Honestly, Too Cute

Claudia and I just ran to the grocery store to get some milk. She loves the store we went to because they have child-size carts. She was walking up and down the aisles pushing the cart with one hand and in the other she had her "phone," (which was actually a calculator that she found at home today) pressed to her ear and she was saying, "Yeah, yeah...yeah, I am at the store."

Honestly, too cute.

Perhaps I Shouldn't Have...

taught Claudia driving rules.

Yes, this is another post about the car. I seem to have many, many posts about driving, playing or "parenting" in the car. Hmmm. I guess we may be spending too much time in or around the car.

So, Claudia has become a bit of a back seat driver. I am the only one to blame. I decided that I would teach her the rules of the road: red light means stop, green light means go. Seemed harmless enough. I also thought that it would help with her yelling from the back seat, "Mama, GO! I want to GO!" when we were stopped at a stop light.

You would think that it was pretty obvious that I couldn't go because there was a large car or truck in front of me. But what is obvious to an adult isn't that way to an almost 3 year old. I often and repeatedly had to explain that if I drove forward and "bumped" into the car in front of us, the car would break and we couldn't drive ANYWHERE and that includes school, Noodles, the library, etc. We would be stuck at home.

This (I think) wonderful explanation would prompt Claudia to say, "Why?" I took her meaning to be, "Why won't the car in front of us GO?" So, I taught her red light/green light.

Now when we are driving she will shout, "Mama, it's greeeen!" Many times it is, sometimes it isn't. Or, if we are stopped and I am doing a little daydreaming at a red light, Claudia will shake me out of my reverie with a "Mom, it's greeen, GO!" I have to say most of the time, she is right, it is green, but it is just green for the other cars. You know, there is almost always a green light visible at a stoplight, it just isn't always a green for you to go.

Favorite Toy

Claudia has a new favorite toy(s)--our cars. She is truly obsessed with getting in and out of them, unlocking the doors, and pretending to drive.

The other weekend I was gardening all afternoon and Claudia spent the entire time playing with the cars. At one point, she went into the house, found the spare set of Scott's keys, (they were stuffed in our "junk drawer") found the correct key and inserted it in the lock and opened the door! I asked Scott if he helped her find the keys or if he at least told her where they were and he did not.

I overheard her talking all afternoon to Cole. They must have gone to Target and Home Depot 20 times that day.

That same day one of our neighbors was walking by and we were discussing Claudia's new obsession and she said that she saw Scott just standing by the car one day after work and she was worried that Claudia had locked herself in the car, but then she realized that Scott did not look panicked so she assumed that all was well.

He will often stand by the car patiently waiting while she plays for a half hour. Oh lucky girl to have such a patient father! I think that she will test his patience when she turns 16 and actually can reach the pedals and legally operate a car. Oh! that thought literally turns my stomach!

A Poop-tastic Lesson

I think that it is best to spare you the details and instead let Claudia's question to me as I was drying her (thoroughly disinfected body) off last night sum up a bath time incident.

Claudia: Mama, why did my baby brother poop in my bath? [I should say that her tone was not angry or accusatory, but just inquisitive.]

Before I could stop laughing she answered the question herself.

Claudia: I know, sometimes babies just poop on you.

What an interesting life lesson. We all know that sometimes poop happens (this is a G-rated blog). Many times, I like to think, that it isn't personal it just happens. It may happen when you least expect it, like when you are trying to get clean in a bath, but you just need to recognize that sometimes people poop on you.

So, thank you, baby Wilson for the interesting and quite literal life lesson. I was greatly impressed with how well your sister handled your little test.

Crazy May

Hello!

Yes we are still here! We made it through the May birthdays and events extravaganza. Whew!

Each May, we run a bit of a gauntlet of birthdays and events. It starts with Claudia's and Wilson's cousin, Brynne's birthday on May 9, then it is Auntie Amy's birthday on May 14, then cousin Zack's birthday on May 17 and finally Auntie's Sarah's birthday on May 19. Also, each year Mother's Day in somewhere in the mix. This year, we also had a special visitor, Grammy, all the way from France for a couple of weeks.

Hence, you can hopefully see why I haven't had too much free time to tell you about the happenings at the Walker household.

I do have a String Bean update: Wilson had his six month appointment and has maintained his "slim" stature. He weighed 14 lbs. 12 oz. and was 27- 1/4 inches, which puts him at the 20th percentile for weight and 75th for height.

We have started solid foods and much to my relief he is not taking after his sister's, shall we say, picky food preferences. He has eaten everything, although the baby food broccoli wasn't a big hit. I guess I can't really blame him.

More soon.

Does it really start this early? Really?

So the other day I was feeding Wilson and Claudia was in the basement with Scott. She came upstairs and we had the following conversation:

C: Mom, Dad is bawthering me.

Me: Dad is what? He's bawthering you?

C: No, Dad is bawthering me.

Me: Oh, he's bothering you?

C: Yes.

Me: What is he doing to bother you?

C: He keeps saying Todd-ee, Todd-ee, Todd-ee. [translation: Claudia can't say her c's so she says Todd-ee-a for Claudia or Todd-ee for Claudie.)

Me: Oh, kidd0, Daddy doesn't mean to bother you. He is just saying your name. [I must admit that I don't like it when Scott does this to me, but I thought better than to tell her that. You know, keep a united front and all.] Did you tell him that it bothered you when he said your name like that?

C: Yes.


I spoke to Scott about this later and I guess Claudia did indeed tell him to "stop bawthering her." I really did think that we had at least a couple more years before we bothered her. Oh well.

(Un)imaginary Friends

I know that many children have imaginary friends. I recently met a four-year-old boy who had an imaginary friend, Jeff, who is a police officer. This little boy's mother did not know where or why her son got the name and they don't know any police officers. Apparently, Jeff does come in handy at times because he will keep the little boy "in line" by correcting his bad behavior. (Are you thinking what I immediately thought: "where can I get a Jeff?")

Claudia has some "imaginary" friends as well. I put the imaginary in quotes because her friends are actually friends from school that are living, breathing humans, but they often come to play at our house in Claudia's mind. Cole, Jack Henry, and Jackson are frequent visitors. They are adorable, little boys who are right around Claudia's age. They play together at school and Claudia frequently says that they are her best friends.

Typically, Cole, Jack Henry and Jackson will pop in at our house unannounced, sometimes in the middle of lunch or perhaps in the middle of a conversation. Claudia will turn to me and say, "Cole's here." I then play along and say, "Hi Cole, glad you could come and play with us." One night Cole and Jack Henry slept over. Claudia laid out two set of pjs for them--pink and green footie pajamas--and brought them to bed with her. In the morning, I was cleaning up her bed and went to put the pjs back in her drawer and she informed me that they were dirty and needed to go in the laundry basket because Cole and Jack Henry wore them to bed.

When she is talking to her friends, she often uses a very sweet voice, much like the voice she talks to Wilson in--her "mommy voice."

I haven't yet had to make an extra plate for dinner or really go the "extra mile" to accommodate our guests. Yesterday, however, I did commit a grave faux pas. We were getting out of the car at home and I unbuckled Claudia and went around to get Wilson. I heard Claudia using her "mommy voice" and re-buckling her seat belt on her car seat. I walked around to help her get out and then closed the car door. At that moment Claudia let our a scream, "MOM! MOM! No! Cole's in there! Cole can't get out!" She had huge tears instantly running down her cheeks. I immediately opened the door and Claudia asked me to unbuckle Cole so that he could get out. Whew!

I did not have imaginary friends when I was growing up. I guess I wasn't that imaginative. I certainly only try to encourage Claudia's creativity, but at times I can't help feeling like this whole imaginary friends things is a little "I see dead people"/Sixth Sense-y. I try not to get creeped out, but I often what to ask her, "You don't really see them, right?"