Moving Right Along

When Jellybean was a baby and I tried to sing her lullabies, she wept. I figured it was because she didn’t want to go to sleep, but as she got older I realized no, she just really, really did NOT like lullabies. She thinks they are too sad, and she’s got a pretty fair point. They’re slow, and quiet, and sometimes a baby falls out of a tree. As a result, I sound like a mental patient when I sing her to sleep. She frequently requests ‘Down By The Bay’, or something with a train in it, like ‘She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain’. ‘On Top of Spaghetti’ is a big hit. I was extremely grateful for Christmas because it meant I could sneak in carols like ‘O Little Town’, ‘Silent Night’, and ‘Away in a Manger’.

Last night I figured Christmas was over and it was time to go back to the Top 100 FUN! Songs for Toddlers That Make Me Insane, and I made one more go of that old classic, ‘Nighty Night’. There was silence for a moment after I finished, then heart-breaking sobs. “Jenny!” I was frantic with apologies, “I’m sorry! Mama did not mean to make you cry!”

“Mama,” Jelly wailed reproachfully as tears streamed down her face, “Now I gots sad cheeks!”

Since I’d committed the unpardonable sin of attempting to sing something other than a very white girl rendition of “Zippity Doo Da”, Jelly lay in bed for a whole 10 seconds before appearing at the top of the stairs. “MAMA!”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Mama, I sleep in your bed?” “Yeah, I guess so” (there goes my freakin’ back again). I trudged up the steps dutifully and helped her into my mile-high pillow-top that may very well be part of the cause of the back pain. Is 10 years about when you should replace a mattress? Jelly scampered up happily.

“Oh, thank you mama! You such a nice lady!”

Well, you're most welcome, ma’am, glad I could help after making you bawl your eyes out.

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If you hadn't heard, Raleigh got dumped on with snow. Not like, New York amounts of snow, but there was almost a foot of the fluffy white stuff on our piece of the cul-de-sac pie. I panicked and made 476 gallons of soup, because I'm Canadian and that's what I do. Jelly was thrilled to be able to finally make a real snow angel, but then was disgusted by the fact that she had snow on her mitts that then got on her face.

Jelly's favorite Christmas gifts were definitely the 'Wonder Pets' fly boat, her Puppy Playdough set ('from Nana!'), and the MobiGo handheld video game system. Dear VTech people - I heart you so freaking much. You are the Sony for Toddlers. The Dora TwinsDay game is brilliant. Jenny has learned more letter recognition in the past 48 hours than in the past 6 months.

It's cute, she calls it her 'dideos', which sounds kind of like a breakfast cereal that aspiring young rap artists would eat. 'Hey mom, can I have some more great-tasting Diddy-O's?' 'No, son, you should have some fruit instead, you're looking a little puffy'. The best thing about the system is that she can CHANGE THE GAME CARTRIDGES HERSELF. Yes. You read that correctly. And each cartridge has a bunch of different game options. AND you can download free games online and save them to a special cartridge! So it's not like you're shelling out constantly for new games. This, combined with the fact that she received a Trunki from my sister N, means we had no choice but to immediately book a flight somewhere. Since my parents would murder me if we took off on a cruise after not going home for Christmas, we are going to Canada. Like, next week.

So what did we do this holly holiday season? Let's not talk about it. Flu and family. 'Nuff said. But girlfriend LOVED the train...