Living with Maggie

Maggie is a delight to talk to. I love listening to her chatter, and I often scrawl down what she says on whatever piece of paper I find lying nearby. Then I loose the papers because that's how I operate. Luckily, I did manage to save a couple scraps with precious words and now I am typing them here for safer keeping.

Maggie: I think it's going to snow soon. (mid-August)
Me: What to you think about that? 
Maggie: I think snow in my mouth makes me really happy.

Maggie: (to Joe and I) You two guys can pretend you're smart. I don't have to pretend 'cause I'm smart already.

Maggie: (while I am preparing her food) I want a princess fork 'cause it's a dancing fork! 
Maggie: (now dancing around the kitchen) I'm dancing all day morning! I'm dancing all day morning! I'm dancing all day morning!
Maggie: (pointing at me) You're that word! 
Maggie: (now having a drink of root beer with her dinner) My drink is spicier than yours! Root beer hurts the side of the part (while pointing in her mouth).
Maggie: I could drink spicy drink all day morning! [Maggie calls soda "spicy drink"]
Maggie: Dancers don't have any ears or seises.
Me: Do you mean faces?
Maggie: No. Dancers don't have any ears or seises. Do you know what seises is? It's like a big wall like a top (while reaching as high as she can).
Maggie: Talkers are like things if you have faces you can be a talker pine.
(No, I don't what she was talking about. That is the fun!)

Maggie: (to me) Do you need one kiss? 
                          I will give you one kiss.
                          I will give you one kiss.
                          Give me your head.
                          Give me yourself.
Then she grabbed my hand and gave it kisses.

This little girl kinda rocks my world. She is a little sprite. She is very empathetic. If Jack is crying, she wants me to attend to him immediately. She is passionate and emotional. When I said, "yes" to a ride on an old fashioned carousel today, she danced and jumped all the way to the car to fetch $$, told each person we passed about her good fortune, and then continued to jump, dance and sing all the way to the carousel. When the ride ended and it was time to leave, she cried all the way from the carousel to the car and most of the way home because she was so crushed that her ride had to end. Joe probably thinks I am intensely emotional, but Maggie brings it to a whole new level, and one that I actually admire. Sometimes I feel like I am on autopilot while Maggie feels things so deeply. Forgive the Anne of Green Gables reference, but I am Miss Cuthbert to Maggie's Ann, and I wish I was a bit more Anne like my little girl.

Maggie is very strong willed. I think that when strong willed and determined people are pointed in the right direction they have an amazing ability to accomplish good. Also, I think when strong willed people are three, they are challenging to their mothers. I admire strong people, and I want to be stronger.

Sometimes Maggie drives me crazy, but I admire her strength and I love her spirit.

As Maggie donned each bit of this outfit, including the princess attire, jewelry, stethoscope, bunny ears, and darts (a carrot snack) she told me that she was getting ready for the jungle! Then, under her direction, we walked around the jungle picking strawberries. Our strawberries included things like socks, magnets, toy food, and scraps of paper.  What silly joy it is to be a mother.