You can run, but you can't hide

When you're a mom, you cannot even go to the bathroom without your kids knowing where you are. Yesterday I sneaked off to the bathroom while she was in the basement with her daddy. While I was in there I heard doors opening and slamming and little feet going pit-pat as she tracked me down. Then I saw the bathroom door knob turning. When the door didn't open, she yelled "Mom! Mom! Mom!".

"Yes, Summy?"

"Mom! Are you in there?"

"Yes."

"Hee hee hee hee. Tickle tickle tickle."

"Tickle, tickle, Summy".

Then the little feet pit-patted away again.

Life is but a dream

You've heard this song ofcourse?

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

But if you're Summy, you sing it like this:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don't forget to scream - Aaaaaaaa.

The "Aaaaaaa" is very important - you have to scream it in a squeaky little voice.

It really is the cutest thing to hear her sing this version she learnt from school.

All By Herself

Today as we were lying down to sleep as usual, Summy started to climb all over me. She would climb onto my stomach and lie down awkwardly, with her cheek against my eye, or worse, with her chin poking into my face. She would squirm and fiddle around till I could not lie still anymore. After being kneaded like chapathi dough, I finally said, "Summy, do you want to sleep all by yourself?" (Note the phrasing: Had I said "Do you want to sleep alone?" I knew the answer would have been a whiny "NO!". The magic words here are "all by yourself") She thoughtfully said "yeah." So I got up, tucked her in, gave her a baby doll to hug, kissed her, said "Good Night" and walked out of the room. I turned on her baby monitor as usual and started loading the dishwasher. I nearly forgot that I had left her alone, awake. A few times before I'd left her like that, and after about five minutes of silence I would hear a little voice say "Mommy", then I'd return to her room. This time there was no little voice. Kiran could finally stand the suspense no more and was worried at the silence, so he went and checked on her. He found her fast asleep. So there's another first - sleeping all by herself!

Gender confusion

We were lying in the dark on the bed last night, trying to go to sleep. Summy suddenly sat up, leaned over me (I was pretending to be asleep), stroked my hair gently, kissed my cheek, and whispered "Are you a little boy, mama? Are you a little boy?" I have no idea where that came from and what she meant, but it was pretty hard to keep a straight face and continue to feign sleep.

Car Talk

No, not the NPR kind, though that's entertaining too.

This is about Summy (what isn't?). On the way back home from school in the car yesterday, her rambling went like this. My translations in parentheses.

"I want go home, mom. Go home!"

Me: "Okay, Honey."

"I eat cookie, mom. Delicious. Yum yum. I like waisins. uh oh! My waisin go?"
(Drops her raisin and asks "where did my raisin go?" Then silence for a minute as she chomps on the cookie).

"All done, mom. Here you go." (Thrusts the half-eaten cookie, with the raisins all picked out, at me. I'm driving, so she just drops it on the floor).

"I throwed it, mom."

(Starts looking out of the window)

"Sienna's car! Sienna going home!"
(While pointing to a minivan on the road. I tell her that's not her friend Sienna's car, though it's the same color)

"No. That's Sienna's car, mama. Are you being silly, mama?"
(I just smile)

"Mom, look at the fountain! I found it!"
(It's a fountain all right, in an apartment complex. We're stopped at a red light right beside it).

"Wobins, mama. Eating num num."
(Sure enough, there are robins on the lawns of the apt complex)

"Eating lunch. Help me count - one, two, three wobins. Fly away, wobins. Go home."
(Light turns green and we move along)

"NO! I need see fountain! I need turned the car around!"
(Wants me to turn the car around and go back to the fountain. I tell her we'll see the fountain again tomorrow)

"Bye bye fountain. See you tomoddow."
(Starts to sing here. Goes through ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, I Love You, and a few others. Some I've never heard before).

"Careful, mama. Slow down."
(My back seat driver.)

Me: "Okay, Summy. What did you have for lunch?"

"Noodles, mom."

Me: "What would you like to eat for dinner?"

"Basketball."

Me: "No silly, you don't want to eat a basketball."

"No mom, I want eat basketball."

(I give up and drive. We're almost home.)

"I want go to school, mom."

Me: "School is all done, Summy."

"No! Turned the car around! I want school!"

(Sigh!)

What do you take on a picnic?

Yesterday they posted a sheet on Summy's classroom door. It said "We asked the toddlers what they would like to take along if they were going on a picnic and here are their responses:" One said they'd like oranges, another said cookies, and so on. Here's Summy's response: "Mommy".