Jordy and fellow junior physicist Grace performing experiments at playgroup
"Watch me throw this ball at that fountain!"
Thanks to Jordy I've been having fun reliving my childhood, seeing things through his toddler eyes. And, particularly in the last couple of weeks, we've been having fun with "Yes" and "No"
“Have you finished dinner, honey?”
“Yes”.
“Would you like to get down, then?”
“No”.
“So you’re still hungry?”
“Yes”
“Would you like some more dinner, then?”
Big smile. “No”.
Arrgghh! What does it all mean? Is there a technical glitch in the mainframe? Is this his first, fledgling attempt at humour? Does he mean he’s hungry for chocolate ice-cream and not peas? I don’t know. Like so many other kid conundrums, it will probably pass and we will never be the wiser.
Jordan added a new twist to the game the other day, where the answer to “Would you like to wear your brown shoes, sweetheart?” was “Yes-No”. Maybe he is trying to say he doesn’t know what he wants. Or that he doesn’t care and I should stop bothering him with silly questions. Mental note to self: must start devising questions where the answer does not require an affirmative or negative response. You've got to love the inconsistent toddler.
Screen Grabs
For somebody who was raised without the background thrum of a computer monitor, the combination of kids and computers all seems a bit, well, amiss. Jordy just seems so unhealthily transfixed by it. I guess this is our fault because so are we. He will be happily playing follow-the-leader with his Matchbox cars in the living room, so I’ll quietly takes myself off (okay, sneak) to the study to check my inbox/latest eBay bid/Facebook notifications.
But, oh no, there’ll be none of that, Mummy. Jordy’s by my side in a flash, mewling and grabbing the mouse, climbing onto the desk, wanting a turn and generally being a nuisance. I’ve tried explaining Mummy time and Jordy time. I’ve tried bringing his toys into the study with me. I’ve tried kicking him out of the room (guaranteed meltdown). To no avail, of course.
TV Turnaround
Then there’s that other hypnotic screen, the television. BC (Before Child), I vowed my offspring would barely know what a television looked like as they would be too busy out in the sunshine, communing with nature. Gosh, how my Mummy friends laughed. Of course they were right.
Jordan can now recognise the lovely lilting tune of ‘In the Night Garden’ from twenty paces and be able to spot ‘Thomas the Tank’ merchandise from the other side of Target.
At least the chances are reduced of him being a social pariah when he gets to school. Well that’s my pathetic excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Whose Playgroup?
Jordy and I love our Montessori playgroup. We’ve been going for a year now and it just gets better and better. The Mums (& Dads) are funny, supportive & kind, and I look forward to catching up with them every week. Over the months I've made that lovely transition to a closer friendship with some of them, and my life is all the more rich for it.
Oh, and Jordy loves it too. Which is, of course, important. If he could have playgroup every day of the week, he would.
Man, I wish this stuff had been around when I was little. The other week the kids got to hold silkworms and watch them munch through leaves a la 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. This week it was all glitter collages, playdough, water activities, trikes and more fun than you'd think any small child could manage.
But playgroup wasn't always like this for us. The first one we went to was more like a members-only clique. The mums parked themselves on the sofas for a couple of hours while the kids wandered around looking bored. After months of mounting bemusement, Jordy and I took ourselves off to our new one and we've never looked back.
