how to be the favorite

 In addition to our synchronized sneezing accomplishment, we actually had a fun weekend. Lots of Matt's extended family came into town to visit for the weekend, so we spent our days surrounded by people and food and fun.

And, most importantly, Baby Timmy. (Relatedly: he is going to be turning 2 in a few weeks...at what point will I have to stop calling him Baby Timmy? Age 12? Great.)

I'm pretty sure I'm still Timmy's favorite person on earth (besides his parents, I will reluctantly concede).

I've done a lot of soul-searching trying to figure out what it is about me that makes me so awesome in Timmy's eyes. I think I've identified a few key things. Take notes if you're hoping to win the heart of any toddlers in your life.

1. I let him wander around with my phone. I think this is key. No one else lets him do this (or at least not as often and on-demand, like I do). When he sees me, his typical reaction is "EHH-KUH!" and a big smile, followed quickly by "picture Timmy? cow? puppy Lola?" (which is why he wants the phone-- pictures of himself, various farm animals, and Lola, of course) as he reaches for my phone (if visible in my hand) or pats down my pockets/purse. Even though most people seem to think that handing a 2-year-old your expensive phone is a recipe for disaster, I try to convince myself that nothing too bad can happen. He just looks at pictures and randomly swipes things, right? Oh, but then I heard the tell-tale clicking of typing, so I hunted him down to investigate. He was just doing a little Tweeting, NBD! 140 characters of mmmbbbRRRbsohooooo or something. Which is about the most intelligent thing to come across my Twitter screen in a few days, so really...no biggie.

2. I read him lots of stories, even the really boring ones (which I make up new words for so that they're less boring/way shorter). He likes looking at the pictures and turning the pages and naming things on the pages. I like cuddling with him. Everyone wins.

3. I am really fun.

I mean, I'm a party and a half in the pool. Who knew I was capable of anything other than laying out? I know. It came as a surprise to me, too. Also my pool-related double-standards don't seem to bother Timmy and he catches on to my rules pretty quickly (such as: splashing Erika is NOT OKAY. Splashing everyone else is fine and encouraged).

4. If I'm around, Matt is usually nearby. And since Timmy's a pretty huge fan of Mat-chew...it just works out really well for him.

Much like I suspect Timmy really likes me because of my phone, I think half of Matt's appeal is in his sunglasses that he frequently wears like in the picture above. Timmy is big on sunglasses, so Matt's habit of keeping his easily accessible is rated highly by the Timmy. But hey, whatever it takes, right? 

5. I encourage his artistic pursuits.

Many people may be annoyed to find their iPad photo galleries filled with hundreds of photos like this. I am not. This is also probably helped by the fact that it isn't my iPad...but instead of being annoyed by the 15 seconds it will take to erase all of those pictures, I instead compliment the photographer on his unique sense of perspective and focus. I suggest possible new subjects for his next photo series (for example, the corner of the couch was really neglected here. I feel like there's a lot he could do with that). 

So these are just a few of the things that I think are key to becoming the Favorite Person of a toddler. See if you can start incorporating them into your own life...satisfaction guaranteed. (Unless you are actually LIVING with said toddler. In which case you may find it highly annoying to have a kid always hitting you up for a phone or sunglasses or swim. So maybe these tips are best reserved for Favorite Aunties who live 300 miles away.)

Unfortunately, sometimes Timmy has to sleep. Luckily there were other people around to entertain me during those time periods. My sister-in-law Jess and I amused ourselves by going to the local discount movie theater to watch The Great Gatsby.

Loved it!!!

I should probably give a disclaimer: I haven't read the book in like...13-ish years? It was in high school. And subsequently I remembered very little about the story, other than that I'd liked it at the time. So I'm not the person that's going to be able to say "well, I didn't like how the movie portrayed _____...the book did so much more with ______..." or whatever. I barely remember the book. So I just enjoyed the movie for what it was: a glamorous, glittering sparkle-fest of decadence and love and hope and deceit and tragedy. It was 100% Baz Luhrmann, which is a very good thing in my book. I love his style and this movie did not disappoint. 

On Sunday, Jess surprised me with a sweet gift-- a copy of the book! And she wrote on the inside, which is 100% my favorite part of receiving a book as a gift. So now I can re-read it and maybe then I can intelligently compare and contrast book v. movie. And also, you can thank me for cropping the picture. I basically looked like an Amazon in this picture and your eyes might have started bleeding, so...you're welcome.

And a mere hour or so after the picture above was taken, Matt and I found ourselves doing some synchronized sneezing in a grocery store...which means we're all up to date. Have a great day-- I'm off to hunt down Bachelorette Men Tell All recaps because I'm just dedicated like that.