Conversations with my daughter VII.

[rivka]

Me: Markers only go on paper, not on your feet.
Alex: No, on my toesies!
Me: I know Gran had painted toenails, but you are not Gran.
Alex: applies marker to toes with a flourish. I'm pretending to be Gran.


Alex: pretending to bathe a triceratops. I will pour water on you.
Triceratops (a.k.a. me): No, I'm all done! Waaaah!
Alex: Shh! I have to wash your hair.
Triceratops (a.k.a. me): Waaah! I don't like it!
Alex: No, you do not say that. *I* say that.
Me: Oh, that's true. Maybe triceratops likes to have its hair washed. What *does* Triceratops say?
Alex: Raaaaar!


Alex: holds out a banana peel. Mama, will you fix it?
Me: Once a banana is peeled, you can't really fix it.
Alex: You will try to fix it with your tools.
Me: I don't have any tools that could fix a banana peel.
Alex: You will go to the store and buy some tools to fix it.


Edited to add:
Alex: listening to a Kermit the Frong song. He can swim in the water.
Me: That's right, "he's a Caribbean amphibian." An amphibian is an animal who can live in the water, or on the land.
Alex: Or in a house!

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

>Me: I don't have any tools that could fix a banana peel.
>Alex: You will go to the store and buy some tools to fix it.

I love this refusal to recognize unfixable problems. Though I suppose that if you went to the store, you *could* come back with a fixed banana, good as new.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I love this refusal to recognize unfixable problems.

Well, it's certainly good problem solving. She's really starting to have an idea of possible alternative approaches to a problem.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Also: merely recognizing that there are many kinds of tools, not all of which are useful for every jobs, is major progress. It used to be that everything, including broken china, was met with "Papa will fix it with a hammer."

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

This puts her a step beyond many of the adults I know. I still consider "Papa will fix it with a hammer" a good solution to the vast majority of problems I encounter.