Forty-Six Months

Dear Peeper:
You are forty-six months old today. By the end of the week, we'll be able to say that you "will be four next month," which is just insane. (Granted it will still be almost two months away, but. . . .)

Actually, you've started saying (both prompted and unprompted) that you "will be four in October," and when prompted, you can even say the date!

Tonight we were at the grocery store and ran into Papa in the produce section. We were talking about your birthday, and I asked you when it is, and you laughed and said, "The eighteenth!" and then some other date, also with an ordinal number (_th). I didn't realized that you knew "eighteenth" and such!

You're still planning to start Mother's Day Out in a couple of weeks, and I try to talk about it as often as possible. Today was the first day for the local public schools (and a variety of other schools in my Facebook feed), so I showed you lots of "First Day" photos and talked about how "In two week, you get to go to school, too!"

I sure hope it works.

After the incidents at the MOMS Club meeting a couple of weeks ago, we've been working on "using your words, not your body, to tell people how you feel." This morning we were playing with some friends at McDonald's, and you tried to hug another girl who is about your age. She wasn't into it, and you weren't stopped when I told you to, so I had to go over and physically get you off of her.

When I asked you to use your words and tell her what it was that you were trying to say with the hug, you said, "I love you."

If you would just say that to your friends instead of putting them in a headlock, it would be so sweet.

This month's greatest hits:

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Mommy: And maybe monkeys will fly out of my booty.
Peeper: Can we count the monkeys?
Mama: What?
Peeper: From her booty.

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Peeper: Mama, do you know how to say "hello" in Spanish?
 Mama: Hola!
 Peeper: Do you know how to say "hola" in English?

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You have decided that you want to be an astronaut for Halloween. You also want Mommy to be an astronaut. I have been assigned the role of "skeleton."

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"I have a really old version of the Mickey Club. Go like this: M-I-U-S-E! K-Y! Mickey Mouse! Hi! Hi! Mickey Mouse! Hi! Hi!"

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Mama: Okay, Peeper, I need you to go with me to the board meeting at two o'clock. Peeper: I have *my* board meeting at three o'clock.

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Mama: Ellie, stop eating dog food!
Peeper : I ran out of people food, so I started eating dog food.
 Mama: You can ask for more!

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Things I never thought I'd hear myself saying:

"Peeper! There will be no vegetables for you this week if you don't get in the car! Right! Now!"

(I wasn't actually threatening to withhold your veggies. The farmer's market was closing in about 20 minutes, and I was telling your that we would miss it if she kept messing around.)

But it worked.

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During bedtime stories one night, we were listening to your "Grandma books." At the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the kids all sing: "Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the the newborn King. . . ." at which point, you belted out, "He's gone where the goblins go, below, below, below!"

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The other day, you were a baby puppy, pretending to be a flamingo, dressed up as a zebra.

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Yesterday evening, we drove through Sonic for drinks.
 Mama: I got you an apple juice.
Peeper: What did you get?
 Mama: I got a coffee drink.
Peeper: Will you share your coffee with me?
Mama: Well, I can't really get it to you in the back seat.
Peeper: What are friends for?
Mama: Okay, I'll park over there and give you some.

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Happy starting-to-get-kind-of-close-to-your-birthday, Girlie!

I love you!

Love, Mama