Quirky habits

When you spend the majority of your time with your kids, you become pretty familiar with their little quirks. You know, the funny little words they use...the foods they would eat until the cows came home and the foods that make them gag every time...their favourite games...how to push their buttons...

I had a fairly ho-hum day today, simply because I had several rather important errands to run which required a lot of driving. Jack was at pre-school and Phoebe went to Melbourne with Grandma, so I only had Maisie Mouse for company. And as it happened, today was a day that I learned quite a few things about the littlest person on our team. I had only managed about two hours of sleep last night (Maisie woke for a feed at 1am, puked the entire feed up at 2am, and spent the next two hours wriggling, laughing, playing and then screaming until I took her into our bed. Yes, I know she won) so I was a bit ragged this morning. Today we needed to visit (in order):
1. The bank in Somerville, to collect important documents with regards to our home loan
2. The allergy paediatrician in Frankston, to collect Jack's new allergy management programme for his new pre-school
3. The cattery in Mt.Eliza, to pay them for looking after my beloved cats while we are building
4. Our new pre-school in Mt. Martha, to deliver the allergy management document
5. The supermarket, so that we might have a meal this evening other than baked beans.

As you can see, a relatively busy day with several short, sharp stops. So in our travels today, what did I learn about Miss Maisie Elizabeth Rose?
1. She is not a fan of the car (this much I knew already, since the very first trip home from the hospital), but is quite happy if you are driving under trees
2. She is not a fan of my singing, unlike her poor beleaguered siblings. I belted out the Choirboys "Run To Paradise" to try and cheer her up, but in the end I think she won the screaming competition. At any rate, she stopped crying when I stopped yowling.
3. No matter how unhappy she is in the car, Maisie can charm the pants off complete strangers when removed from the vehicle. She smiled at the bank manager, the paediatrician's receptionist, the lady in the cattery, the director of the pre-school, and random strangers in Ritchies, but not when Mummy was singing. Ouch.
4. She can empty a bath simply by thrashing her stumpy little legs in joy again, and again, and again. I'm not kidding. Phoebe and Maisie started out with quite a full bath, and ended up in a puddle. With a soaked Mummy sitting on the floor. I think she was delighted that I'd stopped singing.
5. Her favourite food at the moment is grey mush otherwise known as pear and banana Farex. It looks foul, but this week it's the only food she hasn't gagged on. God bless gluggy cereal.

Now, I know as well as the next mother that in all likelihood, by next week Maisie will have a new repertoire of quirky habits. What I love is how fun it is trying to keep up!! I just hope she keeps some of the adorable characteristics that are already unique to her, like reaching out a little hand to touch our faces and pull us down for a kiss...the way she sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth when she says "Dad dad dad"...how her little eyes light up when you hand her a piece of train track...how she stares up at tree branches when the wind moves them about...these are the things that I don't want to forget. I wonder what we'll learn about Maisie Mouse next :)