We are rapidly being schooled in just what keen little observers, and shrewd negotiators, toddlers are.
K, who is quick to tell anyone who will listen, that she is “two half” is *this close* to being potty trained, so we have really been hyping up that she is a big girl and all the things that big girls get to do, and that this is why she should go potty in the potty. The upside is, the potty training seems to really be clicking. The downside is she may have embraced this “big girl” thing a bit more than we anticipated.
Now I also hear, usually from another room, “I a big girl so I can pick up Teddie.” Nooooooooo!
Or, “NO! You can’t pick me up, I a big girl!”
Or, in response to offers of assistance getting dressed or putting on shoes: “NOOOOOO! MYSELF!!!!! Cause I a big girl!” There have been a lot of absurd outfits, backwards pants, inside out shirts, shoes on the wrong feet of late.
“I a big girl so I go swimming by myself.” Ummm, absolutely not!
More adorably, we get, “when I bigger, I cook dinner for momma and daddy.”
We are also becoming hyper aware that she is watching our every move and listening intently to what we say. This sometimes has very cute results, particularly in how she treats her baby dolls. She has one particularly favored baby, oh so creatively named “big baby” who she totes around. She will feed baby, pulling down the top of her shirt to mimic me breastfeeding Teddie. She also walks around soothing her baby, saying “shh shh shh” and bounces her up and down as she has seen me do with Teddie. Cute!
Then there is the dark side. Apparently, sometimes brown bunny hits baby and has to go to time out and this comes with very stern, sharp reprimands from K. This always makes me wince, because that must be what we sound like to her when she is in trouble. Similarly, occasionally at the dinner table she will start just babbling nonsensically, and loudly. When questioned, she informed us that is what momma and daddy sound like when they talk at dinner.
And in the funniest, and most disturbing example to date, Sunday morning we were watching a little bit of UFC (don’t ask. If you ever have to live with only watching what Armed Forces Network has to offer you to might find yourself watching a little UFC to break the monotony). She jumped up on an ottoman and started yelling, “get him! Get him! Get him!” Ummmmm… that would be my fault. While I have managed to stop using obscenities when yelling at the TV during football games, I am still prone to becoming a bit, shall we say, over exuberant and apparently someone has been watching me. How exactly this transferred to Ultimate Fighting, I don’t even want to know, but it did. Time to start really watching what we say around her and really limiting her TV time as apparently even sports aren’t quite as innocuous as I had convinced myself they were.
On the more manipulative side, now whenever she is in trouble for something she puts on her biggest saddest brown eyes in her most earnest face and asks “you happy momma?” And if I explain that no, I am not happy because she just did x, y or z and I would like her to not do that thing, then the eyes get even bigger and she says “ok, I be better momma.” Arghhh!
She has also taken to negotiating. “Ummm, I do that in 2 minutes,” or “tomorrow” or frequently “Saturday.” For example, we were informed last night that we could only get kisses and hugs from her “on Saturday” and only when she is going to bed. Way harsh! Or she will try to negotiate on behavioral changes. She was eating her yogurt with her spoon upside down and making a mess so I asked her to turn her spoon over and use it correctly. "Ummm, maybe after my nap I will turn over my spoon." There is also much angling for treats. For instance, “If I wake up from my nap, I get a tootsie roll?” or “If I put my shoes on, I get tootsie roll?” said with the greatest hope and anticipation. Uhhh… no. No, because you do those things because you are supposed to do them not for treats. And also no, because your pants are on backwards AND inside out, you are wearing a headband as a tiara with your hair every which way, and you have on upside down sunglasses and quite frankly, I just cannot even begin to take you seriously when you look like that. Sorry. Terrorists and toddlers; it is best not to negotiate with either.
On that note, here are this weekend’s photos, a day late. What can I say, it was really pretty yesterday and I didn’t feel like sitting at the computer waiting for things to upload.
Gratuitous T photo!
K with our Braai (grill)
K exhibiting scepticism about Mr. Snail (in front of her right where the grass meets sidewalk). She has been a big scared of the giant snails, which is funny since they are clearly not a threat at all, but she is a big fan of Mr. Flatty, a big, really fast, spider. Go figure.
K kissing one of our not quite ripe yet lemons. I don't really know why. Who am I to question the ways of the toddler.
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