The "Competition"

Who does Maeve really and I mean REALLY Love???

Going by the amount of Hugs & Kisses doled out on a daily basis, let's list the competition.

1) Coming in at an uncontested first place.............Elmo!



Maeve LOVES Elmo! She hugs him. She kisses him. She sings, whispers, shouts and repeats his name over and over and over. Maeve can spot a picture of Elmo at fifty yards. The funny thing is that we do not watch Sesame Street. It is almost exclusively Disney Channel. Where this infatuation started, I'm not sure, but whoever heads the Marketing department over at Sesame Street deserves a huge raise!

2) A close second place belongs to Smudge & Baby, or as Maeve calls them......Baby & Baby (can't quite pronounce Smudge yet.)



Each morning she comes down the stairs waving at the dogs and saying "Hi Baby". Then they usually get kisses and hugs. I can't complain too much here, because the dogs do earn their adulation. As they usually get roughly petted (as only a toddler can) sat on, bounced on and generally pushed around throughout the day. But the rewards are worth it, Maeve regularly stops by and gives them hugs and kisses, feeds them snacks and generally just loves on them.

3) We can't forget "Food" in general as a category. Her first word every morning is "Eat" along with the sign for "Eat". If I don't hustle her right down to get her breakfast, her next word is "WAAAAAAHHHHH". My little snacker can and does say "Eat" all day long. Maeve is always looking to try new things, hence the picture of the dog food.



Keeping her away from the dog food is turning into a game of strategy at which she is determined to win. Maeve looks at it and things, bite size, crunchy, handy container just my height...what's not to love. Mommy looks at it and thinks...NOOOOO, my daughter does not eat dog food!!!! I thought I had convinced her not to snack from the dog's dish. Then one day as she is sitting on the couch eating raisins from her "Snack Trap" bowl that she is crunching. Last I checked, raisins do not crunch. Seems my little genius has taken to filling up her "Snack Trap" bowl with dog food when I'm not looking. This way she can enjoy her favorite snack whenever she likes. She is a smart one!

4) Last, but not least on the Hugs and Kisses totem pole is Mommy. Just wait, next month I'm going to make her responsible for the mortgage payment and you will see how quickly I soar to the top of the list. :))

Seriously, Maeve and I had an absolutely sweet moment the other day. While helping me clean out my files (ie adding two hours of work for Mommy to do), Maeve found an extra passport photo of me. She beamed a huge smile at it and then at me. Patting her chest, she said "MaMa" several times and it finally dawned on me. Every time I ask Maeve "who is her Mama" or "where is her Mama", she always smiles, pats her chest and says Mama. I thought she was calling herself Mama, but she was really saying, "My Mama", meaning I'm HER Mama. So for the next fifteen minutes, Maeve hugged and kissed the picture over and over. I was so happy, until I thought...."Hey, I'm right here." After a while, grinning ear to ear, Maeve walked over and plopped a big soggy kiss followed by a sticky toddler hug on me.

She's right. I belong to her!!

Posted by Laura at 1:09 AM