Car convos

• Gabby sneezed all over herself in the car the other morning, and called for a tissue. I reached into the center console to grab one, but my hand landed on a fast food napkin I had stashed in there, so I just handed her the napkin instead of rooting around for the Kleenex. Gabby looked at it and said, "HEY! These are the same kind of tissues Daddy has in HIS car!"
  
  
• Last time my parents visited my mom said, "What choo talkin' bout, Willis?" to Gabby on a few occasions. So now, Gabby will very regularly answer us by saying (in a very slow and pronounced manner, which makes it even funnier)..."Whaaat are yooo talking a-bout Willis?" followed by giggling..."Mimi calls me...WILLIS! Hehehe..."
  
  
• Earlier this week in the car, I was flipping through the stations and Gabby suddenly called out, "MOM! Go back to that DANCIN' song!" Given that what I had just scanned through included a few commercials, some talking, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, and "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce, I deduced she must have been talking about Beyonce. So I flipped back and asked, "is this the song?" Gabby said, "Yeah, this the DANCIN' song." I had no recollection of us listening to this song together, much less dancing to it, so I asked, "Have you heard this song before?" Gabby- "Yeah, I like this song. I like to dance to this song." Me- "When have you danced to this song? Have you heard it at Pattie's? Or in dance class?" Gabby- "I don't remember. I just know I always like to dance to this song. I love this DANCIN' song."
  
  
• We picked up a quick dinner at Chick-fil-A on our way to Kindermusik last week. Here was the conversation. Gabby- "Mom, did you order milk for me?" Me- "Yes." Gabby- "Did you get STRAWBERRY milk?" Me- "No, just regular milk. Have you had strawberry milk before?" Gabby- "Yep!" Me- "When did you have strawberry milk?" Gabby- "I had it when I was five." Me (laughing now)- "Oh really?? And when were you five?" Gabby- "Last Tuesday." She is learning all kinds of phrases like this weekend, yesterday, last week, next month, etc. and is throwing them casually into conversations. Always nonchalantly, and never making any sense, making it even more humorous.
  
  
• Lately our little motormouth has discovered that avoidance is a possible strategy when uncomfortable conversations come up. Gabby typically gets good reports from Pattie each day (other than the regularly occurring "not listening"). If she ever DOESN'T, we usually have chats about the issue du jour on the car ride home. But now, when I start talking about the "issue", Gabby clams up and says, "Mom, I don't want to speak. I don't want to speak right now." So last time I responded by telling her that she didn't have to speak, but that she should still listen to me. To which she said, "Mom, I don't want YOU to speak either. I want you to stop speaking to me." Yikes...OK, I wasn't expecting to have a sullen teenager for another 10 years or so, but that was TOTALLY what she was projecting. In a cute, pouty, 3 year old way.
  
  
• The other morning there was a bad accident and we were stuck in traffic for about 5 minutes while the cars were getting loaded onto the tow trucks. Gabby and I were discussing the accident, and I was explaining to her how accidents happen, that drivers need to be careful, etc. Gabby thought for a second, and then had a lightbulb moment..."MOM! When somebody is driving a car, and there is another car...with another person...that person driving needs to go AROUND that other car, not THROUGH that other car!" By golly, I think she's got it all figured out!