My wonderful daughter

Let me fill you in on the past few days around here.
My daughter is wonderful. I love her like crazy, and I'm so glad she's here.

You could stop right there, read no further, and get the message. Want more? Keep right on reading.

Potty Time
Not long after Big Sis turned two we started to encourage her to use the potty. We bought an assortment of "pull-ups", the diapers that work like training pants, and used them whenever we could get her to sit on the potty. We would sit together in the bathroom, waiting for the magical moment when she would produce a few tiny drops and then celebrate with Mini M&Ms and her pull-up diapers.
After a week or so of trying, she started to get bored of the potty. When we asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty, she would tell us, "No," shaking her head in an indifferent sort of way. "I want to use my diaper."
She even got a gift of big-girl underpants from her Grandma with the Disney Princesses. They were a big hit, but didn't change her mind about the potty. My Wonderful Wife and I were a bit discouraged, but we decided we just wouldn't push her. If she didn't want to do it, if she wasn't ready, we couldn't force her. My WW told her, "you can use your diaper until you turn three years old," giving her more than six months, plenty of time to warm up to the idea. "When you are ready to use the potty, you just let us know."
Big Sis seemed relaxed about that, grateful that there was no more potty-pressure. And we all went happily along, using diapers that way for another few months. It wasn't a big deal -- Bubba is still in diapers too, so we have plenty around.
Three days ago, while I was changing her diaper, Big Sis looks up at me and says, "I want to use the potty, Daddy." Stunned, I said, "That's great! ...are you sure?"
"Yes," she said, "It's time."
Um... how old is this kid? "It's Time"?? I couldn't believe it. I wisked her off the changing table and plopped her down on her potty.
And she went.
There was much celebration. Her reward? A pair of her princess underpants. The Snow White ones, to be exact.
Since then, she's had only one accident (that I know of) and she has been using her "big girl underpants" throughout the day. Diapers still at night, of course. Tomorrow is the big test; she returns to pre-school and will spend three hours away from home armed only with some thick training pants.
I am positive that she will do just fine. I am very proud of her.

Mr. Brown Can Moo
For those of you familiar with Dr. Seuss, you might recognize the title of this particular book, Mr. Brown Can Moo. Bubba got this and another Seuss board book as a Christmas gift, but Big Sis has taken them from him for her own personal use. She particularly likes hearing me say all the sounds that Mr. Brown can do, but none more than one special one: the rain. Mr. Brown can sound like the rain, the book tells us. "Dibble Dibble Dopp. Dibble Dibble Dibble Dibble Dopp Dopp Dopp".
I didn't even notice that she took an interest in this one until a week ago when she was singing a song back to me that I was teaching her (I can't remember what song it was -- either "the Song That Never Ends" or "Dr. Worm" by They Might Be Giants). Whenever she couldn't remember the words she would ad-lib with a few dibbles and a few dopps.
My daughter talks to herself a lot. My daughter is kinda funny like that. It's not anything weird, or anything that i worry about. She will narrate her way through the day and not think twice about it. Occasionally she will involve you in her self-carried discussion, but only when she thinks it's a good idea. A day or two after learning how Mr. Brown can sound like the rain, she was using Dibble-Dibble in between sentences.
This wouldn't be a big deal unless you know my sisters. And the big deal isn't actually my sisters, but rather what they remember about me when I was a kid. When I was young, I used (over used) a certain nonsense word often to express all kinds of things, including anger and frustration, satisfaction and happiness. That simple word was "dibby". I even created different forms of that word like it was a Latin noun with different declensions. Oh, I can't even believe I am writing this, or confessing it, but hearing my daughter using "dibble" in between sentences brought back quite a few memories of my own nonsense word.
And it now reminds me of how my three sisters love to bring it up to me whenever we get together. They love to kid me.
With that in mind, I decided to teach my kid something different (but equally funny) to say while wandering around the house...

Gooped up on Gop
You know how you get certain phrases stuck in your head after watching a really funny movie? Movies like "The Mask" are extremely quotable, and these memes have become part of our vernacular. How many times have you heard someone say "Somebody stop me!" in that Jim Carrey tone of voice? Too many times, I'm sure.
The same kind of phrase stuck with me after watching "Austin Powers in Goldmember" a few years ago. The character, Goldmember, while entertaining Austin Powers in his office, offers him a "Smoke and a Pancake". The thing about it is that it sounded more like "Schmoke and a Pankeg", which, to me, is pretty funny. I can't explain it any better, it's just funny to me.
That phrase popped into my head on New Years Eve and as a result I had half of the people at our houseparty that night saying it. "Schmoke and a Pankeg." Cracks me up.
It's even funnier to hear Big Sis say it. Oh man, she is a hoot. She's just trying to please when she repeats it back to me, but man, she is funny.
I started her on another one tonight -- "Gooped up on Gop". I heard it on the radio, referring to how Paula Abdul sounded during several recent interviews. Paula sounded like she was Gooped up on Gop, drowning in the sauce. Of course the publicist blamed it on faulty equipment, and a technical glitch, but let me tell ya: I heard her, and she's gooped up on gop.
Big Sis has a little more trouble saying that one, but we're working on it.