eternally chaotic

We knew this day would come.  I certainly wasn’t hoping for it, or that it would come at all, but we knew that it would come.  Somewhere in Princess Hell there is a small white pacifier, scratched and dirty, with angry imprints of very small, but sharp, well practiced teeth, and it is lonely.  Sometime between getting home from school and going to bed, Violet has “misplaced” her plug.

More so than Piper who stopped using her pacifier at about fifteen months and barely noticed when it was gone, Violet is addicted to hers.  She has lovingly named it “Mine” and ferociously protects it from harm, or from abduction via Piper who thinks it is a great game to take “Mine” and get Violet to chase her.

It has been fun though to watch the difference between how the two of them needed their pacifiers.  Piper was more attached to her small brown bear, Nana, than she was the plug.  Certainly she used it but when the time came to take it away we were prepared for the worst, in particular at bed time, but were surprised that she fussed minimally for it.  A few minutes of cuddling and some time with Nana lulled her back to sleep.  I am expecting an epic struggle with Violet.  I was able to get her to sleep tonight without it which is a promising start.  However, I can already here the echos of her walking from room to room in the morning…Mine!! Mine!! Mine!!…followed by toe curling screams when she cannot find it and all daddy has to offer are hugs.

I actually thought about going to get a replacement but decided to make the stand and banish it completely.  No I just have to find it and dispose of it properly before she does and the cycle starts again.

Exciting times are ahead for Violet.  She is being moved to a new classroom in daycare.  Her current and previous classes focused mainly on keeping her busy and slowly introducing her to various activities like music, artwork, playtime, social interaction, etc…  Her new class, Toddler-2, is the first that introduces a specific daily schedule focused on both playing and learning.  The various activities that she will be a part of every day, versus every so often, include: puppets, reading circle, interactive music, sensory and art projects, nursery rhymes, flash cards, and English and Spanish language comprehension.

There is still plenty of play time for her as well as nap time (not that she ever actually takes a nap…) and having been through this routine once before with Piper, this is when Violet will start learning about and making friends with her classmates.  The previous classes didn’t really offer a setting to get to know either the other kids or the parents, except at various holiday parties or special events hosted by Crème.  It was around the beginning of T2 with Piper that we started to get to know and even build some friendships with other parents of kids in the same class.  (more…)

Every week Piper and Violet spend a great amount of time creating various things.  Be it artwork assembled, glued, colored, cut, stapled, laminated or painted, it seems to come out nowhere and amass in piles throughout the house.  In the past we made a good effort to hang the current picture or macoroni cover plate on the wall in the girls’ playroom, but recently, well lets be honest, since Violet was born, that really hasn’t been the case.

Much of the artwork we get from schools is colored pictures.  Around the holidays and on special occassions we are often suprised to see what each class creates and exactly how much of each piece the girls were able to create themselves.  As Piper has gotten older the complexity of what she brings home, always with a look mommy and daddy what I did smile on her face, has increase ten fold.  We never had a marker to compare with as Piper grew up but with Violet we are now able to see and compare the differences.  You would think it obvious that a 3yo could color more efficiently and precisly than a 1.5yo but sometimes Violet suprises us at how well she can do various activities – maybe having an older sister helps as well.

Now that I have all of this artwork I needed something to do with it.  Since most of it is paper and can easily be scanned in I couldn’t think of anything better than to add a weekly section to Princess Hell dedicated to showing off what our two little monsters princesses can create.

So without further ado here are the first selections to kick things off.

Piper and Violet spent this past weekend playing with Whitley, Cassidy, and Riley.  Well mainly it was Piper doing the playing and Violet getting dressed up and chased around by the older girls while they called her Ursula.

Saturday was a play date with the Thompson’s and girls spent the afternoon playing at their house.  The main game was obviously “I want to be <insert princess name here>” dressup where each of the girls picked an outfit and various accessories, chased each other around, grouped up and chased Violet and Riley, got bored with dressup and played with toys.  At some point Zana turned on some music, I think she said it was Hewy Lewis, a favorite of Whitley’s rock and roll selection, and all the kids started dancing.  I wish one of us would have had a camera to catch a few pictures of them dancing together.  All in all Saturday was a lot of fun. (more…)

Before Piper was born Missy and I wanted to do something special for her that would last for a lifetime and be something she could share with her kids.  Missy found that the Atlanta Aquarium, when being built, took in donations by allowing the public to invest in a “Fish Scale” that would be displayed prominently on a large digital wall.  The Fish Scales are about the size of a hand and we had Pipers name and birth date inscribed on hers.  Every time we have been back to the aquarium we always take a minute to find her personalized scale.

Violet arrived after the aquarium was built so we have been on the lookout for something similar to honor her with as well.  Missy found that the Duluth town center was repaving their sound stage and much of the funding was found in donations from the public.  In turn for the donation the donor was able to inscribe something onto the brick.  This was the perfect opportunity for us.  During the Fall Festival we purchased a brick with Violet’s name and birth date on it.

Since the work on the square has been ongoing we weren’t sure when the brick might get placed so that we could see it.  Recently I stopped in and found that it had been installed.

Christmas is always fun and has been more than ever as the Girls start learning about giving and receiving gifts…  Who am I kidding!!! Piper couldn’t contain herself to start tearing into presents.  Piper seemed just the right age for starting to really grok opening gifts and watching others do the same.  Violet was a fast learner as well (and had a good teacher in her older sister) and didn’t waste any time tearing off paper and claiming what was hers.

The big gift this year for the girls was a train table.  Complete with all the trimmings this table took nearly two full hours for three adults to assemble and “test”.  It was much to big to wrap so we just put it in the middle of the living room floor with a big bow on it.  Both girls saw it the instant they came into the room and after a moment of asking “did santa bring that for us” they dug in and starting driving trains – a good distraction while coffee and cinnamon rolls were made.  I think for a short while they even…dare I say it…shared!  (more…)

An interesting conversation about marriage keeps coming up with Piper.  She is dead set on getting married to either Conner or Will, both daycare companions.  That idea that she understands what it is to be married fascinates me since she is so young.  Perhaps being a self described “beautiful princess” and entertained by various Walt Disney movies where the princess is always rescued and ultimately married by her handsome prince helps a little as well.

It seems though that even with a three year old there are boundaries about marriage that must be understood and obeyed.  This, on top of just the concept, Missy and I both found intriguing.  We certainly expose her to the movies and the concepts and the princess dresses, etc… but we have not really paid attention to the values that she is picking up from such things.

On a few different occassion, mainly to see if the results of our query would be the same across different conversation, as is often not the case when interrogating a three year old, we decided to inject a current political topic into a conversation about getting married to see how she would respond. (more…)

Piper and Violet were delighted to see Mamma and Pappa for Christmas.  We prepped Piper for about a week prior to get her worked up and anticipating them coming to town to celebrate Christmas with us.  Each year since the we have had the girls they have been in town, insisting on spoiling them moreso than they already are.

Mom and Dad whisked the girls away for a few fun filled days either running around town or looking at the various creatures in the aquarium.  Piper absolutely loves going to the aquarium and Violet is just at the right age where she is, for the most part, easy to manage with an extra pair of hands.

Christmas Eve we spent building a gingerbread house that we never did actually end up eating.  Violet certainly got her fill of the candy though.  Every two or three pieces that made it onto the house were eventually picked off and deposited into her mouth.  (more…)