Magrilless

Our beautiful sweet daughter has started throwing around heartbreaking compliments lately. We were comparing hair the other day and she told me my hair was like sunshine. As I was walking through the house in my nightgown, she told me I had a beautiful dress. While petting Bill’s brow after he sustained a toe injury, she told him very earnestly and sweetly he reminded her of a penguin. I hear her occasionally talking to a toy about something “sooo pretty” or  telling one “that’s nice” in her little singsongy voice. And she has several times just out of the blue come up to one of us with a hug and “I love you.” This phase? Definitely my favorite.

Bill came home from work today and said “Wanna picnic for dinner?” Okay! 30 minutes later we were here.

What is Maggie doing? Making candy canes and caterpillars of course. The best $1 I ever spent to lure my child out a store and into the car has been these craft pom poms. She thinks they’re really fun to manipulate, step on, dole out, sort, and when she gets tired of playing and starts chucking them at me, they don’t leave a mark.

Mags’ current modus operandi (a la 2-year-old) is to claim starvation whenever she’s presented with an odious task. “Maggie, it’s time to put crayons away please.” Crying commences followed by “I’m so hungry instead!” “Maggie, no spilling your cup on purpose.” Tears and “I’m so hungry!” “Alright, Mags, let’s get your jammies off.” Hysterics plus “But I’m so hungry!” “Ni-night Maggie. I love you.” “Mommy, I’m so hungry! I’m so hungry, Dada!” You can tell just by looking at her the child is malnourished, right?

We’ve been spending time at the river this week. We attempted a float down with Mags, but after Mommy fell off the tube and accidentally dunked her, she wanted nothing but Daddy on dry land (way to go, Mom). On the shore is where she likes to be. It’s still pretty chilly water, so she prefers to find a stick and draw in the mud. She does like to find interesting rocks under the water, and she will tell you all about the plants that live in the river (“they got stuck to mama’s toes”). She also thinks it’s funny to see a boat go by with a dog in it, and she’ll blow kisses if instructed to. In another month when the water is warmer and lower, I think she’ll be more inclined to walk and wade and explore actually in the river. Until then, we’ll keep doing more of this: