Paul and the Family

This is a very common verbal interchange between Kelli or I and Adam:

• (Adam does something that bothers someone, for example he takes a toy from Sarah)
• Parent (to Adam): “Tell [so-and-so] you’re sorry”
• Adam (to so-and-so): “You’re sorry”

Here’s a new one I overheard this morning:

• Adam: “I want to play Mousetrap”
• Kelli: “First you need to show me that you can behave”
• Adam: “I am being have” (He pronounced it “have” rhyming with “Dave”)

Tonight, Kelli and I were going through the usual routine of trying to clean up the kids toys, clothes and such as much as possible before bedtime. We try to keep this up as a way to keep the house manageable — sort of like the dishes, if you skip one day the next day really is painful. (There’s also the practical matter that if one of the kids starts crying in the night and we have to go in to them, we don’t want to be tripping over toys in the dark.)

So anyway, tonight Kelli and I were cleaning up toys. I was in Adam’s room, picking up a few things. He was in there too, and I noticed that he was digging some toys out of his “special things” box that is kept under his bed. I didn’t really pay attention to the fact that Sarah was in the room too, although it turned out to be significant:

• Me (to Adam): “Adam, don’t take out toys! Can’t you see that everyone else is putting toys away?”
• Sarah: “I no putting away toys!”

Ah, yes. She completely undermined my whole psychological strategy (not that I was conscious of what I was trying to do until she made it obvious).

To think that, for some reason, parents are generally anxious for their kids to learn to talk.