She's kind of different of me

We've full-on devolved into threatening the child with loss of privileges if she doesn't cooperate.

If we're not careful she may begin to call our bluff. This may have already begun.

She napped today on the car ride back from Charlotte.

"Here you go now please," she said thrusting the iPod touch in my direction. Then: "HERE YOU GO NOW PLEASE!"—and she flung herself into an attitude of repose and moved not a muscle for about 80 miles.

So now she's having trouble getting to sleep.

Her mother and I have been in to see her several times.

The topic has been broached, and now the threat hangs heavy over her head: if she doesn't sleep, we'll have to cancel Halloween.

Still the child potters and prattles.

So I went to her room once again:

"Sophie you need to sleep or I’m afraid we’ll have to take Halloween away."

"Oh okay, I’m sleeping. I’m sleeee-ping!”

"People don’t talk when they sleep."

"Oh." She considers.

"I sleep kind of different of you cause I don’t snore when I’m asleep."

Best Road Trip Ever

We went to see Yo Gabba Gabba in concert this weekend. We didn't tell Sophie what we were doing except that we were going on a road trip for the weekend.
Her excitement when the characters came on stage was worth every penny of the overpriced tickets. Kid shows are kind of a scam because you can't just buy a ticket for your child and send him/her into watch the show alone, you need to buy at least one other ticket. But I don't think there are many other kid shows out there that the parents can come away feeling as happy as these kids. Yo Gabba Gabba left me feeling like I had totally gotten my $140 worth, and that's saying a lot.

Decisions

Her mother gave her a choice of two desserts: chocolate or ice cream.

After finishing her square of dark chocolate, Sophie said: "I think I don't like chocolate anymore."

"Oh? Well you don't have to have it anymore," her mother said.

"Yeah, so I think I have ice cream now!"

sophie dressed herself today!

I told Sophie if she dressed herself, I'd blog about it. So she did!

Maybe now if I just leave the clothes out for her, she can get herself dressed every day.

Next goal: Sophie gets her mom dressed in the mornings

Language Lessons

She's got a vague idea of languages and that her mother and I speak some different ones.

She's even picked some up from us.

"Speak German! Guten Tag" she told me the other day.

I was impressed and told her mother about this when we picked her up in the car.

"What did you say, Sophie? How do you say hello in German?"

"Guten Poopie!"

aaaaand,

cue the manic fits of laughter.

sense of humor

Intermittent hearing loss

It's amazing how quickly Sophie regains her sense of hearing when threatened with the loss of some privilege or other.

last game of the season

Today is the last soccer game of the season. I have to say, I'm mentally exhausted by the commitment; however, recently, Sophie's been making great improvement.
Frankly, I wasn't sure there was going to be a next season. Sophie at first wasn't much into it, but in the last few games she's gotten more and more engaged. And now she's going to have friends who also play next season. And to add to the appeal of next season, I'm not going to coach. I'm going to enjoy myself sitting on the sidelines sipping my warm coffee and cheering.

Dammit

I swear we haven't been cursing around her, but the following words came out of her mouth yesterday as her mother and I were trying to coax her to bed:

"I don't wanna brush my teeth! I don't wanna brush my teeth, dammit!"

Time stood still.

Her mother and I looked at each other.

"What did you--" I began, and her mother shook her head.

("If we ignore her when she says it, maybe she won't say it again.")

So then there were books, and bed, and things progressed quite nicely and as usual and I have no idea where she might have picked up that language.

Was it us? Did we have a moment of weakness that neither of us noticed? It can't have been school, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Elmo. Maybe the neighborhood kids? Crap, it was probably us.

Fish Skin

She's been a kind of picky eater.

Shrieks in disgust at the most anodyne foodstuffs. Eschews most all but the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Though anything in the cupcake/ice cream/chocolate line is always acceptable).

And so it was with some amusement that I today watched her mother bodily wrest the salmon skin from Sophie's grasp.

Sophie, insisting "Some people like this!" was determined to swallow it whole.

A Joke, by Sophie

"Why did the peepee eat the poopie?"

Her mother and I look at each other.

"I don't know, why did the peepee eat the poopie?"

She shrieks: "WHY DID THE PEEPEE EAT THE POOPIE?!!!!" And then dissolves into peals of laugher.

It's a riddle of astonishing economy: it answers itself. Its humor is recursive. It it the Ur-riddle, the Rätsel an sich.

busiest days ever....

Sophie,
In the last 20 days, I've planned a movie screening with Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen for 2500 people; organized a study abroad program to walk 15 days; rewrote an article for submission; went to a workshop in DC; and mostly kept up on my 4 classes I teach. During that time, I got you up and ready for school and packed you a lunch just about every morning and I think there were only about 4 nights I didn't make it home in time to help put you to bed. And we got to play together in Louisville while your dad gave a paper; and the next weekend you and your dad went to the museums and carousel in DC until you declared your exhaustion. When we weren't on the road, you went to a birthday party, an open house at the firehouse, and a playdate. Now, I'm going home and taking a v. long nap.

A mermaid, I guess

Sophie is playing with Bobby and Kelly.

"I am a princess!"

"I am a princess!"

"I am a princess from under the sea!"

"And you are a princess too!" she tells Kelly.

"And Bobby is a queen!"

Heathen

"Excuse me, when Santa don't come these guys come?"

We were reading a book in which the three wise men appear.

"Well, no. Santa always comes, not these guys. But these guys brought Jesus some gifts, so people like making pictures of them."

"Oh," she said thoughtfully.

"They brought him birthday gifts. Hey! Do you know when Jesus' birthday is?" I asked.

"No."

"Christmas."

"What? Christmas?"

I nodded.

"Coooool!"

She thought some more, and then: "But we won't go to his birthday party."

"Why not?"

(And the following has to be read in a "Duh! Dummy Daddy!" tone of voice:)

"Because we waiting for our Christmas presents!"

Speaking of make-believe,...

"Maybe we need to stay up and wait for Santa."

"Well, we could do that. But some people say that if you stay up to see Santa, he doesn't come to your house at all!"

"Why?!"

"Well, maybe he wants his privacy."

Lying to my child

"Excuse me, there're no bad guys in the world, right?"

"No. No, goose."

She paused. And then:

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Nathan has a dragon!!"

"Really?"

"Yes. His name is Tim. He may be real or make-believe."