Valuable new skill

That saying, "You learn something new every day" must have been stated by someone who was the parent of a toddler. I mean, I know that kids learn quickly at this age, but I had no idea how literal a saying like that could be.

Tony and I went to bed late on Friday night--not because we were partying hard, but because we always go to bed late. Neither of us set our alarms, figuring that Ari would wake us up when she got up. I rolled over in bed the next morning, glanced at my clock, and was surprised to see it was after 10 AM. I listened for a moment, and sure enough, Ari was up, playing quietly in her room. I crawled out of bed, bracing myself for a disaster scene in her room. But then I remembered the new locks we had installed on her dresser drawers. So surely the damage couldn't be that bad.

I slipped my glasses on as I walked into the hallway and blinked to clear my bleary eyes. Then, I blinked again, to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. Ari had her back to me, and was at her dresser, tugging in vain at the drawers... and she was stark naked.

I groaned a little inside, imagining a horrible scene where there was poop smeared all over the floor... but amazingly, there was no mess. Her soggy diaper lay in a neat lump on the floor, and nearby were her abandoned pants and shirt. She turned and gave me a huge grin. "Ari's diaper!" she declared, pointing at the floor. "I take it off."

"Yep, you sure did," I replied, scooping her up. "Let's get you dressed."

After clothing her, I went in to Tony and shared the good news. "So, apparently, now our kid can undress herself. AND remove her diaper." I let my words sink in, and let him get the same horrified expression on his face as he imagined the possible carnage before I added, "Don't worry--it wasn't a poopy diaper, and she didn't make a mess anywhere."

Of course, that was not entirely true. A few minutes later, as I followed Ari into her room, she paused in the doorway, pointed at the floor, and said, "Ari pee."

"Mm-hmm," I answered, not really paying attention. Then it suddenly sunk in. "Wait--what? Did you pee here?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

I leaned down to touch the carpet and sure enough, it was damp (though there was no visible spot). I took a deep breath, made a big deal about thanking her for telling me, and then gently reminded her that we only pee in a diaper or on the toilet. "Not on the floor," I added.

"Not on the carpet," she answered, referring to the one time (months ago) that she peed on our bathmat before getting in the tub.

"Right, not on the carpet either."

Other, less-gross, less-wordy Ari tales...

1. She is now starting to have an opinion about her clothes. I dressed her in pants-and-shirt pajamas last night, and when I was done, she specifically asked for her nightgown instead. (Can't say that I blame her, though--it's all girly and frilly and pretty. I'll have to remember to take a picture of her in it.)

2. We were getting ready to go out to eat last night, and I made some comment about her pretty clothes as I dressed her (I was putting a new shirt on her). Suddenly she asked, "Put a bow in Ari's hair?" Surprised, I said, "Uh, sure." And miracle of miracles, she actually let me, and she left it in. This delights me much more than it should.

3. I think I told you all how she recently named her baby doll Amanda. Well, that has become her "default" name for her other dolls and toys too. I asked her what her My Little Pony's name was, and she replied, "'Manda!" I informed Tony and he replied, "Oh, that's her lion's name too. And a bear, I think." I think we need to work on her creativity.

4. Her 2 favorite words lately are "I need." As in, "I need that" and "I need this" whenever she wants something. I suppose it's better than "Gimme" or "Mine!" She can be awfully dramatic about it, though, dragging out the word "need" as though her very life depends upon getting the object of her desire.

5. She gets so excited about going to church now--and I know it's because of all the kids she gets to play with. On our way there yesterday, we were asking her who she was going to see, and she rattled off all the names of her playmates. Then suddenly she started saying, "They're my friends. Ari going to see my friends." One of our teen girls kept Ari entertained before church started, and Ari went on and on about her the rest of the day, saying things like "I play Emma. Emma my friend."

6. Yesterday, for some reason, she took to calling me "my Mommy," emphasizing the word "my" as she chanted "MY Mommy, you're MY Mommy." I guess "my" was the secret word of the day or something.

7. She knows both of our first names--I don't remember ever teaching her this on purpose, but we may have told her once, and on top of that, she hears us say each other's names. Sometimes when I call, "Tony!" down the stairs or something, she'll holler, "Toooonyyyy!" along with me. Other times, she'll just randomly say our names. We tell her she's right, but we also add, "But what do YOU call us?" And then she'll sweetly answer with "Mommy" or "Daddy."

8. She also spells her name now. We've been trying to teach her just "A-R-I" and she's got that... but Miss Overachiever likes to add a few letters. Yesterday, it was something like, "A-R-I-A-R-E-N-R-I." The odd thing was, she spelled it that same way on 2 separate occasions, hours apart.

I think that's enough stories for today--that should hold you over for a while.