Things we talk about

I thought I'd record some common conversations around here lately.

First, Haven's go to phrase is "next time." If there's something she even slightly dislikes, she insists that next time I do it differently.

Some examples:

She wants more yogurt and I tell her it's all gone. She says "next time say it's not all gone."

I tell her she needs to check for pee. She says "next time tell me I don't have to check for pee."

I tell her she needs to eat broccoli first. She says "next time say I don't need to eat broccoli."

Can you see the common theme? I never know what to say to these because the fact is the answer will probably be the same next time. :) Three-year-olds are tough sometimes. Good thing they're still so cute, because their pushing against boundaries is exhausting.

Another common conversation is about Claire. Haven still LOVES to touch and hug her and announce how much Claire loves her. :) She constantly asks me if she can touch her and I'm constantly saying "Don't touch her if her eyes are closed," "Don't touch her if she's eating," "Don't pull her head," "Don't hug her too tight." I need to find Haven more opportunities to be the awesome sister she wants to be to Claire. It's wonderful that she wants to be that sister.

 The girls sometimes play a game when they're eating. They talk for their food and say "Don't eat me!" in a high voice. Then in a low voice they answer "But you're yummy." It's pretty funny.

A recent thing we've got going that I want to remember is about "Gummy Bear." At Joy School we learned a song about "Gunny Bag," who collects toys the kids leave out, but Jozie and Haven are convinced the song says "Gummy Bear," so that's how it is here. If the kids haven't cleaned up their toys within a certain amount of time, Gummy Bear (me) comes and eats their toys (then leaves them on a high shelf for about three days). They love it so far.

Haven often pretends she's Baby Snow White and wears her Snow White dress from Halloween nearly every day and night. This week I sewed up many loose seams - of course the dress was built to withstand only about one night of wear so it's in pretty bad shape. I love that it's getting so much use.

Lately when Haven prays she's careful to include "and everything and everything and my friends and tousins (cousins)."

When I pick up Jozie from school she jumps up into my arms and won't put her feet back down until I've sufficiently kissed her head and squeezed her. When we get back home she wants to show me stuff from her backpack right away. She won't let me actually look inside her backpack but insists that she pull things out in the order she wants to and is very "in charge" of it.

When Haven successfully pees she yells out "can I have a fruit snack?" as her way of announcing it. She gets a smug smile.

Haven keeps asking me to sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" over and over and not stop.

Last year I told Haven we'd go to Disneyland when Claire got bigger. She has latched onto that big time. She's even made up songs with lyrics like "When our sister is bigger we're going to Mickey's house." So cute. The other day she told me she want to see Minnie there so she can see what color her tongue is.

The girls are learning about sharing (quite a continual process). The big thing is to ask someone "how many minutes" until you can have what the other person has. Haven is getting really good at this "How many minutes?" "How many minutes?" When Jozie's waiting for something she often asks me to tell her when it's been four minutes or whatever the amount is. I usually forget and then a long time later she asks me if it's been four minutes - my usual response: "uh, yep!"