Saturday, August 2, 2008

Phrase Friday on Saturday

M is perfecting her whining. Perhaps you've heard that annoying sound from your own child. You know the one I'm talking about. Almost words, but not quite, with a touch of crying, but not enough to really be called crying? Yeah, yeah, that one.

People, I CAN'T TAKE IT. That noise gets on my nerves worse than repetitive tapping and nails on the chalkboard (thank God for dry erase boards!).

Me: M, stop whining. Mommy doesn't like that.
M: continues as if she didn't hear what I just said
Me: M, Mommy told you to stop whining.
M: continues as if she didn't hear what I just said
Me: M, Mommy asked you to stop whining. So, STOP whining. No more ANANAHANAHA (trying to make the same sound)
M: But I want to whine. (in a whiny voice)
Me: Well, do it so I can't hear you.
M: But I want to do it FATSTER (translation: faster).

In our house, fatster means LOUDER. Tell me that this phase goes away.


H doesn't like for M to climb up and down the stairs without one of us. Me...I couldn't care. She's never fallen. She goes super slow. I think she'll be fine. Yesterday afternoon she was playing downstairs, so I ran up to check my e-mail. Mocha, our chocolate lab, came with me. She, Mocha, was resting at the top of the stairs. After several minutes, I heard M begin her oh-so-quiet ascent. Mocha always gets excited when M comes around, so her tail was thumping and she was panting. M said, "Shhh...I comin'. Don't worry, Mochie. I coming. Don't tell Mama."

That's right. Don't tell Mama. Because I can HEAR you!

Daycare: $528 per month.
New shoes: $83.12
Life with a toddler: Priceless

4 comments:

Christina said...

I am sorry for the whining you must endure...but at the same time, I am very pleased to have company in this frustrating phase! I'm ready for it to go away, too. Several times lately, I've told N "let me know what you're done crying" and she's stopped crying long enought to say "but not yet, Mommy, I still want to cry." ACK!

Anonymous said...

I'm right with you on the whining thing! We established a "NO WHINE ZONE" at our house. It happened to be anywhere within my hearing range! We also called whining noise pollution and polluting the environment resulted in a fine...
L. Turner

Andi said...

You are so hilarious! I love your ending on this one...ok, M and I have more in common that I would like to admit. Just today the daughter told me I was whining like a two year old and to stop it. (It was SO stinkin HOT and I HATE to be sweaty and I was tired and everybody in the WORLD was shopping at the same time we were...) It just FEELS better to whine and moan. I get you, M. Although, Nat, if I had the HEAR it non-stop, I'd probably go a little nuts too. Life with a whining toddler OR mom: priceless!

Arizaphale said...

I just love the idea of her sneaking up the stairs and shushing the dog. I have two memories of the BA on stairs. She was such an early walker and crawler. At 8 months she was off up the stairs after me at our new house on the day we got the keys. I got to the second floor and looked down to see her half way up the stairs. Of course I called her name, she looked up and went backwards head over heels. Oh my God. The panic. The next time she was two and soooooo confident. But some of the UK houses have stairs that are more like ladders. This day she virtually cartwheeled down those stairs. I can't even remember whether I was at the top or the bottom of the stairs but I remember the cartwheel. *sheesh*
But the good news is..they fall..they get back up again!
and start whining :-D