Just Don't Sing

Don't you just love toddlerisms, those endearingly blunt, to-the-point phrases that come out of the littlest mouths before syntax and tact are appropriately internalized? I do. I wish I could record every one of Julia's best and most entertaining verbal nuggets, but usually when she says something cute or funny we're in the middle of doing something or going somewhere or eating something or laughing our heads off, and then I forget them. Still, here are a few from recent days.

Pretty much every time we're listening to music these days, and I am (as always--I can't help it!) singing along, I hear an insistent little voice nearby, instructing, "Don't Mama sing!" Sometimes she'll add, "Just Dan Zanes." OK, then. (This reminds me of an essay I once read in the wonderful anthology Toddler, which involved an almost exact interaction....anyone else read it? I can't recall the title but I remember it was fabulously written and very touching.)

While exuberantly running across the bouncey bridge and flying down the slide at the park yesterday afternoon, Julia kept repeating joyfully, "Having good fun! Having good fun today!" Two-year-olds are masters at appreciating the simplest pleasures of life, aren't they?

While Christopher changed her diaper the other day and I was sitting nearby, Julia looked over at me, sighed, and whimpered plaintively, "Need some Mama. Need some Mama!" In a moment, she elaborated: "Need some Mama. Give her a hug."

Really, now: does it get any better than that?