Life Lesson Month of April: Blog 4- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Dear Ellie,

Sometimes I wonder if you are 3 or 33 when it comes to your vocabulary.  I love that you and I can have conversations (that actually can be abstract).

Life Lessons Learned #8:  As a mom, watch what you say… your daughter will absorb everything and become a walking mini-me.

You have said all these phrases and then some:

1.     “What the heck?” when caught off guard.

2.     “Ohmygosh!” said with true astonishment in your tone.

3.     Pretending to talk on a cell phone, “Oh hi, how are you?  Oh no… hmmm…  I’m so sorry.”

4.     You typically start a sentence with “Usually, I…” or sometimes, “Actually, I…” or, “Well…”

5.     “Two more minutes” and this one is taken completely out of context and always said before naptime and before bedtime.

6.     “Shhh!” said with a finger to your lips and a very stern look as you pretend to talk on your cell phone if you are interrupted.

7.     “Uggghhh!  No Joe!  I’m so disappointed in you,” when you see how Joe makes a mess of his food (and for full effect of irritation, one hand is on your hip, the other is pointing at the mischievous cat).

8.     “I was so frustrated,” explaining your feelings to my mom about the cat’s naughty behavior.

9.     “The Easter Bunny isn’t going to visit her house!” you said rather loudly at the grocery store in reference to the little girl not far from you who was having a tantrum just days before Easter.

10. “Don’t talk with your mouth full!” or sometimes if your mouth is full when I ask you a question, you put up your pointer finger to quietly ask me to wait until you swallow.

11. “Here’s the deal.  First, we go to school, and then we go…” as you bossily inform your dolls or sometimes me of the agenda.

12. “Oh I didn’t realize you were sitting there!”

13. “One second, I’m busy.”

14. “You know what?  I love you!” said randomly throughout the day.

15. In response to me saying it’s prayer time and I need your help so you will participate, you say, “It’s ok.  You know how to.  You can do it all by yourself,” speaking as if I were the three old needing encouragement.

16. “Do you want to go to Pee in the Pot?” referring to the store Pea in the Pod.

17. “Should we go try on lipstick?” pulling me toward the cosmetic counter at the department store.

18. After being asked a question, you ponder for a moment by saying, “I have to think,” before answering.

19.  “Oh fine,” you reluctantly relent when I ask you to do something you may not want to do.

20. “Do you know what I mean,” you ask to make sure you really are understood.

21. “Here’s what I’m going to do…” you tell me before enacting your grand plan.

22.  “You forgot to say please!” again reminding me to be polite (and this also goes for thank you and bless you).

23. “You forgot to cover your mouth,” said to anyone sneezing or coughing that obviously forgot that basic rule.

24. “I’m tired of cleaning up!” you tell me when I ask you to help me tidy up the living room.  And all I can do to respond to that one El is say, “Me too!”

25. “Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds scream,” you sing very seriously and I have to laugh to myself because you butcher the words to songs just as badly as Mimi and I!

26. “Are you talking to yourself again?” you ask your Mimi and I if you catch us out of the blue. And sadly, the answer is usually yes!

27. “Silly me!” you say when you’ve made a mistake.

28. “I’m just going to get this over with,” you mutter before you do something you don’t like.

I need to remember that you have a memory that astounds me.  Your Mimi asked you the other day if you wanted a hotdog for dinner and you said, “Nope, they make me sick.”  When your Mimi asked me about that to clarify, I recalled over a year ago (possibly close to two years ago), you ate a hotdog and threw up everywhere as you had the onset of the flu. 

Ellie, your vocabulary is so large that sometimes you switch your words around and it makes me giggle. For example, you say “paper toilet” instead of toilet paper, “towel paper” instead of paper towel, and “burnt sun” instead of sun burnt.  This latter one came about after our Florida vacation when your Poppy went golfing and forgot to wear sunscreen.  This showed me exactly how much of a rule follower you are. That evening, your Poppy said he would take you in the pool at 8pm (it was dark, aside from the exterior lights). You insisted that both you and him put on sunscreen.  Your Poppy tried to get away with just a pretend spray here and there but you made sure that you and him were lathered down to your toes! 

And while on the plane heading to Florida, I finally asked you why you weren’t watching Tangled or Madagascar on your iPad (just before landing).  Your response, “We don’t watch TV during the day!”  Oh Ellie, I love that you are my sweet girl who obviously listens to everything I say, but remember that rules can be broken at the right place and time too!

I love you for who you are now, who you are becoming, and all the laughs we have along the way!

Mom