Darby. A household name.

So, rumor of The Little Red Pixie has spread far and wide in our small town and across the nation (via FB).  She is famous.  I can tell, because people have begun to tell me tales of their own toddlers, and referring to their stories as "Darby-isms."  For example, I had a good laugh when a friend of mine posted THIS as her status to ring in February 2012:

February 1, 2012:  "Really hadn't planned to scrub my sofa tonight, but I guess I have to since a potty-traning-toddler somehow got poop All. Over. It.  Can you top that Kelly Hills??"

Unfortunately for me, I had a rebuttal, although not as "crappy" as hers, the very next day:

February 2, 2012:   "Today was a really good day! The only thing that went wrong was that Darby stuffed two full toilet paper rolls into the toilet that Tate did not flush! I'll call that a VICTORY!  !)"

I find it interesting that I called that a victory, but whatever.  Victory is relative.

Just last Sunday, a friend stopped me at church and told me of her own "Darby-ism."  Actually, this friend coined that term, which I was unaware was becoming commonplace in our town!  I just love this story:

She told me that she often "misplaces" her coffee cup.  I often misplace pens in my house, which could possibly cause a catastrophic mess the likes of which my poor friend had to clean up.  Nonetheless, my friend eventually found her coffee cup.  Unfortunately for her, her 18 month old found it first and was gleefully flinging the coffee all over the room!  Yep.  That is an instance in which a Darby name drop would be more than sufficient to detail the events.  The best part about that story is the fact that she was laughing and smiling while she was retelling it.  

If the Darby-tales do nothing else but help people look at toddler and/or redhead catastrophies through the lens of humor, then I have done my job.  I'm also hopeful that I will come out on the other side of parenting redheads waving a flag victoriously.  I have 16 more years to come up with the design of my victory flag, but I know what the main color will be...red, and I will proudly fly it for the rest of my life.  I may also have a ruby encrusted broach made to celebrate the occasion, and possibly a trip to Red Square in Russia.  I also might ask Dallas to buy me a red sports car.  I'll buy him a red power tie.  I'll buy some new smokin' red pumps and some red wine, and we...will...celebrate.  That seems like so far a time away that it might never actually come, and since my goal right now is (in all seriousness one can muster up) "to keep Darby alive until she's four," I should probably stick to high, but achievable daily goals instead of planning my "Red Jubilee."  

I can do this!
I can do this!
I am not a pioneer in parenting redheads!
Mommies of redheads have done this for thousands of years before me!
I can do this!