Mee-mo

Tony, Ari and I were all chilling downstairs on Saturday afternoon--Tony was watching TV, Ari was playing with her toys, and I was... doing something that I can't remember right now. Ari was perfectly content for a while, until suddenly, for some reason, she looked at the TV and started frantically saying, "Mee-mo? Mee-mo?" to Tony.

The urgency in her voice caught my attention, and I watched the scene play out in front of me. After several "Mee-mo"s, each one increasing in volume, Tony finally switched the TV to DVD mode and started playing "Finding Nemo." Ari's face broke out in the biggest smile, and she plopped herself down in her princess chair with a small plastic toy to chew on as a snack. And she sat there for a good 15 minutes or so, without moving or breaking eye contact with the screen. Now you have to understand, this is a big deal, from the child who will not hold still. She was mesmerized. When she finally broke away from the TV to check out more toys, Tony tried to take advantage of the chance to switch back to the show he'd been watching. But as soon as he did that, Ari snapped back to attention, and began the "Mee-mo? Mee-mo?" chant again. A bit reluctantly, Tony turned the movie back on.

I had stepped into the room by the time and was watching the scene unfold before me, partially amused and partially stunned. "Where did this come from?" I asked Tony.

He shrugged. "She did this to me yesterday, too."

I know Ari has watched "Finding Nemo" before at the babysitter's house, but it's not like this week was the first time she ever saw it. But for some reason, she has suddenly fallen in love with it, and I foresee many instances of her "forcing" us to change the channel. You can see now why I've put off letting her watch TV for so long--it was almost spooky to see how still she was. But then again, I can understand why parents are OK with the TV addictions--anything that can get your child to hold still and stay out of trouble has to be a blessing, right? I knew it was inevitable that she would get hooked on some show or movie, as most little kids do, but I just didn't think it would happen so soon. I can add that to the list of things she does now that astound me. It's like I somehow keep thinking of her as this helpless little baby. But she's not--she's an official toddler, about to enter the terrible twos, with likes and dislikes and opinions about everything. She's an actual little girl now.

Speaking of things she does that fall under the "Where does she get this from?" category... I was getting her ready for bed the other night, and because she had a baby doll in her arms, the baby doll came into the bathroom with us. I sat Ari on the toilet and did our usual routine--I handed her the toothbrush and said, "Brush your teeth." She dutifully took it from me, laid the doll down on her lap, and proceeded to brush her doll's "teeth." I just stared. I have never once done that myself--not even as a "demonstration" of proper tooth-brushing techniques. And the doll doesn't even have teeth--but Ari knew exactly what she was doing.

We borrowed a potty chair from a friend, to start introducing the idea of potty-training to Ari. We're not pushing it at all--just trying to teach her the concept. So anytime one of us goes in the bathroom and Ari is with us, we'll tell her what we're doing. "Mommy's going potty. Mommy doesn't use a diaper, because Mommy's a big girl. Mommy goes in the potty. And that's your potty." (And yes, I do feel like an idiot saying all that stuff--thanks for asking.) Ari listens intently, but every time I've encouraged her to actually sit on her potty while she waits for me, she instead tries to stick her foot in it. Apparently, she's not quite getting it yet.

We hung out with some friends last night to watch Superbowl. Personally, I couldn't care less about football, but it's always fun to chill with friends. I spent a lot of the evening in the kitchen, as us girls worked on reheating and preparing food. And in between food prep, we just gathered around the table and munched and chatted (and made sure none of the kids were killing themselves or each other). I was pretty good with eating, though--I spent most of my time grabbing bites from the vegetable and fruit trays. Of course I had to have some mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and a cupcake/cookie or 2 (or 3), but I think I balanced myself pretty well.

We stayed until the game was over (about 10:30) and Ari was an absolute angel. She even ate a decent dinner, which I was sure she wouldn't do--with all the excitement and all the other kids to play with, I was sure there was no way she'd want to be strapped into a chair to eat, but she polished off most of a bowl of Easy Mac, plus some other munchies. Then, I figured she would melt down once it got past her bedtime (8 PM), but she was a little trooper. I'm sure it helped that there were other kids to keep her occupied too. Towards the end of the night, she spent as much time curled up in Tony's or Dawn's lap as she did playing, but she didn't get whiny or fussy at all. And of course, she was asleep in the car before we even made it back to the highway.

She's started this new thing now, and I think it's safe to call it singing. Sometimes, when I have her in the car with me, and I'm singing (which I do a lot, even when she's not with me, since my stupid stereo is broken), she'll start making these sweet little noises that I think can only de described as singing. She's not really saying any words, but she's sort of humming along, kind of the way people do when they're trying to sing along with a song they don't know the words to--they hum and throw in random vowel sounds as they try to pick out words. I've even caught Ari "singing" sometimes when she's by herself, playing with her toys. She already loves to dance to music, so it doesn't surprise me at all that she's learning the concept of singing. I can't wait until she's old enough to learn an actual song and butcher all the words in that adorable way that only little kids can do. Look out, American Idol.

Greg and Wayne are coming over tonight, to continue watching the "Saw" movie series with Tony. For some reason, the 3 of them decided that on Monday nights, they'll get together and watch all the "Saw" movies one by one. Tonight, it's "Saw 3." And since I despise horror movies (especially really gory ones like these), I'll be making myself scarce. I can't decide if I'm just going to hole up upstairs with the other TV, or if I'm going to go shopping. I'm still on the quest for a new pair of jeans. No luck yet, but a small victory--I tried on a pair the other night that were a size 6. SIX, people. They were too long in the legs and too low-rise for me, but they were a SIX. All the jeans I own right now are junior's sizes, which means they are all fairly big numbers (because juniors clothing seems to be designed for stick-thin girls with no curves. Man, no wonder teenage girls think they're fat, if even someone like me, who's fairly average, wears a size 13). Anyway, I'm hoping the size 6 thing wasn't just a fluke with that particular brand. We shall see.