No bunnies or ears were harmed before during or after this post
It's not always easy to be the example you want your kids to follow. Like sometimes when I'm talking and Mike's eardrums literally start bleeding out in front of me because I've probably reiterated the same point about the merits of lop eared bunnies a solid 3 or 4 times and haven't paused for air for over an hour lest my ideas not come across clearly. A lot can be lost in translation during a pause you know. But now I'm trying to mop up the blood from Mike's ears and that sidesteps us into the world of home cleaning appliances and how much easier my life would be if we had a unicorn shaped rumba to clean blood out of the one carpeted room in the house and WwwWooooOOOOwwwwww wouldn't life be great if we could rip this carpet up and have hardwood floors everywhere!!! Wait what were we talking about. Bunnies! No.... good examples!! Yes!
So then after this extremely insightful dialogue (don't let him fool you he does get words in, like "yeah", and "oh", and "ouch my ears", and "huh?", and sometimes, "I'm hungry"), my daughter will come bouncing in the room like
"Hey Mom You Know What Happened Today This Is So Awesome I Just Have To Tell You Something - "
and I get all puffed up and am all "HEY! what's your deal kid calm down, is it actually something important - " (you know like bunnies) "-or is it just some silly story about your fish friend?" I should clarify that, she does not in fact have an aquatic pal, she just has a friend up the road that rides her bus whose parents were thoughtful enough to name him after a fish species.
So what my daughter basically just learned is that it's OK for me to prattle on like a drunk 9 year old about the many fine subjects I happen to be an authority on like bunnies and make up and home cleaning supplies and pinterest, but when she tries to do it she's gonna get shut down. Not that this prevents her from trying, but still. Taking a step back I can't help but feel like I'm sending her mixed signals. It's not necessarily that I don't want to hear *Salmon's (*not his actual name) pearls of bus wisdom that my daughter is attempting to pass on to me, or the exceptionally fine musings of *Baileys Older Brother Who's in 4th Grade Said (*also reasonably sure this is not his real name, but whenever my child speaks of him this is how she identifies him.) about ghosts and their ilk, it's just that my talk of bunnies is super important and need not be overshadowed. But I feel like this is giving my daughter the impression that her words aren't important to me. They are. Especially the nice ones where she's all "You're the best mommy ever" and "mmmm this is delicious olive oil soup mommy!" and "I've tucked away another $200 in the college fund jar this week mommy!" ... I can dream. But what happens most of the time is she has a big build up about this important factoid she's getting ready to bestow on us, and then just repeats something she probably just heard me say a minute earlier or else she's saying "Connor farted!" even if in fact no one has farted, or "but what about Rodney Davis!!" Which... I assume we have the hundreds of political ads that have been playing to thank. She's pretty concerned about Rodney Davis's social standing though, apparently he is not getting enough love in the 6 year old circles. I want to encourage her to have original thoughts and not be afraid to share them, especially with me, but I don't know how to tell a kid, "listen... stop repeating everything I say like it's important.... also unless he sends me a unicorn rumba or initiates a movement to make dog hair worth significant monetary value, no one cares about Rodney Davis, let it go." Because then I'll be dealing with the offset of her now believing nothing I say is important.
"Kenzie, go get in the shower and then get ready for bed"
"Oh that mom, she's such a kidder"
"Kenzie don't touch the oven while I'm cooking, it's hot"
"Mom's so cute trying to pretend like she kn- OWWWW"
I can just see it going downhill real fast you know?
Also she has this habit of waiting to speak until the exact moment that I'm in the middle of my 3rd word in what will surely be, an epic statement and/or question, or she waits until the most intense part of whatever show we're watching is just about to reach a climax and decides this is when we need to be informed of her dislike for shots. This will usually result in a couple of threats to be thumped with the thumper (which in its former life was a paper towel tube.) which builds up into loudly exclaiming how rude she's being and to please stop, which eventually will give way into 'go to your room since you can't be quiet'. And it's so frustrating!!! I don't actually want her to go to her room, I want her to sit with us quietly while I clean up Mike's eardrum blood and listen to Connor fart!!! There has to be a better way to let my daughter know how important her ramblings are to me when she's not interjecting them at wildly inappropriate times or repeating political propaganda.
Sigh. This mom business is a tough racket. I do like the hugs though. As long as they stay hugs which is rare, mostly anymore they're tricks to lure me into a false sense of security so she can then latch on to my mid section koala bear style and put all her weight on me and hang there doing her best impression of a sloth.
So then after this extremely insightful dialogue (don't let him fool you he does get words in, like "yeah", and "oh", and "ouch my ears", and "huh?", and sometimes, "I'm hungry"), my daughter will come bouncing in the room like
"Hey Mom You Know What Happened Today This Is So Awesome I Just Have To Tell You Something - "
and I get all puffed up and am all "HEY! what's your deal kid calm down, is it actually something important - " (you know like bunnies) "-or is it just some silly story about your fish friend?" I should clarify that, she does not in fact have an aquatic pal, she just has a friend up the road that rides her bus whose parents were thoughtful enough to name him after a fish species.
So what my daughter basically just learned is that it's OK for me to prattle on like a drunk 9 year old about the many fine subjects I happen to be an authority on like bunnies and make up and home cleaning supplies and pinterest, but when she tries to do it she's gonna get shut down. Not that this prevents her from trying, but still. Taking a step back I can't help but feel like I'm sending her mixed signals. It's not necessarily that I don't want to hear *Salmon's (*not his actual name) pearls of bus wisdom that my daughter is attempting to pass on to me, or the exceptionally fine musings of *Baileys Older Brother Who's in 4th Grade Said (*also reasonably sure this is not his real name, but whenever my child speaks of him this is how she identifies him.) about ghosts and their ilk, it's just that my talk of bunnies is super important and need not be overshadowed. But I feel like this is giving my daughter the impression that her words aren't important to me. They are. Especially the nice ones where she's all "You're the best mommy ever" and "mmmm this is delicious olive oil soup mommy!" and "I've tucked away another $200 in the college fund jar this week mommy!" ... I can dream. But what happens most of the time is she has a big build up about this important factoid she's getting ready to bestow on us, and then just repeats something she probably just heard me say a minute earlier or else she's saying "Connor farted!" even if in fact no one has farted, or "but what about Rodney Davis!!" Which... I assume we have the hundreds of political ads that have been playing to thank. She's pretty concerned about Rodney Davis's social standing though, apparently he is not getting enough love in the 6 year old circles. I want to encourage her to have original thoughts and not be afraid to share them, especially with me, but I don't know how to tell a kid, "listen... stop repeating everything I say like it's important.... also unless he sends me a unicorn rumba or initiates a movement to make dog hair worth significant monetary value, no one cares about Rodney Davis, let it go." Because then I'll be dealing with the offset of her now believing nothing I say is important.
"Kenzie, go get in the shower and then get ready for bed"
"Oh that mom, she's such a kidder"
"Kenzie don't touch the oven while I'm cooking, it's hot"
"Mom's so cute trying to pretend like she kn- OWWWW"
I can just see it going downhill real fast you know?
Also she has this habit of waiting to speak until the exact moment that I'm in the middle of my 3rd word in what will surely be, an epic statement and/or question, or she waits until the most intense part of whatever show we're watching is just about to reach a climax and decides this is when we need to be informed of her dislike for shots. This will usually result in a couple of threats to be thumped with the thumper (which in its former life was a paper towel tube.) which builds up into loudly exclaiming how rude she's being and to please stop, which eventually will give way into 'go to your room since you can't be quiet'. And it's so frustrating!!! I don't actually want her to go to her room, I want her to sit with us quietly while I clean up Mike's eardrum blood and listen to Connor fart!!! There has to be a better way to let my daughter know how important her ramblings are to me when she's not interjecting them at wildly inappropriate times or repeating political propaganda.
Sigh. This mom business is a tough racket. I do like the hugs though. As long as they stay hugs which is rare, mostly anymore they're tricks to lure me into a false sense of security so she can then latch on to my mid section koala bear style and put all her weight on me and hang there doing her best impression of a sloth.
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| See his ears are fine. |