Gem’s gems

by Judy Schwartz Haley

3-year-olds say the darnedest things. For instance, my 3-year-old said:

“Dammit.“ When I turned to look at her, she responded in her most matter-of-fact voice, “I say that now.”

Gem, January 2012

She said a lot this past year, most of which I have already forgotten. There were a few zingers that stood out for me, like

“I’m beautiful and frustrated.”

and

“NO! I not contrary!”

When I had a case of the blahs, she said “Mommy, you can dance if you want to.”

When I told her, “I love you more than pork chops,” she corrected me, saying “No, Mommy. You love me more than chocolate.” And she was right.

I asked her why her crayons were all over the place. She replied, “I was using them as fairy dust.”

One day, she informed me that “Hide and seek is my favorite, favorite game. Can we play hide and seek?”
“Sure,” I replied. So she walked over to the keyboard and started playing it.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We need some hiding music.”
And then, I’m pretty sure I heard her say “Duh!” under her breath.

After the 647,251,986th time of being asked for stickers, I said, “I’m all out of stickers. Stop asking me for stickers.”
“Mommy, I need something that’s a little bit sticky on the back and has a picture on the front.”

When we were shopping for Christmas gifts at the mall, she named off the type of store as we walked past each one… “shoe store, jewelry store, hat store…” then, as we walked past Victoria’s Secret, she said “balloon store…”

and then one night as I was tucking her in, my sweet little girl said “When you’re done giving me hugs and kisses, I’m going to need more hugs and kisses.”