How best to freak out your mother

"Mom! It's a baby dead dragonfly!"

"It's not a baby," said Dad, who helped her catch it.

"Mom! Its head fell off!"

Mom: "Get it out! get it out!"

She's such a big girl, sniff sniff

First, sleeping in her own bed. Now, she's watching Star Wars IV: A New Hope for the first time. I always thought I'd be the one to watch it with her for the first time, though she might find it annoying to listen to me recite the dialog along with the actors. But the kids across the street, who are part-time residents, spending weekends with their father, are here this weekend. We went over to see if they wanted to play, but they had already planned to watch the movie, and they invited her to watch it with them.

What's next? Driving?

Want to see a nice picture of the kids?

Me too. But I didn't get one. This is what I got instead:

Jessica making rabbit ears behind Xander:


Xander: "What's going on?"


Xander: "Enough of this, I'm outta here."


Jessica making rabbit ears behind herself:

Success!

I'm afraid to say this in case I jinx it, but Jessica slept in her bed by herself without Mommy for the last 2 nights. She'll ask me a couple of times in the night to come "upstairs" (which is what I've been calling the top bunk), but I'll truthfully tell her I'm too tired, and we both go back to sleep.

I gotta admit, while I was very hopeful this would work, I wasn't really sure. Now I just have to figure a way to get back to my own bed, which is a lot more comfortable than the bottom bunk. But I'll take what I can get.

My little angel

I love this picture of Jessica. I think she looks very pretty and sweet. Earlier today, I was thinking about posting this picture on the blog while I was driving around. Right after I thought about it, a car passed me with a license plate that said "mylilangl."

Let me sleep on it

Last night was the big night. The bunkbed arrived yesterday. I had all sorts of promises from Jessica that she would sleep in the top bunk with me sleeping in the bottom bunk. She seemed excited enough about it. We got home from YMCA camp and errands at about 5:30 and she spent the next couple of hours sitting in the top bunk.

Then it was bed time. As soon as her pajamas were on, she turned into a different kid. "I want to sleep next to you, Mommy." And the tears! Plus Xander was crying because his bedtime was being affected. I tried to rationalize with her. I reminded her of all the promises she made to sleep in the top bunk. I threatened her: we have a 3 day window to return the bed if not satisfied and I threatened to do just that.

Finally, after at least half an hour of negotiations and tears, I made a deal with her: she would lay down in the top bunk while I got Brother to sleep in the bottom bunk. It worked out like I had hoped: by the time Xander fell asleep, Jessica was also asleep.

I had to make 2 trips to the top bunk in the night. Once, I was able to get her back to sleep while standing on the ladder. The second time, I actually had to climb into the bed with her, where I fell asleep for a while.

This morning I asked if I should send the bed back. "No!"

Let's hope it goes better tonight.

I'm not sure I like this song

Jessica's own creation this morning:
"I love Mommy" (started out okay)
"Even though she's mean."

I try not to take it to heart. She said I was mean yesterday, minutes after forking out $688 for her new bunk bed.

I don't know what I did

to make her so angry:


But she sure did get happier when Daddy showed up:

Just Grapes for Me

Earlier today Jessica was—I kid you not—sitting buck naked on the couch, eating grapes. She currently remains unclothed, with her clothes within arms reach, and had the audacity to demand that I give her a blanket because she's cold.

* * *

This morning Jessica announced she was going to be a doctor when she grows up. This was both good and bad. Good in future employment prospects and bad in terms of the price tag for Mom and Dad. Not wanting to create any false illusions, I explained to her that it was a lot of work to become a doctor (Uncle Danny will get deja vu reading this).

She then said she was going to be a nurse instead. I said that also required a lot of work.

She thought about it for another minute.

“When I grow up I'm going to be a Tooth Fairy,” she finally said.

Not the Tooth Fairy, a Tooth Fairy. I guess if there were only one, the job would already be filled.

Oh, to be 4 again

There's something so free about being a little kid. It means having instant friends. Jessica will go and play with any other kid without the least bit hesitation. Granted, there was the time last summer when a mean 8 or 9 year old told her "I'm not playing with you!" when Jessica tried to include her in her game (that made me want to yell out her for not being nice to my baby girl), but generally other kids respond very well.

Lately, Jessica has been wanting to make playdates with the kids she meets when we're out and about. The last three unknown kids she met were Jared from the fish restaurant, Nina from the drive-in and some girl whose name she didn't even get from ChildWatch at the Y. Days later, she'll ask, "Can I have a playdate with ?" as if I can just conjure them up at will.

It's too bad this doesn't work for adults. I can't imagine walking up to another adult, not even introducing myself, and just having a conversation about parenting or the last episode of American Idol.