Skip to main content

Why the world is frustrating

It is very frustrating to be 2. Michael and I have been teaching Luke about closing doors and turning off lights---both good habits. He really enjoys opening the refrigerator door. He knows how to turn out the light. But when I try to get him to shut the refrigerator door, he screams, "Turn out the light!" He keeps getting in the way of the door so that he can push the little button.

As far as I know, he's trying to turn off the light before we shut the door, and the fact that it keeps coming back on when we move him out of the way so we can shut the door drives him crazy. He doesn't believe us that the light goes out when the door is shut, and after all, how do we know ourselves? We've never seen it, we use logic. But this makes any attempt to shut the door a battle, unless I sneak over there without him seeing.
Labels:

Comments

Jean said…
Falling on the floor laughing! Poor Luke! Maybe you can take out the lightbulb until he is a little older? I'd forgotten how straightforward a view of the world toddlers have. :)
July 1, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Danlj said…
Might Luke be able to comprehend that the door presses on the button in closing???

In any case, this will give you a chance to watch the growth of his brain. Some day the light will go on about the door making the light go off.

:)
July 4, 2009 at 6:03 PM
mathmom said…
Joe suggested taking the bulb out of the refrigerator. If it gets to be a bigger problem, we'll do that. in the mean time, I'll explain over and over what is going on... =)
July 6, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Lenise said…
Poor Luke! Our guys can't reach the pull-chains on the ceiling-mounted light fixtures, so this is not a challenge we've run into!!
July 11, 2009 at 7:58 AM
mathmom said…
Hi Lenise! Amanda didn't know she could turn on and off lights until about a year ago---when she was 3.5 years old. Luke is highly motivated to figure out how things work, which is why I hope that this isn't a problem for long.

I hadn't thought of that as a benefit of having ceiling mounted light fixtures =)
July 18, 2009 at 9:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...
8 comments
Read more

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...
4 comments
Read more

Girl toys

A friend just had a post about her son's desire to have a pink bejewled play phone (she and the people who comment have great things to say: here it is so you can read it). Thinking about her post made me very glad that for girls 5 and under (which is all I have experienced lately) there is no toy that is off limits as far as I can tell. Amanda's favorite toys are trains (although she doesn't play with them the way some of her boy friends do. I think Chanson's kids would play well with her version of trains). Her favorite movie is Cars. Her favorite TV show is Bob the Builder. No one in her life (relatives, friends, teachers) tells her that she can't enjoy all of these things. On the other hand, she likes to play with all these things while she is dressed as a princess... In Eleanor's class, everyone's favorite thing to do is woodworking, both girls and boys. The only mathematicians she knows are women, so she expects to do well in math as well...
5 comments
Read more