Conversations with a 2 year old

I just have to share. Allison is such the comedian, and I think she knows it. I really believe that she is going to grow up with a very dry sense of humor - my favorite kind. She can say anything with a straight face, and it cracks me up!

Since Hailey was born Allison has been waking up more frequently in the middle of the night just sobbing. It's very sad to hear! When we check on her she clings to us and wants to be held and comforted for a while before going back to bed. Well she did this a few nights ago, but it just happened to fall on a night when Hailey was refusing to do anything but cry, and I was already at a point where I was ready to join her! So when I heard Allison chime in, I was really at the end of my rope, so to speak. I left H with Frank while I went to be with Allison, and I ended up taking her into the nursery so I could rock her in the glider. She laid with her head on my shoulder, and was happy to just be held. I let out an audible sigh out of pure exhaustion, and it caught her attention. She quickly sat up and looked at me in surprise and (with great concern) said:

A: What's wrong Mama?? (waits for answer)
K: Mama is very tired, sweetie.
A: (Gently puts one hand on each side of my face) Oh, boy... (followed by a long sigh of her own) What's the matter, Mama? Tell me..
K: I told you, baby. Mama is just very tired.
A: Oh, no! I'm sorry, Mama. I'm sorry! Aww! (leans over and gives me a BIG hug!)

I was cracking up! I don't know where she learned to cup my face and look at me with such empathy! Doesn't matter, though, because she made me smile when I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, and I love her for that.

She is always making us laugh. Tonight she and Frank were playing with one of her balls, and Frank couldn't help but peg her with it once as she runs away. She turns around and says 'Ouch! Be sweet!" lol! Guess she's heard that one before!

I get blamed for this one a lot, but Frank is my witness that I did NOT teach her this! Allison and I were in the front yard watching Daddy pull weeds, and she stood next to him the whole time blabbering away about whatever was on her mind. Then Frank walked off for a moment to throw something in the trashcan on the side of our house and she runs after him saying "Hey! I was talking to you!" Seriously - NOT me!!

She has become quite the back seat driver. She recently learned about stop lights, so she tells me 'Red, stop!' and 'green, go!' when she sees them. She has apparently been paying attention to our surroundings when we go somewhere, because once I tell her our destination she will tell me where and which direction to turn. That one still surprises me!

She's also become something of a parrot - which is dangerous. A couple days ago, we were driving to visit my parents and went through a highway area that's under construction. It was rush hour, and when one lane abruptly ended, it totally bewildered an out of town driver in the lane next to us. Frank slowed down to let him in, but the guy didn't move quick enough. Frank said (loudly) "well, come on!" Immediately from the back seat came a sweet-but-emphatic, "come on!" Guess we'll have to watch ourselves more close there.

That same freeway construction has also become the scene of another fun Allison experience. Thanks to an episode of Dora, she now instructs all passengers to "duck your head!" every time we drive under the many overpasses that are going up around us.

Allison is still a little obsessed with mowing - who knows why! Although she no longer thinks that's what Daddy does at work, it's still the highlight of her day when she hears a mower start up somewhere in the neighborhood. She knows the names of all of our neighbors, so she will often ask me "Danny [Rick, Kyle, Daddy] mowing?".

Here is how she sings her ABC's. A, B, C, D, A, B, C, H, I, J, K, ELMO, P... The rest is pretty dead on, except that she refuses to say 'next time won't you sing with me'. Instead, she just repeats 'now I know my ABC's' over and over.

I was thinking of all these things the other day because I had been struggling with whether or not to keep her in the Mother's Day Out program that starts next month. I initially signed her up for it because I was assuming that I would have the 'struggling to keep my head above water' feeling like I did when she was a newborn. But actually, it hasn't been as hard as I had expected with two kids. Plus, I still have help from Jackie (MIL) and from my mom, too. Anyway, these are the kinds of things that helped me realize just how much I would miss out on if she were gone those days at school. Soon enough she will be in someone else's care 5 days a week, and I don't look forward to that day. So for now, I will selfishly keep her under my wing.

Anyway, just wanted to share some sweet and funny memories because they were on my mind.