The Pajina Monolouges (again)

Sweet little baby Marin is now 18 months old. All parents know that 18 months can be a difficult age, that’s when the tantrums generally kick in, but toddlers this age are also so sweet and funny. Although 18 months is better known for tantrums than anything, I think it should also be recognized as the “OCD period”. This is the stage where an open cabinet door must be slammed shut immediately, even if Mommy’s head happens to be stuck in there at the time. The door must close.

Except for all the tantrums, door slamming, and poopy pants, Marin is generally a pleasant companion. She cuddles and gives big kisses and hugs. She dances and tries to sing. If all that isn’t enough then we have the cute little baby voice as well saying, “Hewo” whenever she finds a cell phone and “Yewo” when asked to name any color. When Marin is hungry she will take me by the hand to the kitchen, gesture wildly towards the cabinets and refrigerator and say, “EEEEEE!” That’s baby for ‘eat’. When it’s time for a nap, Marin walks to the stairs yelling, “Ni ni!”

Marin frequently gets a hold of things that she is not supposed to have. Usually she will look at me, smile and run. Lately she has been winning the race that unless I happen to have a surrogate chaser available at the time. If it’s just me, (I’m back on crutches) I realize that I can’t easily catch her and I wait her out. Or I try to trick her to lure her close enough to snatch her. She usually watches me from a safe distance and smiles.

If Marin manages to get her hands on the baby wipe container she will sit quietly and carefully unload every single wipe. Sometimes she seems to recognize her own weakness and will instead bring me the baby wipe container saying “uh-oh, uh-oh” and “hewr”. “Uh-oh” is frequently a warning that she is about to get into something so she knows she had better hand it over before she gives in to the temptation.

A few days ago I told Marin that her big brother Noah was coming to see her and she said, “I know.” Despite being just 18 months old, she seems surprisingly well versed on the happenings around the house. I’m really going to miss it when everyone in this house is speaking proper English.

Claire and Katie can pronounce most things now but sometimes they still say funny things. Katie had an experience at school recently when a little boy walked into the bathroom while she was washing her hands. The little boy proceeded to pee right in front of her. Katie thought it was funny and has been talking about it ever since.

Katie- “I saw Ian’s butt.”
Me- “Oh, yeah?”
Katie- “Yeah. And he had a nut hanging down.”

I finally got tired of Katie talking about “the nut” that I broke down and told her the proper names for both boy’s and girl’s anatomy. This knowledge was thrilling for Katie and she couldn’t wait to tell Claire what she knew. Just briefly Katie appeared to be drunken with the power of knowing more than her big sister. She decided to fill Claire in at the dinner table.

Katie- “Claire, do you know that girls have pajinas? That’s what the butt part’s called. A pajina.”

Then she continued, sounding as if she was giving a detailed job description for a gynecologist. Which, by the way, we did not discuss and I have no idea where this came from.

Katie- “And did you know there are some doctors whose job it is, is to look at pajinas?”

Claire- "Yeah, and they look and they say, 'Hey, your pajina’s not workiing!"