August 06, 2008

I will do it

What words would a preschooler use for most part of the day? Is there a list somewhere I can look up? My lovely, always-paranoid mom friends are now wrecking their brains thinking why didn't I know about this, really there would be some specific words that my preschooler be using? Where is the list, where!!?? Well you can relax because I have the list and it has only one phrase "I WILL DO IT ALL BY MYSELF". The whole focus of my parenting has been to help our daughter move towards not only physical but also emotional independence and I am so proud for what she is today. How excited I was when I saw my daughter using the toilet one and a half years back, I couldn't stop jumping with joy thinking about the bathroom with no diaper pail in it. But I am somehow not able to appreciate this fact when I am standing outside the bathroom at 3 at night while this sleepy person tries to do her business all by herself. Looking at her slumbery moves my listless eyes are not able to see a budding individual who wants to learn to be self-reliant even while she is sleeping.
The headstrong girl is focused on "I will do it" and because learning comes at its own pace, the other phrase that follows is "Be quick, we are getting late".
A sampler
Mom: Let's go out to get the mail
Preschooler: Okay, but first I need to go to the toilet.
Mom: Hmm, how about you use the toilet while I bring the mail.
Preschooler: (upset) No, I want to take out the mail.
Mom: Ok, I am waiting. Be quick.
Preschooler moving at the pace of, err, well, a preschooler.
Mom: I am waiting. (Nicely)
Preschooler doing her business her way.
Mom: I am still waiting. (Pretending to be nice)
Preschooler got lost in thoughts while washing hands.
Mom: Be quick, I don't want to wait any more!
Preschooler: Why do we have to be quick Mamma? Where are we going?
Mom (fazed): We aren't going anywhere just out to the mailbox. (Red faced)
Preschooler: Why do we need to be quick? I am wearing slippers, now let's go.
Mom (shaken up to the core): Let's go. (Hand at the door)
Preschooler: I will open the door.
Mom ( there we go again) : Okay!

At the mail box :

She is able to reach the mailbox but still can't open it so I pick her up to help. But you see help is a four-letter word that our preschooler has prohibited in the house.

Mom: Let me pick you up so you can reach.
Preschooler (offended): Don't pick me, I am not a baby. I will open it all by myself.
She tried 3 times, could only touch but wasn't able to pull it down open.
Mom: Wow you have grown a lot, few weeks back you couldn't even touch that handle!
Preschooler (appeased): Let's open it together.
Yay, we've got mail.
And then I had to rush inside to make dinner. Did my ears just ring or someone say, "I will do it”? Well all I have to say is "Be quick!"

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