Diamonds are a Toddler’s Best Friend
My daughter is officially a girl.
I knew it before, but now it’s official.
She’s taken an interest in all things that are (normally) considered girly girl things.
Example 1 - Ballerinas
She already loves to dance. Now, she likes to dance like a ballewina.
With hands on top of her head and up on her tippy toes, she twirls around the house actually singing “tippy tippy toes, tippy tippy toes”.
And of course, mommy and daddy have to twirl around like ballewinas too.
Example 2 - Princesses
Princesses also receive much love from baby girl.
There was that story she made up - it was all about crowns and princesses.
There’s also the princess clothes, dolls, pajamas, etc.
She even likes to call the towers at shopping centers castles. Wait until she sees the Cinderella castle at Walt Disney World.
The girl is gonna ***flip***.
Example 3 - Shopping
Lately a keen interest in shopping has developed.
Every time she sees us getting dressed, she immediately thinks we’re going out and asks, “Where we going?”
When I answer, she’ll say, “No. Let’s go to the store.”
That or “No. I wanna go shopping.”
Example 4 - Diamonds
And the kicker.
While I’m sure most kids pretend to play pirates & find treasure at one point or another, I’m not so sure that their treasure is quite as exquisite as my baby girl’s treasure.
Every time she pretends to be looking for treasure, the following conversation ensues:
“Mommy, I found some treasure! Here you go.”
“Yea, that’s great baby! What is it?”
“DIAMONDS.”
I about died the first time she said it.
Where does she come up with these things?
I’ve got a future debutante on my hands!
Please, do share your stories with me. I need to know I’m not the only one with a 2 year old diva.
*photo from paulmannix
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective, toddlers on July 24th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 0 Comments
Loving the Words “I’m hungry”
Yesterday I stayed home with baby girl and had a day off from work. She had recently been sick and is still really recovering.
But, we had a pretty good day and accomplished a milestone.
Up until now, baby girl (who’s a picky eater) wouldn’t really tell me when she’s hungry, thirsty, etc. You would know it from looking at her (and the clock), but she would never tell you.
Well yesterday, all I heard was “I’m hungry.”
Probably because she was starting to feel better and making up for the weekend of very little eating.
The really good thing about it was, she also told me WHAT she wanted to eat. And then actually ate it!
Every meal she had yesterday was in response to her saying she was hungry and was picked by her - in some cases she even “cooked” it.
It’s a small feat, but a feat nonetheless.
This mami is proud. 
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Posted in The Monkey, toddlers on July 22nd, 2008 by ModernMami | | 2 Comments
Feeding My Toddler
My baby girl is 2 years old. Well 2 1/2 really. Not sure if it makes a difference.
She is what you would call a picky eater. I call it annoying.
She refuses to eat meat, unless it’s bacon (turkey) & sometimes deli meat.
She refuses to eat any veggies, except for baby carrots (sometimes).
You’ll see the word sometimes used a lot throughout. That’s because there is not one single solitary thing that I can get her to eat on an always basis. Everything is hit or miss. Even the food that I know she likes, she’ll refuse at times. (Exception is milk - the girl loves some milk.)
I’ve tried a lot of things.
- giving her a choice - A lot of times she refuses my choices and adds in her own. Sometimes it works. But, sometimes, she chooses, I make the food, and then she says, “No. I don’t want it.”
- not giving her a choice - I’ve done the opposite and have tried to get her to eat whatever we’re eating or whatever is given to her. This usually results in her skipping that meal. Call me a softy, but what mom wants her child skipping a meal, especially when it’s dinner?
- having her help - Yes, having her help me make her food is fun and exciting. But, again, most times she still refuses the food after we’ve made it.
- cutting food into fun shapes - Let’s just say the novelty of this wears off after the first couple of times. For her, not me.
It’s maddening, to say the least.
I swear she lives off milk and wouldn’t otherwise gain any weight.
What can this mami do?
I’m sure some of you out there have some tips. Let me hear them!
Please. Pretty please.
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Posted in Motherhood, Parenting, The Monkey, toddlers on July 18th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 5 Comments
Christmas in June?
Baby girl has a favorite song.
She sings it all the time - every day - more than once a day.
And she makes you sing it with her.
If you don’t, she’s not happy.
She even gives you a cue: “And a one two three. Go.”
The song?
Jingle Bells.
I’ve heard of Christmas in July, but Christmas in June?
It is at our house!
Yup, every day, we get a little bit of the Christmas spirit, as our baby girl sings Jingle Bells for us.
Won’t you join us?
All together now…
Jingle bells, batman smells, robin laid an egg…
Oh wait! That’s not the version she sings. Silly me.
But, is it stuck in your head now? 
*image via http://activerain.com/blogsview/141136/Christmas-In-July-In
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective, toddlers, too freaking cute on June 19th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 0 Comments
Brushing Teeth Technique for Toddlers/Preschoolers
I was watching last week’s Supernanny - I’m lucky I have a DVR, otherwise I’d never watch TV!
Anyway, in last week’s episode, the family had an almost 5 year old girl, and twin 3 1/2 year old boys.
Well, the parents were complete control freaks! They wouldn’t let the kids run a few feet ahead of them. And, they didn’t let the kids brush their own teeth.
You should have seen how they brushed the teeth for them! It was like torture for the kids.
They laid them down and propped their heads up on pillows and while the kid screamed, brushed their teeth.
Supernanny offered them a pretty cool technique for allowing the kids to brush their own teeth. She gave them all their own portable mirrors so they could see themselves while brushing. And, she told the mom to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” two times. That way, the kids knew how long they should brush their teeth.
Who knew?
I thought that was really useful and a good way to provide kids with a cue to know how long they should brush their teeth. Or even a cue for me to know!
I think I’m going to try it with baby girl and see if it’ll help her to get better at brushing her teeth.
Now, how to teach her to spit the tooth paste out and not swallow it?
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Posted in Motherhood, Parenting, toddlers on June 18th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 10 Comments
Toddlers Make up Great Stories!
Here’s the story my baby girl told us this morning - bright (actually not so bright as it was not even 6 am!) and early!
As told by my 2 and a half year old:
Once upon a time, there was King Daddy and Queen Mommy and Princess [her name].
Here’s your crown daddy.
Here’s your crown mommy.
[Daddy added a line - "And, here's your crown princess"].
The end.
It’s only great to us parents - I know. But, that’s all that matters.
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective, toddlers, too freaking cute on June 17th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 5 Comments
Toddler PMS
I swear my daughter has PMS some days.
She’s 2 1/2 - well not even, but it’s just a few days away.
She has begun the excessive whining stage.
And I do mean excessive.
We can say something nice to her, like “I’m proud of you for eating like a big girl!”
Response - “I’M NOOOT!” or “I DOON’T!”…and cue crying.
What the hell?
You would think I just accused her of…of…well, I can’t even think of something so bad that I could accuse her of to make her cry like that.
And trying to talk to her when she starts up to find out what’s wrong, just makes it worse. The crying gets louder and she then tries to cling to you. So much for acknowledging her feelings and attempting to get her to express them.
So, what the hell am I supposed to do?
Today I was doing dishes and talking to the husband who was sitting on the couch. (Our kitchen faces out to the family room.)
I guess I was talking too loud or something because all of a sudden she starts crying. She was just sitting next to him watching TV. I was just talking. I was not screaming and I wasn’t even talking at her.
But there she went.
It’s just another phase. It’s just another phase that will also pass. (This is what I tell myself. Well me and everyone else tells me the same.)
Ok, but it’s a REALLY irritating one.
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Posted in Parenting, The Monkey, toddlers on June 10th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 5 Comments
Learning to Read
Baby girl read her first word!
I have a shirt that says “mom” on it - it was a Mother’s Day gift.
Well, last night, as I’m putting on her jammies, she points to the letters and says:
M - O - M - MOM!
Wow! The husband and I were just completely amazed.
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective, toddlers on June 9th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 3 Comments
My first boo boo
My daughter recently got a boo boo.
She fell down on the sidewalk while running and scraped her knees.
It’s been about a month since this happened and the boo boos have already healed.
Yet every time you ask her if she has an owie, she says:
Yes, I have owie.
Where?
On my knee. (And, she’ll point to the healed boo boo.)
She’s so traumatized by these boo boos that she doesn’t even like it when you wash her knees during bath time.
And she doesn’t like to wear shorts or dresses or anything that shows her knees. She immediately tries to cover them up so that her boo boos don’t show.
It’s the cutest thing and I can’t help but laugh at how concerned she is over these boo boos.
Do your kids have any memorable boo boos they don’t like to talk about?
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective, toddlers on May 16th, 2008 by ModernMami | | 0 Comments
Get Ready to Cry
Or not.
It might just be me.
But, here’s the story…
On Friday, I had my wisdom teeth pulled.
All four of them.
As I came home all high from the anesthesia, for whatever reason, I was crying.
It was that involuntary type of crying.
So my daughter, the cute lil thing she is, grabs some tissues from the bathroom, jumps up on the bed, and wipes the tears from my face.
But, wait, it doesn’t end there!
She then goes and gets me one of her books…and a teddy bear…you know, to make me feel better.
All together now…..
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
And then…(what, there’s more????)
Yes, more! lol
My husband tells her that mami is going to rest and sleep because she has an owie and she proceeds to…
What? What can top all that?
She sings me a lullaby!!!!
Yes, my two year old baby girl sings me a lullaby so that I can go to sleep and get some rest!!!
Of course at that point, my involuntary crying, became true crying.
I know, I know…she’s adorable and the sweetest thing on this Earth.
I warned you to get ready to cry!
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Posted in The Monkey, toddlers, too freaking cute on May 1st, 2008 by ModernMami | | 5 Comments
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