So I am now attempting to catch up on the last month and a half of pictures and notes. These three notes are from the very beginning of May:
#1) The dipping issue.
True to her roots, the child likes food. She also likes mimicking our eating techniques, of which I'm growing rather self-conscious. I'm afraid we've created a bit of a dipping, spreading, sopping fool out of her. It's one thing to put cream cheese on celery, egg on toast, peanut butter on apple, or dip strawberries into yogurt. But apparently she hasn't absorbed any sort of discretion regarding which combinations fit well together. She recently out did my creativity comfort levels as she happily spread tuna salad on her banana and acted like it was the most refined delicacy to ever cross her plate.
#2) Wings DO NOT equal flight.
Of course, setting aside ostriches, emus, penguins, and a few others, typically wings DO equal flight. But I've yet to explain those nuances to her, in addition to one other key nuance: fake wings. Which is why the following conversation took place.
For a while now, every time she runs away from me she has exclaimed "Eeen flew away!" One night as she was "flying away" (aka, avoiding me as I tried to put on her pajamas) I finally said, "Josephine, you can't fly away. Only things with wings can fly, and you don't have wings."
In reply, Josephine gave me a look that said clearly, "OH YEAH???" And then marched over to her closet, opened the door, and pointed to the purple butterfly wings given to her at Christmas.
Okay. So she has wings. I stood duly corrected.
Since that night it has become apparent that she thinks these wings will indeed let her fly away. Once, she asked me to put them on her, and I obliged, which was immediately followed by a request to be let outside. I opened the door for her and then watched her trot straight up to the tree trunk closest to us. (An odd behavior for her. But like a good, desensitized toddler's mother, I don't question odd behavior). Later, after I had joined her outside, she came up to me. I asked about the wings and whether she was going to "fly away again." She pointed straight up to the top of the tree where the birds were, declared, "EEEN FLEW 'WAY UP TREE!!!!" and then ran up to the tree trunk again. Clearly thinking she would either take off at some point, or else somehow magically get transported up the tree and be able to fly back down.
In short, I am glad we lack easy roof access.
#3) A quirk (or perhaps totally normal behavior for a toddler).
The child has a knack for figuring out what fits into what. It tends to surprise me, because sometimes her intuition for what will fit is a bit uncanny... Like she'll see something she's holding, spot something it will fit into just perfectly across the room, and be unable to resist darting across the room to try it, despite breaking various rules and facing discipline. It's hilarious (and no, doesn't get punished, despite breaking rules, because it isn't defiant and she promptly returns where she ought to be. Not that I laugh out loud or anything. But I do puzzle. It IS a compulsion. I'm serious. It's weird.)
I should have been keeping a list of what she's been putting in what. Sadly, I haven't, because by now it'd be really quite impressive. Long, anyway.
I did think to take a representative picture after seeing what she did with some of her tools during quiet time recently.
(It's a bolt strung on the screwdriver, which is jammed in the nail).
The only way it isn't representative is that typically, the items stuck into each other have nothing to do with each other. Like a crayon holding her plastic nails together, dowel rod fashion. Or the same plastic nail neatly plugging a piece of drip line tubing in the basket of backyard stuff by the door. Wads of trash, perfectly filling her shoe. A wooden ball inside the light-socket-tightening-gadget that came with the kitchen lights... (such a perfect fit that something will have to break to get it out.) I suspect that kids putting things in places they don't belong is a pretty common trait for toddlers... think frozen peas up the nose... so let's hope this little quirk doesn't lead to trips to the ER.
This tendency hasn't let up since the beginning of May. Here's a picture from today-- the date of this post. Who knew dollhouses came with an alpaca-shaped room? She was quite pleased with the head fitting out on the balcony; I could tell she was happy to have finally figured out what the balcony was for.
2 comments:
You forgot to mention that she has figured out that "Een" fits into her closet (in the dark).
Okay, that is really funny. Perhaps she is acquiring your knack for ingenuity and creativity. She will be a house-project whiz in years to come. :)
Post a Comment