This Is What Life (With My Toddler) Looks Like

Maybe you can relate?

- Little L is always underfoot.  Especially when I'm at the kitchen sink; she will wiggle her way between my legs and the cupboard doors and proceed to tug at my bottoms until I am done washing my hands or the dishes or, well, my pants are falling off.

- Every little thing brings on the whines.  Like if her shape toy doesn't fit into the shape sorter in her first two attempts.  Or the CD player doesn't start singing fast enough (or dares to pause between songs, the nerve!).  Or I try to get up and move to another room.  Or her shoes don't fit (because she's arching her foot). Or I refuse to play "tent" in the dark on the bed at 11:00 p.m.  Yeah.

- Lying down everywhere, including floors in public places. This is why I refuse to take her to any bathroom that isn't our own.

- Experimental licking.  She has begun licking things again.  Yesterday I caught her licking the rocking turtle at the kid park.  And also the mirror. Ew.

- Body love.  Little L has really enjoyed licking her toes lately, and pointing at her backside and vagina and loudly announcing what they are.  She also likes pointing at my girl parts and doing the same.

- Baby Chatterbox! From Little Miss and Mr. Chatterbox books, we've now taken to calling her Baby Chatterbox, because she really does talk a lot, although never when we turn the video camera on.  She told her Ye Ye the other day that, "Someday, I buy watch.  Someday, I buy it." This morning, upon waking, she said to me, "I drink nye-nye fountain. Fountain weird" (because she wants to nurse while I'm on my back and I've told her that this fountain position feels really weird). When her toy broke and I told her that I'd fix it, she immediately declared, "I get the tape!" LOL.

- My girl's getting opinionated.  She is actually picky about the shoes that she wants to wear! Thankfully this hasn't yet extended to her clothes yet, but I suspect the day is coming soon when she will begin selecting her own outfits.  Already!!

- Our home is covered in stickers.  New stickers, old stickers, stickers that have crumbs and hair stuck on the back, and stickers with food spilled over it.  These stickers are everywhere, including inside shoes and on Daddy's leg and on furniture and on books and on her high chair tray and on the rug and in her mouth and on her tummy.  She *loves* stickers.  Endearing but a pain in the arse to clean.

- Little L is clearly aware of the rules, even when she doesn't follow them.  She'll go around saying, "No biting!" right before or after biting my leg, or her own hand, or a book.  Sometimes she will say, "No diving!" after she almost nosedives herself off the bed (which has resulted in a new rule, "No standing on the bed!").  Clearly she is testing her boundaries.  It's just so funny to watch her self-talk in action.

- My little clown likes to make Hubbs and I laugh, and will usually do something silly just because she knows it will get a reaction out of us.  Her recent face? Declaring "I tackle you!" before pouncing on us for a cuddle.

Anyway, life in this household is wild and crazy and so much fun.  What does life with your toddler look like?! ;)