Yes Ma'am

That is what Jocelyn said to me the other night.  I asked her if she understood what I was telling her (which was that, once we were done with a particular story, she was to go right to bed with no fuss).  And she answered, "Yes Ma'am."

I nearly peed my pants.

I also instructed her that she does not need to call me ma'am, and that calling me mommy is fine.  But she still does it sometimes.  I think it's when she feels like she might be in trouble, or that I might be serious about something.

She is a little smarty pants, though.  Which, of course, I have bragged about before.  But she is learning quite a few tricks.  A few nights ago, I told her that I was only going to read her one story.  I typically read two or three, but she had played by herself for quite a while that night and it got very late.  She complied without much debate when I explained that I would only read one.  That should have been my first clue.  We got about half way through and she stopped me from turning the page.  She looked at me and said, "No Mommy.  I want to talk about this page."  I about died.  She proceeded to tell me about everything in the illustration of the page - Elmo's floaties, how Bert and Ernie were playing, the little girls and boys getting ready to go into the pool, Elmo's mommy sitting on the chair, etc.  It was really impressive how she could tell me all about the activities on the page.  It was even more impressive that she understood well enough that if she only got one story, she better make it last.

While she was supposed to go right to bed after that story with no fuss, I did allow her a potty trip (which she is smart enough to save until the end of story time).  And she complied with bedtime right after that potty trip.

Her story telling skills are growing and growing.  She is starting to get a sense of time - even if it's off.  There are lots of stories about things that happened yesterday or last weekend - anything in the past was either yesterday or last weekend, it turns out.  But it means that we are going to have to start being careful with what we say and do around her.  Her stories are becoming real, and her ability to repeat is improving. 

Speaking of my smarty-pants, guess who is starting to recognize some letters!  She can point out M (for mommy), D (for daddy and Donovan) and J (for Jocelyn).  She can also point out A (for apple), B (for baby), and W (for water).  She gets a bit confused between G (for grandma) and O (for octopus).  And when we tell her what certain letters are, she can give the words for them:  S for aunt Sarah, C for cat, F for farm, I for ice, and she knows what R is for but I don't remember right now.  Sometimes she even knows that E is for Elmo. 

She is also getting really great at recognizing places on the map.  She has known Texas, New Jersey and Michigan for a while now.  But now, thanks to recent work trips, she also knows Georgia and Kansas (at least most of the time).  It's cute.  She asks about all of them, and repeats the state name.  Oh, she also still knows Hawaii, and after she points to it she says it's where mommy and daddy got married (which isn't true, but we did honeymoon there).

Jocelyn wants to get married.  When I ask her who she wants to marry, she says, "at a wedding."  Because "where" and "who" are hard for a two year old to tell apart.  So then I ask her who she wants to marry at her wedding, and her typical answer is Lamb.  Yes, Jocelyn loves her lamb enough to marry it.   It's cute :-).  

In addition to all of the academic stuff, Jocelyn is getting quite adept at relaxation.  Her new favorite hobby is to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Youtube.  They have full episodes.  She loves it!  She has certain ones that she likes to watch over and over, and she needs to watch the whole thing, including the hotdog song at the very end. 

Poor boo is just getting over the flu, though.  She was sent home from daycare yesterday and Mike and I kept her at work for a while.  She, of course, charmed everybody with her adorableness.  And then when we got home she took a 2.5 hour nap because the activity of the day wore her out.  

We are going through a major no listening phase.  I don't know if this is typical two-year old behavior or what, but she doesn't do anything that she doesn't want to do.  I told her yesterday several times to get off of a box.  Eventually I had to physically remove her from it.  To which, of course, she responded by throwing herself on the floor and screaming.  I felt bad for making her cry so badly, but it's not like I kicked or shoved her off of the box. I just took her off of it.  After telling her multiple times to please get off of it.  So, really, it's part of the learning process.  I am really terrible about disciplining crying children.  I'm a softie. 

But even with all of the not listening, she is still very sweet.  She loves to hug Donovan and hold his hand.  She is very big on hand holding in general lately, and wants to hold my hand when I read her stories at night.  She loves to cuddle and give hugs.  But when she is not in the mood, she will tell you.  "I don't want a kiss now, Mommy" or "I don't like when you (poke me, pat my back, etc.)."  Okay, fair enough.  I can respect that.  Let's hope that she always keeps such a healthy sense of personal space :-).