A rose by any other name

Labels and names are very important to toddlers. They take great pride in being able to tell you their full name, the names of their classmates, their teachers, etc. They are proud to be able to properly name objects. And relationships are also of great interest to them. They want to know that one person is their teacher, while another is their friend, or their neighbor, etc.

But sometimes, sometimes they don’t quite get the nuances quite right.

Monkey’s in a gang of four at school. Two little boys and another little girl, along with Monkey, make up this posse of spirited (and smart) insane toddlers. Naturally, these friends feature quite heavily in the stories they tell about their days.

One little boy, a pipsqueak of a kid with a GIANT personality, tells stories about Monkey all of the time. His grandmother decided that she wanted more information, and asked (teasingly, as grandmothers can do) if Monkey was his girlfriend.

He roared back in anger (after all, how DARE she get that wrong. Sheesh, adults can be so dumb sometimes, yannow?). No, she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my HUSBAND.

But of course she is.

Kids say the darndest things

Things Monkey has said in the past week:

1) I'm a dancing banana.

2) No, I'm going to sit here and read this, it's been a long, hard day (when asked to help with her chores).

3) Mom, I need some pretzels... for the road.

Still teensy

So Jellybean had her 6 month check up this morning. And she's still tiny. But taller!

She's now in the 25% for height. That's MUCH taller than she was before!

But only the 3% for weight. (She used to be in the 3-5%, so she's dropped. If she drops any more she's off the chart. Eek.)

Doctors orders are three square meals a day. Solids, that is. And as much formula as she will take.

So, bring on the pureed veggies, mmmmmmmm. Yummy!

You woke me up!

Monkey loves books. I've said it time and time again in this blog, and it is something that we (M and I) mention with great pride whenever someone asks us to describe our eldest daughter. (When asked to describe our youngest daughter, we've got different things we brag about - trust me).

The other night, as it her wont, she was "reading" to herself after one of us put her to bed. If we let her, she'd do this for hours. Sometimes she does this quietly and gets away with it, and we go back in an hour later to turn off her light only to walk in and find her still wide awake, with a book in her hands.

But most nights she is unable to contain her enthusiasm, and as she reads out loud to herself (narrating the books with stories that are either eerily identical to what we've read to her, or hysterically out of left field) the noise reverberates through the apartment. So we go in to gently remind her that, to sleep, she needs to close her eyes.

The other night, M wandered down to ask Monkey to go to sleep, and when he walked into her room found her sitting upright in bed, with a book on her lap.

She looked up and, after short intake of breath as if startled, she looked at her father and said "oh, you woke me up!"

Mmm hhm, SURE we woke her. She's a funny kid, that one.

photos of my lovelies