Margo à la Maude: Who Is This Kid?

Who Is This Kid?

If the Prairie wind blows the hat off your head, it's no use chasing it; just wait for the next one to come along.

That's Margo. It's no use trying to corral her, mold her personality, because it's bound to change every three weeks or so.

Since the last post, she has gone through:

a shy period, hiding her face from people, even her reflection in the mirror
a kissing period, jutting her butt out and angling forward, eyes closed, until she gets to you to give you a kiss, or more specific, push her face against you
a paper ripping period. This coincided nicely with Christmas, but ripping paper was more interesting than opening the gifts
a hungry phase, where we couldn't keep up, and were going through just under a litre of homogenized daily
a hunger strike period, where she would shake her head as you approached with food, and would eat about a tenth of what was on her plate, IF you let her feed herself. Her milk thermos would come back from daycare with milk still in it
she currently in her "Margo's Cargo" phase, where any trip up or down the stairs is accompanied by as much cargo (stuffed animals, hairbrushes, pepto-bismol, tupperware, toques, etc) as she could carry. But carrying upright is one thing, descending with a full load is another. It usually takes her about 30 seconds to plan out how she's going to hit the stairs, shuffling cargo from under one arm to another. It invariably ends in her giving us all but her most precious cargo. Parents/pack mules.
talkative. Jibber-jabber, mostly, but we're pretty sure that Grandpa taught her how to say "tree" by pointing at the Christmas tree, and she has logically, but inconsistently, used the words dehors, gant, chat, and chien. Chien is the most commonly heard these days, and seems to refer to any animal. I just don't know if she's at the stage where we can say that it's her first word yet.
Quiet phases.
A fun chores phase. This one is the most confusing, because of what I've written below, but she has taken to being given loose change and bringing it to my change jar for me. She especially likes it if you give them to her one by one, so that she can make multiple trips.
Loves of her boots period.
Hatred of her boots period.
Her interpretive dance period. In surfing YouTube for distracting videos of cats, we found this one with a really addictive tune. As soon as we sing it, Margo starts bobbing her head and stomping. At first, it was a shuffle, now it's freakin' hillbilly-XXX moonshine jug-bluegrass leg stomping.

A few constants:

She doesn't like being told what to do, or when to do it. We've enroled her in gymnastics, which, at that age, is more about balance and stability than about trying to impress Russian judges. It's almost funny (almost) just how stubborn and independent she is. All the other kids and parents are in a circle, learning to grab bars and walk on a beam, and Margo is half-way across the gym, going to explore anywhere else but here. And when you try to shepherd her back, she gives you a look and screams as if to say: "why don't you go !@#$% with a !@#$% until the !@#$% tip breaks off in your !@#$%." MAD.
Diaper changes, once a time of comfort and solace, have become mini torture scenes from Abu Ghraib prison, or so it would seem from the cries and thrashing motions she gives.
She likes sweets. Oh boy, it's really hard to hold off on bribing her with sugary stuff, but, I don't know, according to Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz or Dr. Meredith Grey or the Rug Doctor, that's a really bad thing.
Loves Minou.

I have to stand back sometimes and ask myself if I can see her shining in brilliance in a certain

sector. She's not a musician, or an athlete. Yet, I should say. She's not the nice kid who is compelled to share her toys with others. She's not talking yet. She likes being around other kids but is okay to not interact directly with them. What she is is stubborn and independent, tall and strong, and I think that I see strong problem solving and pattern recognition abilities and willing to make us laugh when she's in the mood.

Oh my god! I've cloned myself! I've unleashed the awesome power of MICHEL on the world!

- Michel