Flights of Fancy

Apparently, there's a dog living in M's closet. As best we can tell, it is a small brown, fuzzy kleptomaniac whose name may be Brownie. Its sole purpose in life seems to be try try to steal things from M, so she can say "no, no, doggie, don't take my {whatever}" Occasionally, the doggie emerges from the closet to lick M on her face, but usually it just stays in the closet, waiting for its opportunity to snatch M's prized possessions. As pets go, I kind of like it. It's quiet an neat and so undemanding that at some points, it's like it doesn't even exist (ha, ha. I slay me).

M has fallen into an imagination/imitation phase, which means life has become exponentially more amusing lately. It's both funny and strange to see one's own habits and behaviors reflected back at one, filtered through the mind of a two-year-old (especially since she is a master at imitating inflection and tone of voice). She's noticed that The Boy and I will usually call "Hey, hon?" when we need the other one, and has appropriated it for when she wants one of us and her usual calls for Mommy and Daddy don't work. And listening to her put her baby doll down for a nap is hilarious. She gives dolly a kiss, puts her down, says "goodnight sweetheart, I'll be right back." and walks away (lately, we have to promise we're coming right back when we put her down, otherwise she thinks we're leaving forever, and cries so hard she pukes).

Of course, this wouldn't be my blog if I didn't add the cloud for every silver lining -- along with M's feats of imagination seems to have come the belief that she doesn't need sleep. Though her bedtime is 7:30, M doesn't actually go to sleep until around 10:00, then she wakes up every two hours until 5, when she decides she'd like to be up for good. We can usually coax another hour or two out of her by letting her sleep in our bed, but still, we're pretty sleep deprived. Send sominex (do they even make that for toddlers?)