More things to remember

Our crazy Rebecca comes out with surprising new phrases and sentences all the time. In keeping with trying to remember them, here are a few:

Friday afternoon, Ramy had put the television on the Asian channel, which shows several Filipino programs every afternoon. Yes, for you Tennessee/Alabama people to whom this is a new concept, the shows are all in Korean, various Chinese dialects, Tagalog, etc. And the news on the Filipino news show is all two weeks old. I don't know why. Anyway, Ramy was watching it, although I'm not sure why, since he doesn't speak Tagalog and all of a sudden, Rebecca piped up and said, "I'm a Fin-a-pee-no!" We have no idea where she learned that bit of information or when she learned to say it for herself!

Yesterday, I made chocolate cookies. When I gave one to Rebecca she squealed, "For me? Ohh, tank you, Mama. Is de-nish-us!"

Last week when Rebecca was staying with my mom, they had done a craft project where Rebecca got to glue little foam pieces on a sun visor. Of course, it was tres chic when she was finished. She was wearing a little pink pillowcase dress my mom had made her, but she accessorized her ensemble with a denim belt, the sun visor (with some of her foam stickies falling off), and bronze sandals on the wrong feet. She looked up at Grammy and said, "I bee-u-ful and I happy."

"Beautiful" is an adjective that Rebecca claims as her own. I came in from work one day and Rebecca climbed on top of me and said, "Mama, you look bee-u-ful"! She put a hairbow in Sydney's hair and told Sydney she was "bee-u-ful." The same night, I mentioned Nanny Rebecca's name, and our Rebecca piped up and said, "My Nah-ee Becca is bee-u-ful!" She also refers to her new big girl bed as "my bee-u-ful bed."

Rebecca is very in touch with feelings right now. Saturday morning, she and I were sleeping in, and she rolled over in the bed and looked at me and said, "Hi mama. I NEED a snuggle." So I snuggled her up next to me and she said, "You happy?" I assured her that I was happy. She said, "I nov [love] you, Mama." How could anyone's heart not melt with that? She then followed it up by saying, "I nov Daddy too. And Daddy novs Becca. And Daddy novs Mama. And Mama novs Daddy. Gammy novs Becca. I nov Gammy too. I nov Ha-ee Syddy [Paddington and Sydney] too. I nov Jesus too. And Elmo too." I'm glad she included Jesus on the list...even if he was stuck between the dogs and a furry red cartoon character.

Speaking of Jesus, I wonder if he laughs about the ways in which he is implicated in our nighttime routine. There is a crucifix just above our bed. Rebecca points to it frequently and tells me it's a picture of Jesus. One night, when Ramy and both REALLY wanted to go to sleep but Rebecca did not, I was listing all of the people she knew who were asleep. "Grammy's asleep. Aunt Brenda's asleep. Aunt Mimi's asleep. Miss Julie and Addie are asleep..." Rebecca chimed in with, "Aunt Mah-get's as-eep. Ha-ee Syddy's [Paddington and Sydney] as-eep. Baby Ooo-cee's [Lucy] as-eep. Jesus on the wall as-eep."

Rebecca has learned the beauty of excuses. Some of her favorites are, "I'm seepy," "I scared," "Jus' a minute." She's also learned the art of procrastination. Any time she dumps out a big assortment of toys/blocks/things with many small pieces, we generally remind her that when she is done playing with them, she'll have to pick them up. She's usually pretty good about doing it, but sometimes she pulls out an excuse to try to get out of it. Saturday night, she and I had a battle of wits over one such incidence. She had dumped out all her Disney characters all over her bedroom floor. When she was done playing, I told her to pick them up.
Rebecca: "Jus' a minute."
Mama: "No, now."
Rebecca: "No, I seepy."
When it was obvious that didn't work, "I scared."
Then we had a brief stare down, and I pulled out the dreaded counting to three routine. 95% of the time, I never get to three. Unlike a lot of people who don't follow through, Rebecca knows that me reaching three is an unpleasant way of her being forced to do whatever she was instructed to do, so she usually hops to it and does it herself. This time, however, she decided to be defiant. So I picked her up and made her pick them up. She did a good job but missed one that was near the edge of the bed, so I pointed it out to her. Rebecca heaved a giant sigh and said, mostly under her breath, "Oh come on!" I wonder if this is a glimpse of her teenage years to come."