Balloon Curiosity

Violet got to go with Grandpa and Krista to Sienna's (Krista's niece) 2nd birthday party this weekend! There were many balloons apparently, including a big Peppa Pig! V enjoyed playing with the one she got to bring home.

Look guys!

Basically, if it moves, V is a fan. This could also be thrown and kicked (beginning karate basics!). Chase is fun too!

She belly-flopped on top of the balloon right after this but it did not pop!

Magic!

Her face was priceless here; pure joy/excitement! Wish I had a front angle.  V couldn't do a lot with balloons at her birthday in August since she couldn't walk. Watch out this summer though!

Future Career?

Engineer...professional organizer...construction forewoman... not jobs one typically associates with an almost 18 month old. If I had to predict a career for V right now I would pick one of these (or something animal related!). She is so curious about building and blocks!

Curious George watches from couch, upside down

concentrating

Miss V. is patient and makes sure that every spot on these trains has a block before moving to the next one or starting a second layer. She does get distracted and builds singular towers after about the 1st layer :)

Look Mom!

You go on top, block!

You go girl! I'm thinking we are going to start sorting and building these by color of each "train."

 

Violet is so passionate about life, even when just building with blocks. She is going to be one who does what she sets her mind to. Can't wait to see what that might be!

Activity 1: Choo Choo!

 

Ok...let's get busy! The original idea for the blog was to pick an activity a week from this great book I got for Christmas and blog about how to do it and how it turned out. We have completed one: the cardboard box train ("choo choo" according to Violet and probably a million other 1-year-olds who like trains).  Grandma got Violet a Winnie the Pooh train with wooden character pieces that she can take out and rearrange into the different cars. We push it around and say choo choo over and over and over and that is how she started to like trains! I knew this train would be a good project for a cold winter day.

First, we gathered some supplies. Violet got jumbo crayons and Minnie Mouse stickers in her Christmas stocking. I saved some boxes from packages that came last week. The rope we had from hanging a wooden pallet sign. I'm also lucky enough (or not as Kyle sometimes thinks!) to have a basement full of a school/classroom supplies so that came in handy too :) I poked holes in the boxes with a scissors and got the rope inserted, then taped some card stock on the tops so Violet could decorate them. 

She was very interested in what I was doing at this point and was pulling on the chair legs. I decided to wait until the scissor portion was complete then up she came. Violet has slowly gotten better at coloring and moving crayons back and forth on paper. She still occasionally wants to sample a taste.

Then we decided which stickers to include on our masterpiece!  She had a red polka dot Minnie dress my mom found at Disney Store and it was the inspiration for her first birthday party theme. Minnie has been a favorite ever since. The stickers were no exception. She has had maybe two opportunities when the stickers have come out of there hiding place since Christmas and both times she's ended up covered in stickers. She got it this time though and stuck them right to the train.

Her curiosity/patience kind of waned as we got to the middle and caboose cars. Here are the finished "cars" ready for a test drive.   Violet loves to push things around the house like her baby stroller, the garbage can, laundry baskets... so she was a pro at pulling the rope and making laps from kitchen to living room and back. We have a loop hallway that is perfect for this. I played some train noises from youtube on my phone and she cho-chooed right along with it. When I googled train noise I was surprised that people use it to fall asleep to. I prefer water/sea/ocean/rain noises so I thought this was interesting. It is pretty rhythmic though. May have to try next time V has trouble sleeping.                                          

                                                                                                                                                She looks like a little mother duck with her ducklings following her. I love how she would look back at the train and then just march on like it was her most important duty at the moment. After several laps, she tried to take the stickers off of course and then started using it to stack her animal puzzle pieces on. She learned that when you then try to pull the train, the said animals fall off. I may have to modify the train with some seats on top for her animals and Pooh characters to ride along!

 

All in all, this was a perfect project for a curious, busy 17 1/2 month old! Stay tuned for future activities from the toddler book! 

Snow: Curious or Indifferent?

We had about 8 inches of snow Tuesday night which cancelled most schools including Kyle's karate academy! We decided to try "playing" in the snow for the second time this winter. The first time ended with a bootless, crying V and a face full of snow.  Fast forward to some new boots and a much better timed outing (before Kyle started blowing huge drifts of snow) and we had a better experience. 

V loves getting ready to go places in the car. Her coined phrase is "bye bye car" or "dada car."  Even if we so much as start walking towards the door she comes right over and starts repeating these over and over.  She loves getting shoes on (and taking them off right after) and has gotten good at saying jacket and coat. She is all about a hat and gloves if mom and dad are wearing them too. Otherwise, NO!  So when I told her we were going to go outside in the snow she started getting ready asap. She could barely stand still for a picture! 

Once we got out and situated in her sled, Violet literally just sat there and looked around. She didn't talk or move which is very unlike her. She was taking in everything around her. That's what makes her so curious!  She's a watcher and a thinker and I can almost see her brain "gears" rolling. 

Hmmm...do I like this?

I thought back to the summer when she was not walking yet. We couldn't really do much outside as far as running around and playing so we sat a lot on our front step and watched the cars. Violet loves cars and it was one of her first words. Even as a little baby watching out the window would settle her. So, I dragged her in the sled to the little hill in our front yard (its more like a little privacy bump of land!) and we watched cars. So exciting ;) She was content and I think liked the fresh air. It was cold but not freezing. I got warm pulling the sled. Our neighbor was snow blowing and she intently watched him. Loud noises like the vacuum sometimes freak her out but not this.

Kyle started snow blowing and we went in. I took her hat off, then she pointed at mine and said "hat!" 50 times until I took mine off. This is how the whole undressing process went. Her, then me, for each piece! And then the most exciting part of the whole adventure....watching Dad out the window! Every time he got to the end of the driveway she said, "daddy go nin?" for "where is daddy going?" He would turn back around and she'd smile and point or tap the window glass. Then she would move to the next window to watch as he continued up the driveway. Violet is in awe of pretty much everything her daddy does! 

tippy toes!

So, I will conclude that Violet was indifferent to the snow. I think each time we go out she will get more adventurous and comfortable walking in it. With the polar vortex on the way it may be awhile! Stay warm friends!!!

Laundry Curiosity

Pretty much ever since Violet could sit up on her own she has been fascinated with clothes bins/drawers and laundry baskets. She would sit in her room and pull each item of clothing out of her bins and make a huge pile on the floor. Then just as meticulously would put them back. The process would start over again, sometimes 2 or 3 more times.  We sometimes called this "aggressive play" because she would whip the clothes around like she was the boss telling them which pile or bin they belonged in.

Get OUT clothes!!

My work here is done!

This has moved on to an interest in Mom and Dad's drawers and I often see her carrying around my socks. Or I find socks in drawers they do not belong in. Socks was the first clothing word she learned. Violet will stand by my closet and run her hands along the bottoms of my shirts/sweaters. She loves hangers. And shoes. And Green Bay Packer apparel (don't know who she gets that from!).  

I can fold nicely too Mom!

It's fun to pretend towels are blankets and I'm going to sleep. Shhhhhhh!

Another curiosity is the actual laundry basket; empty or full.  When she was learning to walk, Violet would push around baskets like walkers. She collects her toys in them. She likes to dump laundry out of them out and/or put folded clothes (messily) back in.  The pictures in the post are from a Monday afternoon. Just a curious kid playing with laundry.

I'm curious...what flavor are these socks??

Oh! Mom caught me!

While the topic of "laundry" probably does not interest the majority of people reading this, hopefully you saw it through the mind of Curious Miss. V. And Mom of Curious Miss V. has actually always enjoyed doing laundry 😄

Inspiration

The inspiration for the name of this blog is the one and only Curious George.  It is the only TV show Violet pays attention too. If she sees the TV remote she will grab it and bring it to Kyle or I and beg "George!" over and over. When we have to turn it off or an episode ends she sadly says "bye George."  George sleeps with her and is often mistaken for a baby doll because he gets pushed in Violet's baby stroller.  Violet is very affectionate with us; lots of hugs and kisses especially when Dad gets ready to go to work. George is no different. She hoists him up on her shoulder like a mom carrying her baby and gives him soft rubs, hugs and kisses.

A lot of Violet's curious nature comes from reading/books (especially George books).  In her short 17 months, we have completed the "1000 books before kindergarten" challenge. We have read her favorites over and over and over. I think Spot Counts from 1 to 10 has been the most read so far. She loves books that have things to feel on the pages, flaps to open, motions (that we usually make up), or words that can be sung.  

She points to pictures and asks "that?" for what's that mom?  She wants to know what every single picture is which has helped in building her vocabulary. We have two of the 100 words books and she LOVES these. This is how she got good at saying "banana" and most of her animal names. The 100 animal version has a page about Australian animals and she points to the wombat and platypus every time and looks at me as if to say "mom I really, really want to know what this animal is and be able to say it."  Seeing as she copied Kyle saying "stethoscope" the other day (another post coming on that!) I'm guessing these animals from down under won't be far.

  

Each Margret and H.A. Rey book starts "This is George. He is a good little monkey and always very curious."  If I had to write a book (blog) about Violet, I would probably say, "This is Violet Goober. Her inquisitive nature brings joy to everyone she meets!" 

Who is this Blog for?

It's official...V and I are starting a blog! Kyle gave me the idea and two books for Christmas with tips for beginning bloggers. It's just what I needed to start some researching (procrastinating) and get my blog created.

I'm looking forward to having a way to document Violet's many curiosities and her overall personality of curiousness (I'm wondering how many forms of the word curious I can fit in this first post). 

I'm looking forward to writing and having a place for my "voice."  My dad was a newspaper reporter/editor and had a knack for writing. Even his little notes left on the kitchen table had a sense of who he was as a person. From his signature scrawling penmanship to absurd rhymes, I could almost here his voice reading the words when I saw the "hi Hol" written at the top. No one dared go up against him at a game of Scrabble and his editing skills on my high school and college English papers saved me many a time.  He had a love-hate relationship with Mac desktops as there was always some problem or another at the paper. He never owned a smart phone or had a Facebook account. He was a simple guy who I think would have come around to the idea of a "blog" if it allowed him to read about his granddaughter and how she curiously (#3) explores her environment everyday.

I'm looking forward to sharing this with Auntie Kellie and Uncle Ben who don't get to see Violet as often as they would like living in Virginia. They opened Violet's world to many of the curiousest (#4???) things she's seen/done in her 17 months when we visited at New Years (stairs, dogs and cats, not precooked breakfast sausage, all things ZOO, crab cakes, lumberjack outfits, ring-around-the-rosie, dominoes, stools, traffic, slides, airport baggage claim, sushi...) Violet now prefers to skype with their dog and cat instead of her actual Auntie and Uncle!  Also, it needs to be mentioned that Kellie inherited my Dad's writing expertise. From pages and pages long 1st grade stories to many, many Masters degree papers, she has a true gift. Hope I can live up to these two Becker writers!

Grandma Diane and Grandpa Rick & Krista see Miss V on the regular and love and spoil her to death. This blog will get them through on the days they miss her. Finally, Mr. KG is work, work working to allow me to stay at home more with our curious girl. He doesn't get to go on all of Mom and V's adventures so this will be a way for him to not miss out.

We love you all!!!

Hollie (mom of Curious Miss V.)