Precious Moments

Grandma Haggis is in town so that the BBDD and I can go to a family wedding sans fille. It's fun having Grandma around because she is so old-school about child rearing. It's also not fun having Grandma around because she is so old-school about child rearing. ;)

I was just giving her the rundown on Things To Do with Bambina and she dismissed me with, "I've done it three times plus grandkids! I'm sure we'll find something to do." Okaaay. I was showing her where stuff was in the kitchen and she gave me the "I'm sure I can find my way around a kitchen!" Fair enough. She thinks I'm too concerned with nonsense. I think she'll be vainly searching my kitchen lo around 6:30pm for Bambina's favorite spoon. ;) My mom's response? "Then she'll survive one night without her favorite spoon. Go to your wedding."

So she's old-school. At the same time, she's sweet. Bambina wanted to put Grandma to bed last night, so she gamely got under her covers and let Bambina do HugsandKisses and SuperWonderTucks with her. SuperWonderTucks are Bambina's favorite part of bedtime. They arose one night when she just could not get to sleep and was afraid of everything in her room. So--like manna from heaven--SuperWonderTucks came to me. They are not just a nighttime tuck-in. Oh no. They are Super Wonderful. They mean that nothing can harm you, nothing can scare you, and that you are safe until the morning. She gets three, and each one she gets to say a word that makes her feel happy. So I'll wave my hands over her head while repeating the word, like "Dada," and then pull her sheet up to her chin and say "Tuck!" SuperWonderTucks save bedtime. Every time.

In Bambina's continuing growth and development, I can safely say that we have reached the age of "no filter in public." Awesome. Here are some recent remarks in front of other people, some of whom we know, most of whom we don't:

"Mama. That man has a baby in his tummy!"

"Mama! That man is smoking! That not good!"

"Mama. Why are your big girl underpants all grey cotton?" (The answer being that mama is, sadly, wearing "big girl underpants," isn't she? Perhaps it's time for mama to visit a reputable lingerie purveyor and leave her stem cell transplant Old Navy underwear in the trash can of history...)

"Mama. That lady littered! [to the woman]: Excuse me! You littered! That not good!"

I'm apparently raising my very own mini-me Tracy Flick. ;)

On the positive side, just a couple of days in her new preschool class have done wonders for her. She is so much more outgoing and getting more confident every day. One of her new friends hit her on the arm and where she would have cried a couple of months ago, she looked at her and said sternly, "That was mean! If you're mean today I am not going to play with you!" Then we got the emailed photos of her first week at school and--holy cow--my kid is smiling in every single one. I called the BBDD to come see because last year--literally--she did not smile in a single photo. Not one the whole year, which broke my heart. There are about 10 pics of her in this first batch and she is smiling or hamming it up in every single one. I damn near cried.
And yesterday we went to our first Chinese beginners class. Well, hello! Whose kid was totally participating, walking around the room shaking hands and practicing, "Ni hao ma? Wo jiao Bambina!" It was pretty damn awesome.

So it looks like good things are a package deal: you get sweet Grandma with Ain't-Havin-It Grandma. And you get Confident Bambina with No Filter Bambina. I think I love them all.