Just one more glass of water..?

This holiday weekend (yes, this is actually the second holiday I’ve taken this year at work. The other being New Year’s Day) produced many good quotes from my daughter, but she saved the best conversation for last:

Daughter: Daddy!
Me: Yes, sweetie?
Daughter: I’m scared of the dark…
Me: Well, that’s why we have your night light.
Daughter: But it is dark even with the night light.
Me: It doesn’t seem dark to me. Where is it dark?
Daughter: Over there.
Me: I can see over there just fine.
Daughter (pointing right next to her bed): It’s dark here…
Me: It is lighter there.
Daughter: Well, I’m scared of the dark.
Me: What are you afraid of in the dark?
Daughter: Uh.. the dark.
Me: The dark won’t hurt you.
Daughter: … well, I just want someone to be in the room with me.
Me: That’s why you have your lovies.
Daughter: I want a person who is alive, like mommy or [The Boy] or daddy…
Me: Really? You want your brother to sleep with you?
Daughter: Well, only when he’s older and can keep quiet.
Me: Mommy and I are in the house. You’ll be fine.
Daughter: … daddy, I’m worn out and I need a cup of water.
Me: You’ve had a lot of water already. You know what helps me when I am worn out?
Daughter: What?
Me: Sleep.
Daughter: But I am water worn out.

I just had to get her a cup of water for that. Water Worn Out. At least she’s creative.

Change of Scenery

“I need to talk to you…”

This is what my daughter’s Teacher said to me when I went to pick up my daughter from Big Girl School yesterday. “Uh oh, now what did she do?” I thought to myself.

“I have to close.”

Eep.

“I’ve been doing some consulting,” (we knew this), “and I was made an offer I just cannot turn down.”

“Okay,” I said, “uhm… when?”

“My license expires at the end of the month,” she told me, “so two weeks.”

Eep.

So, we’re looking for a new place to send my daughter. Ms. Kaz is working a couple days a week, and, for now, the woman who watched her when she was younger, and who now watches The Boy, can watch her while we look.

Of course, it may mean the end of being with her friend Timmy, whom she’s known since she was 8 months old. The same little boy who helped ease the transition between care providers last time, as we at least knew she’d know someone there.

And this place was highly recommended to us, so it wasn’t like we did a huge search last time. It has been over 3 years since we’ve really had to search and evaluate daycare. Or maybe preschool. Who knows where she’ll end up.

She seemed okay with it as I discussed it in front of her withe her teacher, then with Ms. Kaz. But, at some point, for some reason, she had a breakdown about not wanting to go to a new school. I mentioned earlier that she’ll need to find a new school for big kids, and she seemed okay with it. I guess it didn’t really sink in until later.

Here’s some of the comments we heard:

“I wanna just stay home with mommy all the time!”

“I’m going to become a teacher and go to the school and open it up!”

and my favorite:

“I don’t care! I’m going to go in to the school anyhow!”

So, if anyone has advice on (a) explaining the need to switch to my daughter, and (b) easing the transition to a school where she could potentially not know any of the kids, that would be great.

On the plus side, since my daughter wanted to invite only certain kids from School to her birthday party, and the school has a “rule” that all kids have to be invited (to spare hurt feelings, I support) or none at all… we no longer have this problem!

A trip to the Movie Store

When I go walking with my daughter, we often go to our local, independent “Movie Store,” as she calls it. It is only a few blocks away, and she likes looking at the kids movies. And we both like looking at the “treats” they sell there (this weekend’s haul – Swedish Fish).

We usually wind up looking at, and often renting, a Princess Movie. Lately, however, she’s been into Scooby-Doo (or Scooby-dooby-doo, as she calls him). Still, it surprised me (although pleasantly, I must say) when she chose a Scooby-Doo movie (“Pirates Ahoy!“) over a Princess Stories DVD.

“Really?” I asked.

“Uh-huh,” she replied, “Timmy likes Scooby-Doo, and I like everything Timmy likes.”

Later, at dinner, I tried to get the truth our of her, “So which do you like better? Scooby-Doo or Princesses?” At first, she replied as she usually does, “Scooby-Doo and Princesses!” Then, thinking about it, she confessed, “No, Princesses.”

Continuing the game, I threw out the age-old, fully not expecting her to get it, “Ginger or Mary-Ann?”

“Ginger and Mary-Ann!” she told me. “Oh, daddy,” Ms. Kaz said, “she doesn’t know who they are!”

“No, no, wait,” I said, “I think she might be onto something. I like that answer. Ginger and Mary-Ann.” Ms. Kaz rolled her eyes.

Conversations With…: Kids and technology

Man, kids seem to be learning and understanding earlier and earlier. It must have something to do with the fast pace of technological change. My parents thought it was fast when I was a kid, I’m sure, but it wasn’t like it is today.

My daughter, a few weeks ago, was watching some sort of video on the computer. I had to feed The Boy his bottle, so I told her, “just move the mouse over the movie you want and click,” and in the time I was getting the bottle ready, she must have watched 3 other video.

Last night, when getting her ready for bed, she told me, “I have one hundred friends!”

“Wow,” I said, “that’s a lot”

“Yeah.”

“Is that Friendster, or Facebook?” I asked. She thought for a bit, then told me, “Facebook.”

Maybe it is time to put a password on the ol’ Internet.