Toilet malfunction

Molly, staring with confusion at her potty: “Mummy?  It’s not working!  My potty broken!”

Her potty was fine, it turns out.  Molly merely ascribes magical attributes to her potty: she sits on it, she pees!  This time, though, when she looked in her potty after sitting, there was no pee…

We’ve got a ways to go yet, before Molly figures out it’s she who controls when the peeing does and does not happen!

Animal noises

“Molly, what does a bunny say?”

[Molly, starting to hop up and down] “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!”

And no, we’ve never corrected her. It makes me smile, every time.

On Molly’s Christmas List:

As we were driving down to meet friends for a playdate, Molly joyfully chimed out: “HEY! Let’s buy a reindeer!”

This is why Mummy didn’t ask Molly for a Christmas wish-list this year.

Her Royal Highness, Princess Moo

I asked Molly if she was looking forward to our day at home together tomorrow.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to go to a castle to see the Queen.”

Somehow, I suspect our scheduled playdate in the basement is going to be a royal disappointment.

The anatomy of a mum

I could see on Jamie’s face that he wasn’t planning on obeying me. So when he stepped out of the room and I heard the tell-tale tinkle of the forbidden toy, I said in my you’re-in-trouble-voice: “Jamie! Put the toy down.”

He came back into the room, looking astonished. “How many eyes do you have, Mummy?”

On the Eve of Advent, the curtain falls on Halloween

Fifteen minutes of unlimited candy consumption this evening, and then the rest is garbage. This seems a happy compromise. As Tess says: “The sad bit is, the candy is gone after tonight. The great bit is we can eat as much as we want!”

They each have taken a very different approach. Jamie ate four, and stopped, saying: “I’m done. I don’t want anymore!” Tess lined up all her choices and is methodically working her way through them, although her pace is slowing.

Astonishingly, perhaps because she’s talking the least, it’s Molly who is consuming the most. She wipes her hands between each treat, and then diligently shoves the next candy in.

This could backfire on me in some pretty obvious ways. On the other hand, there is a real sense of childhood wonder at the thought of unlimited candy. And, it’s a painfree way of getting rid of the rest of the tooth-rotting stash.

Pieces of Peace

Just set the time for 10 minutes, and told everyone that I didn’t want any requests or interruptions until the timer went off. I got my peace and quiet, but it only lasted 4 minutes and 31 seconds.

Before the mastery of the Five W’s

Molly regularly asks: “What’s him?” or “What’s her?” as her version of “Who’s he?”

I so love this stage!

And it begins…

Tess: “I know we can’t have a dog or a cat. It’s just that I would like a pet *like* a dog or a cat…”

I’m not sure, but I think that was Tess’s launch of Campaign 2011: “Wearing Mummy Down…”

A stickler for detail

Molly came sprinting past me, clothed only in a t-shirt.

“Naked baby, coming through!”  I called out.

Molly stopped dead in her tracks.  “I’m not naked,” she said.

“Yes, you’re naked!  Look, I can see your bare bottom!”

“Mummy, I’m not naked,” she repeated.  “I half naked!”

I stand corrected, Moo.