One of my strengths as a parent is Talking. I can talk at great length with a child who wants to know why we wear dark dressy clothes to funerals even if we’re not sad about the person who died, or why thank-you notes are crucial and how they should be written. I can even handle “What happens to us after we die?” and “But how did the baby START in your tummy?” and “WHY do we have to zip up before we come out of the bathroom?” Rob and I do particularly well as a parent-child team: he likes to repeatedly talk every subject into the ground and I am happy to oblige.
With William, I have more trouble. When we were making muffins this morning, he said thoughtfully, “That sugar looks like it’s picking its nose.” You tell me how to start an attentive and loving conversation around that opener. I thought we were on a better track when he asked, “Can we talk about what I want to grow up as?” and I said, with relief, “YES! What do you want to be when you grow up?,” and he said, “A sound wave.” Oh. Not a firefighter? Because I have a whole conversation about being a firefighter.
I love it when sugar looks like it is picking its nose.
You have a smart one (or four) on your hands!!!
“A sound wave”? Uh oh. Toughy. Just think about it this way, it’s moments like these that make you wiser. :)
you lucked out. i’ll take a sound wave over what my daughter wants to be….on American Idol. could you die???
Hee. Katherine wanted to be a firefighter last year, and Scott wanted me to talk her *out* of it because it’s a dangerous profession. Me: “She’s four.”
Oh boy. You have a smart one. Those types of conversations will get worse. ;)
I was always good at talking when I was little! My mom was good at answering questions and willing to talk at great length about things maybe meriting a five minute conversation.
Just out of curiosity, how did the conversation end? I mean, did you probe further to find out what exactly he thought being a sound wave would entail? What is the pay, the benefit package, etc?
D.H.– No. I froze. I think all I managed was, “…A sound wave? And are you considering any other options?”
Sounds like he would get along well with my little guy, who would like to be a “roo”. This, it turns out, is the siren on the fire truck. He has no interest in actually fighting fires.
Just for the record, I wanted to be a horse when I was his age.
A sound wave, huh? Very creative!
So, tell us Swistle, how do you handle those other three questions?
When I was his age, I told the ladies at my mom’s bank that I wanted to be a hooker with a red dress on for Halloween that year.
As far as professions went, I was torn between Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader and Solid Gold Dancer.
William = smart
Erica = trampy
wow, a sound wave! that sounds like a pretty cool job to me- i’d like to hear what he thinks a sound wave does.
and to erica- it is nice to know that i wasn’t the only one who wanted to be a solid gold dancer! ;)
LOL. A sound wave? interesting. I would have taken your fireman diversion strategy as well.
Had William been discussing his professional aspirations with my father (who is a science whiz), they could have discussed the exact frequency and amplitude of his sound wave desires, and then broken down a strategy for him to achieve his lofty goal. I grew up on nerdy conversations just like this, but unfortunately have lost my fluency in geek.
What a little smartypants!
Well, at least you were able to compose a complete sentence in response…I would have just come up with “A whuh…?”
Perhaps this explains why my sixteen month old isn’t saying anything coherent yet.
Found you via Beth at so the fish said. Sounds like you had quite a time baking with William – what a smart boy!
Smart boy! Definitely more creative that my 6 year old marine biologist/shark hunter/author on shark books who is already planning out his book signings.