It's Viva's Turn

As usual, we have multiple posts about Bentley. He's the oldest and leads the way in new skills and adventures. Jake gets quite a few posts about him, too. He's quirky and loud and in your face. We neglect Viva. Often we simply post photos of her in a cute dress.

I know this isn't right. There's more to the girl than her wardrobe. A lot more. But it's hard to put in words who Viva is or what Viva does or how Viva thinks. As I've written before, she's an enigma to me. What makes Viva tick? What fascinates Viva? What are Viva's favorite things? She keeps most of that info to herself.

Thursday at the toy store Viva played with the baby doll in the playpen. (Is this because she likes dolls or just because she doesn't have a baby doll playpen at home?) She also played a lot with the doll house built like a tree house. She rearranged the furniture and I had to drag her away when it was time to leave. We were late for their play date. It was Viva's fault. (Not really!)

Saturday at the museum she stuck her arm into the gap made by the rotating exit doors and got it pinched pretty hard. This is typical, unpredictable Viva behavior. She's hands on.

In some ways she's the easiest of the three kidlets to have around. She's the most independent. She likes doing things on her own. She enjoys time alone reading. She doesn't need company and she doesn't need entertaining.

But what motivates her? How can she be bribed, uh, incented to do what you want or need her to do? That's a tough question. I'll get back to you next week...or next year.

Since this is a post about Viva, here's the requisite Cute Dress Photo. Mark titled this collage "Old Time Actress Viva".


One thing I do know about Viva--she's a ham in front of the camera.