13 Mar 2007

Cute, but angry

Lady and Thomas have clashed quite a bit over the past few days. Yesterday, the children from next door were over playing and I kept hearing Thomas getting all irate. I chastised Lady, asking her not to tease him and wind him up. She told me that they weren't trying to make him angry. They had laughed at him, but they weren't trying to be mean. When I asked her to explain, she said that Thomas had asked their visitors, very seriously and politely, if they would like a cup of tea. This of course, made them all laugh, which in turn made Thomas cross. I had to laugh myself when I heard what had happened. But I told her not to keep going on about it to him and not to call him cute; at least not to his face. He does NOT like to be called cute!

The problem is that he really is cute. He talks and asks questions all day. He has so many little theories about life. Today, he was watching TV. He told me that the TV takes the power from the street lamps, and when the TV is turned on, then the street lamps turn off. We watched an advertisement for Pringle crisps. He asked what they were and I told him. He said they were special crisps, they fill you with love and I should give some to Daddy so I'm never cross with him (not that I am ever cross with my husband ;-).

He wanted to eat a sandwich in the living room, and I told him to eat it at the big table. He protested, even when I said that it was against the law of this house. He pointed out, quite accurately and fairly, that Daddy and I often eat on the sofa, people always eat on their sofas, even his uncle does! He told me that it wasn't against the law, only really bad things are against the law, like wrecking the whole planet or stealing things or hitting people.

Now how am I supposed to argue with logic like that!

5 comments:

Maddy said...

He's a great guy! We have those same logic / legal debates.
Best wishes

kristina said...

I'd be quite speechless (and argument-less) in the face of so much good thinking

Club 166 said...

Two things resonate with me from this post.

The first is the "getting angry" when somebody is laughing, but not making fun of you. Buddy Boy (now 7) has a lot of trouble recognizing when someone is laughing at the situation, and meaning absolutely no harm to him.

The second thing is the rules. Now he recognizes the difference between laws and rules, so is always asking whether something is the law, or is it just our rule.

We also tell him that we, as parents, get to make the rules in the house. And when he is grown up he will get to make rules in his own house. To which we get the response that life is not fair, especially for kids. To which we agree, but also point out that life is not always fair for adults, either.

Sharon McDaid said...

Thanks for all the comments. I see exactly what you mean Club 166. Thomas can't distinguish between laughing at and laughing with, when he's the cause of the mirth. He also has to learn the difference between house rules and laws of the land...to an extent. Anyway, he's making all these discoveries and connections and it's great to observe.

David Todd said...

I've a feeling 9 times out of 10 Thomas will win. It's great that your are recording all those moments on this blog :-)