Sweet Violet

Our beautiful almost-2-year-old 

 

Violet Mae seems more and more like a "two" every day. 

Not in a "terrible" way, but she seems so much older, more mature, more capable, more talkative.

 

Violet has quite a sweet tooth! Here, she enjoys a cupcake for my friend Christine's baby shower Friday. Christine owns Stroller Strides, and her firstborn Ezra is a day younger than Vi. She'll be having her second son soon.

"Can I help?" is a frequent Violetism. She hears Cora ask the question and get jobs to do, and she wants to help, too. Yesterday, for instance, both girls washed down the table legs, chairs and windowsills.

Here, Cora had completed her silverware chore and I hadn't yet put the caddy back into the dishwasher. Violet climbed onto the chair and "helped" by filling it back up. 

Violet likes to climb.  

This is from our Mom2Mom playdate today at Burger King. Violet kept pushing the high chair around to use it as a stool, since climbing into it was no trouble at all.

 Even this shows the effect of Violet's climbing. Stace was working in the garage, so we put the playpen in with him. Violet later climbed out and strapped herself into her stroller. She likes climbing, and she likes straps.

Here she is at Juliana's, when she climbed into Natalia's stroller. 

 

 Our cuddler - Violet still enjoys snuggling! "Hold you, hold you," she'll say. We'd love to, Violet, love to hold you and keep you our little snuggler forever!

The past week

What have we been up to lately? Normal life...

Here the girls are playing together with the princess Duplo/Lego set. Cora and Violet often play together, and though that means plenty of yelling, they play happily quite often, too.






Cora also likes to be in charge of Violet while they play, and help her with eveything. It's great, like when Cora read to Violet at bedtime.

 On Tuesday, Genia and I registered Johnny and Cora for kindergarten. It can take a while and it's easier to not have little ones with you while you wait, so we switched off with the kids. I had them all at the park until it was time for Violet to nap, and then they all played at our house until Genia came back. Then, it was my turn to go register Cora, and the kids all headed to Genia's.
Last week, we went to Juliana's to play, and Cora loved playing on Maya's new birthday rollerblades.


On Saturday, we had Elizabeth and Jerry and the rest of the family over to celebrate the March birthdays - Melanie and Dad. We had quite a feast - corned beef and cabbage, carrots and potatoes, roast chicken, spinach salad, and cheese-and-onion soda bread. Yum!

 And on Friday, we went to BJ's to celebrate Mel's 24th. The girls were so well-behaved, even though we were out past bedtime. Stace and I were so proud! Melanie liked her picture gift from Cora.

Happy Birthday again, Dad and Melly! And, happy Mother's Day to the mums in England, Nan, Big Nan, and Auntie Jenny! Wish we could have been there, too!

A new lens

Sunday, March 18, marked 30 years after the little mishap that claimed the sight in my right eye. I had been spinning, and I fell into a sharp corner that pierced my eye. 

A few weeks ago, Beverly, the ocularist I've been seeing these three decades, finished my latest prosthesis. Here, for those of you who are interested, I'll share the story of how a prosthetic lens is fashioned.

 

First, a plastic mold is placed on my eyeball, and Beverly squirts a gel into it.

 

The gel firms up on my eye, capturing every groove and ridge. The eyeball is not a smooth surface, especially mine, after the trauma of the accident, and later the car crash that caused an air bag deploy into my face. 

From the mold, this impression is made - see its strange shape with a big bulge on the right side?

 A clear plastic shell is made from the impression. Beverly fits it onto my eye, so we can see how it feels and adjust the shape, smoothing the areas that rub or ache. The black markings show her where my pupil and iris should be painted.

 From the plastic shell, Beverly creates the white lens. A bit of paint, a bit of thread to make the veins (below), a few more trials and fittings, and voila! A new prosthesis that fits almost like a glove, sticking to my eyeball closely enough to track the movement of my left eye. (Thankfully, my accident took the sight nerves but not the motor nerves - my bad eye moves just like my "good" eye.)

Here is the before shot, my prosthesis made a few years ago. 

My eye's surface changes slowly over the months/years, so that the prosthesis will only fit well for so long before it needs to be replaced. Yes, I have quite a few lenses that no longer fit. Odd thing to collect, indeed.

 And here is the after shot. This one really fits well and looks very natural. 

Beverly is an amazing artist and a great friend. She's known me longer than probably 95% of the people in my life! I've let her know that she's not to even consider retiring.

Cora's first recital

Cora's Keyboard I class gave a recital for family and friends on Tuesday afternoon. Our Cora (and the other children) played three songs, with the final song making the keyboardist use both hands.

 

Because she was youngest, Cora played first. We thought she did very well! So grownup, too. 

Here's the class, following their performances.

Here's Cora with her teacher, Mrs. Secor. Cora was pleased with how she did, and we were proud too. She practiced a lot! So did her daddy! I've included below video clips of her three songs.

I'll finish with one Violetism (Thanks to Genia for keeping Violet at her house during the recital!).
Violet has heard all of Cora's songs a lot over the past few weeks, and can sing them all. The lyrics to "At the Zoo" are as follows: Lions are there, tigers are too, I like to go to the zoo."

The other night I sang the song to her, leaving a blank at the end for "zoo" for her to fill in. She replied, "Toilet!"

Renovate

I was blessed to go on my first church women's retreat this weekend. I, along with 130 other ladies from Real Life Church, headed into the San Bernardino Mountains to the Forest Home Christian Conference Center for the 5th annual Renovate retreat.

 Here I am with my new friend Ana, who was my seat partner on the 3-hour bus ride up into the mountains. (Friday traffic, gotta love it! We were so glad to be on the bus and not behind the wheel.)

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to know and love new friends from church. Since our church is so big, you have to be intentional about forming friendships, and that can be hard to do. Now, I have a lot of ladies I can talk to by name when I see them on the weekends.

 I didn't go into the chapel, but it sure was pretty to look at! Our topic for the weekend was contentment, and we focused on Paul's letter to the Philippians. Having the focused time to pray and hear from God was life-changing. I hope to go back next year.

The setting was beautiful, as was the weather. We could look out at snow, but it wasn't very cold during the day. I was surrounded by lots of woodpeckers, blue jays and other birds, chipmunks, and even deer. The accommodations were more than comfortable, the food was yummy, and it was just a well-organized, fantastic weekend.

I'm so thankful for my amazing husband, holding down the fort and being supportive of me, in so many ways. Thanks, my dear Stace! 

My funny girls

Coraisms:
"I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I want be an ice-skater, I want to be a pirate, and I want to be an engineer. That's three things and I don't know if I can do three things."

"I know how to spell 'Bible.' B-I-N-G-O!"

Cora the Negotiator, at bedtime: "Dad, this is the deal. If you don't stop playing the piano, Mummy will have to read to me, OK?"

Violetism: I drove Genia home from Pioneer Clubs, while John took Stace and Cora. When Genia got in, Violet said cheerfully, :"Hello, Agggumm!"
Of course, Genia knows Violet very well, and knows that in Violet-speak, that means cat, or other small animal. She said playfully, "Don't call me Aggum!"
Violet laughed and repeated herself.

The next morning, I asked Violet, "What did you call Miss Genia last night?"
She laughed and yelled, "Aggum!"
So she knew what she was doing, remembered doing it, and was trying to be funny.

Violet and Cora also like to tell "knock knock" jokes.
Here's a frequent offering from Vi: Knock knock, who's there!
(We then repeat, "Who's there?")
Vi: Chicken
Us: Chicken who?
Vi: Cock a doodle do! (Followed by a big laugh.) (This is funny stuff, you see.)

EDITED TO ADD: I've recently learned that I misheard Cora when she said what she wants to be when she grows up. She wants to be a pi-LOT, not a pi-rate. Oops. A pilot, for a little girl who flies as much as Cora Rose, makes a lot more sense, don't you think? Alas, not as funny, though.

Week in Review

On Wednesday, Cora's preschool class headed to the bowling alley for a "heart healthy" field trip.

In February, with Valentine's Day, the class spent some time focusing on the heart: how it functions, how big it is, how to eat well and exercise to keep it healthy.








The children had a lot of fun bumper bowling, though I must say I've never seen bowling balls move so slowly. Several times the workers had to come to rescue a dead ball.

Miss Lorrie provided a "heart healthy" snack for all the kids (and accompanying parents and siblings) - water, carrots, apple slices and whole-grain goldfish.

Wednesday was an exciting day in general. In the evening, our friend Christy and her boys came over for a visit. They live up north so we see them once or twice a year. It's neat how our oldests still have a great time together, just as they did as babies before William and his parents moved when he was around 1.

Cora was super excited all day Wednesday about her friends coming over, but sadly, when they actually arrived, she got very quiet and seemed shy and rude. It still can take her a while to warm up to situations! But, an hour in, the children were all playing together brilliantly.

They stayed two nights, and Thursday we went to Storytime at our church coffeehouse and later had a bike ride to the big park near our house.

On Friday, the children enjoyed Hart Park and Chuck E. Cheese, and in the evening, we went to the fish fry at St. Clare's. From left, we have John Paul (JP), Dominic, William and Cora.

Violet shared her room with Dominic, in the playpen, and it went remarkably well, considering how Violet sometimes does when sharing a room. The first night, she sang and sang and sang for well over an hour, every song in her repertoire (Old MacDonald, Happy Birthday, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs). She sang her friend to sleep!

The older boys shared Cora's room, with the trundle, and Cora slept on our floor. It all went just fine! Hopefully we can make the drive and visit Christy and Mitch this summer. Cora was so sad to see her friends go!

5-year Well Check

Cora is officially 5 now - she's had her 5-year well-check and survived the shots she needs to start kindergarten later this year. 

Cora cooperated very well Tuesday afternoon during her exam (except for the shots part). Here, she is doing the eye chart, with pictures instead of letters. Oddly, she called all the squares and houses "triangles." But she was consistent, so we know she can see fine.

 Here she is doing the hearing test.

Sizewise, Cora is 40 1/4 inches tall (just tall enough for the all-important Disney rides!), putting her in the 12th percentile. Yep, 88% of 5-year-old girls are taller than Cora. She is her parents' child.

Cora weighs 37 1/2 pounds, in the 33rd percentile.

 I gave Dr. Brockett the medical paperwork the Newhall School District needs for Cora to enroll in kindergarten. She's watched Cora grow since she was a newborn, and joked that she's been ready for kindergarten since she was three months old.

 The downside of well-checks...
Thankfully Cora only needed two shots to complete the immunization requirements for the school. I don't know how we would have handled many more. I had to hold her down hard, with Stace's help, and she still was thrashing and kicking the nurse.

 But, all was better 20 minutes later when we were enjoying some frozen yogurt, her treat for getting through the hard part.















A few weeks ago, Cora's teacher gave us a packet of papers showing some tests she had given the children, to assess their kindergarten readiness. They were supposed to recognize shapes and colors, numbers, letters and letter sounds.

Of Cora, Miss Lorrie wrote, "Cora is so bright! She is also a joy to have in class! She will be more than ready for kindergarten in the Fall."

It's a good thing she is ready - a week later came the day to pick up the kindergarten packet from Meadows school. It's hard for me to get my head around, my oldest baby girl is heading off to school in a few months.

Hello, World.

Ave's Birthday!

Our sweet Ave is 7! 

 How can that be? I can still picture her when we met, shortly after we moved in. She and the family came down to help, and Ave, at 3, was pushing her doll's stroller down the street and around the house. Cora, at 21 months, loved it and "borrowed" it. Ave was so sweet, watching cautiously but willing to share.

 If you look close at Johnny's cupcake, you can see it's rainbow-colored. Ave had a rainbow-themed party, and she made multi-colored cupcakes by layering the batter. Genia also made Johnny's tie-dyed shirt, and all the children received one as a party favor. Cora is calling hers her "sky dive" shirt.

Cora was the youngest girl there (save for some little sisters), and she was a little nervous about that. But Ave, and all her first-grader friends, were great. Cora had a fabulous time and was pleased to be included.

Violet also made friends, with one of the little brothers.

Still rocking the cheesy grin! Violet has been enjoying the birthdays lately, and especially the singing part. She sings "Happy Birthday" at home all the time. (Again, this is so different from Cora! I remember slightly dreading that part of a party, because Cora would get mad and yell about it.)

Day in the Life

Now that Cora's 5, it's high time for another "Day in the Life" post. It's been over a year since my last one, sorry folks!

My day starts with the alarm at 6:45, when I wake up, grab coffee and my Bible, and settle in to the couch with my cats. Whose box needs cleaning... so I tackle that before jumping in the shower and getting dressed. 

At 7:30, I'm ready to wake up Cora, and to my pleasant surprise, she's awake and playing with her princess legos. That makes life so much easier, as Cora wakes up like me - slowly.

I get Cora's clothes picked out, encourage her to get dressed and make her bed, and start breakfast.
At 7:45, I get Violet up, change her and it's time for breakfast. We're in the car by 8:19 and off to school.
We're there at 8:30, and with a quick kiss at the door, Cora's off, with her school bag. She loves her preschool, so it's never a problem to say good-bye.

Violet and I have about 40 minutes to kill before Stroller Strides, so we head over to Smart and Final (the "smaller, faster warehouse store"). While I prepare to leave the car, Violet starts in with a sing-songy voice, "I want gee out! I want gee out!"

I have three key things to buy: oatmeal, and ground beef and canned tomatoes for a soup I'm making for ourselves and a half dozen other families.

I've been participating in a freezer-meal swap with some friends for a few months, and we're meeting Monday to swap homemade soups/stews. I'm making a hamburger vegetable soup that's a big hit at our house, so hopefully the other families will like it too.

Back in the car, on our way to Stroller Strides, Violet says she's hungry for candy. I offer grapes. The response is straight out of her big sister's mouth: "No fair! No fair! Candy cane! I want candy cane!"

We're on time for our 9:30 exercise class. I used to attend Stroller Strides three times a week when Cora was a baby and toddler, but I've dropped down to a fairly consistent once-a-week since having Violet.

The faces have changed completely over the years, so we're making new friends. I still enjoy the workout, the fresh air, and the playtime for Violet.

 The franchise's owner, Christine, has been a friend of mine since she had her baby, Ezra, a day after Violet was born. I introduced her to Stroller Strides and she bought the franchise last summer. She's doing a great job with it, and Violet loves seeing Ezra whenever we go to class.

The children play for nearly an hour before it's time to leave to pick up Cora.

We pick up Cora at 11:30, and the girls are happy to see each other. They even hold hands in the car on the way home. Cora is generally helpful with Violet in the car, reaching toys and books for her.

Cora wants to know what we're going to do, and eating lunch at home isn't cutting it. She wants to eat lunch out. When I promise her a little bike ride at home, she relaxes.

Back at home around noon, we have lunch, play, and do some writing. Cora works on a thank-you card, and Violet draws straight lines she calls "Nemos" on an envelope. Whenever there is paper and pen around, or a magnetic drawing board, Violet requests us to draw Nemo for her to color in. When we've drawn her fill, she often then asks for turtles. Then whales. Maybe she'll be an oceanographer?




I have a few things to send back to Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty that we inadvertently packed into our luggage on Tuesday, so we start getting ready to go to our tiny local post office branch. The weather is gorgeous, perfect for a little stroll.

By 1:15, Violet is in the stroller, Cora's bike helmet is on, and we're off.
Our errand complete, we're home again around 1:50, and Violet is happy to head into her naptime. She asks for her night-night and is asleep in minutes.
Cora works some more on her thank-you card while I do a little cleaning and straightening, and then she goes in for her rest time at 2:30. We read a couple of stories, and she plays quietly in her room with her dollhouse until she's allowed to come out, at 4 p.m.
I do more cleaning, then check email, Facebook, and work a bit on the 2010 edition of our blog book.
Stace is home at 4:45, and he gets Violet from her nap. I hear her call, "Bye, bye, Night Night!" as she throws it back into her crib.

 The girls play while Stace and I make dinner together - well, as I put a frozen pizza in the oven. We do make a nice salad though, with greens from our garden.
Dinner is served at 5:30, and Violet makes us laugh by singing Happy Birthday to Nemo.
At 5:50, I clean up dinner while Cora practices on her keyboard, with Stace's guidance.
Twenty minutes later, we start the long, drawn-out process of getting ready leave the house. It's amazing how long it can take to get ready to leave the house! It's always at least a half hour.

Tonight, we're off to another furniture store to check out sofa options for the living room. Cora is not pleased. She cried when we initially told her our plan. In the car, she announces, "I don't like going to stores. Only if they sell candy."

Here, you see Stace's diagram of our living room with all the dimensions. I love my engineer!

I didn't get any photos of the girls in the store, but they did very well. Violet had snacks and drew Nemos on her drawing board, while Cora drew and continued working on thank you cards.
It was a late night for us - we were still out at 8. On our way home, Cora read a few words from her fish book, including Icon Starfish and Limpet. We all were proud.

We didn't get home until 8:15. The girls had yogurt for dessert, and then came the flurry of clothes-changing-teeth-brushing-story-reading-kisses-hugs-prayers. They were down around 8:45.

I felt like going to bed soon after, but when I came out from Violet's room, Stace was researching couches, so we played around with that for a while.

There you have it! Friday, February 24, a very normal day, but one blessed by love and family, so that made it a great day.