It’s been so long since I’ve written about my middle child, Carmendy! It’s been over a year. And, goodness, has she changed.
My Carmie Bean is simply a character. She’s wild and stubborn, but introverted. With no desire or need to please others, my girl does her own thing. Crowds of people make her self-conscious at first, but it doesn’t take long for her to get comfortable. Carmendy is not chatty; instead she is sneaky and secretive. She has an incredible poker face for a three-year-old, and I’m already terrified of teenage Carmendy.
Lying comes naturally to Carm, but neatness does not. She always looks a mess, with her hair tangled in her face. Activities that involve getting messy are her favorite: play-doh, digging in dirt, slime, and painting.
Food is always on her mind. She’s constantly and relentlessly requesting candy or “nacks” (she has trouble saying the “s” sound at the beginning of words).
Like most 3-year-olds, she excels at whining. At times, I feel like her voice may single-handedly cause me to lose my mind. And somewhere during the past few months, Carmendy has overtaken Winnie as the main source of my exhaustion. Her antics are mentally exhausting, and her habit of getting up super early is physically exhausting. She frustrates me more than any other individual on the planet.
And yet, she is my mini soulmate. My best friend. She is my twin, a much cooler version of me. She has all my quirks, except with a spirit, individuality, and confidence that I can only admire.
It’s been over a year since we potty trained Carmendy. Before we officially started potty training her, we tried to encourage interest and I would enthusiastically ask her if she would like to go on the toilet. She would just look at me with a confused expression and say “No. I have a diaper in my pants.” Based on these reactions, we were sure potty training was going to be a miserable and challenging experience with Carmendy, far worse than training Owen. However, it ended up not being so bad. Carm has a way of surprising us.
Carm is secretive. She doesn’t share her thoughts readily, and when asked questions, she just makes up answers with a total straight face. When she doesn’t want to respond, she typically keeps saying “What?” over and over again, feigning hearing loss. Sometimes she even says bull like “I can’t tell you. It’s a SURPRISE.” (I can’t help but laugh at her, because she’s quite the dramatic actress.)
Winnie was happily playing with our dog Sophie and I said “Sophie is Winnie’s favorite!” Across the room, I heard Carm say to herself “Carmendy is my favorite.” For Christmas, Carmendy got a necklace with a heart locket. I explained to her that she could put a picture of her favorite person in her locket, and asked who she’d like to put in it. Without hesitation, she replied “Carmendy!” And during nighttime prayers, she never forgets to thrown in a prayer for herself. She’s her own number one fan, and it’s kind of awesome.
Sometimes Carmendy piles on the sweetness. Other times, when I say “I love you” to Carm, she replies “Aww. I love cookies.” One morning as we were getting ready to leave the house, I said to Carmendy, “The fur on our coats match – we’re twins!” She said “awww” but then rolled her eyes and walked away. I’m guessing she won’t want coordinating family outfits when she’s a teen, which basically ruins all my plans for 10 years from now.
Carm has a little voice, but a big attitude. If I correct her for misbehaving, she usually yells back “I am NOT bad!!!” and scrunches her nose at me. I told her to sit on her butt during dinner and she yelled at me “LOUISA, I can’t do THAT!” Her attitude is not just reserved for me; her older brother is another target of her wrath. When she’s trying to avoid cleaning up her own mess and wants someone else to do it for her, she’ll holler to him “HELP your sister, OWEN!”
Recently, Owen proudly showed Carmendy his finished Lego dinosaur creation, and she exclaimed “Good girl, Owen!”
Candy is the center of Carmendy’s universe. It’s the motivation for all that she does. She is constantly secretly looking for it, and will take any opportunity to score some and hide it away like a squirrel. One day a couple weeks ago, I found her with a stash of smuggled sweets that she had buried in her toy shopping cart. I firmly said, “If you sneak anymore candy, Carm, I’ll have to throw it ALL away!” Horrified, she dramatically replied, “NO! I’ll die!!”
But candy isn’t the only thing she smuggles. When I tell her to stop playing with play-doh and put it away because it’s time to pick up Owen from school, a little later I discover she has a tub of play-doh hidden under her top as I try to buckle her in her car seat. A couple months ago, we found an empty juice box stashed behind the toy chest and we still can’t figure out how Carmendy managed to steal the juice box from our inventory and drink it without anyone noticing.
Sometimes her sneakiness is just plain creepy. One night after all the kids were in bed, we decided to hide their toy slime (because slime is the WORST TOY EVER). Richard put it in a kitchen drawer we rarely use and breathed a sigh of relief that the slime would be out of our kids’ sight and hopefully out of their minds. The next day Carmendy asked about her slime; expecting this question, I was prepared with my lie: “Your dad took it and I don’t know where it is.” She immediately answered “I know where it is!” and pointed at the drawer housing the slime. WTF – you guys, my kid is like a detective with laser eye vision.
Carmendy sure does drive me crazy. Yet, the way she thinks always makes me smile. Last week, I was preparing roasted potatoes and Carm asked what I was making. I told her potatoes, and she replied “Will they taste like cake when you’re done?” I love how her mind works. 🙂
My favorite picture is the last one!! She is something special!