Vivian Hope

Vivi has grown so much in the past few months and this list has grown with her.  I started trying to record where she was at and how she was growing about 5 months ago, and I can see her advances compared to the things I’m listing currently for her.  

From late fall-
Vivi loved running circles on the carpet in the living room (thanks Grether!).  It was part sport, part dance and part thing-she-did-when-she-wanted-to-think-clearest-on-a-subject.  She LOVES to pray at mealtime and all fall there was only one prayer for her:  “Ganxie Yesu”... (Thank you Jesus) in the sweet little memorized prayer that she prays at preschool.  She loves fruit and sneaks oranges like a true addict.  Her cute 2-year-old voice/accent shines in “sp-” words, that she says all with an “sf-” sound:  sficy, sfank, sfoon, and I love when she asks me, “Mama, can I have sfarkly lips?” (Meaning “can I wear lipgloss?”)  

Another s- specialty for her is “swimsoup”... instead of “swimsuit.”  And just one more cutey word:  Toney Nails!!  Her exclamation when I bring out toenail polish for the girls...

She has no fear whatsoever of her siblings... and sometimes she should show a bit more humility or respect.  A few times when she disapproved of their choices or actions, she would walk up to one of their tummies (probably Isaiah or Marian) and hit them in the tummy.  They would laugh and she would stomp away.  Another time Matt watched her hit Isaiah, and then when she realized she wasn’t hurting him with her hand, she started to jab at him with her elbow.    Does there really need to be any more evidence for sinful nature? 

More recently, this winter-
She's showing herself to be a sweet singer and is super interested in playing piano too.  She remembers tunes (like Isaiah playing Star Wars on the piano) and she can sing along to the melody doo-doo-doo....  She knows "Good Guy Star Wars" from "Bad Guy Star Wars" songs and she knows maybe two dozen worship or kids fun songs, with more lyrics than I usually remember!  

She is super demonstrative with her facial expressions and her hands... often making gestures above her head.  I wish I could etch the sweetness on my mind and heart, when she comes up to me and asks, “Mama, can I have a date?” and ends with both her hands (and eyebrows) lifted high, hands above her head, palms facing up, fingers all quirky.  Or like today, when she asked “Mama, Uncle Jonathan is feeling sick?”  Again, hands up and face frowning dramatically with great concern.  Precious.

And how blessed we are in this… For several months, Vivi has been in the habit of waking up many times a night.  We count it a good thing that she wakes to go potty, though I will be excited for her to learn to hold it for maybe just one potty run a night?  That would be nice.  But she was waking several times a night to just ask us to lay down with her or to tell us it was too dark (which meant, "come lay down with me.")  I thought that maybe her third birthday soon would be a good time to transition with her to not calling out for us at night.  But then I thought I'd just talk with her about it…. how big girls sleep through the night and cuddle their moms and dads in the daytime.  How mom and dad need to sleep on our bed at night just like she needs to sleep on her bed.  Well, I should have thought of this MUCH earlier because she ran with it.  She's only called out 2-3 times in 2 weeks now.  So thoughtful of her :) (and dumb of me to not have talked with her about it earlier!)

Vivi's got class.  Everyday recently when she comes into the house, she takes her off her shoes by the front door, and right about the place where I put on my ugly-cushy house shoes, she slips on the fanciest sfarkly shoes she's got…. dress up shoes with a tiny rhinestone bow in front and itsy-bitsy heels, for the everyday lounge around the house look. 

Her words are loosing the baby sound and most of the sf-business is gone but she says this line too, that I love (though I still offer her the correct version when she says it)  “Mama, what is this’s?”  And these days, she’s quick to tell me about her favorites... favorite picture, favorite color, favorite food.  

She told me this evening, when we were looking at a pic of her and Matt, “that’s my Dad.  He’s my favorite daddy.  He’s so pretty.”  I laughed and asked her again, “are you sure he’s pretty or maybe is he handsome?”  She realized and she laughed all the more and told me confidently, with a laugh on her face, “He’s soooo pretty.”  I love her laugh.  She’s got a little forced laugh that she uses not as a make-me-the-center of everyone's attention, obnoxious kind of belly laugh, but as a dainty sweet exclamation at the end of some dialogue.  Oh to bottle it for a sip-scent of joy, pure joy.   

When we were all playing around, thinking of blog names for our kiddos, I said we could call Vivi’s page “Lil Miss Polite.”  She’s so on the ball when it comes to greeting guests, “thank you for coming,”  and she notices better than anyone an opportunity for a kind “thank you” in Chinese or English.  But then again, she’s already got “stupid” down too, so the politeness is definitely not perfect!

Very often at the table, while Matt is making funny faces with Vivi (they do it like a showdown, who can out-funny-face the other) I’ll gasp and ask Matt with my eyes, “Can you believe how precious, delightful she is?  Can you believe we get to enjoy this girl?”  We are amazed to have this one as our littlest love..... she is oh so precious to us!  Thank you, Lord, for these two girls.


UPDATE:  A few more things I've remembered late but just can't let slide away from me long.   She's a butter swiper….  slick little finger with a thick pile of yellow, she sucks it down like it's candy.  Gross,I know, but she loves it.  

One time when she was sitting on her little potty and I was waiting for her to be done, she looked up at me and told me, rather seriously, "God is at our house."  Based on my reaction, every time since then she says that line, which has become a favorite of hers, with a happy, confident smile.  Way to make her mama glad….  

And again from the bathroom:  While she's taking care of business, many times I'll work on laundry (our washer is in the bathroom).  There was a season when I thought the washer wasn't working well and I closed up the load and started it saying "Thank you Lord that our washer is working."  And now she loves to help close the door and the soap tray for each load saying that same happy line over and over again… and now she says it for every thing in the bathroom too, "Thank you Lord that the toilet is flushing."   "Thank you Lord that the faucet is working."  Yes….   more of that perspective please, Lord.  I'm so grateful for her grateful glad heart!  Oh to learn from my baby girl!