The "Why?" stage (and other stories)

It's been a while since I did an Ari update, so here goes.

I'll start with the "negative" stuff first. Little Miss Thing has learned how to backtalk. For example, sometimes when I tell her to do something, she'll reply, "I am" (which actually comes out "I yam" and is, I have to admit, kind of cute). She's also, within the past few days, started retorting, "Ari talking" when I jump in to correct her about something. I'm pretty sure she's picked this up from us, because when she interrupts us, we tell her "Mommy and Daddy are talking--you need to wait." The other night at the dinner table, she was being goofy, so I told her she was silly. She replied, "Daddy silly!" and I agreed that yes, Daddy was silly too. Then she looked at me and said "Stupid." I fought to keep a straight face (while hearing Tony hiding his laughter beside me) as I explained that "stupid" is not a nice word.

So needless to say, we've been having lots of little conversations lately, about rudeness versus politeness, stuff like that. I'm not sure how much of it is really sinking in, but it makes sense to nip this kind of stuff in the bud. A part of me thinks she knows exactly what she's doing and is being bratty/mean on purpose, while another part of me realizes she may simply be experimenting with new words and not really understanding what they mean. And still another part of me wants to laugh half the time. I know she's testing, and that there are times where she honestly doesn't know that her attitude is wrong, so I'm doing my best to view these instances as teaching opportunities, rather than taking them personally.

And she's showing signs of understanding. One thing I've done with her for a while is that when I give her an instruction, I'll end with "Do you understand?" to see if she was listening. Lately, all she'll do is parrot back, "Understand?" But last night, she actually caught herself, more than once, and replied, "Underst--Yes, Mommy."

Seriously... the infant stage? was so much easier.

On a still-annoying-but-in-a-funny-way note, she has learned the word, "Why?" and boy, does she use it. I read her a book the other night, and when I was finished, we had the following conversation...

"Mommy, why Olivia have to go asleep?"

"Because it was her bedtime."

"Why?"

"Because little girls need to go to bed at night."

"Why?"

"Because it's the law."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't follow the law, you get arrested."

"Why?"

"Hey, I don't make the rules, kid--I just enforce them."

Yeh, OK, I'm obviously not taking the "Why?" question very seriously. But at least I'm not just saying, "Because I said so." Not all the time, anyway...

Speaking of reading, this child loves to read. I know I've mentioned this recently, but I'm going to keep going on about it, because it makes me so proud. Her current favorite books are "Olivia," "the car wash book" (a collection of Golden Books, one of which is "I Love You, Daddy" which has one page with a picture of a car wash... but the entire book is "the car wash book"), a potty book my mom got her (guess where she likes to read that one?), and "Five Silly Monkeys." Oh, and also, this completely-stupid Care Bear book. I love Care Bears as much as anyone (I grew up with them too), but the words in this book are so lame. I have a pretty high tolerance for children's books, but this one pushes me to the limits. I may have to accidentally-on-purpose lose it.

She's started grabbing our hands to lead us places. I know every kid does this, but she never really has, until now. It's really quite sweet. Last night, when I got home, she wanted to show me her new kitchen set (which Tony had put together for her that day). So she said, "Mommy, come see Ari's kitchen" and grabbed my hand to take me there. We went through that routine at least 2 or 3 more times, because whenever I walked away from her (to talk to Tony or whatever), she'd come fetch me again. It's hard to say no when you have that sweet little hand clasping one or two of your fingers.

She's started to say "thank you" on her own every now and then--and she usually says "thanks" which is so cute, yet so grown-up-sounding, coming from her.

She asks for boo-boos to be kissed and fully believes in the magic of Mommy's kiss. One time she pinched my arm by mistake and when I spontaneously yelped, "Ow!" she immediately leaned down to kiss it better.

One morning, she woke up while I was getting ready for work. I heard her talking, so I poked my head out of the bathroom to say hello to her. "Morning, sweet pea," I whispered, not wanting to wake up Tony.

She was sitting up in bed, hair rumpled, just staring at me. Then she cocked her head to the side, and softly and simply said, "Come in, Mommy."

She makes it so hard to leave her some mornings.