Leader of the Pack

Monkey was not the first kid on the block to learn to walk. In fact her cousin, who is about 3 weeks younger, started walking a full three months before she did! (yes, her cousin is super precocious! yo yo Emma D is in the HOUSE!!!! sorry, had to give her a shout out.)

Never the less, she is making up for lost time. In fact, she's now the leader of the pack. Literally.

At school (yes, daycare) they walk outside with these cute ropes interspersed with colored rings the kids hold on to - it makes it easier for their little hands and they get to have "their" color, so they are less likely to -oh, say, run into traffic. You know, little things like that.

I spoke with Monkey's teacher the other day, and she told me that when they are in a rush to get somewhere? They put Monkey in front....so she can drag everyone else along. And, apparently, they can't put her into the middle. She gets impatient and tries to pass the kids in front of her.

I have NO idea where she gets this appreciation for speed and the impatience of a gnat....oh good lord this posting is taking too long must go NOW!

heh.

A love letter

Monkey is a whirling dervish of a toddler. 

You know the kind, the ones that have the inherent ability to walk into a room and scatter its contents to the four corners of the world within 38 seconds? Yeah, that kind. Plus lately she's developed the superbad habit of getting up at 3am, crying for a bottle, and whipping herself into such a frenzy with her tantrum that it is often another 45-60 minutes before we can get back to bed. (and oh, I do hate that 3am siren. I just want to sleeeeeeppppp.......)

But the thing is, when she's healthy and in a good mood? She's so much fun you (almost) don't care!

Tonight we skipped the bath (she's clean enough and her skin is super dry after the weather we've had) and played together. Her new "thing" is to play "night night" which means getting up on Mama and Daddy's bed, saying "night night" and flinging herself onto the pillows, giggling madly. I pretend to sleep and make terrible snoring noises. And we lay on the bed laughing and exchanging funny looks, flopping up and down and being silly. 

I know that there are times that Monkey is just pissed off at me. And I fully expect that to continue. After all, I enforce the rules (as does M) and she will become (gulp!) a teenager eventually. 

But on nights like this? Where we hang out and giggle? I can't help but think that if she weren't my kid? I'd want her as my friend. She's just that damn cool. 

Right Said Fred*

So Monkey has a new word. There is only one slight wee problem with it - her pronunciation is not exaaaactly right. So what comes out of her mouth?

Um, yeah, it sounds like "sexy."

Do you know how hard it is to not giggle when your toddler chants "sexy, sexy" over and over again? Yeah, hard. Heh heh heh. Snort. (yes, I'm twelve)

* Come on, you don't remember their one-hit wonder??? Go on, google it...

Squeeky Clean

Monkey's so damn cute (see, above! how adorable is she? yes, shutup it's a rhetorical question....) when she's had a bath that sometimes, when she is back in her room yet still naked (sans diaper and jammies), sometimes, when she makes a break for it? I let her run.

Come on, you KNOW it's cute to have an 18 month old streaking! It just is.

Tonight, however, not 30 seconds after I told M how cute I thought she was? She peed on the floor. Well, actually, her bookcase AND the floor.

Streaking is officially over.

Playing Catch Up

For the second time in the span of four weeks I got the stomach flu. I'm now 5 lbs lighter. I would rather gnaw off my arm than lose weight this way. And I still can't stomach (ha, pun intended. ok, so my humor's still off, too. shoot me) anything other than saltines, bread, and oatmeal. Can I get some cheese with my whine? Thanks. So, let's play catch up:

1) We have scheduled a haircut for Monkey. Nana will be in town on that day, so she is going to come with us to distract Monkey from the scary machinations of the stylist (because considering how much she luuuuuuvs the stethoscope, I'm guessing she will also detest scissors). I will be capturing this blessed event on film. I think I need a before and after, to demonstrate just how freakishly long her hair is! Seriously, it is down past the middle of her back!

2) Monkey is not a fan of cinnamon. How do I know this? Um, well, errr.....let's just say that the garbage lid was open and resting on top of all the other detritus was a piece of well-chewed cinnamon trident. And leave it at that. Ahem.

3) M is a super star. After tending to Monkey and feeding me sprite for two days (plus tending to Monkey when I was in my photography class last night), he is tuckered out. But he's also Monkey's favorite. This morning I picked her up out of the crib and she didn't even bother to say "hello" before she started hollering for daddy. Awww.

4) Monkey's favorite word continues to be "robot." This makes me giggle. She was hollering it over and over this morning as she dug through the bucket of flashcards (strewing them about like she was threshing wheat, sigh) until she found the robot flashcard. Then, beaming with pride, she marched over to me and showed me the robot. This kid cracks me up!

And last, but certainly not least....

5) Dun dun dun..............Monkey USED THE POTTY! And we didn't even quite realize it! Yes, I know we collectively have two BAs, a JD, a PhD, a MS, and a CFA (we like school, shush!) but that doesn't mean we're, like, smart-smart. Here's the story: Monkey tugged at her diaper, so we asked her (on a lark) if she wanted to use the potty. She nodded yes, so M took her into the bathroom and helped her get her pants and diaper off. She sat on the potty. I wandered in at this point. And Monkey wanted toilet paper, to wipe herself. So I let her. She has done this before, imitating me, so I didn't think much of it. Her bath was running so in she went. And about a minute later I noticed that there was some liquid in the potty. I thought it was splashed bathwater! Until I poured it into the toilet for confirmation (yellow, yup it's pee!). Meanwhile we didn't even bother to congratulate her because we didn't know it was happening. Still, I am SO proud of her!

That's all I remember from the last few days. I'm sure I'll think of something interesting once I am not addled by lack of sleep and proper nutrition. Byeee!