Salad Girls Update

What's new and exciting in the world of Hazel and Violet, you ask? Well, dear reader, both girls have achieved some major milestones in the last few weeks, as well as managed to pick up a few new words, tricks and idiosyncracies. Here's a short list.

Hazel

- Poops in the potty. Finally. She is now officially done with potty training. Yesssss!

- Swears. No, I'm not proud of this fact, although I do find it hilarious - especially when she uses the words correctly. And yes, she gets it from me. Verbatim quotes include: "Shit! I forgot to watch Rudolph today!" and "Mama, I'm not gonna poop in a goddamn diaper anymore."

- Dresses herself by herself, even if the ensemble du jour includes buttons, snaps, velcro or tights. She can also tie a knot, if her shoes are lace-ups. Cannot color coordinate for shit. (Oops, there I go again...)

- Writes her name. Let me say that again: writes her name!! That just blows my mind.

- Loves her sister. This is a relatively new development. Both Mike and I were shocked almost to tears when we saw Hazel put a defensive arm around Violet at a birthday party last weekend, and shoot the strange girl approaching her with a toy the hairy eyeball.

- Plays guitar. Mike hasn't started teaching her chords yet, but she got a miniature guitar for her birthday, and straps it one several times each day to accompany herself belting out everything from Dan Zanes to Christmas carols to the White Stripes. Can also be seen playing the harmonica, keyboard, tamborine and (after Christmas morning) the melodica. Naked.

Violet

- Crawls! She's been doing what I call the "commando", which is to drag herself across the floor with her arms, for months, but the in the last 2 weeks, she has mastered the traditional crawl. This kid is not even 7 months old yet! I smell big trouble.

- Eats! Everything! Last night she had meatloaf. The night before that she had rice, lentils and an entire pear. She has never met a food she didn't like, and devours, literally, anything you put in front of her, from broccoli to chicken soup to bananas to beans. She picks up Cheerios and soft chunky foods like a pro, and gets almost everything into her mouth. If it something she really likes, after each bite, she goes "Ahhhmmmmmmm," and sighs, before whacking the highchair tray and grunting insistantly for more. Word on the street is that Violet is the new Daisy.

- Copycats. If you blow a raspberry, Vi blows one back at you. If you laugh, she goes "AH AH AH!" and sort of cough/laughs as if she, too, is in on the joke. She loves to play peek-a-boo. She thinks it's hysterical when I groan "we're LAAAAAATE!", which is pretty much everyday.

- Pulls hair. Gotta watch out for that. She is fascinated by hair (perhaps because she has so little of it?), and has shocking death grip; a lethal combination.

- Loves her sister. No news there, though. Violet has thought Hazel was pure gold since day one. Loves to show her love by pulling Hazel's hair. Grins her drooly, two-toothed grin if even the slightest attention is paid to her by The Big Kid. It's priceless.

And that's what's new with the Salad Girls.