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.