Life with Little

We have a friend over for lunch. During the meal we are talking about our plans to go swimming afterward.

“Me want to go swimming!” Little says, abandoning her meal to climb out of her seat. “Me get ready.”

“No, not yet,” I tell her, “First we have to finish eating, then we can go swimming.”

“Okay,” she says.

30 seconds later…

One of the other kids says that word, swimming.

Little starts to get up. “Me want to go swimming!”

“After you finish eating, first eat, then swim.”

“Okay.” She takes another tiny bite of food.

“Me all done. Me go swimming now.”

“No you are not done, eat some more.”

“No, me go swimming now.”

“Eat first.”

“Okay.” Takes a tiny bite.

“Me go swimming now?”

Repeat all that another 20 times and you have an idea of how lunch was that day, and pretty much what any day with Little is like.

*******
Her birthday isn’t until December. She saw a princess cake at the store, you know, the kind with the doll in the top and a cake for a dress. “Me want dat for for my my birfday cake,” she said, eyes alight. “Me want a pwincess cake.”

“I can make you one,” I responded. “Oma used to make me cakes like that all the time when I was a little girl. If you still want it when it’s your birthday I’ll make it for you.”

In the meantime several neighborhood friends have had little parties at the playground. So now she has it all mapped out in her mind.

“You make me pwincess cake! We eat it at pwayground! I eat it all. (This said with a shake of the head and downward inflection intended to mean the opposite of what she just said.) I share it! Mama, you make my cake now?”

“No honey, it’s not your birthday yet.”

“Oh.”

Then I made the wedding cake.

“You make my pwincess cake mama?”

“No honey, this is a wedding cake.”

“Oh. Yeah. Fo mwissa’s wedding. Me fowa giwl. Me fow dem onna gwound for mwissa to walk on.”

“Mama? After mwissa’s wedding you make my my pwincess cake?”

“Yes, honey, when it’s your birthday.”

And so it continues.

**************

Last night Little was talking in her sleep a bit.

Then she sat straight up in her bed and said, “Mommy. Me, me, me… mommy, me… mommy me want… Mommy, me want… Mommy me want… sumfing. Me want sumfing mama.”

“Do you want your water?” I asked, puzzled.

“NO! ME! WANT! SUMFING! GIVE! ME! SUMFING! MOMMY! GO GET IT FOR ME!”

“But I don’t know what something is. What do you want?”

“ME WANT SUMFING!”

After a few identical rounds I finally said, “OK, lay down and I will go get you something.”

So she laid down and went back to sleep.

Good thing she’s cute.