Why?

It’s not that I don’t like talking to my daughter. She is bright and funny, charming, interesting, and compassionate. I love that her mind is busy working and learning about the world and she always wants to know more. Sometimes, though, I avoid starting a conversation with her because I know where we will end up – “Why?” But why is the dog with black spots called a dalmation? Why is it called spaghetti? Why do some people don’t use their turn signals? Why was it Brian’s tub when he was a baby? I can’t just say “because” to everything because that would be rude. Sometimes I end the conversation by starting blankly off into space. She thinks I’m ignoring her but actually my brain has completely shut down from wear and tear and I’ll be back after it reboots.

The Binky Fairy

Marie is almost 4. She has been sleeping with a pacifier (binky) since… well basically since she got home from the hospital. When she turned 3, we thought we had her convinced that she had to give it up, but us softies couldn’t stand the whining about it, and so we gave it back to her.

When she turned 3 1/2, we started whittling off the end of the binky, hoping that the growing hole and shortening chewy part would make her lose interest. She didn’t.

About a month ago, we introduced the concept of the binky fairy. A big girl leaves her binky on the windowsill (so the binky fairy can see it when she flies by in the middle of the night). When the binky fairy comes, she takes the binky and gives it to a new baby (hopefully after some reconditioning) and leaves “a present”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LWQZ1K behind.

Last night, the binky fairy came. What a relief. Fortunately, Brian has never been interested in a binky.

Playtime outside

Yesterday’s weather was so nice! During Brian’s nap, Marie and I cleaned off everything on the deck and all of the summer water toys. That was fun all by itself, but then Brian got up from his nap so we filled the water table and they played and played and played. Then I gave Brian a squirt bottle with water in it and he quietly squirted everything in the backyard. Buzz bunny got to come outside and eat grass and dig, and the kids dug up a couple worms, and we saw butterflies and flowers. What a gift to have a day like that – kind of a preview of summer.

I hate bunny grass

You know that plastic grass they put in Easter baskets? The stuff that gets everywhere and you can’t ever clean all of it up no matter how hard you try? Marie has a big basket of purple bunny grass that she got from preschool. She just came in and told me it was the Easter eggs and she was going to put some in each room. Ack! I told her no way. Thank goodness she listened to me, but she is still playing with the basket of it and it is still getting everywhere.

Just like Daddy

This morning, Brian was playing with Peter’s cell phone. He lifted up his sweatshirt and started poking the phone on his belly and I thought – what is he doing? Then I realized he wanted to wear the phone like Peter does on his belt. So, I clipped it on Brian’s pants and he is happy and still wearing it.

Counting

Brian loves to count. He usually only uses the number two. He’ll count things in a book “two, two, two, two!” Sometimes he throws a five in there for fun.
If you prompt him and hold up your fingers, he can count one, two, three!

Danielle, do you still read this?

Marie and Brian’s babysitter from last year, Danielle, is away at college this year. She got them Christmas presents but we never managed to meet up when she was home, so her mom gave them to me last week. They LOVE them! Brian has some new little people and animals. The turkey is his current favorite. Marie has a new Barbie (thank goodness because her one Barbie was getting lonely) who has a doggie! Cool! But wait – it gets even better. The doggie comes with treats that it can eat and then poop out. This is completely fascinating to someone who is three years old. Usually the doggie spends the afternoon on the kitchen table or counter eating treats and pooping for hours. Peter even figured out how you can feed it a lot of treats and then…well you can guess! I’m writing this down because I don’t like to talk about it in front of Marie because she’ll see me laughing hysterically and think I’m making fun of her.

I did it!

Brian’s latest thing is to attempt something himself, and then proudly declare “I did it!” Examples from today:
1. He plugged in his usb Elmo mouse all by himself.
2. He went upstairs and swished around in the toilet with the swisher stick we use for his flushable diapers. (He was so proud that instead of telling him how oogied out I was that he was playing in the toilet, I let him flush and helped him wash his hands)
3. He put a piece of chalk into a marker cap and ran and found me so I could see this amazing thing.
4. He got a hold of the tv remote and restarted the Dora episode that just finished so they got to watch it again.
He is increasingly interested in doing “big kid” things, like washing his hands at the sink, drinking out of a non-sippy cup, going potty, playing with electrical outlets, and doing anything Marie does.