Sunday, December 14, 2008

Lesson #432861 for new moms

So you wake up at 7 am on a Sunday morning because you can hear your not-quite-yet-2-year old laughing in his bed as he practices all the words he knows (>10/language now). Since you went to sleep at midnight after watching stupid crappy X-files movie and reading old science papers related to your hot research, you think "he's happy and laughing, I'll just sleep a little more".

This a dangerous dangerous thought process. It will lead you to sleep for another 20 minutes and wake up well rested. You will hear you not-yet-2-year-old still happily laughing and playing in his crib. You can also hear the crib creaking and some jumping going on, and since you know your young child is able to climb out of the crib you'll go to get him. You'll walk toward his door, smiling to yourself about the wonderful day you're about to have, since he's woken up happy and you're well rested.

He hears your footsteps and gets very excited as he realizes you're coming to get him. This makes you very happy. Thinking all is well, you open the door to his room, he comes running to the end of the crib, arms reaching out. My gosh you think I"m getting a big hug first thing, what a great morning. You turn on the light and you see your monkey, arms reaching out as far as they can over the side of the crib. You walk in to get that hug.

And you get a diaper handed to your with a sweet "ank you" instead.

Oh and he peed on the bed.

The lesson? Perhaps it not a good idea to let you child play in his crib, if he can remove his diaper.

6 comments:

Isis the Scientist said...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!11!!!!!11!

What is it about boys at this age and taking their diapers off? Last night at a dinner party Little Isis told a senior professor that he (the professor) had a penis and that his mommy's penis had gone bye-bye.

And you did not disclose the Moneky's bilingual abilities when you lamented his lack of words. Bilingual children quite often speak later than monolingual children as they try to integrate both languages. And I now lament not speaking Spanish with Little Isis.

The bean-mom said...

That sweet "ank you" as he handed you the diaper just MADE this post!

messy, maddening and sweet--isn't that just what toddlers are?

By the way, scientistmother, my toddler doesn't have many words either (although we are monolingual) More on that later...

Anonymous said...

Okay, that was pretty darned cute! Though I'm sure you didn't think so at the time. Can I just say how glad I am that Cameron has yet to figure out the whole diaper-off thing? And since we're about to start no-pullups-at-night as soon as we're at my parents' places (with laundry easily available), I doubt he will.

ScientistMother said...

Dr.Isis - That is an awesome story. It one of the reason I wonder about teaching monkey the proper names. Why lament not speaking Spanish, little Isis is only 2 and will easily pick it up. All the kids at monkey's daycare understand and say "muchi dedey" which means give a kiss, most of them picked up very quickly that "chel-lee-eh" meant lets go and would say bye bye. Its never too late to start.

Bean-mom - what a perfect description of toddlers! There is such a variation with kids that I know I shouldn't compare...He does communicate his needs quite well, just not verbally which is what I am focusing on.

Mel - don't rub it in!!

Anonymous said...

I don't think it is ever to late to speak to your child in another language. We manage with two languages quite well.

Which reminds me, the mother of one of my friends always switched to her native language when she got mad. The words you learn!

kiwi

Julie R said...

Some people say that you need to worry when you child is too quiet as this often indicates that he is up to something.

In my experience the time to worry is when you hear laughter because for some reason my daughters think getting in trouble is really funny.