Thursday, July 24, 2008

Can you repeat that?

I know that endless repetition is part of toddlerhood - but sometimes I feel like I am living in the movie Groundhog Day. For example, every morning when I am getting ready, Paul reaches into my makeup drawer and after applying excessive amounts of chapstick (at least he is putting it on his lips now and not his tongue), he will inevitably pull out the tweezers and recount the time that I used them to remove a splinter when we were in California. His description is always the same: "Tweezers. Maria house. Splinter hand." (holds up hand to demonstrate splinter removal) "OUCH! Got it. Good job, mommy." (thumbs-up) I tried to explain to him that tweezers are not just for taking splinters out but also for tweezing eyebrows. This was a bad idea of course, because then he wanted to tweeze his own. Oops.
It seems to me the repetition is most often used to recount painful events. Like the time on the playground when he went down the slide too fast. Every time we drive by (the incident was in April btw), he says: "Playground. Head. BONK!"
I have also learned that if we must be extra careful about what we tell Paul these days. I've been looking for a new job, and CJ told him one night that I needed some privacy to prepare for an interview and that finding a job was very important because it meant Paul could go back to daycare. Every since that day, I've had to endure endless rounds of: "Mommy job. Paul back daycare." It doesn't help that we pass two daycare centers on our way into town. As soon as he sees them, the "Back daycare" serenade begins. Sigh. Not like I don't have enough pressure trying to find work without my two year old nagging me!!

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