The other night Babs wanted me to play "baby." "You be the baby," she instructed, trying to hand me a dolly. I was sick of being the baby. I thought I might have to throw myself out the window so I could have a break from being the baby. So I told her no. She asked more insistently. I replied no again (lest you think I'm too heartless, I was eating dinner at the time). Then she screamed "Let's try again! You be the baby!"
After trying to suppress a smile, I said yes. While I'm not a fan of screaming, and especially obeying their screaming, I had to say yes. "Let's try again" is code from me to my kids indicating that they need to ask again nicer, or give a different answer, and I'm giving them another try before they have consequences. If she can use the code words for me, showing she understands them, then I guess I'll respect them.
***
Kiddo loves to laugh, and she loves when things are funny. An afternoon activity that made her extraordinarily happy was the day we sat on the couch and told each other meaningless jokes, then laughed hysterically after each one. Since almost every joke is meaningless to a four year old (connecting the multiple meanings of words is just a little beyond their literal brains), it's easy to make up more.
But Kiddo does not get friendly teasing. She doesn't understand it, and it often upsets her. She understands though, that it's supposed to be funny, so she is trying. I love how she talks about it though. When her daddy says things that are teasing, or that she wants to be teasing, she says "Daddy's joking me." Or when she thinks shes being pretty clever, she'll say "I joked you." I love how she's made the noun into a verb. She also "jokes you" when she's about to do something wrong, and she knows it, as if making it a joke makes it okay. Friendly teasing is such a hard concept.
***
Yesterday Kiddo was hording her lunch, as she often does. She was afraid her dad would take some of it. (Not an irrational fear at all.) He eventually did take one of her chicken nuggets off her plate as he was leaving the kitchen to answer the phone. "Mom," Kiddo said with some urgency, "Dad just sneaked some. He broke a commandment."
Yup. He's a sinner. When discussing the 10 commandments the last Sunday in church, the phrasing for "Thou shalt not steal" was tempered for a young child's understanding to no sneaking. And for sure Daddy did. But it's okay, because he was just joking her.
