Violet at 2 1/2

Here's Violet at 2 1/2, doing a little light reading after breakfast.

Yep, you read that right. Violet the toddler is swiftly heading toward her third birthday. 

She remains very affectionate, generally speaking, especially to the cats. Violet usually confuses their names, but she loves giving them full-body hugs and neck squeezes.  

She's still a cuddler with us, too, and loves crawling into our bed on weekend mornings.

Here, Violet's helping Stace with the gardening, in her most natural state. Violet's been spending a lot of time naked at home, or at least clad in only a top, as we slowly work on potty-training.

It's been slower-going than I expected and had hoped, but no matter. She knows how to use the toilet, and she simply needs to get better about telling us when she needs to go, rather than only heading to the potty when we direct her to.

Here, Violet was in need of a diaper change, and ran ahead into her room to get ready. In her haste, she knocked the changing mat off the dresser, silly girl.

So, what is Violet like at 2 1/2? She definitely is two; she cries and whines more than she used to, and she'll be overly aggressive on the playground or with her sister.
She talks all the time, asking good questions and making good observations. "The big-girl swing is probably cold," she told me the other morning at the park.

She likes to make us laugh, by singing, talking in silly gibberish, tickling us and dancing. Her smile and joy are infectious, and I love having her with me most of the day, every day.
She wakes up around 7:30 most days, naps for 90 minutes to two hours in the afternoons, and is in bed around 8 most nights.

Violet really loves Miss Diane's class, and talks about going most days, even though class is only once a week.

In this photo a few weeks ago, she was painting a ghost, a ghost she then grew frightened of. She wanted to take the ghost with her on the playground, I think so she could keep an eye on it. She talked about it all day, saying she didn't like the ghost and she was scared of it. 

The next week focused on pumpkin art, and she was openly relieved. "No ghosts," she said approvingly after Diane showed us the projects.