We had a moment

Every once in a while, you have one of those moments where you know you are doing something right. Last night I had one of those moments.

While going through the typical bedtime routine of reading 3 stories, followed by one more, and "our song", I looked down and saw she was hiding the biggest grin on her face. She then put her two little arms around me and squeezed tight and said "I love you mommy".

THAT will never make it to any Christmas list. Thanks Santa.

Random and Funny Part 5

Maggie-isms...

While Aunt Jen was babysitting her she tells her "chocolate milk isn't good for my teeth but it's good for my tongue because it tastes so good"

Gramma and Pap have been taking her to church, her first reaction was "who's that lady hanging up there", the next time she told me afterward "I didn't get the God candy that Gramma and Pap did" (communion)

Maggie's friends at daycare, Finn and Gray, are brothers. "Finn's daddy picked him up today and his mommy picked up Gray. How come 1 mommy can't pick up 2 kids?"

She has a (small) boo boo on her toe - this morning we were leaving for school "mommy, don't step on my toe in the high heels you were wearing yesterday, you CAN step on my toe with the shoes you were wearing a lot of yesterdays ago"

Random and Funny part 4

Maggie and I were sitting in the car outside of Safeway waiting for Erik. The windows were down and a rather man who was rather large just around his middle section walked by. Maggie screams (windows open, don't forget)
"Mommy! He looks just like a diamond!!"
I couldn't argue, he did. Small head, wide middle, small ankles...

The other night she somehow turned herself completely around in her bed to the side with no guard rails.
"Mommy, my bed kept trying to fall me out and I had to hold on!"

Leaving for work/school today I was wearing open toe shoes - at daycare she's not allowed to wear sandals.
"Mommy, your friends at work will not be very happy with you because you can't wear open toe shoes"

Tonight, Erik was singing "You are so beautiful..."
"Mommy, say thank you to Daddy for calling you beautiful."
"Daddy, were you talking to me or Mommy?"

I told Maggie we were going to the dentist
"Oh goody...do you think the dentist can look at my pinky finger?"

The carpet guy came over last night to measure
"Mommy, I want to do a puzzle with you, me and the carpet guy"

She was telling me about a puppet show they had at school the previous day and I suggested we go to one together
"No Mommy, I already did that with other friends"

Leader of the Pack

I've wondered what Maggie must be like at school...which kid on the playground is she? The bossy one, the imaginative one, the "whatever you want to do" one, etc, etc, etc. I'd love to watch her at play when she doesn't know I'm watching.

Lately I've been little glimpses of her "at school" personality by teacher updates and by peering through the classroom window for a minute before she knows I'm there and I have to say, I has taken me by complete surprise. Once again, she is SO not my child.

Her teacher told me today that Maggie sets up her own "circle time" and gathers the kids and "reads" books and sings to them. Erik says he notices when he picks her up, there is always a kid doing something for her. Leo pushes her around in the car, Vivian and Amelia (her BFF's) sit on the floor while she tells them stories, Walker gives her toys when she cries because it's her turn.

Nature vs. Nurture? I say nature!

Sneaky

Last night Erik and I were watching TV in the basement as we normally do, with the monitor on in case Maggie bellows for us (which until recently happened about every 30 seconds for an hour or so each night). We had just been commenting over the week how she has been just going straight to sleep lately and how nice it was.

So as we're getting comfortable and settled in for a Big Love marathon Erik notices some movement in the foyer. Maggie is heading BACK upstairs. When did she learn how to open doors? How long had she been there? Why didn't we hear her through the monitor? and most importantly...Why are her rain boots on?

She escaped her room, walked down two flights of stairs (mostly in the dark) put her rain boots on and was heading back upstairs. Who knows if she's done this before when we didn't catch her but this time she was busted and looked every bit as guilty as she was. It was funny to see her looking so sheepish, like she was afraid she was going to get in trouble. In that span of time she aged 15 years and was late for curfew....her teenage years flashed before me and I was scared, very scared.

I proceeded to carry her upstairs and somehow on that journey she negotiated 3 more stories and 2 songs out of me . What a scammer!

Random and Funny - part 3

Today is show and tell at daycare. I asked Maggie this morning what she wanted to do for show and tell...she said "ummm...I'll prolly tell"

The other morning on the way to school she said "Mommy, when I'm older, I'll be 3...and THEN I will go potty" then later in the drive she said "Mommy, when I'm older, I'll be 8". Yes you will, dear.

Dropping her off at school the other day I gave her a kiss good bye, she said "where are Daddy's lips?" I responded that they were at work with him. She seemed fine with that answer.

Erik is on a work trip to St. Thomas...acting like he's 22 like everyone else he works with who have much younger livers than his. Here is my conversation with Maggie about it this morning:
- Where's Daddy?
- He's on a trip, he went on an airplane this morning
- What is he doing?
- He is at a place that has beaches and swimming pools and he will be playing in the water
- Can we watch him?
- No dear, that would not be a good idea.
- Will he bring me a present?
- Yes, he certainly will
- On my birthday I'll get a present
- Yes, you sure will
- And BIRTHDAY CAKE! And icing?
- Yes, there will be icing
- Green icing?
- If that is what you want, yes
- Will it be on the couch?
- Sure, if you want it to be
- No, want it on the table

SO random!

Santa

Over the holiday season we have gone to the mall 3 times to have Maggie's picture taken with Santa only to stand there for 20 minutes staring at him then leaving when she decides she doesn't want to see him up close. Today was different and might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen her do.

Santa came to daycare today and I assumed it would be another similar adventure so I was not hopeful, almost didn't even bring the camera. We're standing there in our typical fashion staring at Santa while child after child happily sits on his lap and goes on their way. I casually said to Maggie "you just sit on his lap, tell him what you want for Christmas and then you get a cookie". Before I could finish the word cookie, she marched to the front of the line, cutting off every child waiting, sat right on his lap, said "Mickey Mouse", sat for her picture (no smile), got down, grabbed her cookie and was on her way.

That's my girl...all business and not taking the chance that I might have been bluffing with my cookie bribe. Who knew it was that easy?

Funny and Random - part 2

More funny things said by Maggie Rose Crawford, still age 2 1/2:

While Aunt Jen is holding her on her lap, Maggie spots a binky, grabs it and puts it in her mouth. She looks at Aunt Jen, puts her finger over her lips and says "ssshhhhh"
me: Maggie, where'd you get that binky?
Maggie: Aunt Jen


Walking down the stairs before school yesterday, she asked me to carry her like a baby.
me: Maggie, you're so crazy
Maggie: Mommy, I'm not crazy, I'm so cute!

Driving to the park her window mysteriously goes down
Maggie: My window went down all by itself...what happened?
me: That's strange, I don't know what happened
Maggie: it's kinda funny huh?
Erik tells me later that Maggie learned how to put the window down herself and was doing it all morning

Divorced Parents Olympics

Last Sunday we pretended to be divorced parents competing over who could have the most fun individually with Maggie.

I had to go somewhere in the morning so Erik had Maggie and took her to Algonkian park where they played in the leaves, watched a softball game and took tons of great pictures. I could just picture them skipping hand in hand in a field. Ok, maybe not. Erase that visual from your mind.

Erik went to watch the football games in the afternoon so I took her to an art show at Glen Echo Park where she ate cupcakes, played at the playground and danced along to the square dance music heard throughout the park.

The next day as I was driving her to school I told her how much fun I had with her over the weekend and how my favorite part was going to the park. She responded "the park with Daddy? That was FUN! I like my Dad!". Really Maggie? Did I mention you had cupcakes with me?

Daddy wins. I can accept defeat gracefully.

Random and Funny

Funny things recently said by Maggie Rose Crawford, age 2 1/2:

me: (coming home from work) Hi Maggie!
Maggie: mommy, you came, you came!
me: how was your day?
Maggie: good, how was YOUR day?
me: good
Maggie: Daddy's Monday was very busy


me: Maggie, will you draw with me?
Maggie: no, I'm busy
(really? too busy at 2 1/2 to color?)


Driving to Gramma and Pap's house...
Maggie: I want see my grandfather
me: I thought he was your Pap
Maggie: YOU call him Pap


On Halloween night when she was in heaven staying up late, watching TV and eating a lollipop (excuse me "LADYPOP")...
me: maggie, don't bite the lollipop, just lick it
Maggie: go mommy, go outside with Daddy, Aunt Jen and Uncle Bruce
(I leave for a minute and come back to see the lollipop is suspiciously smaller)
Maggie: I licked it

More to come...

Dream?

I woke up this morning with a fuzzy recollection of seeing Maggie in the middle of the night - and not the midnight sheet change when she coughed so hard she threw up. I just chalked it up to a dream. Until Erik asked me later - did Maggie come into our room last night? YES, she did!

She had her tennis shoes on (she did not go to sleep with them on) and was asking for her slippers. I walked her back to her room, gave her her slippers and she held out her hands for me to put them on. She crawled back into bed with her tennis shoes on her feet and slippers on her hands.

I'd like to say that it was all part of a dream and she forgot about it in the morning but first thing she asked for when she woke up this morning was for her slippers for her hands.

There's a fine line between unique and weird...is she crossing it?

So much to say...

So much...but where to begin. Life with a 2 1/2 year old is infinitely different than life with a 2 year old. That short span of time might as well be a lifetime. They get it now...they get that they can make you laugh, cry, angry, etc. And they push everyone of those buttons whenever the mood strikes.

The morning routine is more and more challenging everyday, Maggie is the queen of stalling and will find a hundred things she needs to do before her shoes can be put on. This morning it was putting her play hammer inside her teacup and letting it fall over. Apparently that was a very important thing to accomplish at 7:19 AM when we are supposed to be out the door by 7:15 AM (I tell myself...breathe...no stress...does it really matter if I'm at work at 8:07 versus 8:16? These moments matter...right?). So we do our usual routine of dillying and dallying and finally get out the door when of course the school bus arrives for the older kids (my goal is to get in the car before the bus comes because that just adds another 5 minutes to the morning).

When we do leave late enough to see the bus (i.e., everyday), our routine is that we both have to crouch down on the sidewalk and watch all the kids board and then we can leave. So we do that and then she takes off for a walk "BY MY-SELF!" Because apparently she's allowed to just walk the neighborhood now. As she's running back she trips a little and cries so I just pick her up and put her in the car. AHA...gotcha! Well, not really because she yells at me halfway to school that she wanted to do it "BY MY-SELF!" and "STOP MOMMY STOP!!". Then all of a sudden she stops and says "Daddy's wearing jeans today, so is Maggie, Mommy's not wearing jeans".

And all is good...

OCD...reprise

I believe I have already posted about Maggie's OCD, but I felt the need to document the progression (or digression depending on how you look at it). She seems to have inherited YET ANOTHER trait from her Dad and it thrills me to know end (she says sarcastically).

Our daycare drop off ritual:
There is a ramp on one side of the entrance and steps on the other...I have to walk up the steps while Maggie walks up the ramp. In order to enter the building I have to enter a code and have my finger print scanned - while I am doing this, Maggie must turn the water faucet knob located directly below it back and forth a few times, then push this button-like thing on top, then I open the door and she goes in. We get inside and she must position the footstool in the lobby under the water fountain and get a drink.

Bedtime ritual:
She sits in her little rocking chair while I sit in the bigger one and we have to sing the following songs in this order: Chicken Dance, Rock a Bye Baby, Oh Canada, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs. A new addition to this routine is that I must have my feet on each leg of the rocking chair while she has her feet on the legs of her rocking chair...and we rock.

And all I can think is...really? Where did this come from? Oh yeah, I remember now.

She is in a funny stage right now where she can be mean as anything to me (mommy, go away!) to the sweetest little angel in the world (mommy, I want to give you a kiss and a hug, then thanks me for it) I only seem to remember the details of the sweet moments - tonight she asked for some juice and when I got up to get it for her she says in her sweetest voice "thank you mommy*".

*See heart melting...

My Little Helper

Lately Erik and I have been noticing that Maggie is actually VERY helpful. And not in the sense where you placate a child and say "thank you dear" meanwhile thinking in your head "I'm so glad you put the mustard in the tupperware cabinet - now I need to remember to take it out when you're not looking".

No, she is seriously helpful.

Yesterday she decided she needed a band-aid. She might not have needed the band-aid but she is officially obsessed with them right now so we let her have this luxury of plastering herself in plastic adhesive with Dora designs. So she walks over to the drawer, gets the band-aids out, opens the box, opens the band-aid wrapper (which, I have to add, her father just figured out how to do this less than a year ago. He didn't realize they peeled open...but that's another story) puts it on her knee and then throws the trash away.

When I went in to check on her this morning, she was awake in her bed. She immediately jumped out of bed and I did my usual routine of sitting in the rocking chair in her room so I could hold her for a few minutes before we had to get ready. She stood there and said "no, I have to put a different shirt on and change my diaper". She opened her drawer, found a shirt and a skirt that matched, threw them on the floor and layed down for me to change her. But not before she cleaned up all of the clothes on her floor and put them in the correct drawers (while singing "clean up, clean up, everybody do your share...")

When we were leaving she noticed my lunch was on the counter, she picked it up, carried it all the way to the car and put it on the passenger seat.

What does she need us for again? I'm starting to wonder. Her maternal instinct is stronger than mine!

Three is a Magic Number

Maggie's crib is on Craig's List. This makes me a little emotional for many reasons, not the least of which what it indirectly means.

I struggle daily with the prospect of Maggie being an only child. Not only am I 37 and just tired, tired, tired at the end of the day but I'm not sure I want more children. Until I was 26, I wasn't even really sure I wanted 1. I know a lot of only children and they are just fine...but is it selfish to not give Maggie a sibling because I am tired? Is it really all about me?

Not that I feel the need to explain myself, but I will. Erik, Amy and Maggie, family of 3. I like it. I like that our entire life is about her, focused on her, making her a good person and happy. I never was a girl who had to be a mother, just happy. Having 2 kids gives me that mother title and everything in your life is about caring for kids - plural. Having 1 makes me happy. And it makes us..."us". We take a flight on a plane and we're in a row together, we all fit nicely on the bed together when we watch tv, we fit at our kitchen table that is against the wall and only has 3 sides perfectly, she sits in between us and can touch both of us. We have a thing...the 3 of us...inside jokes that no one else needs to understand and a closeness that I never want to dilute.

With all that said, she will probably hate me one day for this decision but I hope she understands it really was all about her.

Sing a Song...

Our life has become a musical. If Maggie's not bossing us around she is singing her little heart out.

Check out her rendition of the ABCs...pay close attention to the L-M-N-O-P part...I think she is subliminally telling us to stop trying to potty train her:

And the ever popular "Tankle Tankle Little Stars":

And you can't miss her encore and all-time favorite, "Oh Canada":

Enjoy!

Sweetness

We seem to have cruised past Blue's Clues, flew right by Elmo's World, veered off of Mickey Mouse and have landed on Yo Gabba Gabba. And if you've never watched Yo Gabba Gabba you are seriously missing out. With non-stop hits like "Don't Bite Your Friends", "Let's Get the Silly's Out", "I Like Bugs" and everyone's favorite "There's a Party in my Tummy", you can't afford NOT to watch!

But you really need to watch this with a 2 year old because there is a part where they all take turns dancing and they sing “It’s Your Turn…” and when it’s your turn you go crazy dancing.

And. Maggie. goes. CRAZY.

She dances her little heart out around the ottoman until it's the next character's turn. Meanwhile screaming "MY TURN!" through their whole dance. Being the only child that she is, it would be easy for it to always be Maggie's turn but we have to be strict about that. Don’t want her to be one of THOSE kids that no one wants to hang around. So she waits for all of the characters to dance until we tell her it’s her turn. It is quite a sight...I just hate when she says “mommy’s turn?”

This morning I was getting Maggie dressed and she was holding onto my head while she lifted each leg putting her skirt on. When we were done she fixed my hair for me (pretty well I might add) and said "Fix your hair mommy?" when I thanked her she replied "you're welcome mommy". I can't help but just melt when we have little interactions like that (as opposed to the other morning when I went to get her out of bed and she said "I want daddy, go away"). Or like the other day when she had a mosquito bite that I didn't want her to scratch so I told her we would put a band aid on it and she replied "Ok, thank you mommy" (as opposed to the day before when I was walking upstairs with her and she pointed her finger angrily at me saying "NO YOU MOMMY!").

Yes, she is a mixture of emotions, hot and cold in all of her two-year-oldness...but that's ok. I'll only remember the sweet things when it's all said and done. Those are the only ones that matter.

Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day Gift this year...does it get any better than this?

It's My Potty, Cybil

Our child has two personalities...the daycare one and the home one.

Apparently Maggie is almost potty trained at school. The other day I got an email from Erik that, according to Miss Olga (Maggie's teacher), Maggie peed in the potty that morning. He followed up with "Maggie has both confirmed and denied it". And then today, Miss Olga told me that Maggie used the potty three times yesterday. Three times! And yes, she peed each time. Apparently when Ryiah dances around and says she has to go potty, so does Maggie and each time she actually did have to go. I asked her this morning when I was dropping her off if she used the potty at school and she casually responded "yeah, with Miss Olga". As if to say, don't even try at home.

At home Maggie talks a lot about the potty but when I ask her if she wants to use it she immediately responds NO. She will sit on the potty, in her diaper (with book in hand I must add), and say she's peeing, which she probably is but she is not interested in actually peeing IN the potty. She'll sit in the bathtub and warn me she has to pee before she does so in the tub, and almost always does on the rug in her room just before I get the diaper on her. But she hasn't quite gotten to the point where she uses the potty from start to finish. And I have to admit, I'm not pushing it. I like the convenience of diapers. I hate public restrooms. The thought of holding her while she hovers is not an appealing one to me. Can't we just have her potty trained for when it's convenient?

At school Maggie eats all of her vegetables, fruit, chicken, hamburger, whatever the meal du jour is, Maggie eats it. "She's one of our best eaters" her teacher says. Um, excuse me, who are you talking about?

At home Maggie eats hot dogs, mac and cheese, french fries, the occasional chicken nugget, maybe sweet potato fries and sometimes applesauce. Oh and she's a BIG fan of hamburger helper. She is definitely her father's daughter.

At school she's playful, funny, cute, sarcastic, silly.

At home, oh yeah, she's all those things too :)

Toddlerhood

Let's see...what has happened since my last post? Not much...oh just that Maggie had surgery and has a 3 inch scar on her neck. That's all. Not much.

Maggie just turned 2 and she is unbelievable these days. I'm not sure at what age some of this stuff is supposed to happen, but everyday she amazes me at what she has learned since the day before. Singing her ABC's, doing the chicken dance, counting up to 14 (after 14 it's just 14, 14, 14). But along with all this fun "toddlerness" comes the "fun" parts too. For example:

1) Going to restaurants is officially out of the question. Erik texted me today while I was working to tell me he and Maggie were going out to dinner and all I could think was -- really? are you insane? ?

2) The attitude has started...already. Yesterday she was throwing all of her puzzle pieces on the floor and when I told her not to do that her response was (picture her with hands on hips) "WHY?" All I could think was -- really? we're starting this already??

3) 3 words - emotional roller coaster. Today she was looking for her green blanket and I told her daddy brought it upstairs to which she responded with total meltdown voice/cry "NO!!! Daddy no touch green blanket!!!" All I could think was -- really? hormones already??

I am not in any way complaining. I find it all to be so fun and interesting when I can just sit back and observe it all happening. From the "HOLD YOU?" that she says when she wants you to pick her up, to the "Maggie kiss?" when she sees Erik give me a kiss to the "Mommy? Hold your hand?" when she wants to go play - I could just drink it up.

Funny story - so her new thing is she must wear her shoes to bed. Mainly she likes to practice taking them off and putting them on while she's falling asleep. So at 1 AM the other morning she calls "daddy? daddy? daddy?", Erik goes in there and she can see her shoes on her dresser "SHOEESSSS???". He gives them to her and goes back to bed. 15 minutes later - cries...I go in there and one shoe is on the wrong foot and she's struggling with the other. I whisper that they are on the wrong feet and it's bedtime. She hurries up, puts them on the right feet and immediately flips over like a pancake and falls sound asleep.

The beginning of a shoe fetish...