 |
| My toddlers |
When communicating with toddlers, you have to speak
literally, basically channeling Amelia Bedelia and thinking carefully about every
word you use. You must be clear as a freshly washed window.
And when listening to a toddler, you have to search for the
unsaid words, while simultaneously sorting through the garbled interpretation
of the language presented. Many times what a toddler says makes no sense,
especially out of context, which is typically how a toddler talks. He might say
something like “Today I was dinosaur and kitty was up there. I had the yellow
one.” And what the toddler is referring to is sometime last month when there
was a kitten in the neighbor’s tree and he was wearing his favorite dinosaur
t-shirt and carrying his yellow bucket.
I would give anything to go back to the simplicity of
communicating with my teenagers when they were toddlers. It was much easier.
This afternoon my daughter arrived home from school. “Hi!” I
said brightly. She continued to rummage through the cupboards without
acknowledging me.
I’m used to this because my oldest has ear buds permanently
installed in his ears. It’s necessary to physically get his attention. I must
clap or yell (just like our 15-year-old dog who can’t hear either).
