When Toddlers Share Too Much

So we are at Doug's workplace cafeteria, checking out, and the cashier---who is very fond of Fiona--asks her what Sophia is going to eat. Fiona says, very loudly, but still in the range of our "indoor voice" range:

"BREASTMILK!!!"

And then, as an afterthought, "Oh, and squash and peas".

I thought it was great, but I think the cashier was a little embarrassed.

Fiona has a bit of trouble keeping dry at night just lately. Well, unfortunately, she finally wet the goose down sleeping bags. We have never washed these before anyway, so they are due. So we are at the laundromat to use the Mega Washer and the Mega Dryer. I was almost done there when Fiona decides to go up to a woman and tell her all about our adventure: "Hi! Those are our sleeping bags. We had to bring them here and wash them because I peed in them! Now they are clean."

I can see this woman (who was highly amused) thinking to herself, ok, won't be using that dryer.

I Saw the Sign

Fiona's new game is to demand that we read every sign on every car trip. I didn't realize there were so many signs, even on short car trips. Thankfully, she usually gets interested in something else on longer trips (or falls asleep) and I can stop repeating the speed limit.

She also has a new suitcase, which she showed to nearly every person on the way out of the store. She did the same thing when I bought her a new jump rope (both are things she has been asking for for a while). She cornered two women at a table next to us in a restaurant (I use the word "restaurant" loosely here) and told them all about her jump rope and jacks ("These are too small for Sophia!", said with a noticeable amount of glee.). The same women were there for the suitcase purchase and remembered her, even though she was with Doug that time and not me. Doug says that people come up to him all the time and ask "Is that Fiona?". She was a little more shy with the women this time, but that was before the suitcase purchase.

The sibling angst is setting in. She has now said several times, while squeezing her eyes shut or covering her eyes, that she doesn't "want to see Sophia" or that she "wants to see only Mommy, and not Sophia". It seems to happen mostly when she is tired, hungry, or overstimulated.

Right now she is showing me her "money" in her hand and insists that they are "pounds" and not "dollars".

Ouch

Fiona fell off the couch. She wasn't even messing around, just crawling on it, trying to reach her little table. Her hand went on air instead of cushion and I guess she fell on her cheek. I say "I guess" because she wouldn't tell me what hurt and I figured it was the scratch on her back from the table (and the scare).

The next day she had a blue and purple bruise on her cheek :( I thought it was chalk at first, but it didn't wash off. Actually, that was last week and she still has it! It's more yellow now, but everytime we go out, someone asks about it. It was colorful enough that people thought it was marker; now it's obviously a bruise. Someone said that (when I sheepishly said I didn't know if it was a bruise or chalk) it was probably not a bruise because it takes a lot for a cheek to bruise. That made me want to hide at home for a few weeks.

Marriage and Preschool

Fiona is now interested in the concept of marriage. She states often that Doug and I are married. Though sometimes she says that she is "Daddy's husband". Most of the time she chants that she and Sophia are married. In fact, Fiona came up to her while she was on my lap, got in her face (in a loving way...she likes to be right up in your face---if she does this to you, I think it means you've passed some sort of test) and said very softly, "I just knew we would be together again someday". No, she didn't get this from a video. If she got it from anywhere, it could possibly be from a Storyteller tape.

Finally, after months of poking around, and much hand wringing and angst, we have decided on a preschool! It's going to be Montessori. We could not decide between that and Waldorf--vastly different approaches, but Fiona is well rounded and would do well in either, I think. The only drawbacks are (besides cost, ugh) that it is FIVE days a week (which may not be a drawback if she adjusts well--and if I adjust well) and location is unknown. Yes, I signed our daughter up for a school and I don't know where it is. It is a new school...it is an expansion from another Montessori school 45 minutes away. I love the original school but the idea of driving there every day in the winter intimidates me. I have been assured that there is a back-up location (I know where that is) and no matter what the school will start this September. I know what town it will be in, just not what building...

At least there are 11 other families along for the ride!

The Writing on the Wall

Ok, see, we have these bath crayons that write really well. Fiona sometimes takes a bath downstairs instead of upstairs, and those are the shower/bath walls that are easy to clean bath crayon off of.

Well, Fiona likes us to draw and write stuff up high and BIG. Doug gave her a bath last time and wrote our names at the top, big and red.

So everytime I come down in the morning, I see reflected in the mirror when I look up after washing my hands, large red letters backwards and sort of drippy looking.

It always gives me a start, like I'll find a body in the bathtub next.

I better clean it up today, because it sets the tone too much for the rest of the day...and I think it's time to permanently lose the red and orange crayons....