List 3 special moments with/about each of my kids every day

1. Fooling around at bedtime, as usual. I was half falling asleep on the floor and he was singing to himself beside me. Made-up songs. One had a section that went like this: “Mommy has boobies, yes she does, two boobies, yes. Mommy has boobies, yes, so I can have a drink when I want, yes.” I didn’t even know he remembered nursing, he hasn’t mentioned it once since he stopped. I was wondering if he’d ask there on the spot for some milk, but he just went right on to the next song about something else.
2. Clambering up the stairs to see my mom’s cat. I told him “slow down on the stairs” and he instantly clicked into slow motion. Still just as precariously balanced, not holding on or anything, but all in slow motion. And he was totally serious.
3. Feeding the goat at the farm, slow to pull his hand back, and ended up with two of his fingers fully engulfed in the goat’s mouth, which was slurping and trying to suck up the slice of carrot he had in his hand. It only lasted a few seconds, and he didn’t react openly at that moment, but he paused, kinda casual, and then said “okay, I’m done with this,” and then walked away, frantically wiping his fingers on his pants.

• Rode her bike all the way to the park and back. She hasn’t been riding a lot, so I was surprised at how little I had to help her.
• Obsessed with princesses and getting married lately (ugh!). She’s only seen one disney princess movie, so I don’t know where it comes from. When I ask her, she says that she just likes the pretty dresses and good hair. Why it immediately follows that she has to get married is beyond me, but I’m trying not to be too much of a bummer about it, despite now wanting to throw out every glittery, pink, remotely-princessy thing into the trash.
• Every night at bedtime she wants to hear a story from when I was little. Doesn’t she know I have the worst memory on earth? Today I told her about playing hide-and-seek with my friends outside. The whole street was our playing field, which totally freaked her out and the conversation quickly changed into 20 questions about getting lost, strangers, what to do if you can’t find your house, etc. She was trying not to cry.
• Remembered a library book that we read almost 2 years ago. (Dog Magic.) Granted, I renewed it as many times as I could, so we had it for ages, but at the library today she went up to the librarian herself and asked for it. They didn’t have a copy, so the librarian put us on the waiting list for it.
• Asked if we can buy a cat. I said that we can’t, because Daddy’s allergic and can’t live in the same house with the cat. Didn’t miss a beat, and said “Well what are we going to do with Daddy, then?” Hehe. I didn’t tell G this story.

• Crying over something or other. The real cry lasted 3 seconds, but the fake cry when on and on and on. It got more and more fake, and he could tell. He kept sort of “testing out” the fake cry and then providing half-crying commentary: “Wahhhh! Mommy, I forgot how to cry! Wahhhh! Mommy you need to help me cry! Wahhhh! I can’t cry anymore!! Wahhhh!” And then by the end he was back to crying for real over… not remembering how to cry.
• Happily ate McDonald’s for lunch, just as happily ate beans, peas, apples, and prune juice for dinner.
• Did something to bother me and I commented “I’m not happy about this,” which really upset him. He kept telling me “Yes Mommy’s happy!” If he could have added a “dammit” at the end, he would have.

• Riding his new bike up and down the driveway. Up the driveway, he needed to be pushed almost the whole way. He’d stop, stand up on the pedals to lean over and talk to Thomas the Train on the front of the bike. “Thomas, stop stopping me! I want to GO! GO GO GO! Let me go, Thomas!” Then laughing to himself. Down the driveway, he’d get going out of control, with a big smile on his face, and I’d run beside him and stop him before he crashed.
• Peed on the potty for the first time ever! Even more noteworthy because he asked to go. Standing in the bath, bouncing up and down, “I want pee on potty Mommy! I don’t want pee in bath! Oh oh oh!”
• Afterwards he was so excited. Jumping up and down, naked, in his room. “Yay! I peed on potty! I peed on potty! All by myself! And even Mommy helped me! She helped me so I din’t fall into potty! Yay!”

• Clambering over all the climbing equipment at the farm (it was all made of old tires). She’s still not the most physical kid, she’s so cautious, but now she thinks of herself as a climber (proven by the fact that she kept yelling “I’m a climber, Mommy! See? I’m a climber!” the whole time), and I see her getting more courageous and confident as each day passes. I love it.
• Happily eating a bowl of peas that I packed for our picnic lunch at the farm.
• Talking to herself, as usual. This time, about her off-the-shoulder shirt (well, it has two straps, one for on top, one for below her shoulder cap) with the butterfly. She’s always been stressed out by it, because she wants both on top of her shoulder, but she also really likes the butterfly, so she keeps trying. Yesterday she put it on and then had a conversation with an imaginary someone. “Oh, you like my shirt? Thank you. Yes, the shoulder straps are supposed to be this way. Isn’t it pretty?”

G was giving bedtime showers and I overheard this from downstairs:

H: Look! My PENIS!
M: (in a patient, semi-bored voice) Yeah, your penis, sure. (a pause, then, her voice got more enthusiastic, an idea struck) Hey, yes! It’s your penis! Want me to show you something really fun to do with it? Here, go like-
G: (loudly breaking in) Okay, okay, okay, that’s enough, go get your toothbrushes.

I still haven’t asked G what it is she was going to teach him to do, but it’s almost funnier not knowing.

• Pink shirt, pink capri pants, pink socks, pink hairclip = very happy M.
• Invited to A&T’s house for an impromptu playdate. I think she was a bit surprised at the invitation (as was I), and when we got there she had no idea what to do with two boys who wanted to play with star wars lego.
• Screaming from the washroom had me RUNNING in to see what happened. First glance, she’s standing in front of the toilet, pants around her ankles, sobbing, barely able to catch her breath, and pointing at the toilet. All sorts of scary and ridiculous things rushed through my head (rectal cancer? menstruation at age 4? man-eating serpent coming up from the sewers?), and I braced myself before looking in there. Toilet paper roll, slowly sinking into the water, getting puffier by the second.

• Woke up, rolled off the bed, came walking into M’s room, where I was, saying “I can’t find Mumble on the tv, Mommy,” and plopped down on a little pillow on her floor, still half asleep. And then was obsessed with the idea of watching Happy Feet all day.
• At playdate with 2 older boys, we were discussing ages and he piped in with “I’m toowunnbit!” (two and a bit) When they didn’t understand him he got louder and louder, and eventually was about 1” from one boy’s face, yelling at the top of his lungs.
• Gotta go, he’s crying.

I’m too tired to think of anything specific to today, but wanted to record some of the funny things he says. Unfortunately, I don’t do this any other place, so I’m putting it here. It’s funny how some things they say so perfectly clearly and other things are all mixed up.

• garbage = “bardage”
• come = “pum”
• more than that = “muhdenDAT”
• cereal = “eel”
• chopsticks = “hopticks”
• mosquito = “skeeto”
• crocs = “cocks”
• yes = “ess” (no longer “ass,” unfortunately)

• Climbing the big yellow climbing thing at school. Two months ago she was too short and/or nervous, but she did it by herself for the first time last week and now she doesn’t do anything else. She’s so proud of herself I can’t stand it! My heart can’t decide to leap with happiness or stop with fear with each step she takes on that stinking deathtrap, but I smile and give thumbs up because her grin is so big it couldn’t get any bigger.
• We weren’t expecting G home for bedtime, so the kids were looking forward to the 3 of us piling into my bed together. When he got home early, H ignored him and M said “No! I want Mommy!” It bounces off G, but still. Jeez. A few minutes later G was in another room and I went in and told the kids, fairly casually, to think about what it must be like to come home to your family and get a greeting like that. No response. I just put away some laundry and walked out. It took them a couple of minutes, but they both went searching him out and gave him big hugs and body slams. I think with H it was just coincidence (but maybe I don’t give him enough credit), but I think I got through to M. Not to say she won’t do it again tomorrow…
• Curious. “How does the food on your teeth make cavities?” “Do bears have uvulas?” “Why does the world need mosquitoes?”