Recently in Becky Category

While one of them frequently opts not to finish her desserts (and today said she was done chewing a piece of gum after no more than 2 minutes), the other is a pure junk food junkie. Unlike the song, Becky has no intentions of pretending that she likes anything else. She'll finish her meal (meaning she'll finish eating the parts that she wants, mashing around the parts she doesn't want, and looking at disgust at anything in between), then in her sweetest, nicest voice request cookies, cake, jellybeans, candy, juice, strawberries, bread and cheese.

She'll get quieter and keep smiling as her requests proceed. Don't be deceived by those requests for strawberries, bread and cheese, since she'll probably make her way back to the cookies, jellybeans, cake and candy… and probably some fruitsnacks. The other day I got a text message from Maria with the following:

Becky snuck a chunk of cake this morning. “Cake, num num!” is a nice give-away that you're eating some.

Turns out Becky had inched the cake platter closer to the edge of the counter, broke through the plastic wrap on the plate, and grabbed herself a fistful of cake. She might have gotten away with it had she not advertised her actions (though the Mini-Mayor, Cecilia, would have ratted her out in another .001 seconds).

Just this morning she got busted rifling through Maria's purse and shoving as many Altoids into her mouth as she could (the spearmint kind). I'm going out on my own here and saying that although Becky's self-soothing as a baby made her a much easier baby, she's so much more mischievous, audacious and selectively hard of hearing that her toddler tendencies are far more difficult to deal with than Cecilia. She's still incredibly lovable and fun to be around… as long as you're willing to bribe her with some candy.

Two quick stories. The girls were headed to the dollar theater today for a cheap activity. It happened to be near lunchtime when they were supposed to go. After Cecilia was told the plan, she opined that she would like to eat lunch at the theater itself. Only too aware of the utter waste of money that would be, Maria told her it costs too much money to eat there. Cecilia, in her obvious state of being a spoiled child, informed her, “It will be okay, Mom. Dad has a lot of money.” Right. A lot of money. And you're going to the dollar theater, on a gift card. Rollin' in the dough.

Becky is talking quite a bit. She doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense, but she's talking a lot. She'll tell you all about her fancy toenails and how Grammy painted them. And if that's not enough, she'll tell you again before you leave. And once more as you're leaving.

We have a little container of orange Tic Tacs in the car. The girls really like them, but Becky can't pronounce the name of them. When she asks for one, it sounds more like she's saying (pardon the language) “I wanna kick ass!” Because Maria and I both find it humorous, we'll deny the initial request, only to make her repeat it – which any child her age will do… over and over and over again, until satisfied. “Kick @ss! Kick a$$! Kick @$$!” Nice.

Cecilia may think I have so much money I can use $100 bills as tissues… but I have Becky trained to be a warrior, willing to do whatever it takes to get the goods.

I'm a bit overdue on posting about the girls. This time, I'll just focus on Becky.

 
 

Although I don't have anything very significant to share, here are a few items:

• Becky is always busy. She's non-stop action as she runs around doing various things. It could be pushing her shopping cart, playing with a baby (and bottle), using the cash register, carrying purses, speaking gibberish, or all of the above… at the same time.
• Becky initiated a high-five the other day, for what I believe to be the first time. She was a little wired, and was running around showing us how she can kick. After demonstrating that ability, she stuck out her hand (palm down) and asked for a “fi.” Close enough for baby talk.
• Becky continues to be all about purses, shoes, babies, shopping – I think she's ready to be a teenager, except she's not a brat, and I have no desires to drop-kick her.
• Becky is talking more and more. She doesn't make much sense usually, but she makes more and more intentional sounds/words as the days go by. My favorite thing to get her to say is “HIYA!” My next goal is to teach her to say “Go Spurs!”, ”Manuuu!” or "Toro, Toro, Torres!” (if I'm in a soccer/football mood).
• Becky got her hair cut to a slightly paige boy style. This was a while ago, but I haven't posted pictures of her for even longer. I snapped the shots above earlier today.
• Becky remains the master of destruction, yet she likes to put things away, throw things away, put things in the sink, the toilet, or various other places.
• She loves to dance to A-Punk (which she calls "Aye Aye") and some other songs. This goes well with her dancing, or simple hand motions she'll do to Skidamarink, or wearing a blanket over her head (which she finds humorous).

I think she's wonderful. Her energy and happiness are infectious, if she takes the time to finally open up to you. Too bad they can't stay like that forever. :)

Despite the rain this evening, the two of them brought in somewhere between eight and nine pounds of candy, almost certainly because of their costumes:

Props to Maria for making Cecilia's awesome witch garb (sans broom/hat), as well as Becky's adorable pumpkin getup. Becky wouldn't tolerate her hat for any amount of time which would have allowed us to take a picture, let alone trick-or-treat. Armed with a “scary” laugh, and full knowledge of The Wicked Witch of the West, Cecilia had a blast trick-or-treating, while Becky hung out in the stroller for the most part. I imagine Cecilia is already looking forward to next year.