poet laureate in the making?

dh was chatting to the bean as they were eating brekkie this morning. he said something about singing songs or nursery rhymes and that set the bean off.

the bean: "yah! goldilocks and the three bears."

dh: "do you know a song about goldilocks and the three bears?"
then he made up some lines about the characters to the tune of thomas and friends's theme song.

bean: "nooooo."

dh: "how does it go then?"

bean: "goldilocks and the three bears. goldilocks and the golden hair."

we were impressed but that was as far as she got, so we are not convinced that she did the rhyme deliberately.

still, maybe we should start looking at applications to oxbridge?... ...

who's fat in the family

the other day when i was putting on my swimmers the bean was hurrying me up and fussing around. i cast a critical eye on the whole in the mirror and sighed,
"mummy's fat."

she looked at me with a smile and said,
"nooo. mummy not fat. (pause)
daddy fat."

all can be forgiven...

p.s. i solemnly swear that i had not implanted this idea in the bean.

obnoxious behaviour?

the bean is definitely exerting her will these days; found her ego and is using it to the max.

take this afternoon. when i found the bean had moved onto a different activity, i asked if she'd finished playing with her lego set that she'd left sitting on the floor (with the implication that she should therefore pack it away), she said, "no. (pause) i busy at the moment." (!!!)

i am also finding it difficult to get her to go to the potty willingly lately. when we wake each morning it is a lottery game of whether she'd like to perform her ablutions or whether i have to use a combination of coercion and bribery to get acquiescence.

i can almost believe that the middle east "problem" could be easier to resolve than my daughter's intransigence!

another horrible development is her preference for "pink". i suspect that the bean has probably absorbed this insidious virus through observation of other little girls. for the past week or so she'd ask to wear pink-coloured clothes. i have taken to calling some shades of pink "violet" and "lilac" in the vain hope of expanding her repertoire - both in vocabulary and sartorially.

i don't care much for the opinion that it is natural for girls to like pink. it is an unfounded theory that is truly sexist. there is too much out there that is mono-coloured pink (albeit in various hideous shades) all marketed to girls and parents from infancy. it is brainwashing by media and commerce.

a few classic pronouncements

the bean had some classic lines today.

when i asked if she would like to speak to her popo on the phone, she primly said, "no thank you" without looking up from eating a small bowl of blueberries.

later, at dinnertime, when i tried to charm some nutritious tofu, tempeh and carrots into her, she finally (after MUCH MUCH persuasion and negotiation) gave in and reluctantly (opening her mouth as small as possible) ate a tiny piece, before declaring sullenly, "mummy i don't like tofu anymore."

then at bedtime, when we were horsing around a bit getting her dressed in her pjs, she playfully went, "bububububububububububub...(pause)...i am a bubber!", and giggled.

we have gone a week without bf milk!

as posted earlier, the bean had been going on only 1 bf milk session for a few weeks - part of my gradual weaning 'plan'*.

then i decided to wean the bean off bf milk completely last week. it started on the friday morning (2 may) when i refused to allow her to bf when she got antsy between 4-6 am. she cried, shouted, pleaded and prodded and pulled, but i outmanoeuvred her. when she woke up properly just before 7am she demanded, "i want bread and honey!"

this became the pattern for the week; the bean asks for bread and honey for breakfast everyday. now that bf milk has ceased, i find that she doesn't reject cow's milk (hurrah!) and in fact will drink a whole glass of it.

does she miss bf milk? you bet your bottom dollar! when she goes to bed, she still sometimes slyly tries to pull up my blouse/t-shirt but it's mainly a half-hearted attempt. unfortunately, the 4-6am wake-up call remains a fixture. it's my hope that now we have ceased bfg, she will slowly learn to sleep through the night to 7am. she still needs me as her sleeping mate - i am her teddy bear. but instead of letting her wake up and walk to the master bedroom and climb in with dh and i, i have decided to sleep in her bed with her: hoping that she will learn to sleep through in her own bed.

anyway, i think it's been a success weaning the bean off bf milk. my goal of bfg till the bean turned 2 has been reached. she is eating a variety of different foods - not as varied as i hope but at least she takes cow's milk now - and she is still alert, happy and playful during her waking hours. i am glad i took a gradual approach to weaning instead of the cold turkey option. that would've been too traumatic for both of us.

* it was not a proper weaning plan at all. i just decided to cut down the feeds one at a time and see how the bean responded. when i got more fed up with bfg i then cut down yet another feed. and this went on until i decided it was time to really end it.