Back Seat Driver

I have been put in my place, repeatedly, by my two year old back seat driver. Jenna sits on the passenger side, so she has a clear view of me. About a week ago, as I was driving, I hear "Mommy! "One hand driving get you in accident! Use two hands!" With this, she puts up both her hands in the air as if she is holding onto a steering wheel. I replied, humbly, "Oh, OK Jenna. I'm sorry." as I put my other hand on the wheel. Now, every time she sees one of my hands come off the wheel, I am scolded in some way or the other and reminded of how I am going to get in an accident. I don't know where this came from. I have observed, however, that she doesn't seem to mind asking me to get her things while I am driving, therefore, requiring me to take a hand off the wheel to locate said object and then hand said object to her. Hmm, I guess the two-hand rule applies only at certain times!

The Essentials of Alex

My man Alex. He is predictable. But his predictability changes. For as long as I can remember in Alex's life, he has always had a core group of toys that have been his favorites, that he lugs around with him everywhere. We have a house full of toys, and I really do mean that. Not one room in our house is without toys. But all of these toys could go away as long as he has his favorites. Now, these favorites change and my memory fails me on all the groups. As a new neat toy comes into the house, one of his favorites loses ranks. Currently, this is Alex's essentials:

• His animals - Fluffy, Owl, and little penguin
• Two library books - Essential Guide to Star Wars and a look and find (we always have one of each checked out at all times)
• A mini Atlas book of the U.S. - his map guide to all battles and quests
• A bag full of army "dudes" - the little plastic army soldiers
• His Star Wars lunch box full of his Star Wars figures (note: this bag has been temporarily taken away because of his mutilation of the figures - I was tired of finding little body parts all over the house. After missing for two weeks, Han Solo has just been reunited with his lower left arm. I told Alex that his toys probably liken him to Sid from Toy Story - the boy who was mean and cruel to his toys. Alex did not like that much. I hope he changes his ways.)

Three objects that float in and out of this list are his WOW card from Daddy, an American Idol play iPOD thing from McDonald's (Alex has never seen an episode of American Idol) and a gun of some sort or the other. And of course, Alex could not live without the computer. Not that he can carry it with him, but it is something he can not live without. The majority of these objects go to bed with him at quiet time during the day and at night time and they all come out with him during the day. And though it can be a pain gathering all of this things up and moving from room to room with them, I find such little boy cuteness to it all - his treasures, his most important special things in his life - how can I not love them, too?

Jenna...today

Last night as I watched Jenna pretend to be a baby hippo in the tub, then a dog after bath, and finally ending as a cat before we read books, I thought back to Alex at this age. I asked Joe if he remembered Alex getting so into "character" when pretend playing. Did he pretend to be animals to this extent, I asked. Joe couldn't remember either. And it's sad because it was only two years ago!! So, I wanted to capture these memories. I wanted to record Jenna as she is now. At one month shy of turning three, Jenna has a wonderful imagination! She has characters that she latches onto and plays through each one. And while I am thrilled to have a little girl, a girly girl she is not. Jenna's first character that she took to was a little boy in an oh-so-cheesy Casper movie named Chris. In the movie Chris is Casper's "best bud". So, when we play this, Jenna is Chris, I am Casper and Joe is "Chris' dad". After watching Little Mermaid, Jenna didn't want to be Ariel. No, she pretends she is Eric and our cat, C.C., is Eric's dog. When Jenna is Han Solo, I am Princess Leah - a role I have been playing since my own childhood playing Star Wars with my brother. And then, there are the animals. Jenna loves pretending she is Pluto the dog from Mickey Mouse. And her Thomas the Tank Engine tent is her dog house. Our cat, C.C., is one of Jenna's favorite playmates, so she often pretends she is a cat, walking along on all fours and trying to eat her food straight from her plate. She is also a wonderful baby hippo and as her mommy hippo, I have to get her back into her cage (her bed) at night. I love her creative play. I love seeing her world and being invited into it to play. Of course, anyone who really knows Jenna knows that her all time favorite thing to play is her "truckes" also known as Hot Wheel or Match Box cars. She can play endlessly with her truckes. She plays with them on her bed, on our bed, on her train tracks, on her garage, in her doll houses, she is never at a loss with her truckes. And that is just a glimpse of my sweet baby girl today.