Improvement!!

Not humorous, but a look at how we try to work things here:

C: Hey! You put away my tea set!! I TOLD YOU NOT TO!
Me: That's not how you should talk. Try this instead: 'When you put my tea set away, you made me angry.'
C: (Repeats)
Me: Why did you do that?
C: (Repeats)
Me: Well, it was out for two days and I was afraid some of the pieces would get lost. That would be sad. I put it away so we could find all the pieces later.
C: Well, LET ME TAKE IT OUT NOW!
Me: No, not like that. Try this: 'Momma, can I take it out again?'
C: (Repeats in angry tone)
Me: Let's try that again.
C: (Repeats in more friendly tone)
Me: Sure! Let's go get it now!

Three minutes later:

C: Momma, I need to get some things from your room.
Me: Well, I'm about to exercise so you'll need to play on my bed.
C: NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO...wait...Momma, I'd rather not. Can I please stay downstairs and play puzzles with Jimmy instead?
Me: (Hugs and kisses and slobbers all over her sweet cheeks) Sure!

Kinda brings tears to my eyes. 

Waiting By The Phone

She's like a girl the day after her first starry-eyed date. "Momma, do you think the phone will ring? When will they call? Where is the phone? I hope they call soon!"

(She's waiting for the library to call and let me know that they have her favorite video on hold for her. Right now, another family has checked it out.)

Pretty Please?

I made the mistake of telling C that her favorite library video is already checked out, but that I put it on hold. Now she wants me to FIND that mommy who has it out, MAKE her pack up her library materials and GET them back to the library so we can go and take out that video NOW.

In exchange, we will return our inferior video, just in case that mommy's child wants to watch it, instead.

She's even learned that politeness works best, so she's following me around everywhere I go. "Please? Please! Please, please, pleeeeeeeeease?!"

This will be a long, demanding day. I can tell.

Perhaps it's not so unusual, after all.

C and I are reading a book together. It happens to be a reader from when the older kids learned to read, so there is a list of unfamiliar words at the bottom of each page. This story is about seeing a crab at the beach.

C: Why is the word "ow" on the bottom of the page?
Me: Each page has new or unusual words at the bottom.
C: "Ow" is an unusual word?
Me: Yes, it's not the kind of word you read every day.

She reaches up and yanks my hair. "OW!' we say in unison.

Why did I not see this coming?

Payment in Kind

Don't put peanut butter on the cat.

I'm becoming more convinced, as time goes by, that there is, indeed, a cat heaven. Either that, or my home is cat purgatory and this cat did something reeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad a life or two ago...

Movie Night

I'm putting on a movie for me to watch, an unusual event at our house. C would rather watch her video, so she is trying to persuade me that this one is unsuitable.

Me: It's a movie about a cook.
C: Is there anything SCARY in it - like a lion or a tiger?
Me: No, nothing scary.
C: Oh! Maybe the mister guy and the misses guy cook, and then he DROPS it on the FLOOR!! That would be scary!

The Mommy Chair

I'm sitting in the dining room, and she's on my lap playing with my hair. She pulls a little harder and a little harder, so I finally begin to pay attention to what she's singing.

"We're gonna make a Mommy chair! We're gonna make a Mommy chair!"

You guessed it: she's trying to tie my hair to the back of my chair.

Thank goodness my kids are always slow with the fine motor coordination!

Early Signs

She's drinking a sippy cup of milk. Suddenly she stops and holds it right in my face.

"Momma! My cup is half full!"

Looks like she's officially an optimist.

Field Trip: Science Museum

I went to the science museum with two children.

I returned home with two children.

The SAME two children.

Someone at the science museum (ANYONE at the science museum) doesn't realize how fortunate she is that I didn't exchange three-year-olds while no one was looking!

Time for a HUGE pot of tea.

*****

My older two were such compliant little ones.  I am not used to having THAT child.  I've developed a strange smile to flash at people while I carry her, wailing and writhing, from a crowded room.  My smile says, "sympathize or judge - I don't care - but just get out of my way!"

The Best Book To Read

Yesterday no one would read a library book to C, so she sat down on the couch and read it to herself (The Duckie Gets A Cookie, in case you're looking for a recommendation).

Today she's reading another book to herself. It's very absorbing and has fascinating dialogue. Best part: it's completely blank. That's right; my girl is reading a blank book to herself.

I think I like today's selection best of all!