Lauren Elizabeth

Violet at 5

I missed doing a full update on Vi turning 5. I really just stunk at blogging once I got pregnant. Hopefully I can go back and play catch up with all of that.

 Vi started preschool this last September and it has been so fun to see her independence grow. She of course was very nervous going into it. She has always been my cautious child and she usually needs a lot of reassurance with things. I was so impressed with how she handled our move to Georgia. It all brought on a lot of change for the whole family and she just really took everything in stride and adapted very quickly. She loves her teacher Mrs. Pam and she has made some really sweet friends at her school. 

Violet has been really excelling at reading. She has graduated pretty quickly through all her pre reader books and keeps getting more familiar with sounding out tricky words and memorizing sight words. I have been so proud of all her efforts to get better. She really loves learning. We have a little program on our computer called ABC mouse and she loves doing the art pages and math. There are dozens of songs on the program that teach all kinds of things like seasons, letters, money and continents. Her and Grace love to listen to them. Our kids in general really pick up things when they are taught in song form.

 We got Vi a little scooter this past fall and she loves to scoot around on it. She was never very interested or motivated to ride her bike, but she really loves her scooter. She also loves going into the backyard to play soccer with Mike. We really want to get her signed up for soccer this spring. She loved dance last year but the recital seriously stressed her out and so she hasn't shown much interest in dancing since then, other than around our house.

She is our theatrical one and loves to put on a performance. She has really rubbed off on Grace too because they constantly want to wear tutus and sing and dance. Vi loves to play pretend with any toy pretty much. Her and Grace could easily sit around for hours playing some imaginary game. I love to listen in on it and pick up on all the funny things they say while they are playing. There are always pretty crazy storylines going on with their princesses and since we don't really have any princes or boy toys in general they have to get very creative in how they play.

She is still our lover of art. She could color and cut and create everyday. She really has a talent and I love watching her imagination come out with her pictures. We have an endless assortment of pictures getting put on our refrigerator. She has gotten a lot better at writing too. She loves to write all of our family member's names on all her art. She mostly draws princesses and fairies or pictures of our whole family. Vi wakes up earlier than all of us, so most days she goes downstairs and colors until it's 8:00 and she is allowed to come into our room.

Vi has started to get a much better handle on her emotions. She has always had a hard time with getting angry and frustrated. This is something we have just had to constantly work on with her. This past year has been a huge time of growth for her. She is learning to talk more instead of letting her emotions get the best of her. 

She is just the most amazing sister. She is so great at including grace and helping her. Don't get me wrong they fight all the time and sharing of course is a struggle, but they have really done a good job of working together and taking turns when they play. Some days are always better than others, but I have just been really impressed with how Violet treats her sisters and her friends. Hopefully we can still make progress with the anger and the drama. 

She has grown a lot in the last 6 months. She is a true 5T and can't wear most of her 4 T things because they are just too short. In the past she has been able to wear the size below her age for some time, but this time around she just grew straight out of them. She is a bit of a bean pole right now and her legs are just getting longer and longer. He foot still grows at a snails pace, but her pants are almost always high waters these days. 

Also, to go along with all the dress ups and dancing, Vi is constantly singing and making up songs. She sings to Ginny all the time and lots of times it puts her to sleep. It is the sweetest thing. She is such a fun smart girl and it has been so fun to see how much she has matured lately. 

We love our sweet Vi and I love seeing her really take responsibility for her actions lately. She has been an ideal oldest child for our family and is turning into my mini mom. We love our girl to pieces.