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Failure of imagination

I think what I am suffering from in parenting Luke is a failure of imagination.

Today I needed to change Amanda out of her PJ's, but Luke was playing happily downstairs in the kitchen. I cast a quick glance around the kitchen, moved the OJ off the table (he had put all his cereal into a cup of OJ yesterday), moved the sharp knives and food containers off the table, and went upstairs, secure in the knowledge that there wasn't too much trouble he could get into in 5 minutes.

I came back down to find him on the table (his favorite place) having completely emptied the cinnamon sugar shaker into a bowl of dry cereal, the table, the floor and the chair. I had felt so prepared and good about Luke-proofing the area, but I hadn't grasped his imagination.

The other day he was playing with the kid's broom upstairs while I was washing Amanda's hair. He can play with that for hours (well, minutes, anyway) with no trouble, so I concentrated on getting the soap out of Amanda's hair. When I looked back to Luke he had started using the broom to clean the toilet. Silly me, I hadn't thought of that!

Another time he was carrying around the girl's shampoo bottle. That's fine, I thought, it is really hard to open the flip top so he can't possibly make a mess... When I got back to the bathroom with Amanda's towel, he had unscrewed the top of the bottle and emptied half of it on the floor.

At this point I feel seriously outmatched by this creative boy. Several friends of mine, all parents of boys, have assured me that this is typical. I believe, as well, that this creativity persists at least into preschool. I hope I catch up.
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Comments

Lenise said…
Yep. Sounds like a boy!

*Sigh*

;)

I'm glad your young'uns have been gaining on the growth chart. We have friends with 4 girls, the youngest of whom was always in the single digits until she turned 3, I think. The mom is probably 95 pounds in a parka and hiking boots, so it made a certain amount of sense.
July 4, 2008 at 11:18 AM
mathmom said…
I may end up calling on you for more hints later on =)

There are small kids in Michael's family, but it is very reassuring to me that they got out from the basement (below 3 percent). Even 5 percent means a lot to me...
July 4, 2008 at 9:24 PM
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