New words startle me!

Monkey's daycare is closed for the week. I love this Montessori School more than I care to admit, but this whole mimicking the school schedule drives me crazy. The school year "ended" and there were parties, and now it is closed for just over a week, to reopen for "summer school." Meanwhile, those of us that stay stateside for the summer scramble to find daycare for a week!

Luckily, or maybe because I am anal and plan waaaay far ahead, I was able to arrange for Monkey's favorite teacher from school to watch her this week. And yes, I asked months ago.

Vicki had one minor conflict, which was attending the 8th grade graduation of her cousin, Skye. She even lined up an alternative sitter for me (another teacher from the school, whom I didn't know would sit on her days off - score!) but then something came up for her, too. Medical stuff. So Vicki decided, in typical teacher fashion, to roll with the punches and come up with a solution. Which was, to take Monkey TO the graduation ceremony and family party in Brooklyn. I was all, um, you ok with that? But Vicki assured me it would work out well. Besides, her mom wanted to meet the "baby with all the hair" as Monkey was referred to in the beginning....now she's the insane toddler with all the hair. Heh. (see? how cute was she!)


Not only did Monkey enjoy the graduation ceremony (the kids sang songs) but she SAT STILL FOR AN HOUR playing with Vicki's sidekick and wallet. Hopefully Monkey didn't text any ex-boyfriends by accident....

I know, I actually typed out the words in the paragraph above. In caps. And no, I don't believe it actually happened. I think Vicki is delusional - my insane toddler, the one that runs all.the.time....she sat still? Unthinkable.

Monkey's exceptional behavior continued at the party where she sat still to polish off her lunch and ask for more, politely. Vicki was laughing when she told me about this - because at this point her family starting insisting that Monkey HAD to be older than 22 months....since no 22 month old would actually behave that way. See, they witnessed this and they didn't believe it, either!

After the party, in a good mood, Monkey and Vicki went to the Prospect Park Zoo. And Monkey loved it. Now she knows what the zebras and monkeys are, so spotting them is fun. Vicki parked the stroller and Monkey ran (making up for lost time and reverting to the mean...) the entire time they were there.

When I came home from work last night I asked Monkey about her day, and asked her what she saw at the zoo. I expected her to say giraffe, elephant, monkey, or even cow (from the children's zoo part). Nope. She looked at me and said "meerkat."

There was a 2 or 3 second pause as my brain scrambled to understand this word. Monkey pronounced it correctly, I just wasn't expecting it! It honestly startled me.

I figured that this was a fluke, but when M got home Monkey also reported to Daddy that she had seen a meerkat at the zoo.

And this morning? She asked for a meerkat when M went into her room after she woke up.

This kid cracks me up.