Girl. you are something.
It's hard to put into words the light that seems to shine from your insides out. You are still the kid that people most request to 'keep' (that sounds weird, but that's how grown ups talk when they see our big family - "...oh, I'll keep that one for you if you want"). There are so many things about you that dazzle, delight, and make people curious about you.
I don't know how I got to be your momma, but I did something right somewhere and somehow because, Girl, you are the jackpot.
You are now smack dab in the middle of our kids and I know the middle child gets a bad rap - but you soar as a middle. No doubt my easiest kid to parent - I feel like I never have to tell you something twice and half the time you already just did the thing I wanted you to do. You wake up and get dressed, brush your hair and teeth, and put in your own ponytail. The outfits you choose are always so perfectly quirky that all your Violet-ness is apparent even in the way you dress. You can go from overalls to two skirts layered on top of each other to a dress up ballgown in a day. You don't let things limit you, you just live out loud in all that you do and it makes me so proud and in awe.
You and Rusty are absolute besties. Sometimes I don't see you two for hours because you're both so deep into some pretend play world that you created together. The way you two are with one another gives my momma-soul peace to know you'll always have each other; both of you fierce protectors and caretakers of each other. Gemma brings out the big girl in you and it's not always your first choice to play together, but at night you two stay up talking and giggling and rolling your eyes at me. As a sister myself, I am eternally grateful that you have each other; I know the two of you have wildly different personalities, but your differences will be what makes you both strong. Grey brings out the silliness and it is all giggles and goofiness when you two are together. You look at him with these big moon eyes and want so much to make him laugh. You love that you're all of his teammates honorary little sister. You are a great big sister to Red, but also very nonchalant about it - like you've been doing this big sister thing for a hundred years. You casually pick him up and walk around, get his binkie without any fuss, and are helpful when I need some help getting out the door with all the baby supplies. A new baby brother, yeah, he's adorable but no big deal to this chick.
You love your Pappy with all your beating heart and your Dad is totally smitten with you, he can barely stand himself with how precious you are. I fear you will never be older than three in his mind - so yeah, good luck with that. You know who you like and can decide within moments of meeting someone whether you don't like them, think they're okay and you can tolerate them, or they are your actual best friend ever in the world. Grady W and Andrew H stand at the top of your bestie best friend ever lists. Kitty's friend Michael is up there too. If you like someone, they know because you seek them out to spend time with them, otherwise you are just sweet and polite. You are adaptable and I obviously am grateful for that as your momma (thanks babe).
You are getting ready for kindergarten now (gulp), and have found yourself stuck in this uncomfortable transition period between little and big. It doesn't help that everyone in the family still calls you and Rusty "the babies" even though we have an actual baby in the house. You love the perks of being one of the babies in the house (less chores! more snuggles! you prefer to be carried up to bed each night by daddy because 'your legs don't work' after a long day of playing! hah!) but you are also starting to recognize the benefits of being a big kid (sleepovers! trust! freedom!). We will get through it, but this is the roughest patch you've gone through growing up yet - you completely skipped over the terrible 2's and 3's, so I'll give you this one. We'll get there together, peanut.
You love playing Barbies most of all, but you still love painting and coloring as a close second. You can ride a bike with no training wheels, pop a little wheelie on said bike, write your full name in bubble letters, catch a chicken with the best of them, do a cartwheel, and have the strongest upper body strength in the house per body weight (you can do 15 push ups, or 5 chin ups, or climb straight up a 15 ft rope with no support). You are a fish! You would swim and swim until you drown (that's not funny because you almost did drown last summer from swimming so hard you ran out of gas and it was one of the scariest moments of my whole life). You can now swim down nine feet deep and pick up sinkers off the pool floor (thanks to the encouragement and patience of your big bro Grey who stuck by your side until you could do it yourself).
You are just so unapologetically you, Vi. You take no one's crap and I love that about you (even though that includes me sometimes and your eyes roll to the actual back of your head because "Moooooooooom, come on"). You have a little mischievous streak in your heart that sometimes we have to remind you to not be a Disney villain (beautiful face with an evil heart, lol). You have those dimples that slay people, a giggle that knocks everyone off their feet, and a concrete understanding of things that surprises us regularly. You explained to Rusty the other day, "Mom is mean because she's trying to learn us to be good people." (lol forever). and you deadpan joked to our STEAM teacher who's toads we are summer babysitting, "we killed your frogs." (not true). You sing curse song lyrics because, as you justified to us, 'the curse doesn't count it if it's sung in a song' (actually true though), so we can hear you singing from your booster seat, "ooooh child, tired of the bullshit" and "feeling good as hell" out loud and proud to Lizzo.
You are still bite-sized for your age and if I have any hope of not being the shortest person in our family someday in the future, it will be me and you holding it down. You refuse to have Daddy help pull your loose teeth out - you wait and wait until they are so loose it's disgusting (you've lost two already!), you can blow a bubble with gum, you can whistle, and wink. You also love scary/spooky movies (just like I did when I was young) some of your favorites are Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, The Quiet Place (!), all the Jurassic Parks, and Tremors.
My Violet peanut girl,
gosh do I feel lucky everyday to be your momma.
even more lucky to see how you live life out loud exactly as you are inside your heart
you ain't gonna take nobody's nothing
and you will paint, color, and build the make believe land that's in your head out into this world
being the middle child is not a burden to you, it's exactly where you shine brightest
big enough and little enough to be both at the same time
thanks for always being hilariously and ruthlessly honest.
Give 'em hell, baby girl.
I know you will.
love you forever and ever
for all the days
even when you're bigger and sassier and maybe making me cry with your honesty and beauty.
I love you peanut.
momma.
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