Dear Alice, and now - Dear Violet too!
I've been writing letters every month, but I'm afraid Violet that they may be a little less frequent with you! I barely seem to have time to breathe, let alone write on here. But, today is a rainy day and Sarah and Duck on the telly is giving me a bit of time. Thankyou Sarah and Duck!
Okay so Alice first - this has been a big few months for you!
Dear Alice,
You are now 30 months old, or 2 1/2. You are growing out of a lot of your 2-3 clothes, and seem to have shot up a little these past few weeks.
The first big change has obviously been you adjusting to life as a big sister. I spent many sleepless pregnant nights worrying how you'd be - would you act out? Would you be incredibly jealous? Would you try to break her? It turns out I should never have worried. You have been absolutely amazing!
Violet is the first thing you ask for in the morning and the last person you want to speak to at night. You want to cuddle her and hold her all the time (sometimes a little too hard but that's okay!). You like telling me all about her tiny little fingers, and you love to tell me she's a "tiny baby piggy".
You like helping me change her nappy and telling everyone "I'm very useful!", and you tell me when she needs "more milkies mummy". You stroke her head while she's feeding and you rock her in her chair (again sometimes a little too hard!) and you are altogether amazing. Whether that will all change when she's mobile and can get in your toys we will see but you are the best big sister I could ever ask for.
The other big development over the past few weeks has been potty training! We are now in week 3 and getting better every day (although apparently not today if my damp sofa is anything to go by!). It's still a little up and down but you are doing really well at telling me when you need to go etc. It has made us a bit like hermits for the past few weeks while we try and stay close to a toilet, but we're getting back into the swing of things now!
You are still sleeping really well thankfully, and you now wake up at 6am but play in your room with your toys / books till 7. You have generally completely destroyed it by the time I walk in but that's fine!
You have started telling much more elaborate stories, with characters that have conversations in different voices and have different opinions. I keep trying to film you doing it because it's hilarious! At the moment it's normally Shaun the Sheep talking to Tom (who is a dragon) and mummy pig. Normally mummy pig is telling you to do something you don't want to do - a bit like real life I suppose?
You also want to play games all the time now - hide and seek and eye spy particularly. Unfortunately, you only understand some of the rules, and for eye spy you can't spell, but that makes the game more interesting!
We have started a bit of a new family tradition of unplugged family time on a Sunday morning. If it's nice weather we go for a walk, and if it's not we take you swimming with daddy's gym pass. It's sort of my way of making sure you still get lots of attention, even if I'm a little distracted with Violet in the week!
I'm also going to try and take you to a ballet class on Saturday morning so we will see how that goes - hopefully you love it and don't have a complete melt down!
Okay, so on to your little sister.
Dear Violet,
I apologise in advance that I'm afraid your letters and going to be shorter and more sporadic than your sisters' - it's not that I love you any less it's just I'm a little stretched!
You are now 5 weeks old, which has absolutely zooooomed by.
You have grown so much already. I haven't had you weighed since you were about 3 weeks old, but you seem so huge already. You outgrew your newborn things in about a week, and I think you've only got a week or so left in your 0-3 clothes. You seem to grow huge amounts every night - I'm tempted to keep you in the dark so you stay my tiny baby forever!
You sleep like a baby. That's my standard response to anyone who asks! You wake up every hour or couple of hours for feeds and cuddles, but that's fine - you take all you need little one. That doesn't mean I'm not tired, but you're a lovely face to wake up to!
We've got the hang of feeding again, and you feed really well - as evidenced by your size!
You are getting more alert and spending more time awake every day. When you're awake your eyes are big, blue and bright - following our voices and looking straight at us. I keep telling daddy that you're smiling but he doesn't believe me. I can tell when you're happy as your eyes change and you just look different - it makes my heart beam.
You love both your bouncy chair and rocking swing, and will quite happily doze in them while I try and entertain your sister. However she does try and feed you chocolate so we have to watch her quite carefully! You also like being in the Moby wrap, and tend to snuggle and sleep in it which is lovely and gives me chance to explorer with Alice!
No matter how wound up you are, you always calm down for bath time with your big sister, and that's my favourite time of the day with daddy too. We all go in the bathroom and listen to music and dance, and it's lovely.
You are quite content aslong as you have been fed and cuddled, what more can I ask for?
I am so lucky to have both of you, no matter how tricky it might be figuring everything out. We love you both so much.
With love and light xo
