Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Conversations with a Toddler

You know in the movie "Finding Nemo" how the character of Dory has short-term memory loss and so Marlin is constantly repeating, redirecting, and trying not to be totally frustrated? Well, I decided today that Dory must have been a toddler...

Location: Laundry Room of our Home
Scene: the mother is folding three batches of laundry* while the daughter is playing with some little plastic cars and trucks of various colors. The daughter then sees some crayons.

Daughter: color?

Mommy: if you want to color you need to pick up the cars.

Daughter: color!? (more demanding in tone)

Mommy: if I get you a bag, can you put the cars in it? (mom then gets a ziplock and gives it to an excited little girl.)

Daughter: (thinking) ooh, this is so fun putting these cars in this bag, wow I'm putting cars in the bag...wait, I have a bag that is half full of cars how fun! I'm going to dump this bag of cars onto the floor and play with them... ooh, what are those? Crayons!

Daughter: (to mom) Color? Color!?

Mommy: Put the cars in the (now empty bag) and then you can color.

Daughter: (thinking) ooh, this is so fun putting these cars in this bag, wow I'm putting cars in the bag...wait, I have a bag that is half full of cars how fun! I'm going to dump this bag of cars onto the floor and play with them... ooh, what are those? Crayons!

Daughter: (to the mom who is now half done folding) Color? Color!?

Mommy: You need to put the cars in the bag first.

Daughter: (thinking) ooh, a bag ... and cars ... I get to put the cars in the bag! ooh, this is so fun putting these cars in this bag, wow I'm putting cars in the bag...wait, I have a bag that is half full of cars how fun! I'm going to dump this bag of cars onto the floor and play with them... ooh, what are those? Crayons!

and so on...

She did eventually get the cars put in the bag (with my help after the laundry was done) and then she did color (a masterpiece, it will soon by for sale at Christie's Auction house).

I LOVE my job. It is really quite amazing to observe her fascination with so many things.

*don't tell Phil that I didn't fold the clothes as soon as they were out of the dryer (although I did set aside his shirts and fold his jeans while they were still warm). Ok, let's be honest, he's probably figured it out long ago and if he hasn't he reads my blog religiously (good hubby) so he knows now.

2 response(s):

xunil2 said...

Cute!

Sadly, I've had similar conversations with adults.

Jodi said...

Heidi, you are such a good mommy. Thank you so much for the empathy and advice. It was perfect and very applicable (not the put in the basement w/ all the other useless baby advice and gifts). We are pretty much getting down to just bread and water. I have eliminated dairy, but get tempted every so often to see if that is REALLY what is causing it. Yep-every time he is miserable. We keep Mylacon in business. I am going to try and find that stuff you mentioned (not the alcohol-well maybe for me!). I really appreciate your soothing words. He is sucha good baby and I am so lucky. He rolled over last night and you would have thought he was the first baby to ever roll over. It was that fantastic!

Your little Eden is Ms. Personality. I love reading about her.