Watch Out, The 2 Yr Old Holds Grudges... and Remembers EVERYTHING!

My 2 Yr Old is Passionate and Has a Memory Like an Elephant.

This Has its Disadvantages Sometimes...

This past week meaningless cuteness has abounded. There really was not a good "thing" to blog about. I can describe smiles and odd behaviors, but sometimes that special "something" gets lost in the translation into written word.  My 2-yr old, while calling to wish her Granny a Happy Birthday, supplied the subject for this post.

See, my middlest has a really great, detailed memory.  AND, she is fiercely loving, or just fierce, depending on the situation. She is a rough and tumble kind of girl in pearls and a dress. And, she has a ewwy gooey heart under it all. She can punch like a boy, but is all soft and vulnerable like a girl.  Poor little oxymoron.. 

The whole memory thing just makes it all so much more vivid.  For example, every day she has to talk about our beloved dog whom she misses "whole lot". Every day. She is "sad, Mommy. Cuz I miss our favorite doggy whole lot."  This is the dog we gave to a family with a nice farm almost a year ago. We had the dog for almost two years. The reasons for giving our little love bug of a dog away are complex. AND, the family she went to had a rescued dog that needed a gentle playmate for rehab purposes. They are a good match and we get pictures from time to time still.. and still.. my almost 3 yr old misses her "whole lot."

Then, there was the day about a week ago when my husband and I and the 2 yr old had a miscommunication over an Oreo.  She asked me if she could get an Oreo out of the fridge (YES the Fridge). I said yes. My husband missed the whole exchange and saw a presumptuous preschooler getting a cookie "without asking." He chastised her and took the cookie away. And promptly broke her heart. She cried and screamed these heart wrenching screams. She started to try and tell him I said it was ok, but her little voice was hitching and breaking.  Finally, I realized what was going on and scooped her up and told my husband I had given permission.  He apologized profusely to her and hugged and loved on her and even gave her an extra cookie. It was over and done with.

Until today. Out of the blue, as my husband leaves the house for work this morning, the 2 yr old tells him "I so mad at you! You took my cookie! You so sorry! I give you (forgive). I love you and I like you and I miss you at work."

Yeah. Mind like a steel trap.

BUT WAIT, didn't I say something about my Mother In Law's bday today? Yes. The 2 yr old called her Granny to say Happy Birthday. Only, the conversation went something like this:

"Hi, honey! I am so happy to hear from you today!"

"Hi Ganny. I so mad at you."

"Oh??! Why?"

"Cuz you turned into that mean monkey on Mario (64) and BIT me! You BIT me Ganny! I so scared. You turned into a monkey!!!"

"Oh my! I am so sorry! I won't turn into a monkey and bite you again."

"Ok. I give you. You so sorry you are a monkey that bite me.   OH. Ganny? Happy Birday. I love you." 

See, this is really funny. Because my middlest had a bad dream MONTHS ago that her Granny turned into the mischievous monkey  on Mario 64 that steals Mario's hat. Only, this time, the monkey, Granny, bit my daughter.  This was during a period when the eldest was obsessed with Mario 64 and played it all the time.  So much so that it gave her little sister nightmares.  The problem is in how the dream was handled. Like this time, Granny was bemused and just went along with it and apologized for turning into a monkey and biting my child the last time months ago that my child confronted Granny about this shape-shifting and biting behavior. We all know Granny didn't really do that. AND, we all got a good laugh at my child's earnestness in the dream. Only, by apologizing, Granny inadvertently legitimatized the dream and made it a part of my child's every day reality.  Now, my 2 yr old is holding that memory.. and a grudge.  

I am so sure we will continue to laugh about this for years to come. Poor Ganny has some making up to do now though. Because the two year old is PISSED that her Granny became a monkey one night months ago and bit her.. on the finger. And yes, she will to this day show you just which finger Ganny bit her on.

The Age of Politically Correctness and a 3rd Bday Party

My Soon-to-be Three Year Old's Birthday Party
and the Quest to Keep her Cake P.C.

Next month my two-yr old turns three. We were all set to have a wonderful Wall*E themed party. I bought the cake pan, the official icing colors, the robot cut outs for the kids to color, the toy centerpieces, and had even contacted Socks In Pockets (our friendly literary clown. She takes your theme and reads the kids a bunch of story/picture books around that theme and tells them jokes,and etc, and the kids just LOVE her.).

Well, we all know the desires of an almost three-year old are subject to change at whim. My daughter woke up one day, recently, and declared she would have a Princess and the Frog Pajama and Paint Nails Party. Okay. Great. Perfect. Lovely. At least I can fund the new theme by selling the Wall*E items on EBay and in a yard sale.

Only, Princess Tiana apparently is NOT as popular as some of her predecessors. Darn it. I am a very frugal deal hunter and the Tiana stuff is so scarce that when you do find it, they are very proud of their inventory and charge an arm and a leg. ($6 for a table cover PLUS $4 in Shipping???? Really??$10 to get a disposable cheap plastic table cover? Yeah.. we will use green wrapping paper and decorate it with purple princessy accents, thank you very much!) I did find a Tiana music CD for $6 and some clearance Tiana napkins. I am going to decorate with purple and green. I bought some Tiana themed Valentines and plan to cut the pictures of the characters out of those and glitter glue them on some cups I bought on clearance at like 35 cents a pack.. BUT I DIGRESS!!!


Luckily for me, I had found some really great Tiana themed items on super clearance over the past year. These items have "lived" in my gift/things to sell on Ebay closet, so I am able to give my princess all Tiana themed gifts...

So.. onto planning the cake. This should have been a piece of well.. cake. I found a Tiana "Barbie" doll half off at Target. Perfect! I will make one of those cakes with the doll in the center.. you know, the kind where the cake part is kind of bundt shape and is made to look like the doll's dress. Wow! I found a WHOLE Princess and the Frog action figure on sale at a local Disney Store. These are perfectly sized to go around the bottom of the cake.

Seeing as though the two-year old has decided to rethink her birthday and make it go this direction, I decided to double check what flavor cake she wanted. After a day and a half of going back and forth from chocolate, to pink, to brown, to red (obviously, colors are acceptable flavor options now), she finally settled on a Tiana cake that is red flavored. Not cherry or anything like that... RED! Ok, done! Glad to have that over with, right?

Wrong. The party is next month. I was going over some details with my husband when it hits me. If we are to have a cake that is in the shape of the princess, herself.. well.. it doesn't need to be red, does it? Wouldn't that look a bit gory or graphic? Like we are cutting into her and the cake is red.. that is just plain hideous. So, fine. We will go with an actual flavor: Chocolate. "Yeah, that's great. Because Tiana is African-American," My husband says. Oh, crud. Does that make a statement, too? Is that un-PC? My husband says, "Just go with Vanilla. Oh, wait.. no.. don't do that, either. Yellow cake it is." At this point, I am throwing my hands up in the air.


This was supposed to be a super easy party to plan. I thought when my soon to be birthday girl switched from Wall*E to Tiana it would be an easier party, with easier to find character-themed items. She wants everyone to come over in their jammies and eat chicken nuggets and get their nails painted. Cheap, Easy, Perfect.

Except the items are hard to find, and the cake is driving me nuts at this point.

Then, it hits me. I know just what to do for this cake. I don't know why it was so hard to come to this solution. It is perfect. AND perfectly PC for a Princess and the Frog Tiana shaped cake. We will make it GREEN flavored!