The Right Way to Start the Day

Angie woke up this morning just as I was getting ready to leave. She whimpered and changed position then sat up looking rather groggy. She stood up, walked across the bed and climbed into my arms.

Once I was holding her, she said, "Gotcha!"

Dinner Success

Apparently, there are two absolutely vital components for a successful dining experience with Angie:

1. Chopsticks
2. Ranch Dressing

Chas does not find this combo appealing. I, however, am from the "Hey it works" school of thought.

Chopsticks

As mentioned previously, Angie's reaction to dinner is never predictable. Tonight began very badly. We were having stir fried chicken and vegetables, including one of Angie's favorites--green peppers.

Angie climbed into her chair, saw the vegetables and asked for the peppers. Chas asked her to eat the chicken on her plate first. Angie became very upset and started fussing. Chas explained that she would not be getting any peppers unless she calmed down. Angie was still upset. Chas then picked a piece of chicken from her plate with his chopsticks and offered it to her. Angie ate the chicken and then grabbed the chopsticks.

"Mommy, Mommy! I like Chopsticks!" We looked at each other and laughed. Chas pulled another pair of chopstick for himself as Angie settled into eating with gusto. After she had eaten some chicken, Chas put some vegetables on her plate--the beloved green peppers and some zucchini disks.

Angie looked at the zucchini and said, "Oooooo. Pepperoni. I like Pepperoni! Pep-per-ro-ni! Pep-per-ro-ni!" and devoured the zucchini.

Angie had several servings tonight of chicken, green peppers and green "pepperoni" all while holding her chopsticks. She tried to use her own chopsticks, with limited success. Chas would occasionally offer her more chicken with his chopsticks and she seemed to enjoy the novelty.

Dinner was a huge success and Angie even had some ice cream--without chopsticks.

The Mommy Whisperer

Angie has been trying a new thing to get her way:

She leans in very close to me, looks up at me with her big blue eyes, and whispers, "Mommy, Mommy. I want (Jojo, Dora, Ice Cream, Oobi, fill in the blank with another object of desire)."

I look at her and tell her that she can't have the object for whatever reason, (Jojo isn't on, she already had ice cream, etc).

She then looks at me very innocently and whispers the desired object again with enthusiasm: "Ice Cream!"

I look at her and whisper, "No Ice Cream!"

She looks at me impishly and whispers again, "Ice Cream! Ice Cream!"

This can go on for several minutes even though I don't give in to her whispered demands. At some point, you can tell that she is just playing a game and having a wonderful time. She never gets angry that she doesn't get her way. She eventually giggles and runs off to another activity.

It is completely adorable and (this goes without saying) so much better than tantrums.

Royalty

For the last few weeks, Angie has been wrapping a quilt, towel, blanket or other large piece of fabric around her like a satin and ermine robe and announced, "I am King Angela!" in a haughty, regal tone. She then proceeds to glide around the room swishing her robe with authority.

It is hard to know whether to bow or giggle.

Dinner Delight

Dinner time can be hit or miss with Angie. We are never sure what reaction the menu will cause. Sometimes she is pleased with new things, at other times, old favorites are highly offensive.

Tonight it was basic chicken and rice. Angie climbed into her chair, looked at the food and said, "Ooooo Chiiicken! Angie like Chicken! Oooooo Wice! Angie like Wice! Well....Enjoy!"

Chas and I looked at her, then at each other and laughed.

My Child is a genius

Angie and I were playing on the Disney website before dinner tonight. She picked "Page's word of the day." There is picture of something, the letters spelling the word are scrambled next to the picture and the child is to spell the name of the object correctly.

Angie flawlessly spelled "tree" and "book" without any assistance from me.

I stopped and just looked at her. I don't know what we are going to do with this child.

She is amazing.

Straight to the Heart

At dinner tonight, Angie reached out for me and Chas at the same time and wrapped our arms around hers. She then tilted her head toward each of us in turn and said, "Aaaaaah Mommy. Aaaaaah Daddy."

Chas turned to Angie as he often does and said, "Are you just happy because you...."

Tonight, Angie cut him off contentedly saying, " Yeah, Angie happy."

Chas and I looked at each other and said, "Awwwwww." Straight to my heart.

Then Angie began giggling at our reaction and added, "I bein silly." We all laughed at that.