"I need this," Coralyn announces as she grabs her purse to take with her in the car when we go to the grocery store.
"I need this," she explains as she reaches for the letter magnets she has removed from the fridge and goes to put them in her mixing bowl to make soup, or coffee...either way, she needs those letters to make it taste good.
"I need this," she shouts over her shoulder as she picks up a book, or two or three, and races to the bathroom to go potty.
"I need this," she pouts as she tries to convince me to let her bring her stuffed pink bear into the bathtub with her.
"I need this," she huffs as she lugs her stuffed caterpillar that is bigger than her (thoughtful gift from our neighbors who wanted to make sure Coralyn wasn't being overlooked as the big sister of a brand new baby) down the stairs, and then back up again.
"I need this," "I need this," "I need this..."
It's absolutely ridiculous all the things that Coralyn needs. Quite often she has so much stuff in her hands that she can't carry it all. She will do her best, but sometimes she complains, "This is too heavy, Mommy." Gee, I wonder why? Could it be that you are attempting to carry twice your body weight in stuffed animals? Or she'll regretfully admit, "I have so much stuff; it's too much, Mommy." Yes, dear, it is. It certainly is.
Last night topped the cake though. Coralyn had worn a headband to church, and when she got home it was time to get ready for bed. "I need a bath, Mommy." After explaining that we didn't have time for a bath since we had gone to church, she agreed that it was time to get her pajamas on and brush her teeth. "But I need this," she countered back, holding up her headband. Fine, you can hold onto your headband. I don't really care. Just help me get your pajamas on. Okay, switch hands so you can put that arm through the hole now. Now the other hand. Put the headband right here on the sink so you can brush your teeth. Yes, here's your headband back. Now, climb in bed and we'll read our Bible story. Apparently the headband was more exciting that Jesus calming the storm because we had to stop reading to ask Coralyn to put her headband down and pay attention. Finally, we got through the story, said our prayers, and gave our hugs and kisses. Headband in hand the entire time, mind you. "Cover me up, Mommy." As I put the blanket over her, she still has the headband grasped tightly in her hand. Really?
It may have been ridiculous, but she didn't cry at all. She didn't come out of her bedroom one single time. She went right to sleep. I guess she really did need that headband after all :)
So much so that when she woke up at 4:30, right as I climbed back into bed after feeding Kellah (for the first and only time last night!!!), and realized she didn't have her headband in hand she cried out in terror. I go in to see what the problem is, relieved to discover all we had to do was locate the precious headband and all was well once more. She gripped the headband, slipped under the covers, and was back asleep in under a minute.
This morning when she woke up and came out of her room, the headband was safe and secure right there in her hand. And it laid on the table in front of her as she ate her breakfast too. Although I guess it's not that important anymore because it's still on the table. She has moved on and found other things that she desperately needs. Like the chapstick she got in her Valentine's Day basket on Tuesday. I swear she will have the moistest lips in the whole neighborhood. My guess is that the chapstick will be all used up by the end of the week, as she is constantly applying and reapplying and reapplying and reapplying it. At least she's not selfish about it though, as she was so very kind to share and let Kellah try some too. :) And of course, I needed some as well. :)
Today on our grocery shopping trip, she needed the receipts from each store. She got quite upset when she dropped one as I was buckling her into her carseat. I reached down and picked up a receipt and gave it back to her. But oh no, it was not the right one. The one I had given her was from Wal-Mart and didn't have the coupons on the back like the one from Hy-Vee did. How does she recognize these things?! Seriously! She needed the Hy-Vee one, and so I had to look again and find it before we could return home in peace.
She's now taking her nap, and she needed her chapstick. So my bet is that she's doing more applying of chapstick than actual sleeping. But at least she'll have soft, smooth lips when she "wakes up" (as she says when she comes out of her room after playing during the entire nap time).
While I was unloading and reloading the dishwasher I was smiling to myself as I thought about how silly Coralyn is with her constant "I need this" requests.
She needed to wear her Boots socks on her hands to drink from her Dora cup, which didn't even have anything in it to begin with!
Ugh, God, not again. Why do you have to point these things out to me, using my two-year-old daughter to teach me another lesson?
How often do I think I need something or hold on so tightly to something that is absolutely ridiculous? How often do I try to carry around a bunch of stuff, way too much stuff, to the point that I am so loaded down with all the things that I thought I so desperately needed that I can't even use or enjoy them?
I may not need a headband to go to sleep. And I may not need to put chapstick on my lips every two seconds. But I am still pretty ridiculous at times. So the next time Coralyn announces, "I need this" and holds up some random toy, I better remember that I look just as silly to God.
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