Khubz version 2.0

Well you know that she is two now. Two. As in two years old.

She sings everything. ABC is still a favorite but so is Bob the Builder: " Bob Construe! ¿Podemos hacerlo? Bob Construe! ¡Sí, podemos!" (scully, feel free to weigh in with spelling corrections)

She surprises us with words we haven't practiced like "Crap!" but also "Ramadhan!" or "WatchTV?"

She likes to sit on the potty and makes a sound like "ssssssss" while saying "Khubz pee? pee?"

Bedtime is usually easy going.

The last few nights have been hard because we got out of our routine. I am hopeful tonight will be back on track. It usually goes like this: "Khubz? We're going to ______ (color one more picture, finish one more puzzle etc.) one more time and then head up to bed." and she usually responds with "no." brief, punctuated and lilting. no.

But we ____ one last time anyway and I say, "okay, Mommy's going upstairs." I take the babygate down and she rushes after me. She will pick up whatever is on the bottom step (where things live to remind us to take them upstairs.) She'll grab my bra or Scully's shoes or newly purchased deodorant or whatever. Very. v e r y s l o w l y she'll head up the steps. Once we're at the top of the steps she'll rush down the hall into our room.

I put the gate up and start the bath. She informs me she does not want a bath. Or that she wants a bath but her stuffed animal (most recently puppy or cow) has to come with her. Then she scrambles into the bathroom to feel the bathwater and inform me that it is too hot or that we need to add some bubbles.

I take her suggestions under advisement and scoop her up for "NAKD TIME?"

This is one of the highlights of the day. Not only does she thoroughly enjoy naked time but I love swatting at her completely adorable naked bottom.

Jammies and a fresh diaper get laid out on the mommies bed for after bath. I put her in the bath. We usually playfully laugh through scrubbing of toes and we usually woefully weep through rinsing shampoo from her head. Once done we towel off and lay down in the mommies bed for the official end to naked time: Diaper time.

Diaper goes on. Khubz crawls away. I grab her feet and pull her back. She squeals (in delight or in protest) and we repeat until the jammies go on. She immediately gets down from our bed and runs into her room.

Her goal is always to beat me to the chair in her room. I don't know why this is a constant goal because I've never, ever said "Oh. Khubz is already in the seat. I guess I'll sit on the floor." I just scoop her up and then return her to my lap. But before this happens I stick my head in her room and ask if it is time to brush teeth.

Clammer to the bathroom. She gets up on her stool, grabs her toothbrush and turns on the sink. She loves this power. I brush my teeth, she brushes hers and then once she's done I help. She turns the sink and rinses off her toothbrush. I turn it off and encourage her to put the toothbrush back in the holder. She turns the water on and rinses off my toothbrush. I turn it off and put my toothbrush away. She turns the water back on to fill up the cup to rinse. I turn it off and pour half the water back out of the cup. She turns the water back on for round two. Off. Back on to wash hands. Back off. Really. Reaching the faucet=untold powers. Trust me.

We sit down together in her room. We read one or two or three or four books based on how the mommy feels and how late it is.

"If you give a pig a party" is in hot rotation.

And what happens if you do give a pig a party? "She's going to ask for some balalalloons."

She also loves to point at the picture of the pig standing on a stack of party hats and say, "On bottom, piggie. Listen to Mommy. On bottom."

I take this as proof that she does hear what i say when I tell her to sit on her bottom and her refusal to do so is willful defiance rather than a lack of understanding.

Also in hot rotation is "We all Sing with the Same Voice."

This book is awesome not only because it looks like our family but also because it doesn't dwell on it. It is about being normal in all the ways people say we're not normal. It is also awesome because it comes with a CD and although I can't sing the whole book we sing the chorus which appears throughout the book. Khubz calls it the "ahmony" book for the last line "And we sing in harmony."

It also makes a great segue to singing songs. We always do at least one song and usually two.

Then we'll lean over the railing for a goodnight blessing from Mama. We kiss the Goddess (there's a Guadalupe plaque in her room) and Khubz turns off the light. Mommy gets one more kiss and she snuggles into her bed. Then we have to go through the checklist.

"Okay, ya Khubz, you got puppy?"

"yea."

"Toby?" (another puppy.)

"yea."

"Neffie?" (yet another puppy.)

"yea."

"_____" (insert wildcard here: cow, sheep, bunny etc.)

"yea."

"Okay, want mommy to put your blanket over you?"

"yea."

"Ready? Set?"

"Go!"

I lay the blanket on top of her and close the door.

The whole routine can go as fast as 20 minutes or as long as an hour. This does not make me crazy because I am usually the person elongating the evening more than Khubz. All this does route me back to our problems with consistency and sticking to routine. As my mother says, "You are the solution, fruitfemme." (only, she's never actually called me fruitfemme.)

It really is nice though. Most of the time.

This will all surely look different in January.

For now though it is hard to say no to one more story.