Monkey doings
I've been so bad about keeping track of the funny things the mini-monkey says lately -- I always think I'll remember, and then I never do! She's very feisty now; we're getting more backtalk at this point than we were during the allegedly terrible twos, although she's still really a sweetheart overall. Just a tad stubborn.
Three random episodes of "Little Einsteins" got her completely hooked on Tchaikovsky. Seriously. All she wants to listen to is "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," or "Nutcracker." Last week I went to pick her up at my parents' and she'd just woken up screaming from a bad dream. I couldn't calm her down, my mother couldn't calm her down... she wailed inconsolably the whole way out of the building into the car and for ten minutes on the ride, until finally I heard:
"Mo - mo - mo - MOMMY! I *gasp* wa- wa- wa- I WANT *gasp* Tchai- Tchai -TCHAIKOVSKY!!!" *wail*
And then as soon as I got it playing she stopped crying and was absolutely fine. Hee.
Classical music in general is ok if it's Romantic, but she definitely prefers Tchaikovsky and will gripe if whatever's on the classical station isn't actually one of his pieces. She's starting to pick up a taste for early music too, though! The other day she went and picked out a CD to put on her player, and it turned out to be NY Ensemble for Early Music's Istanpitta -- and then she proudly told me "I put on music like you play!"
I've been trying to get her to pay a little more attention to people's names, and periodically I quiz her about the kids in her class.
me: "How about W? Is he the one who knocked the blocks over? Is he your friend?"
M: "My friends are my friends, Mommy! Dey're all my friends."
On the playground the other day, however, she declined to hold hands with a new little buddy, who said piteously, "You're breaking my heart into little tiny pieces!"
While we were there, another mother was commenting to me about how social the sprout is and I said, "Yeah, all she ever wants is a pack of kids -- preferably older, but anything as long as she has a gang tearing around." And *just* then M started yelling "Follow me, everybody! Everybody run behind me!"
We've been watching "How to Train Your Dragon" a lot, and now any time she falls down she says, "Just like Hiccup!" (I've been finding the movie useful: if she's reluctant to share toys with friends I say "What do Toothless and Hiccup do with the fish?" and she sighs and forks over whatever she's hoarding. Yay good media messages!)
She's very fond of a recently acquired tie-dyed shirt with a heart on it, and every time she wears it she frequently reminds me (and anyone else who'll hold still long enough to listen) that "De heart means 'I love you!'"
We all went to see her first-ever movie in a real theatre yesterday -- "Tangled." She was an absolute angel (well, her milk got knocked over, but that was partially our fault because we were helping her change seats), and I was so happy to finally get to take a small child to a first-run Disney movie! Not to mention it was actually a pretty entertaining movie... although "Hit people in the head with a frying pan" is possibly not quite as useful a takeaway message as "Share your fish with your friends." :)
Speaking of Disney... Belle is now definitively her favorite princess. As of yesterday her room is "lellow," because "Lellow is de color dress Belle wears!" I'm drawing the line at additional princess decorations for now, though; auntiero gave us beautiful Victorian-ish fairy cutouts and I'm pushing hard to put them up as a border around her walls. She can keep the Tinkerbell lightswitch plate if she really insists. :) ("We got dat at Home Depot! Home Depot has lots of good stuff!")
Three random episodes of "Little Einsteins" got her completely hooked on Tchaikovsky. Seriously. All she wants to listen to is "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," or "Nutcracker." Last week I went to pick her up at my parents' and she'd just woken up screaming from a bad dream. I couldn't calm her down, my mother couldn't calm her down... she wailed inconsolably the whole way out of the building into the car and for ten minutes on the ride, until finally I heard:
"Mo - mo - mo - MOMMY! I *gasp* wa- wa- wa- I WANT *gasp* Tchai- Tchai -TCHAIKOVSKY!!!" *wail*
And then as soon as I got it playing she stopped crying and was absolutely fine. Hee.
Classical music in general is ok if it's Romantic, but she definitely prefers Tchaikovsky and will gripe if whatever's on the classical station isn't actually one of his pieces. She's starting to pick up a taste for early music too, though! The other day she went and picked out a CD to put on her player, and it turned out to be NY Ensemble for Early Music's Istanpitta -- and then she proudly told me "I put on music like you play!"
I've been trying to get her to pay a little more attention to people's names, and periodically I quiz her about the kids in her class.
me: "How about W? Is he the one who knocked the blocks over? Is he your friend?"
M: "My friends are my friends, Mommy! Dey're all my friends."
On the playground the other day, however, she declined to hold hands with a new little buddy, who said piteously, "You're breaking my heart into little tiny pieces!"
While we were there, another mother was commenting to me about how social the sprout is and I said, "Yeah, all she ever wants is a pack of kids -- preferably older, but anything as long as she has a gang tearing around." And *just* then M started yelling "Follow me, everybody! Everybody run behind me!"
We've been watching "How to Train Your Dragon" a lot, and now any time she falls down she says, "Just like Hiccup!" (I've been finding the movie useful: if she's reluctant to share toys with friends I say "What do Toothless and Hiccup do with the fish?" and she sighs and forks over whatever she's hoarding. Yay good media messages!)
She's very fond of a recently acquired tie-dyed shirt with a heart on it, and every time she wears it she frequently reminds me (and anyone else who'll hold still long enough to listen) that "De heart means 'I love you!'"
We all went to see her first-ever movie in a real theatre yesterday -- "Tangled." She was an absolute angel (well, her milk got knocked over, but that was partially our fault because we were helping her change seats), and I was so happy to finally get to take a small child to a first-run Disney movie! Not to mention it was actually a pretty entertaining movie... although "Hit people in the head with a frying pan" is possibly not quite as useful a takeaway message as "Share your fish with your friends." :)
Speaking of Disney... Belle is now definitively her favorite princess. As of yesterday her room is "lellow," because "Lellow is de color dress Belle wears!" I'm drawing the line at additional princess decorations for now, though; auntiero gave us beautiful Victorian-ish fairy cutouts and I'm pushing hard to put them up as a border around her walls. She can keep the Tinkerbell lightswitch plate if she really insists. :) ("We got dat at Home Depot! Home Depot has lots of good stuff!")