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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Last Saturday was the first snowfall here. I dressed Olivia in her gear, grabbed the camera, and took her outside. I started snapping away as she drug her feet through the snow and looked around at our newly whitened neighborhood. I told her a few times to look at me and smile. I got some super cute shots of her, and I told her the story about taking her out for the first snowfall last year when she automatically stuck out her tongue to catch snowflakes.
"Look at me and smile, Pie!" I said as I captured a shot. I checked it in the screen to see the digital image. "Okay, smile again!" I told her.

And then, sounding heartbreakingly like a self-conscious teenager, she asked, "Was it a bad picture?"
I didn't think I was going to be the mom to teach my kid the anatomically correct words for body parts, and to some extent, I'm still not, but I did recently add "uterus" to Olivia's vocabulary.
Since I'm pregnant, we've been talking for several weeks about a baby being in Mommy's tummy. I was totally comfortable with the "close enough" of that language. It started getting a little muddy last week, though, when I told Pie, after eating something (a marshmallow, I think) that it was yummy in my tummy. That's when she said, "the baby likes it!" I decided at that point that I didn't want her thinking for the next several years that pregnant ladies were carrying their babies in the same place they also carried their half-digested Chipotle burritos and chewed-up broccoli.
"Actually, Pie, our baby isn't really in Mommy's tummy. The baby is in a special place right below my tummy called a uterus. Can you say uterus?" I couldn't help but add that last part because I was dying to hear that funny word in her 2-year-old voice. She didn't disappoint.
"Uterus," she repeated with perfect diction.
We haven't had much uterus talk since then. I still say "tummy" usually, but I feel comfortable enough with it knowing that I told her the real deal.
Last night at the dinner table, Olivia was lightly kicking my knee under the table. "Does this hurt the baby?" she asked. This is a fun game she's been playing ever since I told her to be careful not to kick me in the tummy when I'm changing her, for fear of hurting the baby.
"No, it doesn't hurt the baby," I answered.
She switched to my arm and started pushing on it. "Does this hurt the baby?" she asked again.
"Nope, that doesn't hurt the baby either. Remember the baby is in Mommy's tummy, not my arm." I clarified, though obviously not quite correctly enough.
"No," she further explained to me, "the baby lives in your uterus."

Friday, November 18, 2011

It was late as we drove home a few nights ago. In an attempt to keep Olivia distracted so she wouldn't think about her tiredness, I talked to her about the day, recapping all the fun we had had. She loves to hear again and again the details of her life, as if she wasn't there to experience it and needs a first-hand account. I don't mind playing along. Instead of saying, "I just told you about going to the library!" I use it as an opportunity to throw in new vocabulary words, or phrase things differently, or to ask her to fill in details. We definitely love to get our gab on. After several minutes of this last night, however, she seemed to suddenly have had enough. "Put on my music," she demanded.
After asking her to restate her request politely, I obliged.
As we neared our house, we drove by our precinct's polling place - the place I had just taken Olivia on Tuesday as I fulfilled my civic obligation. "Where'd we vote?" she asked leadingly.
Taking the bait, I said, "Right there at that church! That is Mt. Hope. It's where you voted with Mommy. Remember how we went in and-"
"Turn it up!" Olivia interrupted. Thinking I hadn't captured her attention well enough, I reached for the volume. "The music?" I asked.
"No! Your voice!"

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Olivia, jumping around in the playroom, listening to music and wildly waving a balloon:
"I belong in the circus!!!"

Saturday, November 12, 2011

After I picked Olivia up from daycare on Tuesday, Election Day, and told her about my plans for us before dinner.
"We're going to vote!" I told her excitedly. Of course, I then needed to fill in the details so I launched into a two-year-old friendly version of the election process, using phrases like, "help choose our leader,""write on a piece of paper," "we decide," "America is special," etc.
After several minutes of explanation, Olivia's only question was, "Do we get to ride in the vote?"
Olivia was trying on my shoes the other day as is one of her favorite things to do in our room (second only to trying on my jewelry). Her favorite pair are my bright green, vinyl-y flats. When she puts them on, she tells me she's going "to school." The other day, after she pulled out and tried on about six pairs of shoes, I told her it was time to clean up. Obediently, she started cleaning up. She lost steam after putting away all but two pairs of shoes. "Good job!" I said. "Now you just have to put away the black ones (both pairs of shoes left were black).
"Are these black?" she asked of my black Rocketdogs.
"Yep."
"Are these black?" pointing to my black patent-leather heels.
"Yep. Those are, too. Now put both pairs away."
Immediately she protested, "These are NOT pears! They are not peaches [either] I think!"

Monday, November 7, 2011

As I was making Olivia's lunch today, she was flitting around the kitchen, using a kitchen utensil to "clean" various appliances. I knew this only because she was chanting "clean, clean, clean!" while she did this. Asking the obvious, I said, "Oh wow, Pie! Are you cleaning the kitchen?"
"Yep," she said. "You go sleep, I'll clean up."
Sounds lovely...how can I get her to repeat that to Evan this evening?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A Fair Trade

Today at lunch, Olivia said to me, "I like lentils" (which I had added, along with chicken, to her mac and cheese). "They're soft - like Skittles!"
That's right, Pie. And since you feel that way, why don't you fork over those Skittles, along with your other Halloween loot, and in return, I'll supply you with all the lentils you can eat.