Muffin-isms

Have I mentioned how much I love Muffin-age-5? I am enchanted by her precocious pretending. I take pleasure in every little reaction to each new experience. I revel in her delightful conversations. I relish her little "revelations" on life, work and fun.

As I said, I love hearing Muffin pretend. She has lately taken up playing "school" with her stuffed animals and ponies. I can hear her upstairs being quite strict with them. She scolds them for not listening. She instructs them to pay attention. She puts them Time Out. All in all - she is a very stern task master.

Yesterday, on our way to town for some shopping (did I mention Suburbia lacks a Kohl's?) Muffin told me that she had considered being a pony trainer when she grew up but decided, in the end, to be a teacher.

I asked her what kind of teacher she wanted to be and do you know what she said?

"I want to teach people how to behave."

No lie. Upon further inquiry she explained that "people need to be taught how to behave and (most importantly) how to mind their manners" so basically my daughter - The Princess of Righteousness (omg spell check and encarta gave me a hard time on THAT word!) - decided that person needed to be her.

Oh, I giggled to myself while my heart nearly burst with love. Later, while I was wanting to shoot myself in the head we were trying on bathing suits in the Kohl's dressing room, Muffin kept up a non-stop dialog of how good she was doing and how well she was behaving as well as other charming nonsense. Upon leaving the dressing room we met another lady who had also been trying on clothes at the same time. She smiled, shook her head and said "that little girl is absolutely delightful. She truly deserves an ice cream today." Well - of course she does!

That evening we had a little set back. The outdoor pool at the Y was closed - and there was no explanation. Muffin was more than a little sad. She moped all afternoon. I consoled her with a little ice cream for dessert (as per the dressing room lady's instruction). While she was eating her ice cream she offered up a few explainiations as to the how the flavors got to be what they were.

She said that chocolate ice cream must come from Hershey's kisses that had been frozen until they were "nice and soft" and that vanilla ice cream came from vanilla yogurt that had been frozen until it was "nice and soft" and then they were mixed together to make regular old ice cream.

Delightful. And in return for her treat - she offered to cuddle with me. She told me that she thought I was the best person in the world to cuddle with and that she loved me the most.

Which is, of course, what every parent loves to hear. But you want to know what really melted my heart?

I was reading her a book of Birthday Poems for bedtime when I came across one about a little boy that always seem to lose at birthday games. After I finished the poem, Muffin leaned over to me and whispered:

"You know Mama, losing is the learning part."

And that my friends is the wisdom of a five-year-old. I would not be surprised if she was quoting one of her teachers - but still. I love her for it. I love her so much and (nearly) every word that comes out of her mouth amuses and endears me. I know you all have similar stories and I can't wait to read about them. God Bless the Little People!