As I was leaving Gatito in his classroom this morning, he said, “I’m hungry.”
“Of course you are,” I realized. “I never gave you breakfast.”
Parent of the year! Woot!
His teacher went to look in the kitchen, but all they had was ice cream sandwiches. I wouldn’t have even minded giving him one of those, except that we’d probably have had to hide from the rest of the kids while he ate it. I managed to find a small granola bar in my bag, but judging by his mood when I picked him up, it wasn’t one of his best days. Probably should have given him the ice cream.
Gatito is FILLED with questions lately. Lots of them have to do with science, which is not my best subject. He comes by it honestly, though, as there is a Nobel prize winning physicist on A’s side of the family. I’ve had to get books to explain the Big Bang, evolution, why the wind blows, etc., etc. “Is the universe getting bigger now?” he asks. “How about now? Now? NOW?” Or the more difficult/annoying, “What if there wasn’t any gravity until a few days ago?” He is going to be an astronaut for Halloween, but last night he told me that he does not want to fly to the moon one day. He feels he would get more done if he stays on earth and studies space from here.
He’s big on “what if it wasn’t” type question.
Why will I get wet if I go outside? Because it’s raining.
What if it wasn’t raining? Then you wouldn’t get wet.
Why wouldn’t it be raining? AGGGHHHH.
This morning he asked about the radio station and I said it’s one that plays no ads on Mondays. The rest of the ride to school I was fielding questions about whether that station had ads on other days and whether other stations had ads on Mondays, what radio waves are anyway, and why I didn’t want to listen to ads. When I told them it was because they were trying to sell me things I didn’t want to buy, he asked, like what? So I tuned to another station, which obliged me with six ads from a phone company, a health plan, a credit card, etc., and pointed out how we didn’t need any of those things. But what if we did? he wanted to know.
It is hard to restrain myself, sometimes, from telling him to stop asking so many questions. I did it once and he fell silent and, of course, I felt immediately guilty.
He’s doing pretty well with Ella. Still never touches her or anything like that, but interacts a bit, pushes her stroller, opens doors for us and, for the most part, manages to not be too jealous of our time with her. He is certainly not aggressive with her, in the way I’ve heard other big siblings can be. He does not like it when she cries, but as I’ve told him, nobody likes to hear a baby cry. I feel worst for him when she is screaming in the car and there is no escape, but when it happened one day last week, I peered in the rearview mirror to find him fast asleep. Go figure.
sounds like a smart kid! My daughter (younger) ask the same question over and over and over again…it is all i can do not to scream! and be glad he does not touch your daughter – my 3 year old cant keep her hands off the 18 month old and not in a good way (fighting, taking toys, pushing)…not fun!
He is such a bright star. What a thoughtful, understanding little guy he is. And what wonderful questions. And about studying space from here – just too much. He’s amazing! A very bright little boy.
I have gently asked Mimi from time to time to think about her questions and then we will make a list later. I have gently reminded her (and from time-to-time not so gently) that Mommy needs quiet time too.
I remember having Mimi remind me she was hungry sometimes after Frank was born, because I couldn’t seem to get both of their schedules right. I did just like you do – keep a granola bar and some fruit leather in my purse incase I screwed up a mealtime.
My great mom moment today: after being up most of the night with Frank, waking up with Mimi dead asleep as was the rest of the family and realizing we had 10 minutes to get Mimi dressed, combed, tooth-brushed, peed, breakfasted, in the car and to school. Needless to say, she was late. Oops. And between us, we have 4 morning alarms.