Category: conversations

While driving we pass by a house under construction…
David: Look Meredith, a house is being built.
Meredith: When I get bigger I buy dat house.
David: Yeah because you’ll want to live near mommy and daddy right? And you’ll have a lot of money so you can buy it.
Meredith: I want all YOUR money.
David: Don’t worry, you’ll have it.

Reading books before bed…
Meredith: I came out of your tummy and then it was baby brudder’s turn.
Me: that’s right and I’m so glad you came out and are growing into my big girl.
Meredith: I want to do it again!
Me: what?
Meredith: go in your tummy!

After accidentally knocking Liam on the head with a book and he is crying…
Me: Meredith, you just hit Liam on the head, you have to be careful around him.
Meredith: no I didn’t!
Me: then why is he crying?
Meredith: probly he just needs to take a nap.
Me: well how did he get this bump on his head?
Meredith: he just fell down. he needsa learn how to walk.

While Liam was babbling nearby…
Me: what’s Liam talking about?
Meredith: he saying I love you sister.

At daycare dropoff saying goodbye to Liam and another preschooler was touching him and kissing him too…
Meredith: that’s my baby brother!
Me: it’s okay, she’s just saying hi.
Meredith: we share?
Me: yes you can both kiss him.
Meredith: but I wanna touch that leg!!!

While looking through an old photobook and coming across a picture of her and her cousins with Santa…
Meredith: who is this?
Me: that’s Santa.
Meredith: I don’t like him.
Me: oh there’s no reason to be scared of him, he’s a nice man that brings presents at Christmas.
Meredith: he’s from Christmas?
Me: yup!
Meredith: he is Jesus?

While David and I were discussing dinner options, she pipes up…
Meredith: I don’t like meat.
Me: oh you don’t?
Meredith: no, I just like strawbeedas, chicken nuggets, fruit salad, and carrots.
Me: that’s all you like?
Meredith: oh and bacon too!

In the morning getting ready…
Me: I’ve gotta change Liam, he peed out of his diaper and it got on me.
Meredith: I wanna see it.
Me: see right here this wet spot?
Meredith: ewwww, that’s isgusting.
Me: yeah.
Meredith: Liam you are isgusting. You can’t come to my birthday party.

A few days before her birthday…
Me: so do you want to go somewhere fun on your birthday?
Meredith: yeah I wanna go to zoo and doctor!

After I wiped her face clean after breakfast…
Meredith: my face is soooo pretty.
Me: yes it is!
Meredith: God made my face.

Getting the kids and all the stuff loaded in the car in the morning, and she got in her car seat herself and I was about to turn the car on…
Meredith: hey! You forgot to put my seat belt on!
Me: oh yeah, you’re right!
Meredith: silly goose.

After a rough morning…
Me: you’re gonna go play with Daddy for awhile now.
Meredith: why?
Me: because you’re driving me crazy.
Meredith: you ARE crazy.

Me: I’m going to make a bagel.
Meredith: and put butter and jelly on it?
Me: yeah
Meredith: don’t say yeah, say yes ma’am.

After jumping on her mini trampoline and falling down on purpose…
Grammy: Kaboomie!
Meredith: I wanna go kaboobie again!

While driving and David and I are attempting an adult conversation in the front seat…
Meredith: mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy MOMMY MOMMY!
Me: yes Meredith?
Meredith: Daddy driving.
Me: yes he is.
We return to talking…
Meredith: mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy MOMMY MOMMY!
Me: yes??
Meredith: um…bird poop on yours car!

David: say sand.
Meredith: sand.
David: say wich.
Meredith: wich.
David: say sandwich.
Meredith: finjer!

Commenting on what she and David brought home from the store…
Meredith: I got toilet paper for yours butt!

While David took her browsing the bookstore in the true crime section…
Meredith: you need Bible study.

On our way to church small group…
Me: are you excited that your friend Caleb from church is going to be at your school tomorrow?
Meredith: oh! There’s two Kaylas!
Me: no, this is Ca-le-BUH. With a “B” on the end.
Meredith: CaleBUH.
Me: right.
Meredith: Kayla and Arriya my best friends.
Me: that’s so sweet.
Meredith: Arriya-BUH.
Me: no Meredith, your friends Arriya and Kayla are at school, then your friend Caleb from church is going to be there tomorrow. He is the only one with the BUH on his name and whose house we are going to now.
Meredith: (pauses) Aria-BUH!
Me: (sighs)

While “helping” me make dinner…
Meredith: I yours little helper!
Me: that’s right, you’re my best helper. Liam doesn’t help does he?
Meredith: no and daddy doesn’t help.
Me: …

While I was holding her…
Meredith: (grabbing my boobs and looking in my shirt) whoa! Look at those nursers!

Me: What’s your full name?
Meredith: Merma Susannah Forbes!
Me: Good! Do you want to know mommy’s full name?
Meredith: Mommy Susannah Forbes!
Me: Oh yeah? What about daddy’s?
Meredith: Daddy Susannah Forbes!

After her second Gogurt of the night…
Meredith: I want anudder one!
David: okay, but will you share it with daddy?
Meredith: yeah
David gives her the yogurt and she eats most of it…
David: can I have some now?
Meredith: no!
David: hey, you said you would share with me.
Meredith: well I not nice.

Going through the drive-through for fast food at a time of desperation…
Me: I’ll have a kids’ meal with a cheeseburger –
Meredith: I wanna cheeseburger!
Me: – and an apple juice –
Meredith: I wanna apple juice too!
Drive-through attendant: Will that be all?
Me: I’ll also have a medium iced mocha.
Meredith: I no wanna iced mocha.
Me: oh you don’t? Well that can be for mommy then.

At the doctor’s office after I put on the lovely paper gown…
Meredith: Whoa mommy, you be so cute!

In the shower…
Meredith: Wook miss mommy, you got a butt!
Me: Yup, I do.
Meredith: (laughing) I has a butt too! Evvybody has a butt!

Meredith: When I get bigger I drive.
Me: Yup!
Meredith: I get bigger I have kids.
Me: Ok, good!
Meredith: And I eat cookies and more food.
Me: Oh, and what else will you do when you get bigger?
Meredith: I don’t know…eat cake. And cereal. And Cheerios. And pickles. And cupcakes.

On our way home from school…
Me: Did you do anything fun today?
Meredith: No! I no wanna talk!
Me: Okay, fine. Baby Liam, what did you do today? Did you eat? You did? And poop? And have your diaper changed? Wow.
Meredith: No, I no have my diaper changed!
Me: I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to baby Liam because you don’t want to talk.
Meredith: I baby Wiam!
Me: Oh really? Because I thought your name was Meredith.
Meredith: No, my name Wiam! And I no poop!

Some of our favorite mispronunciations…
Strawberry is strawbeedas
Sandwich is finjer (was pretty proud when I figured out what she meant by that)
“I don’t know” is oh no
Diaper is bider
Blue is billow
Backpack is packpack
Her cousin Lucas is Reekoo
Chick-fil-a is Chick-er-a
Scary is scaredy
And my favorite, when singing ABC’s “W” is ducklebucks (I am doing everything I can to perpetuate this one. When she started singing it correctly I nipped that in the bud. Now she says, “when I get bigger I say dubyoo.” Sure kid. But for now let’s keep saying ducklebucks, k? See the following video for cuteness proof.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2XoAY3Nks&feature=em-upload_owner

And expressions…
When we eat everything off a plate (or bowl or cup or wrapper) it’s a “happy plate” (or bowl or cup or trash)
“I wanna hold you” when she wants me to pick her up (I hear this phrase a hundred times a day)
“I’m talkin-a you!” while grabbing my face
“Imma be so shy” before we get somewhere or see new people

Lately…
>She is WAY into nursery rhymes and songs. We sing them all day, every day, and these weird YouTube videos will entertain her for longer than anything else.

>When we watch anything else on TV she requests Barbie. We came upon it on Netflix by chance and now she doesn’t want anything else, no matter how much I try to get her to watch Jessie again, or SuperWhy. Barbie is surprisingly funny, but there are only four episodes on Netflix, so it’s killing me a little bit.

>She has tons of little random toys, which I’m sure is common. At first they bothered me, but then I realized I can just dump them all in her many purses and going through the purse can keep her occupied for quite awhile.

>Asks me to hold her “wike a big baby” aka with both arms, head in one arm, legs slung over the other. It’s cute for a few seconds and then I’m tired and my arms are incapacitated.

>She has Opinions about what she wants to wear (as evidenced by the three photos at the top of this post). Getting dressed is a struggle as she would prefer to wear only a diaper at all times and doesn’t want anything to do with the clothes that I think are cute. She also won’t let me touch her hair even though I’m dying to play with it.

>When she gives attention to Liam she usually starts by rubbing his ear. She also likes to hold his hands and kiss him. She gets way jealous when I hold him or nurse him, though.

>Every day when we pick her up from school she runs up to us with a huge smile and says, “Mommy I be good!!” (She went through a phase where she was biting at school so we would give her a pep talk in the mornings and now she loves to brag on herself.)

>Her favorite color is purple, but she also likes pink and blue. She loves reading books, blocks, riding on shoulders, going places, being carried, legos, bugs (in theory; she is scared of real bugs), Spiderman, listing all of her friends and family by name, jumping on couches, and trying to keep up with her older cousins.

That’s Meredith summed up at the moment, but she is also so much more than that. She’s not even really a toddler anymore but a little girl. My heart. Gosh I love her.

If you guessed that she picked out every piece of this outfit herself, you would be right. I’m also proud of the genuine smile in the last photo because these days she is very into saying “cheese” for pictures which results in a facial expression like the one up top.

While we were in the bath and she was washing my tummy…
Me: Do you think baby brother is getting too big to live in my tummy?
Meredith: Baby brudder share my room?
Me: That’s right, he will.
Meredith: Baby brudder wear biders (diapers)?
Me: Yes he will.
Meredith: Baby brudder nurse mommy?
Me: You’re right, he will.
Meredith: Um…maybe baby brudder nurse daddy.

After I had caught her with marker all over her arms, shirt, and the wall…
Meredith: Mommy, wookit my tattoo!
Me: That’s a no-no Meredith, the colors are only for the paper.
Meredith: Keeo did dat. (Cleo is our dog.)

When she had caught sight of a chocolate cupcake I was trying to hide…
Meredith: Uh-oh, poo poo right dere!
Me: Um yeah, don’t touch that poo poo.

After a bath when I had wrapped her up in a hooded towel & she saw herself in the mirror…
Meredith: I be cute!!

After we read Humpty Dumpty…
Meredith: Awww. Dat’s sad. He needs a bandaid make him all better.

While driving…
Me (to David): Something smells like gas, do you smell it?
David: yeah, I hope it’s not my car.
Meredith: I toot gas!

At daycare dropoff where she insisted on carrying an armload of food, some of which was my snack for the day…
Me: (hugging her) bye Meredith, I love you.
Meredith: stay mommy!
Me: aw, I have to go to work, you know that.
Meredith: no, stay!
Me: well may I have my crackers back now?
Meredith: no! Go to work!

So Meredith is entering the adorable stage where you can really have almost normal conversations and interactions with her. Yeah she has her frustrating moments of tantrums and throwing things and disobeying but all around she’s pretty great. I don’t want to forget the funny or cute things she says, and thus a new series is born.

After I put a new adorable outfit on her…
Me: Go show daddy how cute you look.
Meredith: (strutting toward him) wookit my cute!

Talking about our plans for the day…
Me: So Mimi is going to pick you up from school and take you to see Pappy later!
Meredith: But no Gigi, Gigi home hedden wit Gah (heaven with God).

At my parents’ house…
Me: Can Grammy change your diaper?
Meredith: Yeah show Grandy da boo-boo on my butt!

When the “Jessie” theme song came on and I started singing to it…
Meredith: (holding her hand up to my face) Not you, mommy.

In the waiting room for the doctor where a little kid & his mom (who had short hair) were right next to us…
Meredith: (pointing at the woman) Daddy!
Me: No, daddy’s at home.
Meredith: (clearly pointing at the woman) A man! A man!
Me: Oh is that a little boy with his mommy?
Meredith: A daddy!
Me: (intently watching TV, ignoring the situation)

Just hanging out in her room…
Me: What’s daddy’s name?
Meredith: Daddy!
Me: What’s mommy’s name?
Meredith: Mommy!
Me: What’s baby brother’s name?
Meredith: Uh…Cici!
Me: …
Meredith: Wanna go to Cici’s! (a local pizza place)

When I was in the shower and she kept opening the curtain, and then I looked out to catch her drinking a can of soda (that she had brought in there)…
Meredith: (looking guilty and mad, pointing at the shower) go to bath!