If These Walls Had Ears: Some Things You May Have Heard Around Our House Lately

I really need to have a video recording of some of these for the full impact, but use your imaginations. Spoken by our 3 YO daughter:

• Category 1 - Funny because what 3 year old says these words?

This zipper is being stubborn.

S: Is this banana bread cool yet?
Me: Yep.
S: Hallelujah!

(Regarding the alphabet magnets that have fallen under the refrigerator and her inability to move it by herself.) We need a bunch of people to to move the fridge. Unfortunately, it's stuck there. (Also funny because she had good problem solving by thinking of getting more people to help.)

I really love this banana bread. (I found this amusing because she had just been saying, "Mommy, I really love you." SOOO melting my heart. Though I questioned her sincerity when that was followed with "I really love this banana bread" spoken with the same earnestness.)

• Category 2 - Visually hilarious, mildly amusing in writing

There is a big... HUGE... MONSTER fly that just flew into our house. (Spoken with growing intensity and a deeper voice.)

I'm going to say "Hi" to E bcause she's my friend. (E is her aunt - adorable that she referred to her as her friend.)

At my softball game, S was incredibly animated and cheering so loudly I could hear her in right field. (Yes, that's how awesome I am.) Then when one of the guys on my team was up to bat, she was standing behind the backstop yelling, "1...2...3...Aw, man!" when he wouldn't swing. She will kick butt at "Swing batter" when we teach it to her someday.

What up, G. (Spoken in as deep a voice as she can. I must confess, I said it first and she was mimicking me, but it's WAY funnier when she says it.)

Fantastic! (with a triumphantly raised fist)

• Category 3 - Funny because she's incorrectly repeating something someone said

Whoopsie, Spaghetti-O.

S: Sometimes we say sonofapit. (I debated if I should address this since it wasn't technically bad, but decided I should to be on the safe side in case she accidentally said it correctly at a later time.)
Me: Um, no. No, we don't.
S: Yeah, we do. Sometimes.
Me: Well, maybe sometimes people do, but we don't say it.



Other amusing anecdotes about our 3 YO.

I picked S up a little early from preschool to get a haircut before our big family photo a few weeks ago. As we walked away down the sidewalk, she turned back and yelled at the door, "I'm getting my hair cut guys! I'll be back later!" This was funny because 1) she's pretty quiet at school; and 2) none of the kids were paying attention and the door was shut so they couldn't hear her anyway.

Before Halloween, S said, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up." I was kind of surprised. So far her aspirations had been to work at Hy-Vee, the grocery store we frequent. Not that there's anything wrong with that vocation; I just had hoped she would make lots of money so she could afford to put me in a good home when I'm old and senile. Then last night when we were giving the girls a bath, she was checking Baby R's ears and saying, "Looks good, looks good" in almost exactly the same intonation as our pediatrician. This may be her calling after all.

Sometimes we have waffles for breakfast. Ok, often we do. S likes her waffles cut into squares with syrup. Then she likes to "share" mine and not eat hers. Sigh.

They say toddlers/preschoolers don't have much of a memory which is partly why they can be distracted when they are building toward a tantrum. "They" have clearly never met S and her elephantine memory. A month ago she said something about how we had left cookies for Santa on the hearth last year. We haven't talked about that since Christmas. Today she said, completely out-of-the-blue, that when Baby R gets bigger, she can go to Sesame Street Live with her and Daddy. And I can go, too! Um, she went to Sesame Street Live last December. Sheesh!

And regarding distracting her, yesterday when I picked the girls up from my parents' house, she wanted to get the mail with my dad before he left for work, but he was running late. Here's their conversation:

S: Let's go get the mail.
Dad: Sorry, honey, I have to go. I'll get it when I get back. I love you!
S: Let's go get the mail.
Dad: Do you know how much I love you?
S: Let's go get the mail.
Dad: Do you love me?
S: Let's go get the mail.

This went on for a few minutes before he gave up and got the mail.

Finally, S is just growing so much. I marked her height on our broom closet on her bday at the end of July, and when we measured her again a couple of weeks ago, she was half an inch taller! In the last week or two, she's learned how to pump her legs to swing by herself. And she really grasps interacting in conversations now. She was telling her baby sister a story this morning, and not talking at her, but really talking to her, even though Baby R clearly wasn't able to reply verbally. Amazing!