When Your Baby is Not a Baby

This morning was not unlike other slumbery weekend mornings. The girls hop in, on, and over our sleepy torsos until we're fed up with knees in our faces, feet in our ribs, and sibling bickering in our ears. The adult in one of us usually arises from the bed with an order of cease and desist, or, shall I say, bribery with the going rate of one 40 minute video session of Dora or Scooby Doo.

I will admit, I actually asked DH today, is there anyway you can teach them how to use the t.v. remote? The fact that on any given night I relinquish control of the remote due to driver incompetency while searching/viewing/taping anything and everything, was NOT on my list of memorables this morning. I was too busy fighting two small ninja chickens for the last 20 minutes of my slumber.

It may sound like I'm complaining but really I'm not. This is quality family time. Inevitably there between the robbed duvet, prodding elbows and shrieking giggles, emerges some babble of dialect, sharing of untainted visions and finally, the colorful and fairytale desires held close in the hearts of little girls everywhere. This, my friends, is why we do it. Why we choose to become parents.

Today it was Cutiepie's turn to grab our hearts and amuse us.

The babble began with visions of her next birthday.
Daddy, when I have my birthday, I'm going to be 2!
No, baby, you will be turning 4.
No, 2! I want to be a baby.
You ARE our baby.
So I can be 2?

Clearly she had a theme. And she turned to me:
Mommy, please can you buy some soothers (aka, pacifiers) from the shop?
What? But you don't need them.
I know. But you should buy some nappies (aka diapers) too. I promise I won't use them, but babies should have them in the house.

Finally, as if to show she means business, and baby business that is, she requests,
Mom, when we go to the shop I want to ride in the trolley (aka, shopping cart).
Cutiepie, really, you don't need a buggy, you can walk.
But, I need to sit in the trolly!
Cutiepie! I'm not even sure if the store has trolleys.

She gestures emphatically with her hands,
Surely, there are babies in the store, so they must have trolleys!

A clever baby she is.