Smacked that monkey right in the tree

I have mostly been a cranky, nagging, yelling mommy recently. I don't like to be that way. I want to be loving and nurturing and have just the right reaction to each situation that presents itself. But, I have a 2 year old. And she is STRONG willed. And she is wearing me down. I remember with Evan, even when I was frustrated, I always had some idea of how to handle a situation --whether it turned out to be right or wrong. With Pressley, I often find myself trying all the tried-and-true responses (read: threats and punishments), and when none of those work (which is often the case), I just sort of stand there with my head in my hands wondering..."what now??" But then the little stinker looks up at me and grins and I remember why it is all worth it.

Yesterday in the car on the way home from the gym, Pressley was in stand-up comedian mode. She had me absolutely cracking up. She talked non-stop. There are a couple of background pieces of information you should know before I go on: Beth and David are my sister and brother-in-law; Will and Abby are my niece and nephew; Corin is a graduate of the University of Tennessee whose idea of a lullaby is singing Rocky Top (I promise that is relevant. You'll see.) OK. So, the talking started out with asking questions about where everyone is. We do this every day that Pressley is home with me. "Where's daddy?" "At work." "Where's Evan?" "At school." "Where's GranNan and Poppy?" and on it goes... Yesterday, we got to Will and Abby, who she calls AbbyWools, and said they were at school. "I want to go a restaurant with AbbyWools" she says. I tell her that maybe we could work that out over the weekend. "I don't think so" she says. When I ask why not, she tells me that Bath and Davin are climbing Rocky Top, which will apparently prevent any eating out together. Turns out AbbyWools are also climbing Rocky Top. (I don't know if they are looking for a moonshine still or climbing for some other purpose.) At this point, she completely switches gears and holds her hand in a fist and says, "This a spider." Oh, really? Yes. "The spider smacked that monkey right in the tree" she says with a purposeful clap. REALLY?? Oh, yes. She repeated it over and over and over, each time with more enthusiasm. Each time, I became more and more tickled. I'm guessing there is some song they sing at school about a monkey in a tree, but I seriously doubt that the spider is the one who smacked that monkey right in the tree. It was all very amusing though. I know it probably loses something in being written instead of told, but I hope if you know Pressley you can envision how it went down.

As a side note, my spellchecker just went bonkers. Apparently AbbyWools is not in the dictionary. Go figure.