In the mind of a four year old
Mallory and I were scrambling to get out the door this morning – well, I was scrambling, Mallory was evidently elsewhere mentally speaking – and we have the following conversation:
The ballad of Push Push
We have the outrageous fortune to live near the Rideau Canal, the world’s longest skateway. And as patriotic Canadians we’ve always believed we needed to skate and to pass on this skill to our progeny. Because skating is at the essence of our cultural identity. Sorry I’ll stop now. Actually, for me, it’s just that I don’t want my child to feel like a goof later in life because her parents never taught her to skate. It’s not a life and death thing like swimming, but it’s just… well, you have to do it. We were out skating with Mallory a few times last year, and she even got going unassisted for brief stints, but mostly it was a stroll on the ice in skates or stroller on ice.
Pinworms. Or, How Wikipedia spared my child nights of agony
So Mallory has pinworms. That explains a lot. What does it explain you may ask.
Kicked out of the nap
This is the wierdest thing. I’m sitting here in the living room, typing this while upstairs Mallory’s napping. The fact that Mallory’s napping isn’t the wierd bit. What’s wierd is that when I left her, she was wide awake.
Travel parenting
When we discussed how we were going to handle travelling with our three year old, Irene and I agreed that we were just basically going to have to throw all our rules and routines out the window. It has taken us some time, as we had a lot of then. But we’ve managed it.
Well, so much for that theory
Apart from a minor meltdown over having to bathe, Mallory had a fine evening. It ended quickly as she went to sleep in about 20 minutes. Apparently, administering ice-cream at around 5:30pm is all that’s required to avert the meltdown.
Napless in Ottawa
For the second time in a couple of weeks Mallory went napless today. I can’t quite figure out why. But I know what we’re in for.
End of co-sleeping: the self-teaching method
Mallory announced this evening that she wanted to go to sleep on her own. All by herself. No grown-ups. She insisted.
Mallory had a shower this morning
Mallory had a shower this morning. She’s experienced showers before. When we tried her at swimming “lessons”. It didn’t go well. So naturally I was surprised to hear Mallory say she wanted to have a shower too.
Daddy I had birds in my nose
Those were the first words out of Mallory’s mouth this morning. She’s clearly learned how to dream.
Lots and lots of pony tails
Sounded like a great idea but it wasn’t because she wouldn’t take them out, and wouldn’t lie down on them. And it was bedtime. Quite a negotiation ensued.
First trip to the fridge
Mallory managed to open the fridge, remove the juice box, take the lid off, pour herself some juice, replace the lid, and put the juice back in the fridge. All completely unaided.
Draw your own em
I was quite thrilled this morning when Mallory drew her own ‘M’. She was too. She can’t quite repeat the feat, though she’s clearly trying. I was mentionning the fact that we’d been practicing ‘M’s to one of her day care teachers, who offered that there was a child in her room who could write her whole name. “Oh but that one’s a product of genetic engineering,” I said.
Mallory skated on her own today
With real skates. Irene and I were very proud. It’s really only her second time on skates. But after a while with her holding our hands, we realized she wasn’t really pulling on us.
Jingle bells, Batman smells: the close reading
The other day I heard Mallory singing a bit of Jingle Bells, except that the second line was something like “bah ma smehs”. Now she’s a lot more articulate than that, but some times picking up lyrics is hard for adults (witness the dozens of sites that list silly lyrics people thought they heard) so I thought I’d look into it.
