Stories of our favourite three year old (Anna)

We've been spending a bit of time with our 3 year-old neighbour, who I will call B - a terrific kid. She and Emma get on well - one of the them is completely in awe of the other one and likes to imitate her; the other one likes to play doll and practice her baby-care skills. I'll let you guess which is which.

Two nice stories from this evening:

1) B hit her noggin when she was playing and needed a cuddle and some sympathy. After I had done the physical check and held her for a while, I said, "Do you need a teddy to cuddle? I'll tell you what. I'm going to get a teddy bear for you and if your head hurts you can cuddle him and he'll help to make you feel better." And then we got distracted by something and the next thing we knew, Emma had gone into the living room, found one of her teddy bears and brought it back. She held it out to B, with a gentle hug and kiss. B took it, gave a tiny smile and cuddled the bear close. It was all we could do not to say "Awwwww" out loud.

2) We have discovered that Emma is susceptible to peer pressure. Last time B had dinner with us, she insisted on having a "big girl's cup" (i.e. not a plastic cup with a lid). And so Emma did, too. All week, she would happily use a sippy cup when it was just us, but if anyone came over for dinner, it had to be a lidless cup.

Tonight, B sat on a chair and started to eat. We suggested to Emma that she get into her high chair, which she usually does quite happily when she's hungry. She started crying, saying "No, no, no." We told her it was homemade pizza for dinner - which she loves (Caroline makes fantastic pizza) - and she wailed "No pizza!!" And then we figured out what the problem was. So we sat Emma up in an adult chair - no high chair, no tray, not even a booster seat. She could barely see over the table top but she was perfectly content and happily ate her pizza. (Or at least, she was content until B had finished and went to play, at which time Emma promptly declared she was also finished and wanted to play as well.)

There's this beautiful intimacy in the looks we give each other over the tops of the kids' heads when they do something cute or annoying. I remember catching my parents doing it when I was a kid and not understanding why they were laughing at me. Well, I guess now I understand. Sometimes you just have to exchange a silent chuckle.