Cali in the Morning

This is my summertime Cali Girl sitting on the front step in the sunshine eating a juicy, juicy plum.



Here are some more things about Cali, guaranteed to counteract the melancholy of yesterday's post:

1. In the mornings Cali and I generally snuggle on the couch for the hour or two it takes me to become human (have I mentioned I'm not a morning person?). I drink coffee and mess around on my iPhone or attempt to read a book and Cali intermittently sits on my lap and runs around scattering toys and Cheerios and the contents of my purse around the house until she simply can't take it any longer, and then she brings me her shoes, hands them to me and says "doot!" (her word for shoes) very sternly, to let me know that it is now time to get off the couch, put on her shoes, and take her Out of the House. If my response is not prompt enough for her liking, she goes to the front door and knocks on it repeatedly, while saying "park? park?" in a pathetically cute and plaintive Oliver-esque voice.

2. (And, trust me, I am well aware that this does NOT paint me in a good light.) Lately Cali wakes up (ridiculously early, of course) sits up in bed and asks for the remote control. I am not kidding, people. My habit of blearily turning on Playhouse Disney at 6:30 am so I can sleep for 20 more minutes has seriously backfired. Well, not backfired, I guess, since it works exactly as intended. In fact, it has shamed me by working entirely too well. Having my one-year old wake me up by patting my face and asking " 'mote? 'mote?" has not been my proudest parenting moment.

3. On one of our morning couch-sitting sessions, Cali brought me her baby doll, Baby, so that she could sit on Cali's lap while Cali sat on my lap. I gave Cali kisses, Cali gave Baby kisses, and then Cali wanted me to give Baby kisses, too, so I did. Then I rocked both Baby and Cali and kissed them and we played the ny-ny game, where Cali and Baby lie down on the couch and Cali says "ny-ny", lies her head down for two seconds, pretends to sleep, and then "wakes up" and runs around the house laughing. (The ny-ny game should in no way be confused with the ny-ny battle waged nightly in my home which is not nearly as fun or cute as the ny-ny game.) I decided to play the part of Baby, and when Cali came back, I had Baby get all clingy and snuggly on Cali, and say "Mama, Mama, Mama!" Cali pushed her away and said "nyo!" So I said, "Cali, your baby wants snuggles and kisses!" Cali took Baby from me with an irritated look on her face, marched her to the other end of the couch, put a blanket over her and said "bye-bye!" I completely sympathized with her. Being a Mama is hard sometimes.