Bebe

We went out to dinner with Jon’s parents and sister tonight. When the waiter brought us the check, Jon’s dad grabbed it. Phoebe looked up angrily and said “No, is for Papi!”

The other day Phoebe grabbed an apple off the counter and started munching on it while we watched TV on the couch.  After a few minutes I saw her spitting out some of the apple peel.  As she did that, she looked over at me and said “Help me!  Take off the paper!”

It must be tough being a toddler.  The impression I get from Phoebe is that all she hears is “don’t do that”, “go to sleep!”, “don’t touch that”, “stop!”.  She repeats everything she hears so she’s constantly scolding the cats or her toys or whoever she feels is misbehaving.  Some of my favorites:

To Lestat:

• He jumps up on the kitchen counter.  “Lestat, get down!”
• He walks out the door, “Lestat, get inside!”
• He walks by, “Lestat, where you going?!”
• He refuses to let her smother him with dish towels, “Lestat, come back!”

To Pepi:

• He’s sitting on something looking out the window as cats do. “Pepi, don’t touch the window!”
• He stands by the door as we’re walking into the house. “Pepi, move!”

To Nickel:

• He’s sleeping.  “Nickel! Stop!”

To Buddy and Bailey:

• One of them barks. “<insert name>, Quiet!”

To Random kid:

• Kid starts crying.  “Shh! Quiet.”

To her toys (cookie monster, baby, elmo, shaggy, whoever/whatever):

• “Go to sleep! Quiet!” and then in a low, almost demonic voice “GO TO SLEEP!”

This morning Phoebe was sitting on my bed.  She stared into her dark room, looked at me and whispered “shh dinosaur coming.”  I pretended to be scared and then she said “dinosaur bite you in the head.”

It all started a few days ago when Chris told her she couldn’t go outside to play on the swings because it was late and the bugs were going to bite her.  The next day she told me she had an “owie” because a ladybug bit her on the arm.  Over the weekend she claimed snakes were going to bite us in the head.

Phoebe can be pretty good at being dramatic sometimes. Ask her to perform in front of a crowd and you’re bound to be disappointed though.

Here are her Halloween and Christmas performances from 2008:

When she’s at home, you do get a nice performance:

Last night I was getting Phoebe ready for bed.  I had just bathed her so I playfully spanked her bare bottom.  When I did that, she looked up at me and said “Loules pow pow” and then started to make her lips quiver like she was about to cry.  Even her eyes got watery (she’s very good at crying on command).  I asked her to tell me again with Jon there and she did.  One of her teachers is named Lourdes so I knew she was talking about her.  Jon and I asked if Lourdes spanked her or if someone else got spanked.  Instead of telling us, she decided the conversation was over and moved on to something else.

I wonder if she did get spanked or if she saw some other kid get spanked.  We think it’s likely another kid got reprimanded somehow.  I definitely wouldn’t put it past her to infuriate a teacher so much that they’d spank her hand or something.  Lord knows Jon and I lose it with her all the time.   I do wonder whether she’s learning to lie though.  Babycenter.com says it happens at this age.  Hmm…

On another note, Jon was helping Phoebe brush her teeth the other day.  We often end up having to brush our teeth with her so she can follow what we do.  Jon was showing her how to rinse out her mouth and started to pretend he was lapping up the water with his tongue like a doggie.  Phoebe smiled and said “Como Nickel!” (like Nickel, our cat).  hee hee

It’s funny how quickly Phoebe can fall into a routine.  For the past two nights I tell her it’s time to read and she gets in bed, puts her blanket over her legs and lets us read her a book of her choosing.  Did she see this on TV and think it was a cool thing?

She wasn’t happy about having to go to sleep after our reading session last night but to our delight she didn’t cry and allowed us to tuck her in.  She saw Jon putting up the gate and didn’t take kindly to that but we told her that if we saw that she consistently slept through the night in her own room, that we would take the gate away.  I don’t know if she understood me (we said it in English and Spanish to be sure) but she seemed to.

I was  happy to see her in her bedroom fast asleep when I got up in the morning.  YAY!

Thankfully the crying fits over “shower time” have stopped.  At least for now.  She’d gotten into a habit of crying hysterically while I tried bathing her.  She’s learned how to scream like only a little girl can.  It’s almost awe inspiring how they can scream like that.  It was comforting to know that Grace had complained to me a few years back about Gigi and Robert having bath fits too.  Some time last week Phoebe’s little brain decided it was done having fits during shower time.  Instead, she tells me it’s time for her shower.  She’s learning how to  undress herself which is good since one day she will be potty trained. 😀  She has yet to conquer taking off and putting on a blouse but she tries and it’s funny to watch.

And now… A picture!

Here’s a picture of Phoebe with Jack, Maya and Robert from Friday.  She’s holding Titi, Flor’s chihuahua.  Phoebe fell in love with Titi and didn’t want to let her go.  When we were leaving my aunt’s house I was holding Phoebe and told her to say good-bye to Titi.  She started crying “Bye Bye Titi!” like her heart was broken.  On the way out, she kept saying “Bye Titi!  I love you!!”

On Saturday night Jon was playing with Phoebe. He asked for a kiss. She looked up at him and BURP!!!!! was the reply. Right in his face. She had eaten a hot dog for dinner too. HAHAHAHAHA!

I’ve decided to copy Jon by trying to post once a day. This is difficult because I often have nothing to say. Then again, this blog is about Phoebe so I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say. Everything she does makes me laugh or smile so it’ll at least mean something to me.

I’m happy to report that she slept in her room last night. She went to bed late, again, but we only had 15 minutes of crying. That’s an hour and 45 minutes less than last time. I’d say that’s an improvement. Thanks Supernanny! We put up the gate for good measure. It’s a good thing we did because at midnight she woke up, got out of bad and was waiting at the gate for us to put her in our bed. We didn’t. Jon picked her up, put her back in bed, and she went back to sleep. No fuss either!!!

We also changed our nighttime routine last night. Rather than play “night night” on our bed we grabbed a couple of books, took her to her bed and read to her! For the first time ever she let us read to her which was quite a milestone. Usually, she grabs the book, flips to the last couple of pages and then tosses the book aside. I’m hoping we can repeat this lovely routine tonight.

Today I woke her up for school. She was fast asleep so it’s easy to dress her. When I sit her up, she looks so funny with her eyes closed and her hair all messy trying to keep her balance while I get her blouse on her. I can tell she’s gaining weight since her jeans are fitting her a bit snug these days. 🙂

Here’s a picture of Phoebe playing with Gigi on New Year’s.  It’s so funny to see the differences in height in this picture.  I love the happy little look on her face.

So it’s midnight and Phoebe is still awake.  She’s gotten into this bad habit of not wanting to sleep.  Tonight we admittedly put her in her bed a little later than normal but this is something that has been going on for a while.  She keeps getting up out of bed.  We finally put up the gate to keep her in her room and now she cries and cries, standing at the gate holding her blanket.

I went to my trusty Google in search of badly needed sleep advice.  Many people recommend the “Supernanny” approach.  I don’t watch it but it sounds like it might be just the thing.  Jon and I have gone into her room numerous times and put her back in bed without speaking or making eye contact with her.  We’re supposed to keep doing that until she falls asleep.  Bleh.  I hate this part of parenting.  It’s just so much easier to put her in bed with me and fall asleep together. 😀  We only have a queen bed so that only works if she doesn’t move around.  Ha ha!  Nope.  This must stop.

Hey… silence.  Did it work?

No, there she goes again.