Tuesdays at Lunch with Addie

We pulled into the garage after dropping off Chloe at school. I unbuckled the kids and set to work rearranging the carseats in order to provide Addie with her very own row where she can not in any way molester anyone else.

I was almost done when she informed me she needed to go to the bathroom. I helped her out of the front seat of the car, and noticed there were drops of liquid all over the console. I assumed they were from the bottle of water in the console. Until I found Addie in the bathroom with soaking wet pants. I changed her out of them and asked her to get some new panties. The fact that she chose plastic lined training pants doesn't bode well for the rest of the day.

We then sat down for lunch. Here are some snippets.

"Addie, please don't talk with food in your mouth."

"Mom, Luke Skywalker's dad talks with food in his mouth. And Aunt Veru is his mother."

"Mom, I have a brother."

"No, honey, you have two sisters."

Becoming very agitated and bouncing in her seat, "NO! I HAVE A BRO-THER!"

"Really? Who is it?"

"It's someone else I don't know."

"Mom, I want more macaroni."

"We don't have anymore right now."

"Mom, I want toast."

"Do you want brown bread or white bread?"

"I want . . . Brown!"

I get out the brown bread.

"No, I want white."

I put back the brown bread, pick up the white, and--

"No, I want brown."

I put the brown bread in the toaster.

"Mom, I want a sandwich."

"No, I already put the bread in the toaster, you're having toast."

"NO! I want A SANDWICH."

"No, you're having toast."

"I want a toast sandwich."

"Okay. What kind of jam do you want?"

"Um, pear."

She then polishes off the sandwich before I can blink and says, "Mom, strawberry jam is my favorite."

Fine.

Lately Addie has been very whiny and prone to tantrums which appear out of nowhere leaving me wondering how the conversation went so wrong. I finally figured it out. Addie never stops talking. Ever. So, what happens is, she starts talking, telling you something very important to her, and perhaps even asking a question about it, but doesn't ever pause for you to answer her or respond conversationally in any way. Then, still without slowing the stream of words pouring from her mouth, she starts to wind up and whine and soon she's yelling and frustrated because you haven't responded to her, BECAUSE SHE NEVER GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO! This realization has actually made me feel much better about myself because I was really starting to think I wasn't paying enough attention to her.

But for now, we're both going to take naps, so that we can start another round this afternoon, and hopefully I can get some insight into how to limit Addie's influence over this one.