Friday, June 19, 2009

Conversations with a 2-year-old

The other night, while I was changing her diaper, CC got a little out of control and bit me. On purpose.

"Biting is bad," I said. (We had just watched an episode of PBS KIDS' Super Why! explaining that good was the opposite of bad.) "I want you to be good."

Blank stare from the toddler.

"Are you bad or are you good?"

"Bad."

Me: "Good."

Toddler: "Bad."

This, I realized, could have gone on for hours. But I had more pressing matters, like a dirty diaper staring me in the face.

At that moment, while I was unhooking the Pull-Up from around her big toe, she yelled:

"My eye!"

Terrified, I looked down expecting the worst. (I would describe what I imagined, but I might faint. Seriously.)

Luckily, it wasn't anything near the worst. *** Pausing to avoid passing out just thinking about it. Letting a nonthreatening Mentos commercial play out in my mind. *** She had apparently just bumped her head on the sideboard of the table.

Nevertheless, I decided to seize on an opportunity.

"See," I said. "You should be good."

She looked up at me with the most serious expression and nodded.

"Good," she said. "Yeah."

So, just wondering, does that make me a bad parent or a good one?

4 comments:

Pokie said...

CC will blow the pre-school teachers away when she knows the word karma!

Jessica Gottlieb said...

it makes you real.

L.A. Story said...

Wasn't prepared for instant karma!

And thanks for the reassurance, Jessica.

Pat Saperstein said...

Even though my mom wasn't terribly religious, she liked to use those moments to remind me, "See, god will get you for that."

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