One wonderful thing about parenting is when you realize that you love your kids not just because they are your kids, but also because they happen to be great kids. (Of course you have to have something in reserve for those moments when they’re just horrible.) Even as a baby, Phoebe had a pretty strong personality, but lately she’s really come into her own and she’s a definite person now. I think what I love most is how self-assured she seems; everything she does, she does with a great deal of determination and sense of purpose. Everything she says, she says with a sense of the worth of her own words. Which is not to say that she can’t be goofy and spontaneous; she often is, but she flings herself into goofiness with her whole being as well.
It’s hard to convey what I mean with a few snippets of conversation; nonetheless, here are some of the funny things she’s said in the last week or so.
One night she threw a paperback book at Mallory. Chris scolded her; she picked up another book and said, “I’m trying to read, okay?” She will often respond to a “Just a minute” or “No, not now” by saying “Fine!” and flouncing away. Hmm, wonder where she learned that? And if I reprimand her, she will shout, “’Stand?” back at me (shorthand for “Do you understand?”) It’s hard to reach respect to a 2-year-old, especially when the disrespect is so funny.
Last Saturday we were driving home; the moon was almost full. Phoebe kept seeing it at different angles from her window and apparently thought it was a new moon each time. “It’s another moon, Daddy!” she would say. Then, inexplicably, she would add, “That’s a green one!” or “That one’s purple!”
Late one night, lying in bed with her, I asked her why she wouldn’t go to sleep. She said, “Well, Mommy…” and I waited for something very profound. She concluded, “Somewhere…there are apples.”
She has a great vocabulary. When she puts on a dress, she declares herself “Bee-ful.” We were playing with trains the other day and each time she’d pick up a different engine or piece of track she’d say, “This one is per-tet” (perfect). We were looking at an alphabet book (not the dreaded Bizarre Animal Alphabet that so befuddled Mallory) and she identified an um-bella, an efenant, an octopus, and a piano with no trouble. On the other hand, her syntax can still be a bit confused: “I’m stuck! I really do am stuck!” she’ll say; or, “Mommy, I carry you me!”
Mallory, as I mentioned in my last post, has claimed Drake Bell of the show "Drake and Josh" as her new boyfriend; she says that Phoebe’s boyfriend is Josh. Drake is the cool kid on the show and Josh is a bit of a dork; I sympathize with Phoebe in this, because my older sister, when we played pretend, would make me be Helen Reddy while she got to be the more glamorous Olivia Newton John, or; even worse, she’d get to be Cher while I was stuck being Sonny. Anyway, the other day in the car Mallory said that maybe her best friend’s little brother could be Phoebe’s boyfriend instead. “No, I don’t want to,” Phoebe said. “Then who is your boyfriend?” Mallory asked. Phoebe cut her eyes over at Mallory and said, “Drake Bell!” It could not have been a more deliberate attempt to irritate her big sister.
It’s so much fun, having her around. She is bee-ful and pertet herself.
Phoebe’s Favorites at Two
Food: Strictly vegetarian! Tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, yogurt, and Goldfish
Book: Max’s Chocolate Chicken
TV Show: "Ruby and Max"
Song: Jingle Bells, Tomorrow
Movie: Annie
Toy: “Beebies”
And, as a bonus, here’s something funny about my other child. For about a year, Mallory has been writing her name like this:
M A l l O R Y (note the lower-case L’s)
I guess they learned about lower case letters in school, because now she’s writing her name like this:
M a L L o r y
Progress!
It’s hard to convey what I mean with a few snippets of conversation; nonetheless, here are some of the funny things she’s said in the last week or so.
One night she threw a paperback book at Mallory. Chris scolded her; she picked up another book and said, “I’m trying to read, okay?” She will often respond to a “Just a minute” or “No, not now” by saying “Fine!” and flouncing away. Hmm, wonder where she learned that? And if I reprimand her, she will shout, “’Stand?” back at me (shorthand for “Do you understand?”) It’s hard to reach respect to a 2-year-old, especially when the disrespect is so funny.
Last Saturday we were driving home; the moon was almost full. Phoebe kept seeing it at different angles from her window and apparently thought it was a new moon each time. “It’s another moon, Daddy!” she would say. Then, inexplicably, she would add, “That’s a green one!” or “That one’s purple!”
Late one night, lying in bed with her, I asked her why she wouldn’t go to sleep. She said, “Well, Mommy…” and I waited for something very profound. She concluded, “Somewhere…there are apples.”
She has a great vocabulary. When she puts on a dress, she declares herself “Bee-ful.” We were playing with trains the other day and each time she’d pick up a different engine or piece of track she’d say, “This one is per-tet” (perfect). We were looking at an alphabet book (not the dreaded Bizarre Animal Alphabet that so befuddled Mallory) and she identified an um-bella, an efenant, an octopus, and a piano with no trouble. On the other hand, her syntax can still be a bit confused: “I’m stuck! I really do am stuck!” she’ll say; or, “Mommy, I carry you me!”
Mallory, as I mentioned in my last post, has claimed Drake Bell of the show "Drake and Josh" as her new boyfriend; she says that Phoebe’s boyfriend is Josh. Drake is the cool kid on the show and Josh is a bit of a dork; I sympathize with Phoebe in this, because my older sister, when we played pretend, would make me be Helen Reddy while she got to be the more glamorous Olivia Newton John, or; even worse, she’d get to be Cher while I was stuck being Sonny. Anyway, the other day in the car Mallory said that maybe her best friend’s little brother could be Phoebe’s boyfriend instead. “No, I don’t want to,” Phoebe said. “Then who is your boyfriend?” Mallory asked. Phoebe cut her eyes over at Mallory and said, “Drake Bell!” It could not have been a more deliberate attempt to irritate her big sister.
It’s so much fun, having her around. She is bee-ful and pertet herself.
Phoebe’s Favorites at Two
Food: Strictly vegetarian! Tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, yogurt, and Goldfish
Book: Max’s Chocolate Chicken
TV Show: "Ruby and Max"
Song: Jingle Bells, Tomorrow
Movie: Annie
Toy: “Beebies”
And, as a bonus, here’s something funny about my other child. For about a year, Mallory has been writing her name like this:
M A l l O R Y (note the lower-case L’s)
I guess they learned about lower case letters in school, because now she’s writing her name like this:
M a L L o r y
Progress!
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