Our Grape Eatin' Girly

"Hi. My name is Violet. And I'm addicted to concord grapes."



And yep, finally when she's actually starting to TALK a little bit (we added "birdie" "baby" and "hot" within the last few days) she is also starting to sign! She does "more" for pretty much anything, and picked up "mom" and "please" this morning. Sure beats the old Toddler Grunt that I hear WAY TOO MUCH OF lately!

Here is a picture of Violet in her Rhino Cruiser Brace. She has been sleeping in this at naps and overnight since she got out of her spica cast more than 2 months ago. For the most part she doesn't mind it, in fact today when I set her down for a second before putting her to bed, she crawled over to her slide and went down, brace and all. She can also stand really good in it. It's funny because you can almost see her little brain spinning "Why does this feel so NATURAL to me, anyway?" :)
We are slowly but surely breaking her pacifier habit. It's TOUGH!! She had it a lot while she was in her cast because it made her feel better and I'd pretty much give her ANYTHING to make her feel better! But no we're trying to do just naps and at night, with the occassional car ride thrown in. Easier said than done!

Something I have learned about our neighborhood is that there are TONS and TONS of grape vines and peach trees around! I joke with Jon that I'm "going to the Farmer's Market" while I go outside or down to our landlord's house (2 doors down) to pick some fresh fruit. Our next door neighbor has the concord grape vines (the ones Violet loves so much) and there are so many that even I have been giving them away! Here is a shot of them today. Keep in mind that we've been picking them for Violet and ourselves at LEAST once a day for the past week.

Some peaches from next door and down the street:
And now that fall seems to be here, our sunflowers finally came up!
One lone zucchini. I seem to go through spells with them - either so many I don't know what to do, or just one at a time!
And no, you do not see pictures of my dear and sweet tomatoes. Why? Because I had so many, I gave them away!!! In March I will be kicking myself, but what do you DO with buckets of tomatoes? I guess I could learn how to can. Or make salsa.

p.s. if you've found this blog by searching for info on spica casts or hip dysplasia in general, please see the links on the right for a great forum and guide that can help!