She has long loved baby dolls and labeled all small people toys (like Duplo guys) "babies." A few months ago (before Christmas), a Buy Buy Baby flyer came in the mail with lots of pictures of toddlers playing with expensive plastic toys. Josiah got a-hold of it and looked through it, eying all the toys he'd like to get. "I like to have this, Mama!" he said, pointing at a plastic tool bench. Then he turned to his sisters. "I like to have this one. What you like, Abby?" he asked. Abby glanced over the paper and said, "Baby!"
Abby's love of babies extends to almost anything small. One day she found a tiny rock outside. "Baby rock!" she happily exclaimed. She hung onto it most of the morning (thumb in mouth, baby rock gripped in right hand) and even kept it in the pocket of her bib during lunchtime. She cried bitterly when I told her Baby Rock couldn't go to bed with her for her nap. But she asked about it immediately upon waking!
She loves to use "baby cups" and "baby 'poons" when drinking and eating. Her favorite headwear this winter was her "baby hat" knit by Great-grandma Judy. I regularly find her rummaging in the top drawer of the girls' dresser (in order to do this, she stands on the changing table) looking for "baby socks." And when she washes her hands, she insists on turning the spigot just the tiniest bit so that she has a "baby" stream of water (just above a drip).
Calling something a "baby" item is a sure-fire way to get Abby to like it. Sometimes in moments of absent-mindedness, we'll try to persuade Abby to do something "like a big girl." For instance, I've said, "Don't you want to pee on the potty like a big girl?" Of course, this backfires on me. Abby doesn't want to be a big girl! Her immediate response is, "No. Baby!"
When Josiah and Lydia "claim" certain characters in storybooks or pretend at various professions, Abby invariably chooses to be "baby." Josiah often says, "I'm Sergeant Murphy!" Lydia repeats his assertion in a garbled manner: "Me Ser-rant Murry!" Sometimes she'd go on to extend the favor to Abby, too, assuming she'd like to be included: "Abby! Ser-rant Murry!" Abby always objected: "No! Baby!"
So now Lydia preempts Abby. Josiah says he wants to be a firefighter. Lydia says, "Me, far-farrer! Abby, baby!"
In the last week or so, Abby has even insisted her name is Baby--not Abby. "Are you my sweetheart Abby girl?" I asked rhetorically as I kissed her the other day. "No! Baby!" she said, a bit offended. She got mad at Lydia yesterday at lunch for calling her "Abby." "No! BABY!" she said, getting more and more frustrated.
No comments:
Post a Comment