Mr Squeakums, the Genderfluid Mouse

A couple of scenes I'm not sure I wrote up here.

Arya: I'm not sure if Mousie(1) is a boy or a girl.
Me: Well *Mr* Squeakums(2) would usually suggest male, but what do you think.
Arya: I think 'she'.
Me: <nods> Although you definitely said he yesterday. Do you think she'll always be female now, or sometimes she and sometimes he?
Arya: Sometimes he.
Me: When she... Or when *he* feels like it?
Arya: Yes.
Me: Mr Squeakums is genderfluid. Awesome.

*

Arya: I hope our train comes fast, because I want to go to nursery because I have Mousie*.
Me: You hear that, Mousie? You're a good influence.
Arya: How dare you say that?

*

A talk was had with Arya after a second viewing of Beauty and the Beast and she found Le Fou dancing with another man amusing.

I told her that some boys like to dance with other boys, and that's okay. It's not a joke, and in fact it's rather lovely to see in the film, because for so long boys have been told that they can't dance with boys. In fact, I told her, you can dance with whoever you like.

Arya: So it could be a boy and a girl?
Me: Or a boy and a boy.
Arya: Or a girl and a girl!

So I think she got it.

And of course, I reminded her that the one thing that is really important is that they want to dance with you as well.

*

Me: Arya; just one squeeze of soap.
<Arya takes four>
Me: Arya...
Arya: Why I take four is because I'm four years old.
Me: Yes, but you only need one.
Arya: Would you do me four of the other soap*.
Me: Why would I do that?
Arya: Because you're my dad and you're lovely.
Me: Darn your logic!

(1) A small, knitted muse that her Aunt Sadie made for her.

(2) Mr Squeakums is Mousie's usual name.

Another first!

Serious Arya is serious.

This morning, Arya did her first proper bed wetting.

I doubt she'll thank me for putting this in the blog, but it was quite the red letter day. Daddy and Daddy failed to get her into a nappy last night, and so she wet the bed when she had an accident without padding... at half past six this morning.

So, having managed to go the entire night without an accident, she called me in and we got her undressed, cleaned up and into bed with Mummy, and stripped off the bedclothes for washing, with really no fuss whatsoever. I am so proud of my little girl today.

No pictures of the event in progress, of course, but here's one of her looking especially grown up and serious.

Snippets

Arya 'copes' with mornings.

It's been a while since I posted here, in part because as a full-time ersatz I don't have the same structure; partly because I take fewer photos as a full-timer and thus post snippets to Facebook, where I am reluctant to post too many pictures. So, here's a bit of a digest:

The other day, Arya and I were walking to school. Arya ignored my pointed hints about how it would be super helpful if someone were to carry their own bag, but then suggested we use the gate that only has one handle on it, because that would be easier with my hands full. Spontaneous empathy FTW.

Bath time:

Arya (fills a cup with pink, bubbly bath water): "Here, Daddy. Drink this. It will make you poorly."
Me: "You're not selling this, Arya."

Wicked witch is apparently on her career plan still. (I told her she was bringing the religion into disrepute; she laughed.)

Rosie Revere, Engineer became the latest book to be resisted for days with insistence that she didn't/wouldn't like it, only for it to become a firm favourite once she'd actually heard it.

Enjoying the original Rapunzel, we agreed that just bringing a rope would have been much more useful than bringing a ball of silk a night to weave a ladder from. I mean, he's a Prince; he has a horse, and people.