Reepicheep, Retiring & MJ Strikes Again.

One of my favorite pastimes is eavesdropping on the kids' playtime. They go from playing with Playmobile guys (and animals) to fully costumed fantasy lands. It seems as if sometimes an action figure or a plastic army guy just can't satisfy the creative spirit and the kids just have to burst into character themselves (how could you expect Mattel or Fisherprice to get it right anyway).

We've now finished all of the Chronicles of Narnia (a few of them several times) and so often the kids like to pretend they've found new lands through a closet or in the space underneath the stairs. Most often they like to pretend to be Peter, Edmund, Eustace, or Caspian - historically they kept to pretending to be the humans in Narnia (or where ever they were imagining themselves). For the most part, MJ just follows behind them growling and watching eagerly. Sometimes they tell her that she's Lucy or every once in a while she's the White Witch and they run from her, but usually she's just part of the imaginary entourage (along with stuffed animals, the green giant and the rocking horses).

But the other day I caught Finn in an unusual character, charging with a pretend sword up the basement stairs: Reepicheep the noble mouse from several of the adventures. If you haven't read the stories, or if you cannot remember them, this doesn't mean much. In essence, Reepicheep is obviously small (since he's a mouse in a land of lions), but very highly regarded for his loyalty and honor, his courage and commitment. And I must confess, he is my favorite character from any of the books. The sight of Finn (all 30 pounds of him) and the sound of his happy, high pitched voice shouting "Charge! For Narnia!" up the stairs was almost too much to handle.

I've been so crabby (sorry James) lately that the kids have been the only thing to cheer me up. Seamus told me last week when he could tell that I was still sad about the U, that he thought it was time I retired anyway. I shouldn't have to work anymore, he said. Thanks, Buddy.

So as many of you know (thanks Hewitts) MJ bit Owen a few weeks ago. And even though I know how rough and tough she can be, I was still very surprised. It was a big deal at our house.

This kicked off what I'd like to call "MJ The Vanquisher" phase at the Dougherty house. I think we have come to the end (I'm knocking on all the wood in the house right now). I went to the gym with the kids on Saturday and at pick-up time the staff regaled me with the tales of who she beat up and how. I did not find this amusing, because while I hope she grows up to be tough, I'm not trying to raise a brute.

At the gym on Monday I told the staff that if she did ANYTHING aggressive I wanted to be paged so I could discipline her myself.

"Anne Dougherty to childcare. Anne Dougherty to childcare. Anne Dougherty to childcare."

Was basically the anthem of my week working out. The straw that broke the proverbial camels back was when she swung a toy vacuum cleaner at a little boy, knocked him onto his back and then (wait for it, wait for it) jumped into the air and body slammed him. He was probably ten pounds bigger than she was, but its hard to compete with an agile opponent. I snatched her up and we left.

She has had no problem saying sorry and seems to be remorseful once she realizes that she is in trouble, but we had a solid two weeks of pushing, biting, hitting and apparently body slamming. Yesterday and the day before, she went incident free (small victories), and I think (fingers crossed) that she's starting to learn how to control herself. The words are slowly coming and that helps (when I'd get called to the childcare center at the gym, I'd say "Were you naughty?" And she'd reply, "Yep." I'd say "What did you do?" and she'd say "Hit him."

Someone said not to worry this was just the precursor to flirting, totally natural. Good God, I hope not.