Christmas and Some Conversations to Remember

During Christmas time we read several stories about the true meaning of Christmas. We have chosen not to lead Violet to believe that Santa Claus is a real person. It was strange though that although we never told her he was real she started thinking he was. We have told her from the very beginning that St. Nicolas was a real man who did nice things for people but that Santa Claus was not real. We have had frank an open discussions about it. When she was 1 year old we went to an event at the local municipal hall and there was a Santa there. Santa happened to be our friend. So after it was over we told her that our friend Bobby was dressed up as Santa and pretending. She had fun with it and still to this day when we pass the hall she tells us about seeing Bobby dressed as Santa there. We listened to lots of Christmas music during the holidays and watched some holiday movies that portrayed Santa in some ways. Never ones where he was the main character though. Then on Christmas Eve we were driving home from Jiji and Baba's house and she told us "Santa is coming to my house tonight!! He is coming and he is going to bring presents!" We felt at a loss. How did it happen. With all of our honesty she still chose to believe in him. So we smiled and didn't say anything until we got home. We talked again about how Santa was not a real person and that it is fun to pretend about him. We told her when we woke up on Christmas morning there would be surprises under the tree and in her stocking but they would be from Mommy and Daddy and our family and friends. She understood and didn't protest against what we told her. She smiled and was exited to see her surprises the next day. When she went to bed she was still giddy just like any child who believes in Santa. She kept opening her eyes and asking me if it was Christmas yet. She asked me
"Mama when we wake up tomorrow will you say, 'Good Morning Violet! Guess what It's Christmas!'" I said that I definitely would and she could go to sleep now. She did and I said exactly what she asked me to when she woke up. Then she looked over the bed to see our stockings hung above the window and shouted..."Mama Santa Came!! I have presents in there!" Then she stopped and said with a smile, "They are from you and Daddy aren't they!" I told her they were. Then we woke up Daddy with kisses and asked him to come down from our bed with us so we could go see the tree. On the way down she said "When we get to the tree, can I pretend to be Santa?" Gabe and I both agreed with a smile and off we went to enjoy our first Christmas in our house as a family of 3. She enjoyed her morning and really loved opening gifts that came in the mail from family back home.
Later in the day I asked Violet if she knew what Christmas was about and this is how she replied.
"Christmas is about spending time with your family. And Jesus' birthday party!"  I said "And he was born in a stable right?" Violet said, "No, he was humbly born in a stable."

We had a lovely Christmas spending time together and laughing and talking with family over skype. It even snowed!

Here are some other recent conversations that I don't want to forget.

In the middle of the night Violet woke up and said "Mommy can I hug you please?" Then she said "Mommy, when I get bigger I'll be a mommy and you'll be in my tummy. When I get bigger and when you get smaller you'll be my baby. I'll have a baby mama in my tummy. When you're my baby I promise I'll always give you milkies!"
She has told me on several occasions recently that when she gets bigger I will get smaller and she will be my mommy. She keeps telling me that I will always be her baby and that when we are apart, I will always be in her heart!

On Jan. 13, 2013 Violet had her first haircut. She has been talking about it for a while lately and so we finally decided to do it. I told her we would set up our own beauty shop at home and mommy or daddy would cut it. So we took a bath first and I washed her hair. Then we set up a chair and trimmed about 2 inches off the bottom. She said she wanted short hair like mommy but we decided just a trim would do. After I made the first cut she smiled and said "I'm all done!" Then she wanted to see her hair. I showed her and asked if I could finish the rest. After I finished up I gave her a chocolate popsicle and she exclaimed over and over "Isn't my hair so short!" and giggled.

Also on this same day in the afternoon she made her first snowman. She wanted to make a snowmama. (milkies and all) And she also made her first snow angel. 

Violet is so sensitive to Gabe and my emotional states. The other day when she noticed I was feeling a bit down she said "Mommy, I'll hug you and make you happy. I want to make you happy because I love you." I said "You don't have to make me happy sweetie. But I do feel happy when you hug me and say you love me." Then she said "Mommy I can make you happy because I have super powers! I want to make you happy because I love you and I have super powers with my hugs and my love!" I couldn't deny that! She does. She can turn any gray sky blue with her hugs. I love that girl so much and I cherish her love! I do worry though that she feels responsible for making us happy. We are trying to show her that it is ok to feel things and that people aren't always happy but that doesn't have to affect how we feel inside.

Another sweet moment...
She was choking on a little piece of food at the table and Gabe and I both reached over to pat her on the back. We patted her together and after she stopped coughing she looked up at us and said, "Thank you for patting me Mommy and Daddy. Thank you for patting my back. I'm ok now."

A couple of nights ago we were reading the Christmas Story before bed (we used to read it every night as her bedtime story from the time she was 1 year old to almost 2 years old) She loves it. It's a peek a boo bible storybook) When we got to the page that shows Mary holding baby Jesus then putting him in the bed I told her that she used to say "He's going to have down down milkies". (That is what Violet used to say when she was sleepy "down down milkies mama" that meant she wanted to nurse lying down so she could rest or sleep) Then I reminded her of a song I used to sing to her (one I made up and would sing when she would ask for down down milkies)
" Down down down milkie down down down
Down down down milkie down down down
down down down Milkie down down down.
And that's the way we go."

As soon as I started singing she had a sweet innocent smile on her face and I could tell that she remembered. I asked her if she remembered that song and she softly smiled and whispered "yes"


Last Monday we had a day off and we asked her where she wanted to go and she said
"I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to stay in my home because I love my home!"
She loves to be home with Mommy and Daddy and play all day with her toys and books.
She still has a bit of a hard time on weekdays and asks first thing every morning if it is a school day. She cries a little each day when I tell her it is. It breaks my heart. Still.

updated 1/21
On Saturday on the way to ballet, as we passed her school, Violet asked, "Mommy why is my school not next to your school? Why is my school far away?" I said "because the people who built the schools decided this would be a good place for them. I wish they were next to each other. That would be neat!"
Violet said, "Mommy why do I have to be far away from you when you are at school. Why can I not hug you when I am at school?" I said, "Because my physical body is not next to you at that time. But my heart is always with you. I am always hugging you in my heart." Violet said, "I always want to hug you mama. But I am not going to school today! So today I can hug you all day long!"


Well that's all for now. Our little flower is growing every day and she just can't wait to be "big".

(not sure why the pics uploaded out of order but here they are anyway)

Christmas present Wok and Roll Game. She loves it!

morning walk with Daddy

after her first haircut!

Her first sewing machine. She wants to sew just like mama!

Violet pretending to be stuck in a frame :)

Christmas Morning

Super Violet

giving kitty milkies

Snow on Christmas Day

In her Christmas dress by the tree after we decorated it

Christmas morning reading a new present

she still fits in her "pouch" and can nurse in there too.

studying in her Christmas dress

snow in Tono

Christmas Eve afternoon snack at Jiji and Baba's.

snowmama with nursling

Christmas morning pancakes

snow in Ofunato and making pics on the window

a painting by Violet and Gabe added text over top

Violet's ornament that I made her for 2012

Daddy's a good sport and lets Violet paint his nails

Christmas morning (wearing Christmas Dress as a hat) my goofball

making her first snow angel

snowmama (per Violet's request with milkies)

Violet's lunch for school one day

doing ballet at home with her Ms. Liz dvd

an older pic from Nov. Violet seeing her first live musical

homemade tutu with Beatles shirt (the shirt I used to tell Gabe I was pregnant. It survived the tsunami and she still wears it)

Violet's Shichigosan Movie

I am finally going to post the video I made of Violet's Shichigosan Celebration. It was a great day. There were so many beautiful photos taken by Naomi Musashi Stilp that I couldn't narrow it down. It is a long video and I don't expect many people will want to watch the whole thing. But for those of you who are interested take a peek and let us know what you think. :)

shichigosan11.18.12.MOV from stephanie Craft on Vimeo.

Violet-Cecilia Artworks

Gabe put this together over the holidays:
 http://violetcecilia.tumblr.com/

A day the Aquarium and other snowy adventures

There was so much snow in Aomori. It was hard to go out a few of the days because the winds were so strong and the snow was blowing sideways. But we did it. Violet was so excited to play in the snow. She told us "I've never seen snow like this before. She wanted to play in the snow and throw snowballs.
Violet was thrilled to go to the aquarium during our vacation. We actually went twice because she loved it so much. Her first words as we walked up were, "I hope they have a whale! I'm going to look for a blow fish and some penguins too!"When we walked up to the tank with giant sea turtles she said, "They are so graceful! I wish I could swim with them." Then we came up on the long tunnel aquarium. She was a bit timid at first. She kept asking me if the aquarium was open or closed. She wanted to make sure that the fish could not come out. ;) By the time we left she was walking up and down the tunnel by herself exclaiming that she was so brave. :) When we came up to the sea lions we all were excited to see them up so close. We caught them at feeding time and so the trainers had them do some tricks to get their food. One was swirling around while balancing a ball. Violet told us "it looks like they are dancing at the glass slipper ball!" We also saw some penguins that Violet quickly informed us were Pip, Mary, Loca, Hoka, and Kerlise. She loves making up names. Pip and Mary come from one of our favorite books called "Don't be afraid Little Pip" by Karma Wilson. If you haven't read that one, go check it out at your local library. :)
Violet  does not like wearing long sleeves. Every time we got inside somewhere she would unzip her coat and drop it to the floor. When we got back to the hotel she would strip down and put on a short sleeve and take off her tights. She does this at home too. ;)
I loved how excited Violet was about every single experience we had. Every time we returned to the room she would take off her boots at the door (what people do in Japan when entering a home or school) even though we didn't have to do that at the hotel. She would close her eyes and shout out in surprise as she looked at the room every single time we walked in from being out for the day. As if she were shocked to see it still there. There were so many wonderful memories on our vacation. On our last night we decided to have a dance party in the hotel room. While listening to Motown tunes. Violet really loved the music and stood on the bed so she could be tall enough to dance with us at eye level. When "Where did our love go" by the Supremes came on I started singing loudly. It's one of my favorites. Violet must have been listening very closely to the lyrics. I noticed that she was watching my mouth very carefully. I was singing "Ooh, baby, baby, baby, ... baby don't leave me
Oh, please don't leave me (baby, baby) all by myself". Then she stopped and looked right at me and said, "mama, I won't leave you! I promise I'll never leave you by yourself!." I smiled at her and gave her a squeeze then she looked up at me again and said in a concerned voice with almost tearful eyes, "But mama, one day I will grow up and I will have to leave you. I will be all grown up and go away. Then you'll be all by yourself." I smiled down at her and said "yes, one day you will but don't worry I will still have daddy. I won't be by myself I will be with Daddy." She smiled back and said "but I am not going to leave you yet ok?!" It was a sweet sweet moment. One I will treasure.
When dancing with daddy she looked up at him as the song finished and said "I don't want it to end!" We said, "you don't want what to end." She said, "the song! I don't want the song to end. I want to keep dancing!"
On the last day before heading to the train, we went to the Nebuta museum. It houses floats used in the annual Nebuta Festival It was really interesting and had floats at different stages to show how they are made. All the floats were so colorful and bright. Violet enjoyed seeing them. Then there was a live performance of Taiko drums, flutes and cymbals. It was nice to see and hear but it was very loud since it was taking place inside a concrete building. Finally Violet looked at us and said "I'm ready to go because it's loud here. I want to get lunch because lunch is not loud in my mouth" We laughed and said we agreed!
Some other memories from our trip were
At breakfast every morning in the hotel she would tell the staff Good morning and thank you for the meal "Gochisosamadeshita!"
She loved the giant sting ray in the aquarium and named it Mama Ray. She loved pretending to be stuck inside the tunnel and we would all take turns being the one stuck. Then the unstuck ones would go out of the tunnel and say "I've got an idea!" Then we would run, skip, jump, swim or gallop to the stuck person.
She loved walking in the snow and was insisted that she was not cold. She wanted to be a grown up so badly.
On the train ride home we were drinking some water and she dropped her container. It rolled back and a woman 2 rows back caught it and unpromted, Violet walked over to retrieve it from her. She shouted out "arigatou!" and hugged the woman. I could tell that the woman was surprised (as was I)  but she smiled so wide! Then, on the next train, she made friends with the woman sitting next to us. They talked in Japanese at a level that was almost beyond my understanding. The woman gave her some chocolate covered apples (in an unopened package) and the were chatty the whole rest of the way. It was very cute. Violet didn't want the trip to end. I know she made some wonderful memories as did we. These pictures are not in correct order. Same as the previous post. But hopefully you can get a little taste of what our trip was like. These were all taking with our ipods so the quality might not be the greatest either.
ps It's going to be a lot of pics (scroll through if you like)

Here is Violet with the pigeons at the station. She chased them around saying "Hi Pidge!" She wanted to hold one.

New Year's Eve kiss for Daddy

she didn't want to stop running in the snow!

can I swim with you graceful turtles?

Dressing herself

So we went in to the store to buy mommy some socks. I forgot to pack enough for myself. While I was paying for them she brought up a purple lacy bra and underwear set up to the register and said "you should buy these mama! They are pretty!" Then Violet saw these and decided she wanted to buy one for mommy. Then she decided she wanted to buy one of these "dresses" for herself.

Dance party!

This was a neat display wear you could design your own mask with a touch screen and it projected it onto the paper mask.

One of her favorite parts of the aquarium was the drawing board.

Study time at the hotel. Violet is learning to read and spell with the Bob books (thank you Aunt Victoria) and then I found the Bob book app. Violet loves it!

Drawing a blowfish

Blowfish 1

Blowfish 2

Silly Daddy