Re-post: Conversations with a 2 year-old - Mar 05
From Monday, March 28, 2005
Here's a sample, just happened now:
Lyddie: My pizza is ready, my pizza is ready!
Me: Oh yes, I'll get it out.
Lyddie: Come and get it out!
Me: I'm coming
Lyddie: Brum is on next.
Me: Oh good. You like Brum, don't you?
Lyddie: Yes and there's a spider in the bath.
Me: Oh. Yes, that's right.
Lyddie: And he's lover-lee! (lovely)
Me: Oh!
Lyddie: I like spiders, don't I?
Me: Do you?
Lyddie: Well, actually, no I don't. But he can't get out.
[The spider is dead. I'm wondering how to explain the concept of dead, but have wimped out and decided to just move it when she's not looking. Trouble is, she's *always* looking!]
Me: No, he can't get out.
Lyddie: He's stuck in there.
Me: Yes.
Lyddie: Gimme my pizza
Me: But it's very hot.
Lyddie: OK, I'll blow it. [Takes pizza] No. You blow it. [Returns pizza.] No. Me blow it. [Takes pizza back.]
And another, which was happening as I typed the above.......
Lyddie: [With pennies lined up on dining table and a dish] Mum! Watch this sound! Watch! Watch carefully! [throws a coin into the dish]
Me: Ooh yes, it's like a tingaling sound, isn't it?
Lyddie: Yes! Watch again! Watch! Watch carefully! [Throws another coin into the dish]
Me: Wow. [Trying to look suitably amazed.]
Lyddie: NOW...... Look! I'm going to do it again!
Me: Ok.... [gets back to typing]
Lyddie: No! Don't do that! Watch my sound!!
Me: I'm watching your sound.
Lyddie: Who's knocking at the door?
Me: No-one!
Lyddie: OK, look, this one's NOISY [throws another penny]
Me: Ohhh yes!
Lyddie: And this one's very very quiet [whispering, throws another penny]
Me: Indeed it is.
Just in case anyone is reading this who has never cared for a 2-year old on a full-time basis, let me tell you that this kind of conversation goes on all the time, all day, from the minute they open their eyes in the morning, to the minute they close them at night. It's wonderful! And exhausting and infuriating. It makes you laugh one minute and feel like crying the next. You can't think for it at all, but yet it's so fascinating to have this privileged insight into the way their minds work. I really wouldn't miss it for the world.
She's singing to the pennies now, and sliding them around the table in a pattern. I could have spent £30+ on an educational game for her, and presented it to her with great pomp and ceremony, and she wouldn't have looked twice at it. Yet give her a dining chair to climb on, to get access to my purse to get pennies, and another to reach for a dish and she's happy playing and learning for......... oooooh, twenty minutes! Which is a long time when you're two. Now she's counting the pennies. She's up to 12, 13, 14... I didn't know she could count so high! I'm sure she couldn't yesterday. Last week we definitely stopped at 10, but then I went higher and she just stopped and listened to me, only once, and now she can do it. But maybe one of her siblings has been counting with her too, or maybe it was the Tweenies.
posted by Gill at 7:55 AM 7 comments
Here's a sample, just happened now:
Lyddie: My pizza is ready, my pizza is ready!
Me: Oh yes, I'll get it out.
Lyddie: Come and get it out!
Me: I'm coming
Lyddie: Brum is on next.
Me: Oh good. You like Brum, don't you?
Lyddie: Yes and there's a spider in the bath.
Me: Oh. Yes, that's right.
Lyddie: And he's lover-lee! (lovely)
Me: Oh!
Lyddie: I like spiders, don't I?
Me: Do you?
Lyddie: Well, actually, no I don't. But he can't get out.
[The spider is dead. I'm wondering how to explain the concept of dead, but have wimped out and decided to just move it when she's not looking. Trouble is, she's *always* looking!]
Me: No, he can't get out.
Lyddie: He's stuck in there.
Me: Yes.
Lyddie: Gimme my pizza
Me: But it's very hot.
Lyddie: OK, I'll blow it. [Takes pizza] No. You blow it. [Returns pizza.] No. Me blow it. [Takes pizza back.]
And another, which was happening as I typed the above.......
Lyddie: [With pennies lined up on dining table and a dish] Mum! Watch this sound! Watch! Watch carefully! [throws a coin into the dish]
Me: Ooh yes, it's like a tingaling sound, isn't it?
Lyddie: Yes! Watch again! Watch! Watch carefully! [Throws another coin into the dish]
Me: Wow. [Trying to look suitably amazed.]
Lyddie: NOW...... Look! I'm going to do it again!
Me: Ok.... [gets back to typing]
Lyddie: No! Don't do that! Watch my sound!!
Me: I'm watching your sound.
Lyddie: Who's knocking at the door?
Me: No-one!
Lyddie: OK, look, this one's NOISY [throws another penny]
Me: Ohhh yes!
Lyddie: And this one's very very quiet [whispering, throws another penny]
Me: Indeed it is.
Just in case anyone is reading this who has never cared for a 2-year old on a full-time basis, let me tell you that this kind of conversation goes on all the time, all day, from the minute they open their eyes in the morning, to the minute they close them at night. It's wonderful! And exhausting and infuriating. It makes you laugh one minute and feel like crying the next. You can't think for it at all, but yet it's so fascinating to have this privileged insight into the way their minds work. I really wouldn't miss it for the world.
She's singing to the pennies now, and sliding them around the table in a pattern. I could have spent £30+ on an educational game for her, and presented it to her with great pomp and ceremony, and she wouldn't have looked twice at it. Yet give her a dining chair to climb on, to get access to my purse to get pennies, and another to reach for a dish and she's happy playing and learning for......... oooooh, twenty minutes! Which is a long time when you're two. Now she's counting the pennies. She's up to 12, 13, 14... I didn't know she could count so high! I'm sure she couldn't yesterday. Last week we definitely stopped at 10, but then I went higher and she just stopped and listened to me, only once, and now she can do it. But maybe one of her siblings has been counting with her too, or maybe it was the Tweenies.
posted by Gill at 7:55 AM 7 comments
posted by Gill at 10:14 am
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