Um, thanks? I think?

Sometimes you get wonderful compliments from your kids. Sometimes, well, it's not clear...

Like yesterday, when Monkey asked me what I was doing in this photo. And insisted that no, it really WAS me. And all I could do was laugh.

Apparently she thinks her mother likes to not wear pants and yank her legs in the air. Um. Yeah. I'm all for the no-pants thingy, just not with fish net stockings.

STANDARDS, people, standards.

Why, howdy neighbor!

Monkey's daycare is closed this week. It's "winter break".....not that they didn't just have a break a few weeks back or anything. And not that spring break isn't just right around the corner...but I digress.

Like I said, school is closed and, since it is wicked cold out there (at least cold enough to preclude extended forays, like the playground) we are INSIDE all the time. Ok, not all the time, but enough that Monkey needs to burn off some energy the old fashioned way - by pissing off the neighbors.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when, at 9:30am this morning, a polite young woman clearly still in her PJs knocked on our door to introduce herself and point out that, in case I didn't know this, they could hear every....single....footstep....on.....the....floor...........and................................... my child had been running for what seemed like hours.

Whoops. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the noise.

Oh, and by the way? Next time you start SHRIEKING and jumping up and down because The Bachelor show is, like, omigod, just so amazing? Remember I can hear you too. Snort - the Bachelor. She looked SOOO embarrassed to admit she watched it! Heh.

If we had a porch, he'd be on it with a shotgun

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. The single most over-rated Hallmark "holiday" on the calendar. A day that people (mostly women, bien sur) beat themselves up over. And some men (cough cough M) dislike the coercion.....being forced to be romantic on a given day seems false, and therefore is annoying. I don't disagree.

But I confess, I do like the Valentine Day cards. The funny and endearing ones are the best. Even better is the heartfelt sentiment inside (penned by M, not the card company....).

And the reason I like it? Simple. It is nice to have someone pay attention to you and tell you that they think you are special.

Monkey is learning this lesson quite early in life.

She came home from school today with a Valentine's Day card from a boy. Ari gave it to her. I think this is adorable.

Of course, then I realized that Ari is a pre-schooler, an "older" boy at school. He isn't even in Monkey's classroom! That means he's sweet on her from time spent together on the playground at the park, or in the gym at school.

I can't wait to tell M when he gets home. But I'm thinking that maybe I should leave out the older part.

Happy Valentines Day M, I love you. Here's proof....

Imagination

I think that Monkey has a creative imagination. Pretty amazing, at two and a half, to hear the things that come out of her mouth. As she "reads" her books out loud to me, she often is able to retell the actual story from memory. The words aren't the precise ones from the text, but she'll parrot phrases and get the gist of it.

But then, some times, she goes out on a creative limb and makes up her own story. Lately these usually involve babies and diapers. Oh and bottles. You know, the stuff she sees here at home with Jellybean.

But every so often her made-up stories are these long, rambling, fantastical voyages of the imagination, complete with dramatic flourishes with her hands and waving of her arms. (I can't imagine where she gets this dramatic streak....)

But the funniest part is when she looks at me for confirmation and asks me a question. Because often, I have NO freakin' clue what she is talking about. Tonight it was a story about either slopes, or soap, or something that sounds like that.....I've no idea. But Monkey thought it was the best story ever.

When she finished it she threw her hands in the air and fell back on her bed. As if to say she'd just finished the great American novel and it knocked her socks off. She cracks me up.