.  Your sisters don't do it to you, so I'm not sure why you feel like that's appropriate.  I will attribute it to the fact that Bea had that same tendency and now she's super nurturing, so it means you're just ultra interested in babies but don't know what to do with them.  The nature in you is just coming out very intensely. 

Other than that, you're very obedient and you smile and laugh all the time.  You're really fun to be around and you have a shy personality sometimes that's really endearing.  You love everyone in our family and even when you haven't seen someone in 5 minutes you're excited to see them and give them hugs and kisses.  Henry loves you the most and he tries to hug you, but you mostly just pull his hair...but you always say sorry(sign) and give him a real hug later. 

I just gave you your first hair cut but I don't want to cut off the red.  It's turning blonde just like all the other girls and I'm sad to see the red go.  It's really streaky and thin right now and I feel like I want to give you that short A-line cut that Bea had for so many years, but I would have to shave off all your red and I just can't do it yet.  Maybe at the end of summer. 

You are still such a little baby to me and I love playing with you and snuggling with you and tickling you.  You are just such a fun little addition to our family.  We love you so much!

Vivi's shoes

Violette getting into a cupboard while wearing Justin's running shoes

 Every morning Violette protests as I change her diaper, put on a new shirt, pants, and do her hair, but when it's time to put socks and shoes on, she's all attention.While I put her socks and shoes on, she sits very still and holds each foot out until I've finished.  Vivi has a fetish with shoes more than any of my other girls.  She will find any pair of shoes and put them on and walk around for as long as she can until someone takes them away.  She is so confident in her walking ability that she even takes my step father's shoes, that are probably a size 15, and slowly tromps around their apartment.  She tried to take Justin's giant clogs that probably weigh 5 lbs each and inched along all through the kitchen.  She just loves to wear shoes and I love watching her adventures in them.