The World According to Keeley

Oh to be in the mind of my oldest.

* Everything must be blue. This includes her pacifier, her night light, all cups, and all plates.

* You must never wear someone else's clothes. My poor mom has been in quite a pickle at our house lately because it is exceptionally upsetting to Keeley if mom wears one of my jackets.

* Kelly has to put gas in my car. On the way to the doctor today I said we were stopping to get gas and Keeley kept saying "dada". I kept explaining that he was at work but she kept insisting Dada would put gas in my car.

* Diapers must have cookie monster on them or you hear "oh no" and "all gee" (all gone) a lot. Unfortunately for me, Elmo is the predominant diaper in the package.

* Kelly apparently has specific detergents for the washing machine that are his. She points to them and says "dada" with an emphatic head nod. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

* Her food frequently has to be placed in a cup (blue of course) even if it would be much more appropriate in a bowl or on a plate.

* There are only 2 songs in her world: Five Little Monkeys at the house and Elmo in the car. We listen to them on repeat all day long.

And then there is the independence factor:
* As most of you know, she is pretty opinionated about her clothing.

* Diaper changes have become a battle. This is because she wants to do it. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the dexterity to do it so diaper changes now take about 30 minutes. She tries to wipe and then moves all over the house trying to put on the diaper by herself. I've tried talking her into pull-ups. She got them on and said "no, diff" and then angrily took them off. I've tried fastening the diaper really loose and letting her step into it like a pull-up but this too was unacceptable. She just wants to do it by herself.

* She wants to put more milk in her cup. But she insists that she do all of it - the unscrewing of the lid, holding the lid and cup, screwing the lid back on....this does not work out well for mom.

* She wants to play her music by herself. This includes opening and closing the dvd player and using the "mote" to select the song.

* All lights must be turned on and off by her.