Three going on 14

Lilly and I were driving to Glenna's house. I always used to sing the alphabet to her when she was a baby and was telling her about that. I was thinking about how much she has learned and grown and said,

"Pretty soon you'll go to Kindergaten and learn to read and write words."

Always with a quick response, "And then I drive a car!"

"You have to be 14 to drive a car."

"Mommy, Daddy 14???"

"Mommy and Daddy are bigger than 14. You have to be at least 14, which means you have to be 14 or bigger"

(dejected) "I'm big! I'm big! I eat my foots and vejtabowz!"

Lilly got a hold of some styrafoam a while back and still find some from time to time. She usually just makes a mess with it, but Al noticed she was hiding in the window eating it. He told her to stop several times, explained it wasn't food, etc. She continued so he says, "Lilly, if you put more styrafoam in your mouth, you have to sit in the corner." Again with a quick reply, "Daddy, if you put more beer in your mouth, you have to sit in the corner!" How could I not laugh.

Lilly doesn't have an imaginary friend, but does have a good imagination. She's been talking about running school for months. She used to go to running school but now is the teacher at running school and talks about the "running kids". It comes up pretty much every day. She even has an NDSU building picked out that she says is her running school and even remembered which one she picked and points it out as we drive by. Her tales are almost like a TV show. Here's some examples that I can remember:

--Running kids go to the hospital.

--That snack would be perfect for my running kids. There is even running school cereal.

--Recently, as we were taking a detour around a huge dike, I was telling her about all the big dirt keeping all the water away so it wouldn't make everything a big mess. She then told me that her running kids take dirt out of the garden and put it by running school. Poor running kids. Even they have to deal with flooding!

The word baby means lots of different thing to Lilly. She is very excited to have a baby brother and loves the newborn at daycare. "Mommy, I loooooove babies!" However, she complains about Glenna's kids calling her a baby. This must have rubbed off on her because anything she doesn't like is "baby." I think this is because she doesn't know what dumb means. When we were rosting marshmellows with the neighbor girl and her friend, one of the girls said, "I'm dumb." Lilly repeated that many times and we mostly just ignored it. She has said it a few times since then because she realizes she shouldn't. Al asked her what dumb means. She says, "it's when you roast marshmellows." I guess, for now, she'll call things "baby," and we should just be glad she doesn't know any other insults.

It's been snowing several times in April and we are all so sick of winter. Oh contrar says, "Mommy, I llllloooooove winter!"

Al wasn't feeling well so Lilly and I went to the store. We'd been promising her that she could go the next day. She loves going to Tawget (don't know where she gets it) and she often says "One more store" after we leave the first place we stop. Anyway, my prenant self decided to take her. I learned later that day, that "one more store" was not the best option for me, since I was really tired by the end of the shopping trip. Before we left, I asked Lilly what she thought Daddy needed (Al always tries to tell me to get him a wii game) She said, "new soap." I forgot all about it, but, of course, she didn't. She saw some body wash for men. She picked one, reconsidered, and got another bottle saying, "This soap make daddy haaandsome"