I recently noticed Monkey has assigned ownership to probably everything in the house. There’s obvious things like the baby’s bottle, or Monkey’s plastic plates and bowls. Monkey owns all the monkeys and baby sister owns everything which has a lion on it.
Last spring, before Monkey learned her colors, she noticed Duane and I used our favorite color dishes. As I’d empty the dishwasher, Monkey would point to the blue plates, “dats Mama’s” and the green ones, “dats Dada’s.” She claimed the purple dishes as her own, even though we don’t give her glass dishes, but purple is her favorite color. She called the orange dishes “Zach’s.” I don’t know how she knew his favorite color. Maybe since he ate with us on occasion, she gave him the orange by default.
The gluten-free foods are Mama’s, and the cheese bunny crackers are Monkeys. One day Monkey insisted, “I eed Dada’s crackers.” But Dada doesn’t eat crackers. We finally figured out she was referring to the cereal Duane eats. She wanted “dada’s milk” on her bowl of “Dada’s see-low.” But I gave her the organic, non-GMO, hypoallergenic milk. Which Monkey refers to as “baby sister’s milk.” Even though it’s technically Mama’s milk, but I don’t drink it because thats weird. I just feed it to both my babies.
One day, I asked, “where’s your sippy cup?” Monkey said, “on Dada’s table.” Apparently the end-table is Dada’s, since thats where he sets his coffee and Kindle.
Every morning Monkey yelled from her bedroom “Dada! I’m awake! I eed living room!” A couple days ago, when Duane asked, “did you sleep good?” she responded, “I sleepa my bedroom. You sleepa Mama’s bedroom.” (wasn’t it nice of me to let Dada sleep in my room?)
I recently started asking Monkey questions about who owns what.
Me: Is it Mama’s bedroom or Dada’s bedroom?
Monkey: Baby sister’s bedroom.
Me: Can it be Mama’s bedroom, and Dada’s and baby sister’s?
Monkey: Noooo.
Me: Is it Mama’s fireplace or Dada’s fireplace?
Monkey: It’s ah Dada’s fireplace (since he puts wood on the fire).
Me: Dada’s TV or Mamas TV?
Monkey: It’s ah my big we-vee!
Me: Dada’s fridge or Mama’s fridge?
Monkey: It’s ah my fridger.
Her answers to the last 2 questions explain a lot about her world-view. Good to know, she thinks she owns the TV and the fridge…
Then I asked: Is Lioness Mama’s baby or Dada’s baby?
Monkey: Dada’s Monkey. Mama’s baby.
After some discussion, I concluded she’s saying Monkey is Dada’s girl, and Mama gets the baby. That also makes sense. For 16 months I nursed Monkey to sleep. But ever since our time at the Ronald McDonald House (especially the 2 days I was in the hospital after Lioness’ birth), Duane does Monkey’s whole night-night routine. Usually while I’m making milk or feeding the baby. Duane is also the one who gets up with her in the morning and feeds her breakfast. Usually while I’m making milk or feeding the baby again.
Sometimes Monkey does fun things with Mama. While Dada watches the baby. A couple weeks ago we did a family grocery shopping trip – divide and conquer! Lioness is too little to sit in the shopping cart. If I’m “wearing” her, I can’t lift giant cases of eggs and apples. So I took Monkey to Costco, while Duane took the baby next door to Whole Foods. He got a lot of attention for “wearing” her.
