Dollyisms and First Shiner

"I'm sneaky like a cat."

"Love means hugs."  (In response to Jim's question, "Do you know what 'love' means?")

"Ima get little baby.  I get in charge."  (We're trying to teach her that she's not in charge; Mommy and Daddy are in charge.  So she says, "I not in charge.  Mommy, Daddy charge."  I told her that when she's a mommy and has a baby, then she'll be in charge.)

She said she broke a piece on her kitchen (which she didn't) and then kept saying, "Oh my gosh" over and over again.  She has also learned "dang it" from me.

"----- doodle dandy."  I started this one day when I asked Ever if she wanted a "snacky doodle dandy."  Now we're all about nappy doodle dandies (naps), grapey doodle dandies (grapes), and every other kind of doodle dandy.

"Cookies make me crazy."  Jim and Dolly had a showdown one evening when JoAnn sent her home with a bag of cookies.  (I was at work.)  Ever kept saying, "I want cookie."  Jim said she could have one after dinner.  He tried to get her to eat her food, but she just repeated "I want cookie" about one zillion times. Jim:  "Are you done with dinner?"  Ever:  "I want cookie."  Jim finally lost his mind and ripped the bag open and said, "Fine - have your cookies!"  And they flew all over the place.  Then Ever cried, "Daddy make a mess!"  Jim cleaned up the mess, put one cookie (in pieces) in front of her, and put other cookie fragments back in the bag.  She kept crying for the cookies in the bag and wouldn't eat the one in front of her, so Jim threw them all away and put her to bed without any cookies.  That was weeks ago, and she still sometimes says, "Daddy throw my cookie away."  That night Jim told her she can't have cookies anymore because they make her crazy.

She knows "I Am a Child of God" really well and "I Love to See the Temple" quite well ("I'll prepare myself while I am yum").  She calls them "God" or "Child of God" and "the temple song."  It's really sweet to sing them with her or hear her sing alone.  The only other songs she's into right now are made-up songs.  She tells me to "sing about Kara," "sing about cats," "sing about JoAnn cat," "sing about your eyes," etc.  The John Denver obsession seems to be lessening.

Friday night we were getting ready to leave for a Young Women fundraiser.  I was in our bedroom.  Jim went downstairs, and Dolly wanted to join him.  She headed down alone in the mostly-dark wearing shoes that are a little too big.  We heard a loud bang as she hit the plastic shield we put along the railing to prevent her from falling through because the bars are too far apart.  Then she started crying.  I went out to find her lying face down sideways on a stair.  Apparently she hit her face on the wood at the base of the railing.  She had a good cut by her right eye, and it swelled and started to bruise immediately.  Now she's got a shiner.  People keep asking her what happened.  At least once today she answered, "I got hurt," but her usual response is, "I need a Band-Aid."

The fundraiser consisted of dinner, a silent auction, a live band, and dancing.  Ever was a little out of sorts and refused to go to the nursery.  We took her into the party with us.  She was in awe of the band and loved dancing. She and Jim were adorable dancing together.  This is the only picture I got:

Apparently she and Christian Karner had a cute dance together, too, but I missed it.  Afterward she said she wanted to dance at church again.

Needless to say, that was a late night, and she was incredibly overtired by the time we got her to bed.  I ended up putting her in her crib while she was crying and freaking out.  I turned my back to leave, and before I was out the door, I heard a loud thud.  I turned around, and Ever was lying on her back on the carpet perpendicular to her crib.  She has never escaped before, although she has gotten in twice by herself.  I was cleaning the bathroom while she roamed around and ended up finding her inside her crib.  I made her show me how she did it, and she obliged.  She pulled herself up, got her torso over the side, and dove head first, letting her body flop over and her feet hit the other side of the crib.  It appears that was the exact method she used to get out of her crib Friday night.  I fear she's going to break her neck if she keeps it up.

Speaking of sleep, she's starting to be more of a troublemaker.  She sometimes cries and screams and makes ridiculous demands after I put her down at night.  Once she was screaming, "And then wake up!" over and over after I left the room.  Every time we talk about taking a nap or going to sleep, she says, "And then wake up."  This particular night, I went in and acknowledged that after she went to sleep, then she would wake up.  She was fine after that.  Often she cries for "little bit water."  Then she wants her blankets on (because she got up after I put them on the first time).  Sometimes she wants to read another book or sing another song.  She has started asking what we're going to do after we put her to bed.  I think she just has FOMO.  It's hard to know how much to ignore.  If taking some water in will calm her down so she can go right to sleep, while ignoring her would result in an hour or two of screaming and just make her even more tired....  Little rascal.  Maybe she is sneaky like a cat.