toddlerisms

Okay, I gotta write down some things before I forget them:

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We have a couple of "boo-boo bunnies" --cloth ice cube holders for putting on ouchies. Back in my naive, early-mom days, I thought that we'd be using them all the time by now, but I was wrong. Ever tried to get a toddler to hold an ice pack to a boo-boo? It doesn't happen. They want to hold it and play with it, and leave it somewhere for the dog to chew its ears off. But we're getting there, so when Noah fell the other day and hit his ear hard enough against the railing of the porch that it began to swell, I got out the bunny.

Noah wasn't all too interested in holding it to his ear, as usual. But Lily was fiercely jealous, and started demanding, "Boo-boo baa-ey! Boo-boo baa-ey!" I told her she could have the bunny sometime later, when she got a boo-boo.

Hearing this, Lily sprang up from the porch step, ran over to the railing, and bashed her head (gently, but with gusto) against the wood. The look on her face as she braced for impact is something I hope I remember forever. She was none too pleased when I still denied her the bunny, even after such self-sacrifice!

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Both kids want to be just like us, and that is especially true of Daddy. Since he has been exercising a lot at home lately, they have seen him do a lot of workouts at home. Watching Noah try and jump over a jumprope is completely hysterical--not only can he not jump, but he can't begin to swing the rope. He just sort of spasms, and giggles about it. Lily is more interested in lying on the exercise mat and doing "crunches". Or something. She makes a big show about sitting down, and then lifts her legs in the air over and over. Sometimes she gets up and sits back down again to start over, for good measure.

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Lily has been very interested in identifying emotions these days, particularly "happy" and "sad". Recently Noah's Elmo cup has had to go to time out during dinner, since he keeps sticking his fork into the straw. One of these times, I pointed to Elmo on the cup and said, "Look--you made Elmo sad, because he's in time out." Both kids stared doubtfully at the obvious grin on Elmo's face, and Lily protested, "Ehmo 'appy!"

"No, no," I said. "Elmo is said, because he's in time out."

She looked at me, then at Elmo. Then she blew a kiss toward the cup and said, "Ehmo 'appy!"

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At bedtime, Noah and Lily wear pull-ups. Noah's have two varieties based on the movie Cars--one just has Lightning McQueen, and one has both McQueen and 'Mater the tow truck. Owing, I suppose, to his love of trucks, he refuses to wear the ones that only have a car on them. Since we have about 30 of them, I keep trying to trick him into wearing them by just having him put a pair on without pointing out the picture. He is ever-vigilant though, and always checks for the requisite truck. If there is only a car, he says "Uh-oh!" very importantly, like he's discovered some huge oversight. Then he runs to the drawer of pull-ups and rummages around until he finds the kind he wants. "There!" he says, very satisfied with himself for having corrected such a terrible error.

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Tonight we played outside after dinner until bath time. Lily wet her pants just before we came inside, so we took them off when we came in. I then announced that it was time to take a bath, and Lily went running off in the direction of the bathroom with more than the usual excitement.

A minute later, as I was trying to herd Noah toward the tub as well, I heard anguished cries coming from down the hall. I went to the bathroom, which was dark, and flipped on the light. The ensuing sight was a bit of a shock--Lily had bent herself headfirst into the tub and gotten stuck. Her feet dangled barely off the floor, with her bare bottom (etc.) in prominent view. I had to leave her there long enough to run and grab the camera, even though I obviously can't share the picture outside the immediate family! She's going to hate me for that one in a few years...