When Abby awakens from her naps, there are all sorts of sounds that come over the monitor that have become quite familiar to me. Like giggles, songs, squeals, chatter, and sometimes, whining and crying. And when she's feeling quite excitable, the creaking of the crib mattress and springs, a sure indication that she is grabbing the side and jumping to her heart's content, as she has made a habit of doing since she was about 18 months old.
It's one of the few bad behaviors I've never really bothered to discipline her about. She tends to do it when I'm not around, anyway, and though she's slowly destroying the mattress over time, it's doubtful that she'll harm herself. I know that I may have my work cut out for me when she moves to a real bed however, and its currently a constant fight to keep her from jumping on furniture and all manner of other inappropriate surfaces. "I said, NO jumping!" is a constant refrain around here.
Still, given that I've never scolded her for jumping in her crib, her greeting to me when I went upstairs to retrieve her from her nap just the other day was quite the surprise. I could hear the rhythmic creaking of the mattress as I ascended the stairs, but it stopped as I opened the bedroom door. And there she stood, with a focused look on her face as though she had been spending the last few minutes preparing. She looked straight at me, and blurted out, "I said, no jumping in the crib!" I was too shocked to laugh about it in the moment, but the re-telling of it later to Tom brought tears to my eyes.
To my great frustration, it's a big joke to her now to repeat all of those things that "Mommy likes to say." Especially since her favorites are the ones that I spend all day repeating, and she spends all day defying as she smiles, laughs, and continues on with no respite.
These include:
"Michael's diapers, no touch."
"I said, leave the diapers alone!"
"I said, NO screaming."
"I said, no jumping on the _____" (feel free to insert chair, sofa, slide, and/or surfaces not yet discovered....)
"No climbing on the shelf."
"Don't break the book."
"No throwing." (this one, especially, she likes to say AS she is throwing things around the room)
It's so darned cute, a part of me has got to love it. But it makes me want to tear my hair out, all the same.