Mommy, my tonkty huuts!

Now, before your mind heads straight for the gutter, this is the newest phrase used my 3 year old - well, she'll be 3 in just 2 short days. Tonkty is Morgannese for tummy. It's taken me a while to figure that out, but since 'my tonkty huuts' is always followed by 'I hungwy', it didn't take much for me to put 2 & 2 together.

It seems that my dainty little girl is going through some sort of phase, and testing my patience all along the way. She's a bottomless pit as of late. She's constantly eating, beginning around 3AM and moving through to bedtime around 7:30PM. It seems that I am apparently starving my child because she just can't seem to get enough to eat - until dinner when she announces "I full!" at the table, and then quickly dismisses herself from her seat. Then about the time we say "Everyone upstairs for bedtime", she announces "Mommy, my tonkty huuts, I hungwy". Too bad kiddo!

I, at first thought that this was a ploy to delay going to bed - which used to be her favorite time of the day! She NEVER gave us trouble - she was always the first one to her room, and was fast asleep for a good 12 hour stretch!!! Life was good, in those days. But now, we put her into her bed, say her prayers, discuss the fact that her angels are outside her window to protect her, and by her bed to give her sweet dreams (she's always tended toward having bad ones or nightmares, so we've found that if we don't pray for that bedside angel, she will inevitably wake up crying during the night), then within 5 minutes we can find her sneeking downstairs to tell us (again) that "her tonkty huuts" and that she's "hungwy". Never fails! This is the new Segulja ritual.

And, we've also discovered that regardless of whether we relent and give her that late-night snack before bed, or just tell her she'll have to wait for breakfast, she will still get up and announce that her tonkty must be filled with food or she will surely die! It's a battle to the death, but, apparently, not her's! She has recently taken up the newest habit of waking ME up somewhere between 2AM & sunrise, 'pot tot' (Pop Tart) in hand, asking to eat. Now imagine how well I communicate after only being asleep for about 3 hours. The fact that I can even tell which child I'm speaking with is a miracle in & of itself. But, to have the shiny metallic wrapper about an inch from my nose, and hearing the whiny voice of my daughter, makes my communication less sensitive and more irritated. Yes, I'll admit that I'm not a morning person, and being whined awake on a nightly basis doesn't contribue to my sweet-mommyness at all!!! And, what's a mommy to do when her 3 year old is begging to eat in the middle of the night? Relent, of course! One way or another, I always manage to toast the 'pot tot', get her a drink, and turn on a movie of her choice (usually 101 Dalmations, Patch's Adventure), then crawl back into bed until she wanders back into my room about 5 minutes later to ask me to turn on the downstairs bathroom light because she has to go potty. I can't tell her no because we all know where that might get me, so I'm back up and stumbling across the house to the laundryroom to turn on the light - which always blinds me. Somehow, through the spots, I always manage to find my bed again, and it's off to dreamland once more. If I were more awake, I'd remember to turn on the light when I'm waiting on the Tart to Pop out of the toaster. But alas, my brain just doesn't work when being jolted out of a sound sleep.

I'm happy to report that Morgann will usually fall asleep watching Patch's Adventure on the couch, with a tummy full of pot tot. Granted Pot Tot's aren't the healthiest of food choices, and I actually buy them for the kid's weekend treat, but as of late, they've been the midnight snack and favorite breakfast choice of my 2 oldest children. I guess if I was a bit more conscientious of their health, I'd stop buying them altogether, but I figure the occassional sugar rush never hurt anyone - unless your a diabetic, in which case I'd recommend staying away from them. And, I do make sure my kids eat at least 1 healthy meal a day - usually dinner, which might be why Morgann is always 'full' and hardly touches her plate.

Hmmm...sometimes blogging can bring so many things to light to my sleep deprived mind. Note to self: Stop buying pot tots, and wear earmuffs to drowned out the sounds of the whiny children that find out there are no more pot tots in the pantry!