Mommy you PROMISED I could DRAWWWWW!

This morning while I was helping Eva get ready for pre-school, I asked her what her favorite toy was. She thought about it for a minute. See, she's not really that into toys. She's into THINGS in general. More silence, but she had a big smile on her face like she really LIKED this question.

"Peppa Pig," she said.

Surprising. She used to really love Peppa when she was smaller, but she hasn't done much of anything with Peppa for months, and, since I am an evil parent who does not let her kid watch TV (which is in Italian) during the week, her Peppa exposure is about nil (Sunday morning is TV day. She watches all she wants while mommy and daddy sleep in.).

Italian is her dominant language now and given the choice between Italian (Chocolate) and English (Broccoli), eliminating TV makes Paddington, Beatrix Potter, and  other English books and cartoons I have downloaded onto the ipad and use as a control tool much like television in an American prison  more attractive.

So mentioning Peppa surprised me. She got the Peppa house for her birthday but she hardly ever played with it because it only came with one character (Peppa). There are only so many things you can talk about all by yourself in the Peppa house. Clearly this was a ploy to get parents to buy other characters, but we missed our cue on that one.

I'm still a little confused by her answer. All I can think of is that this is the only toy she has that she has seen on TV. Does that make it more of a toy to her?

This week she is on a show-n-tell craze. She chooses something she loves, sleeps with it, and then brings it to school with her the next day to show her teachers. Here is what she showed off this week: a barette with a bunny on it, a pair of mittens that look like strawberries, a Valentine's day card from Gramma Mag, and a cold pack shaped like Mr. Bump that she has been using on her fingers which Gramma Tatiana accidentally slammed in the cardoor, the dramatic re-telling of the story being the key part. Mr Bump is only a prop (fingers fine, no bruises even).

It was a bad question, I concluded, thinking about what Eva really likes to do. It was a questions for parents, not for kids. I rephrased.

"What is your favorite thing to do, Eva?"
"Drawing Mama. Yeah, DWAWWWING (She can't say her Rs yet)" and then she remembered something. "Mommy, you promised I could draw after breakfast." (I didn't and we were already late). Thankfully, drawing is one of those things you can always count on.

"You can draw at school today, honey, I'm sure."
Relief. Then,
"Okay Mommy."