Jobs Violet Will Never Have

September 28th, 2009

- Fashion model
- Actress
- Pop singer on tour

Why? Because the minute someone calls, “Wardrobe change!” she will start screaming and crying and not stop. This has been her way now for a year and a half, and I just don’t see how I will ever be able to let her go to college, I’m afraid I’ll show up the first break to pick her up and bring her home, and she will still be wearing the outfit I dropped her off in. “I’m on my own now, Mom, I can make my own decisions, and I DON’T WANT TO CHANGE MY CLOTHES.”

Jobs of Violet

August 1st, 2009

COURIER

Vibble moves things all over the house. It is both infuriating and amusing. Since Monday I have been trying to find my metal ruler. I just found it, along with my blue pen, in the drawer in the bathroom where I keep extra TP. “Someone” took it and thought to herself, ‘This isn’t where this belongs!’ And so she put it “away.” I find things like this all the time. I feel like I now spend 30 percent of my day shuttling things back to the room/floor they belong on so I can find them again next time I need them.

PERSONAL TRAINER

Yesterday we went to Irvine to hang out in the Woodbridge Lagoon with Megan and Christopher (photos on my phone—will post them later). The Lagoon is awwwweeeesoooommme. Something between a swimming pool and a beach—perfect for a little one. But we wound up positioned between the Lagoon and the lake, and Vibble was determined to motor it into the LAKE. So unpacking our gear went like this:

1. Pick up a bag/item out of the wagon and hurriedly walk it to our chairs.
2. RACE to the steep bank of the lake and grab the kid before she dives in.
3. Pick up next bag/item out of the wagon and hurriedly walk it to our spot.
4. BOLT to the lakeside just in time to prevent a drowning.
Repeat.
Repeat again.
Repeat in reverse to pack back up to leave.

She was determined to get into the deep water of the Lagoon pool. I decided to let her go and slip under quickly, thinking this would deter her from heading that way. We did this no fewer than five times, me fishing out the sputtering, “WTF-is-happening” Vibble each time. And yet … she just kept doing it! I finally got her distracted by her sand toys. The constant need for me to thwart her suicidal maneuvers—standing up in the shopping cart, racing toward the deep lake, rushing to the deep part of the pool, climbing onto the table at the restaurant, eating crayons on the sly, more, more, more … despite my love for cake, I should be as svelte as a supermodel in no time.

LE CHEF

Since her visit with her cousins, Vibble’s play has changed. My nieces are Imaginative. Note the capital “I.” Like, AMAZINGLY imaginative. Since we got home, Violet is playing by herself a bit more, and her play involves a lot more pretending. Steve and I spy on her when we can. ‘Look, she’s scooping things out of the little pot onto the little plate in the little kitchen! AWWW!’ So cute.