RTT: Children Edition

Who do I think I’m fooling here? Most of my editions are children editions. Anyway, it’s Tuesday, I thought I’d be random about it, so here are some things my children have been up to lately:

Cookie Baking Part 2: I probably should have uploaded the pictures. Let me just say- sprinkles. Sprinkles everywhere. A very good time was had though, and for those of you who e-mailed me, 350 was the right temperature, and 10 minutes was perfect. Yum.

I love the way Elizabeth says words lately. I’ll have to get them on video. She rolls her “L”s almost the same way Spanish speakers roll their “R”s. She’s been doing it since she was little and couldn’t say lemon without saying 5 or 6 “L”s on the front. Now it’s the Ls in the middle of words. Instead of “dolly” it’s more like doll-luh-ly. Only its sounds cuter than that spelling looks. “Heffalump” is Heffa-loh-lump”. She also frequently speaks in a random Boston accent. We’ve never been to Boston, there’s no reason for it, but among other things, we drive in a “cah”.

We are going through the “Why” stage with Miss Elizabeth also:
“You made me mama?”
“Yes”
“Why?”
“Because we wanted a little girl”
“Why?”
“Because we like little girls.”
“Why?”
“Because girls are nicer than little boys”
“Why?”
“Because…”- you get the idea.

She is also at the stage for general questions. She’s been singing since she was very little. Singing songs word perfect, but apparently without a clue what she’s actually singing. So now, when singing “Jingle Bells” (a tune that I’m very tired of since we are nowhere near the holiday season), she interrupts herself every few words. “Mama, what’s a bobtail?” “Mama, what’s a drifted bank?” “Mama, what’s ‘upsot’?” When singing “I’m a little coconut”, it’s “Mama, what’s ‘cracked you see’?” “Mama, what’s a date (the kind you go on, not the kind you eat)?” “Mama, what’s shredded wheat?” She taxes me. I never thought I would have to struggle this hard to define words so that she can understand them. And then as soon as I tell her what something is, she says “Why?”.

My Lilli baby, who is not such a baby any more, is struggling to exert her independence. Almost everything you try to do for her is met with a cry of “No! I do it!” Or “Don’t want it!”, even if she does. She’s going through a sensitive stage, so if Daddy tells her no, or puts her in time out, there are heartfelt sobs of “Daddy hurted my feeeeeeeeelings”. She wants what she wants, and she wants it now, and resistance to her wishes is not appreciated. Dramatically not appreciated in a casting herself to the floor in distress type of way. If she’s in an uncooperative mood (which fortunately is not as often as I just made it sound) and you ask her to stop something (unsafe, not nice, or just annoying), she will either pretend she hasn’t heard you, or look right at you with one little eyebrow raised and do it One. More. Time. She enjoys snatching something out of her sister’s hands and running off with it, grinning at the rising wails in her wake (this one is only fair based on the number of times Elizabeth snatched things out of her grasp when Lilli was too little to defend herself). Her most favorite word ever is, of course, “NO”.

But then on days when I think about dropping her back off at the hospital, I remember the rest of it. She is super loving. She throws her arms around my legs, looks lovingly up at me and says “I love you Mama!" She hugs super tight, and will kiss on you until you get so soggy that you have to stop her. She kisses booboos with such faith that they actually do feel better. Even though she likes to torture her, she loves her sister dearly. She can’t wait to see her when she gets up, she spends most of the day trying to be near her (fortunately this love is returned at this stage). She’s very verbal and is constantly surprising us with her observations. And she’s cute to boot. We are definitely not giving her back.

For more randomness, head on over to the UnMom, where I hear that this week's theme is nudity. You may notice that I stayed away from that myself. But then- toddlers- champions of nakedness. So I think I'm covered.