Tag Archive for 'Conversations'

Reverse Psychology is just another name for Trickery, and I’m okay with that.

Published on Thursday, September 24, 2009 in Claire, Conversations and Parenting 101. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

“Claire…” I say, looking at the clock. “Do you know what time it is?”

“No……..” she says slyly. She knows what time it is.

“Claire, it’s time for you to go mow the yard!”

“No, it’s not!” she screams, bursting into laughter.

“It’s time for you to go wash the car?”

“No, it’s not!” she screeches again.

“I know! It’s time for you to do all the laundry!”

“No!” she says again with a smile. “It’s time for me to go to bed!”

“It is?” I say with mock incredulity. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes! It’s time for me to go to bed!”

“Well, that’s a great idea, Claire!”

It’s hard to resist a suggestion you came up with all on your own, wouldn’t you say? ;)

Adjustments for the Internet Age

Published on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 in Claire, Conversations and Parenting 101. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

The other day, Claire and I were in the office. I was typing on the computer, and Claire was typing on hers.

That’s when she told me that she was talking to Cesar Millan on her computer. She said, “He said, ‘Oh, Hi, Claire! Are you typing on your blog?’ and I told him, ‘yes, I am!’”

Then, she and Cesar carried on quite a conversation.

I think it’s important to note that her “computer” is just an old keyboard and mouse sitting in front of a wooden puzzle “monitor,” and she’s not connected to the Internet. She’s just pretending. For now.

Note to Future Self: Adjust the “never talk to strangers, even if they’re going to show you cute little puppies in the back of a white van” speech to include the dangers of online strangers talking about puppies.

No offense, Cesar.

A You-Know-What

Published on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 in Claire and Conversations. 6 Comments Tags: , .

My husband and I are bantering back and forth in the front seat of the car, as we’re driving home.  We aren’t angry with each other or even arguing, but we’re rather animated in our conversation…as we usually are.

“Daddy!” Claire yells.  “Be nice to Momma!”

“I am being nice to Momma, Claire,” he says.  In his defense, he wasn’t being mean at all.  She had misinterpreted my dramatic reactions to whatever he was saying.

“It’s okay, Claire.  Daddy’s not being mean to me.”

“Daddy!” she says again, still on a roll.  “Stop being a you-know-what!”

And she really said, “a you-know-what.”  That was a direct quote.

I tried to explain to Claire that Daddy wasn’t being a you-know-what, but I’m not sure if she could understand me through all the laughter coming from the front seat.  :)

Does the Enchanted Castle have WiFi?

Published on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 in Claire and Conversations. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Claire loves to tell stories.  Her playtime is sprinkled with conversations she creates between the different characters.  Sometimes those characters are in her head, and sometimes she’s talking to her toys.  Most of the time, she’s talking for her toys.  Many times, she’ll ask me a question, and then it will morph into a conversational story, complete with different voices for the different people.

For example, this is what she said the other night.

“Does Sleeping Beauty type her blog, Momma?  Does she type it at night?”  Claire asks me, as she’s snuggling under her blankets.  It’s time for her to go to bed, and she often has questions or things to tell me at the end of the day.  Sometimes I think it’s a stall-tactic to avoid bedtime, but other times, I can tell she’s just curious about all the different thoughts swirling in her head at that particular moment.

“She might, if she has time.  What do you think?  Do you think Sleeping Beauty types her blog at night?”

“I bet Prince Phillip says, ‘Don’t type your blog now.  Don’t type it tonight.  Do it in the morning,’ and Sleeping Beauty says, ‘Okay!’  And then she doesn’t!  She types her blog in the morning!” Claire says with excitement, changing her voice into a deeper voice for Prince Phillip and into her high-pitched signature princess voice for Sleeping Beauty.

It’s good to see that Sleeping Beauty hasn’t let the Internet take a higher priority than her relationship.   Yet.  I mean, “ever after” is a really long time.  ;)

A smashing success

Published on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 in Claire, Conversations, Fun, Language, Moms' Group, Music, NaBloPoMo 2008, Photos and School. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

The Moms’ Club we’re a part of has decided to create their own Music Class. I’d volunteered to host the first one.

The concept is simple. Everyone brings any instruments they have, and they all go in a clothes-basket. We take turns playing with different instruments, singing, and dancing with scarves to music.

Because Claire was so into all of the music stuff, we’d purchased a nice musical instrument set that included a triangle, tambourine, maracas, cymbals, hollow wooden scraper-thingy, and a longer-handled clacker-dealie. (I may have been the Music Class Leader this time, but that doesn’t mean I’m required to know all the technical names!!) :) She also has a nice xylophone to add to the mix. There would be plenty of instruments to choose from and share. It was going to be perfect!

Neither one of us could wait for Tuesday’s Music Class.

Monday morning, Claire had her Young Preschooler Class. Every Monday, as I’m signing her in, she picks her name-card off of the table (she finds it herself!) and takes it over to The Question of the Day poster on the wall. The teacher then helps her read the question, and Claire answers it. She then puts her name-card in the slot indicating her answer. The question is different every week and always simple. (i.e. “Are you wearing red?”) It’s something they do every time, and it helps with early reading skills, recognition, etc.

It’s fun, and she loves it.

But, what does this have to do with Music Class we were going to have on Tuesday?

Well, here’s the conversation we had on Monday night:

“Claire! We need to label your instruments for tomorrow’s Music Class! If you help me gather them all up, I’ll put your name on them.”

“Oh no! Momma, you can’t!”

“Why not? We don’t want them to get mixed up with anyone else’s instruments, so we need to put your name on them.”

“We can’t, because we left my name at school!”

She was quite relieved that we didn’t need her name-card from the school to label her musical instruments. I thought it was hysterical that she thought we’d left her actual name at the school, but I did a great job of not laughing out loud.

We got the instruments labeled, everyone showed up, and all the kids had a great time playing with the instruments, singing and dancing. All in all, the Music Class on Tuesday was a smashing success…

Quite literally, I’m afraid.

...quite literally, I’m afraid.

This was a “while being put away” casualty and not a “while being played” situation.  No musicians were harmed in this incident and thankfully, this isn’t a fatal injury. “Says you!” cries The Tambourine. ;) Forgive her. She’s just a little short-sighted right now. As soon as I get her fixed (I’ll probably just remove the ripped paper – I may or may not re-cover her), no one will be the wiser.

[Edited to add:  Check out the update!]

Today is Day 19 of 30 in the NaBloPoMo Challenge! Check it out and/or join in the fun! Instruments requiring repair? One. Days completed in the NaBloPoMo Challenge?  Nineteen!

Maddy Gascar & The Giraffe Who Doesn’t Listen Very Well

Published on Friday, November 14, 2008 in Claire, Conversations, Fun, Movies and NaBloPoMo 2008. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Last week, Claire and I went to a prescreening of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. We loved it!  Because we’d never seen the first one, and because we liked the second one so much, I put Madagascar (the first one) in the Netflix Queue.

Well, one of our friends loaned us a copy in the meantime!

So, earlier this week, after Daddy got home from work, and after we’d had our dinner, all three of us settled in downstairs to check it out.  We loved it!  All three of us laughed ‘til our sides hurt!  This is actually one of our favorite kid movies so far.

We had just as much fun watching the first one as we did the second, only it wasn’t on the big screen.

The funniest thing about the evening was Claire looking for the character named Maddy.  You know, Maddy Gascar.  She didn’t realize it was a place, and not a creature.

“Which one is Maddy, Momma?  Can we watch Maddy again, Momma?  Can we watch Maddy Gascar again?”

:)

As I mentioned before, along with the tickets to the prescreening, we got a lot of schwag.  One of those items was a free Happy Meal™.  Well, I gave in and we went through the drive-thru the other day.  And, who should appear in our Madagascar Happy Meal™ but Melman, the Giraffe!

Once you click him on, if you jostle him, he repeats three phrases, all in the voice of Ross.  I’m sorry, Ross…you’ll always be Ross to me.  ;)

“What are we gonna do!?”
“Ow!  Ow!  Ow!”
“You guys REALLY need a doctor!”

Those are the three phrases that I’ve been hearing on repeat ever since.

Granted, it’s really funny to put Melman in situations where he will answer with an appropriate phrase.  (We accidentally knocked him off the table right before he screamed, “Ow!  Ow!  Ow!”)  But, as with any repetitive toy, my brain is about ready to explode.

And, I think he’s starting to annoy Claire as well, but for different reasons.

Last night, she started arguing with Melman.

“You guys REALLY need a doctor!” says Melman.

“I’ve TOLD YOU, Melman.  WE DON’T HAVE A DOCTOR HERE FOR GIRAFFES,” says Claire.

“What are we gonna do!?” says Melman.

“Well, you said you wanted to be the doctor!  Remember?” says Claire.  Clearly, Melman doesn’t remember what happened in the second movie, or he wouldn’t have asked.

“Don’t you remember, Melman?”  she asks again.  Melman is silent and refuses to answer.  And, that’s when she becomes a little rough with the poor giraffe.

“Ow!  Ow!  Ow!” says Melman.  “You guys REALLY need a doctor!”

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU!” she yells at poor Melman.  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!  Momma!  Melman won’t listen!  He can’t listen very well.  He keeps tellin’ me we needs a doctor!  AND I ALREADY TOLD HIM.”

*sigh*
Poor Claire.
Poor Melman.
I’m not sure their relationship can withstand these communication issues.  ;)

I’ve tried and tried to explain to Claire that this Melman is a toy.  He can only say three things.  And, he can’t hear her.  And, he won’t remember the answers that she tells him.

But, she’s just not getting it.  She continues to have conversations with a giraffe that doesn’t listen very well.  I can only remind her so many times to be gentle with the poor giraffe…and, if Melman isn’t careful, he’s the one who’s gonna need a doctor.  ;)

Today is Day 14 of 30 in the NaBloPoMo Challenge! Check it out and/or join in the fun! A post for Day 14? Done!

And it will be years before she even sees “The Shining”…

Published on Sunday, November 9, 2008 in Claire, Conversations, Movies and NaBloPoMo 2008. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m sitting in my office, typing. I can hear Claire playing on the floor. All of a sudden, she starts yelling.

“Don’t take my stuff!” she screams. “Stop taking my stuff!” she yells even harder. “It’s miiiiiiiiiine!” she says with complete exasperation. “You can’t have it!”

She has no siblings. No one is over for a playdate. There is no one else in the room, except for me, and I’m not bothering with her stuff. Thinking maybe Merlin, one of our kitties, is pestering her, I ask, “Claire, who’s taking your stuff?”

“This hand,” she says, showing me her palm. “This hand keeps trying to take my stuff. It can’t have it! It’s mine!” she says directly to the hand in question while grabbing her stuff with the other hand.

Um, okay? She’s done this a couple times before. The other day, she yelled at one of her hands because it kept touching the wall in the kitchen, and she didn’t feel that was appropriate.

I usually just tell her to play nicely and/or share, depending on the situation…extra playmates in attendance or not.  ;)

I would be more concerned about this behavior, but she has yet to start talking to me with a curled finger and creepy voice. She isn’t saying any horrifying words backwards, and she hasn’t once called me Mrs. Torrance…so I think we’re okay. ;)

Today is Day 9 of 30 in the NaBloPoMo Challenge! Check it out and/or join in the fun!  Heeeeeere’s Johnny AND a completed post for Day 9!

Three Random Letters, Filed

Published on Monday, October 20, 2008 in Conversations and Random Thoughts. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Letter #1 – Filed under: You Can’t Scare Us Away That Easily

Dear Saturday Dinner Hosts,

Thank you so much for having us over to your place for dinner on Saturday night!  We had a fabulous time, and it was great to spend the evening with such fun-loving people.  We all had such a great time, and Claire is still begging to see you guys again…soon!

Again, thanks for the hospitality, and we’ll definitely have to do it again sometime…of course, we’ll be sure to sweep the place for broken glass and razor blades before the festivities begin.  ;)

Still wondering where you keep the thumbtacks,

Momma, Daddy & Claire

Letter #2 – Filed under:  Positive Reinforcement Is The Key

Dear Claire,

Rather than talk about what happened on Tuesday, I want to remember what happened on Wednesday.  That was the day you said, “Momma!  I’m so proud!!  I didn’t hit you or kick you or pinch you today!”

And, I said, “I know!  That’s awesome!  I’m so proud of you, too!”

Always keeping my chin up (but working on my self-defense moves),

Momma

Letter #3 – Filed Under: Toddlers Aren’t The Only Ones Who Make Up Words

Dear Daddy,

I love the lively, playful banter you and I have in the car.  I especially love it when you make up words.  Claire will be the only one in her Young Preschoolers Class to explain to the teacher that the word angervate is a combination of the word ‘anger’ and ‘aggravate.’

And, you’re right.  Of course I do things to angervate you on purpose.  I mean, how boring would life be if I didn’t?  ;)

Love you bunches even if you are the only one who can’t get the garage door opener in my car to work properly,

Momma