Today Miriam came up to me and said, "Mama, I want you to come see my best friends!" I didn't even have to guess what she wanted me to see. So I smiled as I walked down the hall to her room where she proudly showed me 4 small plastic figurines lying on a pillow. She quickly turned to me and whispered loudly, "Shhhhh!!! They're sleeping!! I do NOT want you to wake them up!!" She beamed at them and then declared, "I just love them so much!"
Anyone who has ever met my daughter knows who those 4 plastic figurines are - Leo, Annie, June and Quincy of course. I think pretty much from the first day grandma and grandpa introduced her to the Little Einsteins, Miriam has never gotten over her love of them. She only watches a 20 minute episode of the show a couple of times a week, but she gets so excited when we turn it on that she just giggles and squirms all over. At least one of the little friends accompanies her around the house and "watches" her eat, go potty, read books, etc. She talks to them constantly and makes up endless games and activities with them.
Part of me is a little disturbed by how very much she loves cartoon people. She's not kidding when she calls them her best friends. She does have real friends that she loves to play with, but I do believe that in her heart she loves those Einsteins more deeply than she does anyone else except maybe Jeff and I. Even though she loves her little brother, I'm pretty sure she'd trade him in for Leo. :) But then, I watch and listen to how she interacts with them, and I realize that she is actually learning true lessons in friendship from her relationship with her "friends". Here are some examples:
1. One day Miriam was carrying two of the friends around when she accidentally dropped one of them. She scooped up June, said "Sorry June! Did you get hurt? Let me kiss your arm!" Then she turned to the figure, Annie, still in her hand and said, "When June gets hurt you have to say sorry and be kind. You should give her a kiss to even if it is an accident. That's being kind."
2. A fight broke out between Leo and Annie one day. Not sure what the cause was, but apparently Leo wasn't being a very good big brother to his little sister Annie, because I overheard Miriam lecturing Leo saying, "Annie is little and you are bigger, so you have to be gentle with her. When you see babies you have to take care of them!"
3. Miriam was busily eating a cookie one day while Leo was looking on. All of a sudden mid-bite she stops and looks at Leo. Looks at her cookie then looks at Leo. Looks at her cookie and looks at Leo. Finally she breaks off a miniscule little piece and puts in front of Leo and declares, "I share with my friends!"
So while I hope that Miriam continues to learn about friendship more and more from her real live friends, I've made my peace with the fact that in her crazy ever-changing world she has found some real happiness and comfort in her Little Einsteins. Thanks Leo, Annie, Quincy and June for being such good friends to my daughter!
So I couldn't find any pictures of her with the little figurines, but this is her with June and Quincy at Disney while we were in the States. Below is her with Leo.
