Conversations With My Daughter

Talia is hilarious these days. Rainer and I spend a lot of time together saying "She's nothing like her mother!" and vice-versa.

These days our funniest, and most annoying, chats happen in the morning. Tally was spoiled for the last 2 weeks because her daycare was closed, so she had a good run of sleep-in mornings. Now she has to get up early, and she is definitely not a morning person. (Okay, that is 100% from me, I admit it.) On mornings when I go to work, I get up, shower, and get dressed before going in and waking her up. Our morning usually goes like this:

Mama (turning on light): Talia! Taaaaaaaaaaaaaally Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaine!
Talia: (mumble, groan)
Mama: You awake in there?
Talia: Noooooooooooooooooo......
Mama: It's time to get up! Wakey-wakey, eggs and bac-ey!!
Talia (covering head with blanket): Noooooooooooooooooo................................. beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.
Mama (sitting down in glider, poking Talia through the bars): Tally, honey, let's go. It's time to get up.
Talia (laying down along the back side of the crib, where her short mama with the giant belly can't reach her): HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Mama (cursing the fact her 1 year old already mocks her): Don't you want to go to Jojo's house?
Talia (standing up so fast she falls over, tries multiple times before succeeding, hands Ted E. Bear to Mama): Do-do?
Mama (in Ted's voice): Good morning, Tally! Let's get ready to go to Jojo's house!
Talia (taking Ted back and throwing him out of the crib): Oh, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

If we do any of this out of order, Talia is a little bear. I cannot touch her before she wakes up, or she wakes up screaming her head off. I cannot lift her out of the crib before she throws Ted out, or we have a tantrum-filled morning. Once she says "Oh, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" like she's just noticed I'm in the room, she's her regular, sunny self and we can get on with our day. How is it that my 1 year old is already a teenager first thing in the morning?

Oh, and in case you're wondering, her father can go into her room, pick her up from a dead sleep, and she is instantly wide-awake and charming, and even gives him a big hug. Hrmph.