Mommy is a princess!

Chris just provoked this memory of Christmas and I wanted to write it down so that I.never.forget.it.

When I put my paper crown on after we opened our Christmas crackers, Matt Matt looked at me and said in a tone of complete wonderment and awe, "Mommy is a princess!" (We had just seen a Dora episode a few days before where she briefly became a princess. I suspect that is where this came from.)

Whenever Matt Matt is being a total booger, I'm going to think back to the moment when he thought I was a beautiful princess and find my Happy Place there.

Mommy Finish Line

So every day, or so it seems, Matt Matt invents a new game to play. A few days ago, it was Mommy Finish Line - a personal favorite, but I am biased. I have to kneel next to his crib and wait for him to run over to me, hopping over various toys and stuffed animals and such. I lift him up in the air, kiss him and put him back down on the floor, in order to do it all over again. No idea where he came up with it, but I love it.

Three years old is SO much more fun than two years old was. Sure, we still get tantrums and so forth but they are fewer and further between, and he's so good at entertaining himself (and us) nowadays.

Magamet

You know, the metal discs that stick to other pieces of metal - magamets!

We had a visit

We had a visit today from the Dum Dum Fairy. You may not have heard of her - she's really just a minor fairy. (Many, many thanks to Supernanny!) When nearly three year old boys are done with their dum dums (Ed. - pacifiers. Don't ask.) their mommies call the Dum Dum Fairy and tell her to come by and take the now-superfluous dum dum to a baby who needs it. In exchange, she leaves a toy for the brave soul who sacrificed. Not a bad deal, really.

We've been getting Matt Matt ready for the Dum Dum Fairy for a while. Talking about her, asking him what he wanted to get (" 'Mote control car - like Miguel's house"), telling him that she only comes when we tell her to and not before boys are ready. Today at lunch, we were once again talking about the Dum Dum Fairy and James mentions that she might come at naptime today if Matthew goes to bed on time. I offer to help him pick out a gift bag for his dum dum from my craft room, and to my surprise - he's game. We pick a bag, we write a note, we go upstairs and get the dum dum. Matt Matt "kisses" it goodbye, we put it out on the front porch and shut the door.


Matthew can not WAIT to get upstairs and go to bed. He is super excited. Uh... yeah. That doesn't bode too well for naptime! I try to delay things by reading book after book, but Matthew insists he needs to go to bed right now, Mommy! I go downstairs to wait it out. He stays quietly in bed, talking to himself for 90 minutes (not bad, all things considered) with no tears - but he doesn't fall asleep either. Finally, he starts to get a bit fussy, so I go up and get him. We get him changed and dressed and head downstairs.

When it comes to opening the door, he's suddenly all reluctant and wants me to do it for him. We open the door together. He sees the bag and smiles, but wants me to pick it up for him, my normally super-independent toddler. We take it inside and then he sees that it has his 'mote control car in it, and suddenly whoneedsMommyanyway?!? Out it comes - he is THRILLED. He proceeds to play with it all afternoon long, insisting on taking it on a walk to the duck pond and then takes it to bed with him at bedtime. I manage, just barely, to convince him that the remote is happy to sleep on his train table instead of in the bed.




He only asked for dum dum once or twice at bedtime, and I reminded him that he's with Dum Dum Fairy now and Matt Matt has his 'mote control car instead. He said at one point, "maybe Dum Dum Fairy could come back" and give dum dum back, but he didn't get upset and there were no tears. Major relief - I thought I'd never see the day!

Fingers crossed he doesn't wake up sobbing at 5 a.m. :-)