Funny Little Girl-isms

M LOVES stuffed animals, kitties and doggies especially. Practically every week she gets a new one from her mother or me. Not that we're trying to spoil her or anything. It just that she loves them and honestly, they aren't that expensive. For $10 a week, M having a new friend is fine with me.

Her current favorite at Daddy's House is a orange striped tabby similar to the one in the picture named Tigger. The real Tigger is actually my mother's cat. Orange body, white tummy, face and paws, and HUGE. Not just big, HUGE. Tigger weighs upwards of 30 lbs and is the most docile, sweet cat I've ever been around. He spends most of his days on my parents' bed sleeping (great life, right?) and is M's absolute favorite animal in the whole world. When we visit my parents, M plays with Tigger the entire time: that is, she lies on him, puts hats on him, feeds him with her hand, and follows him everywhere. The little guy is a great sport about it.

Her stuffed Tigger looks almost the same. He's SO fat that his head is 10 sizes too small for his body. M likes to pretend that he's the real Tigger. Even better, when we Skype my parents on a weekly basis, she makes them bring the real Tigger to the camera so she can talk to him and shows him her play Tigger. Adorable.

Last week, M's Mommy bought her a stuffed doggie. Pretty non descript doggie really but cute. We've gotten to the point where the animals travel back and forth between houses and as we collect more, the bag to carry them gets bigger and bigger. And there's no end in sight :)

So I asked M what her new doggies name was and she answered...

"Loophole!!!"

WTF?

No idea where that came from. Somehow appropriate though given it was a gift from her mother.

This weekend's new addition was a sea lion from the Bronx Zoo (a DEFINITE must see for those visiting NYC with kids. Phenomenal). The sea lion's name...Four. Again, huh?

Funny thing is that when M goes to bed, we must have 10 different stuffed animals in her bed, and some of them are bigger than her! When I go in to check on her, I sometimes have to dig her out from under the pile. Too funny.

Today's Little Girl Observation

I have lunch with Miss M every Tuesday without fail. It's a nice time for us to get together since I haven't seen her since either Sunday night or Monday morning, depending on the week. Usually we go to Johnny Rockets, a 50's style burger chain only a couple blocks from her school. We have our regular seat, a big couch with a coffee table right in front of a flat screen TV that plays ESPN all day long. SCORE for Daddy! She loves it because she can run around as much as she wants, she gets fries (her favorite), they give her crayons and paper, and we always have the same nice waitress who takes care of us (Brianna). JR's has become our Tuesday spot.

Catch up conversation is the order of the day since she'll have been at her Mommy's for 24 - 36 hours at that point. She tells me about play dates, any fun games she's played with her Mommy, what stuffed animals are talking to her, or anything else that comes to mind. Today she was particularly excited to tell me about a show her mother took her to Easter Sunday: a live Nickelodeon presentation of Dora the Explorer, Kai-Lan, and Backyardigans. I learned all about what each of them did and where they live ("Boots the monkey lives in a tree! He's a nice boy! " : )

Cutie.

Afterward, I take her back to her mother's which is also close, just a 4 block walk. It gives us time to talk more, pet doggies, point out which trucks are silly (today we saw a truck with pictures of ice cream, popsicles, and lollipops on the side!) and just to chat more.

Today's conversation was particularly fun:

"Daddy! Look! It's a booooger!" she shrieks proudly showing me her index finger. Keep in mind I'm carrying her at the point. NICE

"That very good baby. Flick your finger so it goes on the sidewalk"

"Ok Daddy!" trying very hard but not successfully. "It's stuck" squenchy face.

"Try again baby"

"I put it here" she says...and wipes it...on the shoulder of my shirt. EWWWW.

"Uh, baby, I'd rather you didn't put it there. Can you take it off please and put throw it on the ground? We don't put our boogers on people. We get rid of those by blowing our nose into Kleenex"

"It's a present for you!" she says proudly. "You take it back to Daddy's House!"

"And just where would I put it Sweet Pea?"

"You put it in Daddy's chair!"

"Oh, and then what would I do with it?"

"You look at it! Silly Daddy."

Ah, the joys of parenting :)