Miriamisms VII

Miriam has been coming into our bed sometime during the wee hours of the morning with increasing regularity, despite the fact that she has a little nest on the floor of our room, should she feel the need to be closer to us. Fortunately (for Mrs. Pickles) she climbs in next to Daddy, who can go back to sleep almost instantly. When asked in the mornings why she came into our bed, I've received these replies:

"The monkeys were trying to GET me." (Mrs. P: "What color were the monkeys?" ME, without missing a beat: "Purple.")

"I had a bad dream. The hunter was trying to kill me." (she had just read The Story of Babar, whose mother suffers a fate like Bambi's)

"I had a bad dream. A dinosaur was trying to eat me."

"I had a bad dream. The dwagon was trying to eat me."

"I had a bad dream. The people were bothering me." Mrs. P: "What were the people doing?" ME: "They were trying to hurt me, and the hunter too."

Should we be worried about all these violent dreams?

Once I asked her why she didn't stay in her big bed, since Katie was there in her room too, and she replied, "I need to be with PEOPLE." Oh, so what's Katie, chopped liver?

On a related note, while I was reading Bedtime for Frances (the story of a little badger who doesn't want to sleep because of all the tigers and giants and spiders and scary noises that live in her room) to Miriam, she paused at the point when the moth was thumping against the window, and said, "Maybe Frances should put the pillow on her head so the noises can't bother her," because, of course, this is what Miriam does whenever she imagines she hears something while she's in bed.

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Miriam has no problems with self-esteem. Whenever we leave a playdate, she will say, "She [whoever she was playing with] didn't want me to go, she wants me to stay and play because she LIKES me." I know, it sounds sweet, but when you hear it in the pampered princess tone of voice she uses....! I've been trying to turn her focus outward, and note how much she likes her little friend, and how much she will miss her, etc. And then she'll say, "Yeah, but she misses me because she LIKES me." And then I give up.

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A recent exchange:

Mrs. P: "Miriam, would you please do X for me?"
Miriam: "Of course I will! Expecially when you ask SO nicely."

Hm, can't think where she's heard THAT one before!

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ME: "Can I have a smiley face?" (she asks this whenever I pull out the permanent marker -- in this case, to write the dosages for cold medicine on the bottle)

This is what I gave her:


put on a happy face...

ME: "No, I want arms! And a nose! And eyebrows! And legs! And a heinie!"
Mrs. P (laughing): "Ohhh, Miriam!"
ME: "Am I crazy?"

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Mr. P will put Miriam between his knees and push her back and forth and back and forth. Sometimes she really likes this "ride" (aka, "The Blender" or "The Washing Machine"). Mr. P recently did this to Miriam, and she let out a protest/whine to let him know that she didn't like it.

Mr. P: I'm sorry Miriam. I thought you liked being in The Washing Machine.
ME: (with a slight grin) Daddy, did you think I was a diaper?
Mr. P: (after laughing) No, Miriam, I thought you were a pretty dress.
ME: (laughing) No Daddy! I'm not a dress! Dresses don't have legs or a head!

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Out of the blue:

ME: "Aunt Tine is STRONG!"

I just thought I'd post that for the amusement of those of you who actually KNOW Aunt Christine, aka "Teeny". :b (The backstory for her comment, I believe, is from nearly two years ago when we were out in CA and Mommy was Great With Child, and therefore forbidden from picking Miriam up. But Aunt Tine could pick her up, therefore Aunt Tine was strong and Mommy was not strong. I'm amazed she remembers all that!)