Upon telling Meredith that she couldn’t have any more sugar for the rest of the day, she asks, “Is crackers a sugar?”
Like all children, she always wants to push the elevator button. As she reached for the button at the library elevator the other day, the door opened and someone started to exit. She looked SO disappointed. I told her, “That’s okay Meredith. Go ahead. You can still push the button.” She then gave me this “like-duh” look, turned her palms to the air, and said, “But, mom! The door opened already!”
Yesterday I told her that she could watch a video during my shower. I suggested the “Leap Frog” phonics video because it’s educational. To further persuade her, I told her that “Leap Frog will be sad if you don’t pick him.” She replied, “Well, I think Peter Pan will be MORE sad.”
I tell Meredith that the reason big people don’t wear bibs is because they have learned not to spill their food. Yesterday I spilled milk out of my cereal spoon, while holding Clara (who is grabbing for everything these days). Meredith promptly said, “See mommy, you DO need a bib. You need a very BIG bib.”
M: “Mom, where’s my hair clip?”
A: “I don’t know.”
M: “But you have a barrette. A barrette is a clip.”
(Some days I feel like I’m being cross-examined.)
Meredith cracks us up with her ability to find similar words to help us understand another word that she is having a hard time articulating. For instance:
M: “I saw a sworoll.”
K: “A what?”
M: “A sworoll.”
K: “What?”
M [with exasperation in her voice]: “A chipmunk!!”
K: “Oh, you mean a squirrel?”
M: “YES!!”
Also …
M: “I want hot chock-it.”
K: “What do you want?”
M: “Hot chock-it?”
K: “I’m sorry Meredith, I don’t understand you.”
M: “I want COCOA!”
And also, recently …
M: “Where is my wahn?”
K: “Your what?”
M: “My whan.”
K: “What?”
M: “My bibbety-bobbety-boo!”
K [laughing]: “Oh, your wand!”
M: “YES.”
Meredith loves to dress up. Understatement! She has a new outfit on about every ten minutes or so. When I tell her that she looks beautiful, she often said, “Yes, I am, thank you.” At least she says thank you, but we need to work on the humility part.
She is SO opinionated about how her hair should be done. Sometimes we don’t know exactly what she wanted until after the fact and she acts like it was a life and death thing! She is very specific in her instructions about how her hair should be done. These are the exact words she uses: a high pony tail, a low pony tail by my neck, a middle pony tail, a half pony tail, piggy tails by my ears, one braid, two braids, French braid, etc. If we don’t do EXACTLY as she says, we … hear … about … it!
She’s starting to correct us when we skip over words in her favorite books. When I was reading her Corduroy the other day, I came to the part where the girl “looked into Corduroy’s eyes.” She said, “No, it says BRIGHT eyes.” Yes, my bad! It’s fun when toddlers memorize their favorite books. But also unfortunate—no more quick reads!
She is constantly trying her dress shoes on my foot and saying, “Mommy, you are not the true princess.” Then she tries it on her foot and she beams, “I am the true princess, and I can marry the prince!”
When we ask Meredith what are the names of her friends at MOPS, she always (without fail) tells us that their names are “Anastasia and Drizella.” These are the names of the stepsisters on Cinderella! Ha!
She says “Peter Pan” with a British accent, just like Wendy.
When Clara was crying the other day, she nuzzled up to her and said, “Trara, I’m here. Don’t worry. You don’t cry. Everything will be alright.” She said all of this in such a loving and caring voice, while patting her on the head.
The other day I told Meredith, “You know what? Your eyes are so pretty.” She nonchalantly replied, “You know what? I put Desitin in my eye.” I then leaned over to smell her eye, and sure enough, it smelled like Desitin. It’s a good thing I paid her that compliment!
M: “I don’t have any more bracelet.”
A: “Why not?”
M: “Because the Cheerios took it away.”
A: Looks over and notices that there is a pink rubber band (aka, Meredith’s bracelet) wrapped around the Cheerios bag.
Upon seeing the parmesan cheese on her breadstick the other night she said, “Look! There’s hay on my bread.” She also says that Little Boy Blue is “like Jesus because he sleeps in the hay.”
Since getting married, Kevin and I have both changed when it comes to spending habits. I used to pinch every penny until Lincoln screamed. Kevin has taught me to be better about letting go of money to enjoy life and buying better quality products when they’re worth it.
