Boys?

I seriously have no idea how to respond to this sort of behavior! Maryam never did anything like this! I keep hearing, "its a boy thing", "boys are just more active than girls", "your brother was worse", "his daddy was worse", "boys will be boys", etc, etc. OK, that's great! But how do I stop Mr. Mischievous? Ha!

Caught Cookie Faced

Look at that face! Yep, he's been stealing M's Oreos or M has been giving them to him, either way....there is cookie on his face!

And the laughs just keep on coming....

So, Maryam likes to play her version of "tag". She chases me or Daddy and then we chase her back. The whole time we have to chant things like, "get the baby, get the baby, get the baby" or "get the mommy, get the mommy, get the mommy" or she loses all interest. Well, today I was playing chase with her when Daddy joined in too. I decided that I'd take a seat and watch the action unfold. At first Maryam was chasing Daddy and that was GREAT....then it was Daddy's turn to chase Maryam. Well Mr. Bishop DID NOT LIKE THAT! He started barking and growling at Daddy and finally bit Daddy's shorts growling and pulling him away from Maryam! It was hysterical! If he were a little boy I could just hear him saying, "leave my sister alone!"

Later in the afternoon we were over at Yaya and Papa's house visiting with Grams, Great Uncle Tonce, Great Auntie Karen and Great Auntie Kathy when they broke out a few gifts for Maryam. She opened one and it was a Backyardigans toy, then she opened the other and there were 3 books inside! She was so happy!!!! She took the books to Uncle Tom to read, she sat in his lap and turned the pages and he read to her. A little later Grams wanted me to open up birthday presents from her. I Let Maryam help. She tore the paper on the first package and unpacked some fuzzy pink slippers. She did not like the slippers at all and threw down the box! She started saying, "no toy" and pushed out her lower lip. So, I thought, let's try again! I held the next box while she unwrapped it. Again she was not happy! I pulled out two beautiful vests and she threw the box down and said again, "no toy". At which point she started to tear up, push out her bottom lip and push me!

Like I said, I may have had a "sick" baby, but I have a VERY normal toddler! Yay me!

nooooooo

So, Brett and I just spent 20 minutes looking for his glasses. He said, maybe the baby took them. I said, ask her! He said, "Maryam, did you take Daddy's glasses?" She said, "noooooo". So we continued stripping the bed looking for them. I started looking in all of Maryam's usual hiding spaces; her toy chest, her diaper stacker, the Halloween tub that we still haven't put back in the garage, the toy basket in the living room, her kitchen and the trash can. I didn't find them anywhere! Then I hear, "I found them!" They were in the HAMPER! When I asked Maryam if she put Daddy's glasses in the hamper, she smiled at Daddy and said "noooooo."

More Otter Pop Fun

Maryam has actually learned to say "Otta Pop" instead of just "pop". Last night she asked for an Otter Pop and the only one we had left was a purple one. I gave it to her and she asked for another. I tried explaining that this was the last one. She took it reluctantly and went on her merry way. After a few minutes she came running up to me saying, "Mommy otta pop yuck". So I looked up to see this! She broke the packaging of the Otter Pop and I guess enough of it had melted to get her nice and purple. Needless to say we went straight to the bathtub.

Toddler Trouble

Maryam LOVES to chew on Otter Pops. Not in the way that you or I would chew on Otter Pops, she only chews on the unopened ones. She won't chew on teething rings but she loves these! Unfortunately Otter Pops don't have the same baby teeth resistant quality as the traditional teething ring and tend to start to leak after about 15 to 20 minutes of Maryam gnawing on them. A couple of days ago Maryam decided to use the juice coming out of her Otter Pop to create "Otter 'Pop' Art"! She was so proud of her creation that she actually came to get me to show me what she had done. So, I took a picture and then fetched the greatest creation of recent years, The Magic Eraser and got to work. It only took us a few minutes to get it all cleaned up.