All three girls wanted to eat some leftover Shanghai noodles. (They’re thick like udon noodles.) It wasn’t mealtime, so I thought I’d make a game out of it. I sat on a step stool in front of them, then explained that they were the baby birds and I was the mommy bird feeding them worms. They said, “Tweet tweet!”, flapped their arms like wings, and opened their mouths until I gave them a “worm.” It was so much fun!
Archive for November, 2009
Growing up, my mom used to often ask herself, “What was I going to say?” Usually I would give the wisecrack response, “I don’t know what you were going to say, Mom.”
As an adult, I find myself asking myself the same question.
And now, Jubilee, at the ripe old age of 4, is already pondering out loud, “What was I going to say?”
Jubilee excitedly told us, “I have a great idea! If you put raisins in water, they will become grapes!” I (David) then proceeded to explain to her how you can’t simply put dried fruit in water in order to return it back to it’s former glory. I tried to give her some semblance of a scientific explanation, but I knew the particulars would be lost on her. “Besides, it will just make a mess,” I concluded.
But she persisted, so we filled a cup with water and put a raisin in it.
I knew that the raisin was just going to sit there, day after day, getting increasingly slimy and gooey. So, it was no surprise that after the first couple days there was little noticeable change. But by the third day, I was shocked! The raisin swelled up and now looked like a brown grape. Sure, it wasn’t really a grape, but as far as Jubilee was concerned, the raisin became a grape again. Amazing! And she was so proud of her discovery she proceeded to eat the “grape” and, I think, pretended to enjoy it.
Our little Jubilee, the scientist.
I was getting ready to go to church tonight. Maddie was with me in my bedroom. As I grabbed a rugby shirt, she said, “No!” She pointed to a pink and white striped hoodie.
“You want me to wear this?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she replied. Then I think she said, while pointing to the rugby, “That’s Ba-Ba’s shirt.”
I complied with her request.
At 4 years of age, Jubilee is in her prime when it comes to asking “Why?” I try my best to not get fed up and say, “Just because.” Sometimes I say, “Why do you think so?” If she responds with an “I don’t know,” I may or may not be a little mean and say, “Then I won’t tell you.” (Don’t fret, I usually help her come up with an answer.)
I think Maddie is copying Jubilee. She says “Why?” all the time! She easily asks why four times as much as Jubilee. She is more persistent with asking “Why” than Jubilee. And much to our frustration, there is no reasoning with a 2 year old. To top it off, she probably doesn’t even know what “Why?” means!