Nyla-isms

Nyla and I watched the end of the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game on Satuday. She got to thinking about how we were rooting for the Wildcats, and asked of the Gamecocks:

Nyla: Is the white team bad?

After Kentucky won, she thought for a moment and asked:

Nyla: Did I help them win?

That night, we all watched the movie Monsters Inc. Nyla's review:

Nyla: It was a good movie. But there wasn't any ink in it.

Christmas

Fun in the Snow

Celia's birthday presents

I assembled Celia's birthday toy from Grandma & Grandpa Breheny last night, a big truck that can be reconfigured as a push toy, a pull toy, or something to ride on. Celia got a little impatient during assembly that she couldn't eat the screws, but loved it once assembled, walking back and forth around the basement with a big smile on her face for the rest of the night.

In a related story, Nyla wanted to take another one of Celia's birthday presents, a set of musical instruments, up to her bedroom at bedtime. My conversation with her went like this:

Nyla: I want to take the drum up to my bedroom.
Me: No, the drum is a downstairs toy. It's too loud for upstairs. Everyone needs to sleep.
Nyla: I never sleep!
Me: Okay, but the rest of us need to sleep.
Nyla: I'll bring this horn instead.
Me: No, the horn is loud too. All the musical instruments need to stay downstairs.
Nyla: (Furious) NO!

(Minutes later, after she simmered down)

Nyla: I'm going to put the drum right here, and play with it in the morning!
Me: Okay.
Nyla: But I'm going to take these dress-up shoes to bed.
Nyla: (As we are walking upstairs) See, I make some decisions.

Ah, the diplomatic relations and power struggles of the four-year old mind.

Nyla quote of the day

We were playing in the back yard yesterday afternoon, and Nyla climbed halfway up the slide and balanced there (the slide is wavy, and she was at its most horizontal point). Her take on the underlying physics of the situation: "I'm not falling down because gravity doesn't know where I am!"

Nyla's first chapter book

I wasn't sure she was old enough to appreciate such long books (~75 pages), but we went ahead and bought Nyla her first chapter books: the first four books from the Magic Tree House series. Well, not only did she not get bored, she is hooked! She appreciates the mystery and suspense, remembers important plot details from several nights ago, and even anticipates possible revelations in future chapters. Once we finished the first book, I mentioned that we'd start book #2 the following night. She ran over to get book #2 and put her bookmark in it at Chapter 1. Then she wanted to go to sleep clutching the book to her chest: "I'm going to sleep with this book tonight. I love it."