Monkey Business

Toddler antics are amusing....most of the time. Here are some of the week's highlights.

The first thing is more of a lowlight than a highlight. Charlotte has apparently decided that she doesn't like "mommy's house" after school. She likes cooler places, like Grandma's house or going to the pool with her aunt Katie. Or, going on the choo-choo train to find Daddy if he's not already home when we arrive. Since both grandmas are several hours away by car (along with aunt Katie), and you can't actually get to Daddy by choo-choo train, I get to deal with an upset toddler who can't be convinced as to *why* her demands to go bye-bye aren't being met. Nor am I going to let her drive, as she requested last night ("My turn", she said while pulling on the driver's door handle....).

Wednesday night we were outside hanging garlands across the front of the house. Charlotte and I had walked down to the end of the driveway to see the overall effect. Charlotte suddenly paused from her snow-stomping to tell me she had to go potty. I told her to go, expecting a dash for the front door. Instead, she pulled off her pants and pull-up right there on the driveway. I had to pick up a half-naked baby and heft her into the house and to the potty, hoping that she wouldn't pee on me on the way, and trying to explain that she has to go to the restroom *before* removing her pants...

Last night I tried putting her to bed. She was still a bit keyed up from playing, but climbed into her bed all by herself. Then she stood up and started jumping up and down, attempting to sing the Monkey song ("5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell down and bumped her head. Momma called the doctor and the doctor said, 'No more monkeys jumping on the bed.' 4 little monkeys jumping on the bed...."). She actually could sing quite a bit of a verse of it, including shaking her finger when the doctor says "no more monkeys jumping on the bed"...all while hopping up and flopping on her butt. I don't think she quite gets the point of the song.

Later, she got picked out several books for me to read to her. Goodnight Moon has been a favorite lately, and she wanted to read it to herself while I was reading Hippos Go Berserk. She is actually looking at photos and saying some of the words ("Goodnight mouse" "Goodnight Moon" "Cow Jumping over the moon"). I guess that's good, but she didn't seem to understand that I am not reading Sandra Boynton for my own edification and would really prefer to wait until I have her attention before beginning another book.