Piper and I spent the last 10 days attached at the hip because her daycare had the unmitigated gall to close for 2 weeks. It was quite fun and I'm half sad and half pleased that she cried when I dropped her back at school this morning. I noticed a couple of new quirks to her personality during this togetherness that I know my thousands of dedicated readers are waiting to learn. So...
Music - Piper hums and sings basically non-stop. All day. Sometimes in the middle of the night. In fact, she does it so often and so loudly that one of her gal pals yelled at her to "just eat your food, you're acting crazy," during a lunchtime singing session (video on FB if you'd like to see it for yourself. Hilarious). She sings/hums/semi-raps to one of two or three of the same tunes. It's cute when it isn't absolutely infuriating. She usually accompanies her singing with hand gestures that signify nothing and are reminiscent of videos I've seen of Coco the monkey trying to learn to sign. With such a modest repertoire of her own songs and a pretty poor ear for melody, you'd think she'd be laid back about the rest of the music in her life, but NO. This first came to my attention a few weeks ago at school when her teachers reported that tears and head-burying ensued when they played The Chicken Dance and Peanut Butter Jelly Time. We laughed that her musical taste was just too refined for that, although I was only laughing on the outside, because inside I was embarrassed that I really like PBJ Time, but it's too immature for my 2 year old. While I don't like to lay blame, this is totally her father's fault. Totally. Jaime is relatively indulgent with Piper, but since before she was born, he insisted that he would never play kids' music for her and for 2+ years, he's stuck to his guns. They spend a lot of time together listening to music, mind you, but it's Jaime's tastes and therefore Piper is only familiar with the Beatles, Clash, Huntingtons, Elvis, Foo Fighters and when he's in the mood, Arlo Guthrie. And it has turned Piper into a total music snob. When she asks for more Clash and you play, oh I don't know, say Weezer, because you hate the freaking Clash, she calls you on it and screams CLASH. The next step will be her asking for specific albums like the Beatles' Revolver instead of the White album and that's when I'm turning the music off and opting for Dora. I hope this trend only creates a deep appreciation for music and doesn't turn her into a total music nerd who drones on an on drunkenly about the lyrics of a particular REM song or the trajectory of their career while boring the crap out of the only sober person at a wedding reception because she was pregnant and couldn't drink like some friends I have (I'm not naming names MICHAEL AND SAM). Only time will tell.
Water - Much like music, Piper is very particular about the forms of water she enjoys. As you can see from the accompanying photo, one of her new favorite pastimes is standing in downpours. Just standing there. Like a crazy person. This event took place outside a Starbucks and she had like 15 people watching and smiling at the window while she stood stock still in a torrent of rain and pointed up, but I can almost guarantee it's because they thought she was a special needs kid with a very indulgent mother instead of a mom who was struck immobile by her kid's weirdo behavior. She loves swimming and dragged herself on her tummy through hundreds of stinky kids and drunken parents at the Nick Suites pool for 2 days, she likes to have water squirted at her via a squeaky dolphin or water gun, she likes the splash pad and she drinks water out of any source - faucet, cup, dog bowl, bubbling crack in the ground. But what she cannot abide is a bath. No, check that, she'll stand in the tub full of water as long as the faucet is still running, but the minute I get out a cup to pour a gentle stream of warm water on her and wash away the day's grim, it's hysteria. It's like I'm pouring molten lava on her. The screaming is deafening and she always calls for "my Dada," like Jaime is going to take one look at what I'm doing to her and call Child Services. I'm hoping she'll somehow learn to appreciate a relaxing bath, but so far it's going the way of the Chicken Dance.
Poop - We had some success with the potty during our break together, although it was totally at her initiative and as my stepmom pointed out, I have done absolutely nothing to further her interest other than suggesting she use the potty once or twice a day. I'm figuring the schools will take care of it at some point. But really what I want to write about doesn't in any graceful way fit into this post, it is just a good story. We were at a play date last week with some good friends and experienced parents thank god. Piper and some gals were playing naked in the kiddie pool when she got out and wandered about 15 feet away. There were toys there, so I figured she was just taking a break until I watched her drop the biggest poop I've ever seen outside a cattle barn. This resulted in her yelling "poop" and running - leaving a trail of droppings all the way to our friend's backdoor which she blessedly couldn't open. When I went to pick it all up, a very savvy 8-year-old said, "Just leave it. We'll just tell everyone a dog did it." In 5 years, that kid is my nanny.
