Too Cute

These children, I swear.

• Sophie is obsessed with "Elmo in Grouchland," and she's developed a watching ritual that, to me, is much more fascinating than the movie itself. I put in the DVD as she stands directly in front of the TV, shaking with anticipation and chanting, "Here comes the fro-ogg..." over and over again. When Kermit comes into view, she shouts, "There you are, frog! Hi, frog!" Then Bert and Ernie appear. She waves at the TV and says, "Hello, Dernie! What you doin', Dernie? I love you, Dernie. Dernie, you are green!" (Everything right now is green. I've no idea why.) The actual movie begins with a close up of Elmo in bed. Sophie puts her finger to her mouth and whispers, "Quiet. Elmo sleepin." After Elmo opens his eyes, Sophie screams, "Good morning, Elmo!" Then she watches, enraptured, until the pivotal moment when Elmo loses his blanket. Elmo gets upset and starts screaming for his blanket, and Sophie utters quietly, "Ssh, Elmo. It okay, Elmo. It okay." Her ritual varies from there, but for the first 15 minutes of the film she responds the exact same way every single time, and I can't get enough of it.

• If Sophie bumps into you or does something else completely indiscernible to us that she perceives as some error or slight on her part, she says, "Sorry, Mommy. It an accident." She'll keep saying it until you reassure her that it's okay.
  
• Yesterday Emma got off the bus, totally dejected. I asked what was wrong. She said, "Well, Mommy. Today at school I was extraordinary, but I still didn't get a star sticker." Trying to keep a straight face, I encouraged her to just keep doing her best. She looked at me and pleaded, "But Mommy, being extraordinary is really hard work. Oh, never mind...you wouldn't understand."