Showing posts with label am I smarter than a two year old. Show all posts
Showing posts with label am I smarter than a two year old. Show all posts

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Clothes Minded

Mornings are a battle at our house. "Eat your breakfast." "Drink your milk." "No you cannot have candy for breakfast."

Because I like to lay in bed until the last possible second, I have one hour to feed myself and two children. In that hour I must also make sure that they and myself are dressed. I almost wrote "dressed properly" but that is not the case. Maybe dressed for the weather? That is closer to the truth.

Of course I'm the easiest to get dressed. I grab a sweater and jeans. Usually off of the floor but that's okay because they are clean. Okay cleanish.

Bunny is 5 so you think she could handle getting herself dressed. That is not the case. If left to her own devices, I would find her playing with her toys without having picked any clothes out. So I have to "help" her.

"Skirt or dress" I ask her when we get into her room. Because clearly pants are out of the question. "Leggings or tights" is the next question. Once she chooses we can get the ball rolling. She then picks between the options in her drawer or closet and the clothes are laid on her bed.

You would think I could then leave her to get ready on her own. Um no. "Momma! Momma!" "What sweetie?" "I want you to keep me company." I return to her room to find her still in her pajamas. So I have to sit with her to make sure she gets dressed properly. And I usually have to help her a long.

Lion in a way is easier to get dressed. No he's not. He is two nothing is easy with him at all. He insists on picking out his clothes himself. He also insists on putting his clothes on BY HIMSELF. If you try to assist him in any way, he will throw himself on the floor and cry. But you also can't get up to do something else. You have to sit next to him and watch. All so you can see him throw his hands up in the air and say "Ta da" when he is finished.

The real problem with Lion lies in his clothes choice. He has definite opinions on what he wants to wear. The shirt must have dinosaurs. If it doesn't then it must have a car, truck or other vehicle. The pants must not match the shirt in any way. Track pants are worn with a train sweater and polo shirt. Tan corduroys are worn with a mismatched t-shirt, long sleeved shirt combo.

Next is the footwear and outerwear choice. Boots are his first choice. Snow boots are preferable but if they have been hidden by his mother, then rain boots are it. Or maybe hiking boots but not usually. His yellow rain slicker is the coolest coat he has ever seen. He demands to wear it always. However if his mother is mean and says he must wear a warmer jacket he will not be happy about it. All of this is topped off with his sister's white hat with pink snowflakes or a red knit hat about 2 sizes two big.




The effect is homeless fisherman, don't you think?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

She's Got Questions, Do I Have Answers?

When you live with a two year old you get a lot, and I mean a lot of questions. Most of them are fairly simple. What's that? Where's parrot? Where's minmi? What are you eating?

Then there are the tougher, more philosophical questions, the why questions. And the questions about nature and her surroundings can also be tricky. What do ants eat? What kind of clouds are those? These questions may require a basic understanding of grade school science.

Now I am a relatively intelligent person, a former lawyer. And I know realize that none of my schooling beyond grade school has prepared me to be a question answerer (is answerer even a word?) to a toddler. So like any good (former) lawyer, I make an educated guess, research it further and give a more fully formed answer later.

Take for example the cloud question. When faced with determining the type of clouds in the sky, I was pretty sure that the fluffy white ones were cumulus so that was my answer. A quick check of Wikipedia confirmed it. I also looked at the other types of clouds for a refresher, just in case.

Her questions about ants have posed tougher. She will spend hours examining ants, and ant hills. And then the questions start:

What to they eat? Grass (I think).
Where do they live? In the ground.
What are they doing? Looking for food.
Why are some little and some big? Um, they are different kinds of ants.
What kind of ants? I don't know. Let me check on that and get back to you. Would you like me to brief it or would a simple answer suffice?

So I found myself at the bookstore looking at books on ants. Hey guess what they do eat grass. Well some of them do. Do you know their are ants that grow their own food? Farmer ants do, in case you cared. I armed myself with some basic knowledge and answered her questions.

I know that this is just the beginning. I'm going to have to learn enough about what she is interested in so I can answer her questions. For example I just looked up whether a Parasaurolophus is a meat eating dinosaur or a plant eater. And the answer is plant eater.

What do you do when faced with these types of questions? What kinds of questions have you answered?