Things In Our Future #7

This in from my friend Jessica: Her son Seth asked her -- as sons apparently do -- if he could marry her when he grew up. Jessica explained that he couldn't but that she was sure he would marry a very nice girl. He said, "Yes, I will. I will marry a nice girl. . . Named Mommy!"

Things in Our Future #6

Catherine just told me this story that happened to almost-three-year-old Will (who loves trains), while we were away in France. Will had a particularly tough evening one night when he insisted that Catherine put on Thomas the Tank Engine immediately. ("I want to watch Trains! Right now. I want trains! Put it on now!")

Fifteen minute of watching "Trains" is part of his nightly going to bed ritual, but his mom was not particularly excited about his barking tone. She's been working hard lately on his getting his "may I's" and "pleases" and "thank yous." So she whisked him off into his bedroom to have a serious conversation with him.

Will cried a bit, and his mom insisted over and over that he couldn't demand to do things, he had to ask for them: "It's not a statement. It's a question. Do you understand? It's a question." Once, Will had calmed down, he and his mother emerged from his bedroom, for round #2.

A teary-eyed Will looked up at Catherine and said, "I want to watch trains. . . It's a question!"

Things in Our Future #4

This is two-year-old Will, learning the difference between "my nose" and "your nose." (Also, Ben is wearing one of Will's hand-me-downs, given to us in a crunch when Ben managed to destroy his current outfit in what we affectionately refer to as a "nuclear diaper explosion" -- an event which is definitely still in our Present.)

Things in Our Future, #3

Lisa told me a story about her daughter Anya today. As Lisa's husband Dan was making coffee (with his brand-new, shiny-silver, could-power-the-space-shuttle-if-needed coffee maker) Anya asked him,"Dad, do you love coffee?"

Dan said he did, then smiled knowingly at his adorable child and added, "But do you know what I love even more?"

Anya thought for a moment and then said: "Beer!"

Things In Our Future, #2

Tales from the parenting trenches:

A professor friend of one of my friends has begun to rue his and his wife's outspoken liberal viewpoints as they see they daughter mimic them for her own agenda. At age 5, she wanted another bowl of ice cream, and her parents said she couldn't have anymore. She began to stomp her feet and yell: "My body, my choice! My body, my choice!"

Things In Our Future

I am, of course, obsessed with other people's parenting stories now. The ones I hear are always so cute and so funny. . . up until I remember that I too am going to be that parent struggling with that kid any day now. One of my favorite recent stories:

Aries's friend Amy is trying to give her 2-year-old daughter a lot of choices these days at a time when she mostly says "no" to anything. Amy makes it clear that whether her daughter eats dinner is not up for discussion, but she may choose what she wishes to eat. Frustrated after a round of questions -- "Do you want to eat chicken or grilled cheese? Broccoli or peas?" -- that had all gotten her nowhere, Amy finally sighed: "Fine! Do you want to eat worms for dinner or grubs?"

"No worms, Mommy! No worms!" her daughter yelled back. "Only grubs!"

Alright, then.

Amy made her some Kraft Macaroni and Grubs for dinner.