Month: April 2008

  • Conversations with Bean

    Part of what might be amusing, or make some of this seem less disturbing is to imagine the typical 4 year old.

    Yesterday we were in the car. I had picked her up from school and was taking her for swim lessons. She said in a kind of dreamy manner, "Mama, I wish I could go to the store and get a toy!"
    "Nope!" I replied cheerfully, regretting the word almost immediately as soon as it came out of my mouth.
    "You're mean!
    "You're right, I shouldn't have just said no when you didn't ask me a question. I should have said that I understand that you want a new toy, new toys are fun and children your age get excited about going to the store for toys.
    "Can we go to the store and get a new toy?" The excitement in her voice was palpable.
    "No," I replied.
    "You're MEAN!"

    Silence for awhile. I saw her sulkily sucking her thumb. Then she asked if I wanted her to talk to me. I sat silently, mulling this over, not answering. I felt like I knew exactly how the conversation would play out, but I was wondering if I should interpret it straightforwardly and answer that way. While I was thinking this, she screeched out in an ugly tone, "ANSWER ME!"

    I said in a bright tone of voice, "Yes, I would like to talk to you. What should we talk about."

    Of course the inevitable, "Well, too bad, I'm never talking to you again, that's what you get!"
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    This morning she wanted me to get a snow globe for her. I got her the large Christmas snow globe that was in a box in the garage cabinet, but I refused to get her the smaller snowglobes that were packed up in bins in the top cabinet and would require a ladder. She came into the room where I was and asked again. When I told her no again, she hit my foot lightly to express her anger. I admonished her for that and she said, "Well, you asked for it!"

    Ummmm...
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    Today in the car, she said wanted to be really, really, really, really, really (insert more reallys) skinny. This morning she came and started doing push-ups in front of me. It was cute, actually, and she did it pretty well. Her butt was not up in the air and her back was in a straight line. Then she tried to do a sit up, but could not. She told me she did not want to be fat when she grew up, and she sounded really sad about it. So then in the car this afternoon she made the comment about wanting to be skinny, but she put so many reallys in that it was kind of the goofy kid thing. I can't remember what I said or if I said anything, actually. Bug was talking too, goofing around, telling her that would be too skinny and she'd look stupid. Bean said, "Come on! I need to walk on the treadmill. It will make my legs skinny." I told her she was actually already pretty skinny, and she said that she was heavier than Sally, one of Bug's friends at school. Bug says this all the time, and I finally told them I don't see it to be true. Bug says Sally weighs 40 lbs. Forty lbs is not a typical weight for a 9 year old.

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    Yesterday in the car, right as we were getting home, in a voice full of wonder like she was an actress in a Christmas movie, she said, "You don't have to sleep in Heaven. There's no darkness, it's light. There's no toys to pick up and everything!"