stella says no!!

So if you ask Stella anything right now her immediate answer, is NO!! "Stella, do you want to take a nap?" "Nnnno!" she says without a moment's hesitation. She'll walk over to me, raise her arms high in the air and say, "up, up up!" and I'll say, "Stella, do you want me to pick you up?" "Nnnno!" she says as her arms reach up to me with little pulses of urgency.
A I sit here typing, Stella has approached me with her empty sippy cup, sucking the straw until a little airy noise is all it provides. "Stella, do you need more water in your sippy cup?" I ask as kindly as possible. "Nnno." she says as she hands me the cup. I go to the sink and fill it, hand it down to her grasping fingers. "Thank" she says and I'm beyond impressed, beyond proud that my feisty little girl who loves to say "NO" also loves to say "thank you". Both phrases will serve her well in life once she understands the appropriate usage.

Alex, meanwhile, is picking up on everything his father and I say. Much of this is good and quite hilarious. Some of it though, gently reminds me that a few short years ago I could say whatever the hell I wanted. Now, I can merely say whatever the heck I want. Alex loves to use big words to express himself. He'll announce that's he's " really frustrated" instead of simply angry. Potty training is finally done. Alex most often describes his poops to me as gigantic and enormous. sometimes they're elephant poops, even! Marshall's been lavishing Alex with praise over his new-found bathroom habits and once referred to Alex's success as "bad-ass". Why he chose this phrase, I have no idea. It's obviously more appropriate during Marshall's recording sessions with young (childless) musicians. Regardless, Alex didn't seem to notice. But our kids hear everything. And a few hours later as I was changing Stella's stinky diaper, Alex was dancing around her room, saying, "Stella, that's bad-ask!" nice.