Miriam's Best Friends

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.

My daughter makes me laugh (or sometimes I think my 2 year old is really 20)

So Jeff is gone on an overnight camping trip, so I'm holding down the fort solo until tomorrow morning. It was actually a really good day, but the kids were starting to both get a little cranky around afternoon nap time. I thought I was handling it rather well, but Miriam walks up to me and says, "Mama, I'm not sleepy but I think I have to take a nap so Mama will be happy". I laughed and then thought, "Did my 2 year old just tell me that? Is this normal? She sounds like a teenager not a toddler".

Miriam is always saying things that crack me up because they sound like things that should not be coming out of the mouth of a 2 year old. The other day she walks up and announces, "Mama, I'm upset!" When I asked her why, she said, "Well...ummm...well because I'm sure there is something I want that I can't have!" She had no clue what it was, but she knew she couldn't have it. :)

Or also this afternoon Miriam is holding a couple of toy figures and she looks at me and says, "I'm not supposed to throw these. If I throw them, I get in trouble. I'll get a spanky on my bottom". I affirmed that was true, and then she grinned and chucked them across the room. I immediately told her she had disobeyed and would indeed get a spanking. She started crying, and I asked her why she threw them when she knew she would get a spanking. Through her tears she says, "Well, it just felt good to throw them!"

I love that little kid! When she gets excited everything about her lights up. She loves to learn and loves to express herself. She's a girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you. Despite what it might sound like from the above quote, she is actually not defiant, just passionate. She feels things deeply and is easily moved both to laughter and to tears. She will hug any stranger she meets, but usually refuses to speak to them. Every single day I look at her and think that she is the most amazing and beautiful little girl in the world. Which is how every Mama ought to feel.

Miriam at her friend Bree's princess birthday party. She was so excited to attend we had to have a countdown calendar to the big day.

Playing on the zip line at the playground. It's actually pretty long and has a good jolt at the end, but she loves it. Every time we do it the other Asian parents are amazed that I'd let me 2 year old do it on her own, but Miriam has no fear at all of things like this.

Don't you wish you loved life like this more often?

I hate the idea of blogging

Yes, truly the idea of writing a blog has no appeal at all to me. I have lots of things to say, I'd just rather use my mouth and say them than go through the time and trouble of writing it all down. But I was inspired by some friends to realize that even if I basically just post some pictures of the kids from time to time, it is still fun for friends and family far away to be able to see them. And who knows, maybe I'll even be inspired to write something. :)

My sweet baby boy Elijah just loves to smile. At everything and ever

yone. All the time. Really, unless he's exhausted and about to fall asleep, he is nearly always happy, especially if he has an audience. Living in Asia, we get lots and lots of stares when we go out as a family, and Elijah gets more than anyone. People can't get over how white he is, and they absolutely love that he smiles his huge smile at them. The bigger the crowd surrounding him, the happier he is. He has no problems being handed from person to person. On more than one occasion people have been surprised to see him move - they assumed he was a doll instead of a real baby. The reason? He was too white to be real. :)

A typical crowd gathering to take photos of and admire the whiteness of my boy.

I was going to put some pictures up of Miriam too, but it is taking too long. Next time. Hopefully that will be in under a few weeks time. But I will say that I did enjoy hearing her tell me this evening as she was going to the bathroom, "Jesus went poo poo on the potty. He had poo in his bottom, and it came out into the potty. Then he said, 'all done!'. But Jesus went poopoo in the potty not his panties. Because Jesus doesn't like having poopoo on his buns. And he flushes the toilet when he's done." Except for the flushing part, I'm sure she is right.