It's sort of funny that your kids wind up unintentionally using the skills that you taught them against you. Like, today for example, Shayla prctically locked me out of the house. Not quite, but she almost succeeded.
For the longest time we were safe locking the deadbolt on the front door before running off to the bathroom. For quite sometime now she has been able to open and close doors, etc. She feels like it's one of her domestic duties, if you will. So we oblige her as much as possible. Then there came a time that she decided she would just come and go as she pleased--inside to outside, you know. Since this development we have moved up the chain and now lock the dead bolt to keep the occupants inside. :) Alas, now That is also Shayla's ( my (almost--thanks mom!) 3 yr. old)) job as she sees it. Afterall she needs practice, right? There are two dead bolts on each of our entry doors. One is keyed from the outside; the other is not.
For the longest time we were safe locking the deadbolt on the front door before running off to the bathroom. For quite sometime now she has been able to open and close doors, etc. She feels like it's one of her domestic duties, if you will. So we oblige her as much as possible. Then there came a time that she decided she would just come and go as she pleased--inside to outside, you know. Since this development we have moved up the chain and now lock the dead bolt to keep the occupants inside. :) Alas, now That is also Shayla's ( my (almost--thanks mom!) 3 yr. old)) job as she sees it. Afterall she needs practice, right? There are two dead bolts on each of our entry doors. One is keyed from the outside; the other is not.
Today, while I was taking in the sun via the side yard she who was watching SS (sesame street) on the tube decided, I thought by the fiddling sounds of the side door handle and assembly, that she was going to come and join me. I sat there waiting for her to appear, which she did not, nor did I hear the frustrating whines of defeat. I assumed that she must have changed her mind at least once within her 10-blessed-second attention span. I forgot about it until......
I got up to go in the house and found the door locked. "Well, it's a good thing that I happen to have my keys in my pocket", I think to myself and say outloud without realizing it (one of the benefits of being over 40). I go to unlock the side door keyed lock and turn the handle and push, but no go. She had been 'practicing' and had also locked the non-keyed interior deadbolt. That's what all that fiddling had been earlier! Hhmmm. I knocked, but then knew that was a lost cause as she'd probably just say "Hi, Daddy" from the other side while she observed me try and get back in the house. I should give her more credit than that...She probably would've let me back in, but she's not quite at the stage of totally being able to undo what she does, unless of course she wanted to get outside. Then it would just be a simple logical process of doing this and then that and then 'boom'! Freedom!
So I then walk around to the front door hoping that she hasn't locked both of those locks too and I luck out, she hasn't. It was funny, but I can imagine that there could be other scenarios of the same caliber that would not be. :) These little people certainly inspire a sense of humor. :)
The stories that we tell our kids in an effort to satisfy their insatiable questioning of reality and circumstance are really quite laughable when you think about it. There is a need for a heavy dose of artistic liscense when relating with a curious, ever questioning 2-3 year old. Like it or not storytelling becomes a very necessary tool when answering the billion plus questions per day.
Let me explain a little of what this is like for those that are scratching their heads or to whom it has been so long that you don't remember of what I speak. Some of these questions come out of outer space for all I can tell having not much relevance to their place and time when asked. Others are like the one below, but still require the skill of extemporaneous fiction if you're to get off with little residual fuss. Here's an accurate depiction: You are sitting rocking your over active child, lulling them into a place where it might be possible for he/she to take that nap that you know they need and without which your hair will be turning every shade of gray by early evening.
"Aahh,... Dada", she says?
"Yeah".
"What's Elmo doing?"
"You mean right now?"
"Yeah", she says.
"He's tired. He's laying down. He told me that he was ready for his nap so that he can have a lot of energy to play later on after you get up."
"Ooh, I see", she says.
"Aahh.....Dada"?
"Yes".
"Why isn't he in here with me right now", she questions?
(You're too tired to get up and go Elmo hunting right now and besides, you've already got your Presciousness In the rocker With her blanket almost ready to lay down so you say...)
"He told me that he wants to give you the space to have a Real Good nap so that you two can have fun together later. Besides, he said that he doesn't mind taking his nap on the couch just so that he doesn't wind up talking to you and keeping you awake. He's real considerate like that. Elmo's a good friend."
"Ohhh yeaahh", she says.
Good. She bought it, I think to myself. Hey I'm getting pretty good at this. I just know that if I had told her that I was too tired to get up and go find Elmo, and would she please just be OK with seeing him a little later that that could've opened up the door to some fussiness that I am just more that willing to sidestep.
That just a little sampling of the creative fiction that is pretty much non-stop in our house. I'm just glad to be able to tell stories like that while I can. I know there will come a day when that will no longer satisfy, and then the story line will change and adapt as needed. Hopefully I'll be up to the task. I think I shall.
Fear is the non-acceptance of What Is.