And the Academy Award goes to....

Ain't nothing but a princess paaarty

I thought it fitting, with the Oscars next weekend, that I would write a post about an actress who is near and dear to my heart...and came into the world via my lady land. No, not Val (6 months now), but she will give any actress a run for their money in the blood curdling scream category (that should be a category!) It is the Divine Miss M that I speak of, who at 3 years and 2 months of age is a princess-dress-wearing, movie-quoting, singing, dancing, parent-directing little drama queen, if there ever was one! Most of the time I find it adorable that she wants to reenact (and I might add it must be done exactly like whatever movie we are portraying) scenes from movies, but there are certain times that I wish it wasn't her favorite hobby to quote movies...like the other day at Whole Foods...

Picture it...Whole Foods, Legacy Place. 2013. 

A mother and her two kids (one in a stroller, the older one  walking right next to mom) are leaving the kid play area and heading toward the door, when older child stops in her tracks and says at the top of her lungs:

"I AM NOT A CHILD!" (The Little Mermaid) 

The mother's face gets flush and she turns to the child, trying to ignore her screams of "I am not a child" and attempts to grab the child's hand to quickly escort her towards the door.

"NO, MOM! NO! NO, MOM! NO!" (Beauty and the Beast)

The people eating their lunches at the crowded tables look on as the child is basically dragged behind mother and quiet babe in the stroller.

"I'm the lost princess!! You are not my mother!" (Tangled)

And with that, the mother picks up her screaming child and bolts for the door before someone calls DSS.

And....scene. 

This is a common occurrence in our house, but this was the first instance where she "acted out" while in public. I am constantly being told that she is the lost princess, and that I am not really her mother (like Mother Goethel in the Tangled movie). She tells my husband "I am not a child!" all the time, and we always remind her "actually, yes you are." Her latest is to quote Chip from Beauty and the Beast every time we try to put her to bed "but, I'm not sleepy!"

My daughter has the memory of an elephant (right? An elephant has a good memory?) She can watch something once or twice and have the oddest things memorized. The way someone raised their hand. A noise that a background character makes. A facial expression that a character makes for an instant. I will watch her sometimes when she watches her movies and she will sit all snuggled up in her Pottery Barn chair with her eyes fixed on the screen and without even knowing it, she will move the way someone on screen moves, or mouth the words of a random line.

It isn't just with movies either. She remembers everything about books too - colors of random things on pages, fake names we made up for background characters in illustrations.

It is also in every day life too. She will remember what floor we parked on at the museum the last time (Red 3!) or the fact that she spilled juice on her pants on the airplane to Disney, and we had to wait until we could undo our seat belts to change her. Things we haven't talked about since they happened months ago she will say, "remember when we did X?" out of the blue - things that I never thought she would remember.

She has a uncanny ability to remember colors of people's clothing too. When we first met her physical therapist she was wearing a green shirt. And when she talks about Dr. Anne (as we call her) she will say "she was wearing a green shirt when I met her." Huh? I guess she was! Crazy.

We are on somewhat of a Rapunzel kick lately (we have the purple dress and the hair.) The other night while she and I were running around the kitchen singing one of the songs from the movie, she actually corrected me after I raised my arms at the wrong part of the song..."not yet mom! You're doing it wrong!"

This acting and crazy memory can also be a source of amusement in our house. The other day she blurted out (what we thought was) "she needs a doodie stop!" My husband and I asked her to repeat it, and she said again, "she needs a doodie stop!" M then went on to explain that Buzz Lightyear says that to Jessie in the Sunnyside Daycare movie (as we call Toy Story 3). We got it out of her that it is when Buzz was in Spanish mode, and while she was watching it on her iPad we kept saying "did he say it yet?..."

"No not yet mom. He is going to say it soon."

And then I hear from the back seat, "He said it!! He said it! She needs a doodie stop!"

Lo and behold, when Buzz is in Spanish mode, and they are in the dumpster near the end of the movie, he blurts out "Senorita! Senorita! Donde esta?" while trying to find Jessie.

"See mom! She needs a doodie stop!"

Man I love that kid.