A Kitchen Conversation

It is very difficult to get a point across to Kevin. 

Mommy: “Kevin, you cannot use my pots and pans for playing. They are Mommy’s. She uses it for cooking in the kitchen”

 Kevin: “But why Mommy? I like this. I want to play it”

 Mommy: “No Honey! You have your own pots (toy pots) right? Why don’t you play with them in your kitchen? (His own toy kitchen which Mommy bought for him from Walmart couple of years ago) Mommy needs to cook now”

Kevin: “But Why Mommy? I want to play here with Mommy. Mommy’s kitchen is big. Kevin’s kitchen is small. Kevin don’t like” (Pouting)

 Mommy: “Honey, Mommy is making food for us to eat for supper. If you stay here, you will start taking things from the counter top and might touch the stove and burn your fingers…” Mommy is rolling her eyes at this point out of desperation.

 Kevin: “But why Mommy? I like Mommy’s kitchen. I wanna play here” (Stomping his feet and giving Mommy his most adorable look)

A lost cause. At the end, Kevin always wins…

His kitchen lies abandoned in a corner while my baby proceeds to ‘help’ his Mommy to make supper.

Yeah, I give up. You know it is easier to just let him be than reason with him. I will handle the casualties when they come.

                                                   The End

 

I am not sure if you noticed, each and every sentence uttered by Kevin these days comes out with a prefix which is “But Why?” You can no way get around this teeny tiny phrase of his which he sticks up at all points of interactions. I have tried tackling this challenging conundrum in very many ways- tried being patient, kind, understanding, playful, plainly ignored many times, got mad, frustrated and finally acted down right stupid so that he turn away frustrated (Ha!)- Usually that is the pattern when the goings gets tough with Kevin in certain situations- like the other day when he asked me,

 “Mommy, why there is no baby in Mommy’s tummy now?”    

 Now, that would be fun to answer. 

I used to tell him when I was pregnant with Krista that there is a baby in Mommy’s tummy and he is soon going to meet his little sister and all that stuff… Kevin thought baby is permanently installed in my tummy and that the tummy will always stay huge! Now that Mommy looks just fine minus her big tummy, Kevin just took it upon himself to investigate the matter further and give his Mommy a reality check once in a while- “But Why Mommy?”

 See what I mean?

 But on another note, I am amazed at the way my little guy thinks things through and comes up with deep insights for us to peruse.

 One morning he said,

 “Mommy, Krista is my little sister. She is so pretty. Kevin is ‘his’ big brother’ (he was yet to understand the difference between ‘he’ and ‘she’, ‘his’ and ‘hers’ ). 

 I just melted when he said those words and gave him a tight hug. “That’s right honey. You have to take care of her okay? Because you are her big brother”

 Kevin: “Yeah, I will do that! I will take care of my sister”

 Can you believe this? And I forget on times like this that he is just a 3 year old…

 Before I settle into a blissful contentment, I hear him say again…

 “But why is Krista taking my alligator  Mommy? That is Kevin’s. Kevin wants to play with it now”.

 Mommy hopelessly tries to ignore the sound effects of the ensuing wrestling Kevin carries out to rescue the poor alligator back from Krista’s firm grip and my little girl’ s cries in displeasure upon losing her current object of interest. But no use, it is in full volume now. It doesn’t look like Kevin will think about the fact that ‘Krista is his little sister and he will take care of her’ at this moment.

 Okay Mommy! Time to be a Super Mom and restore peace in the house before it falls apart…

 With a sigh she trots to her kiddos and starts her reasoning only to be countered back with Kevin’s “but whys’ and Krista’s tantrums.

 Thus start a regular day in our house hold…

 

But did Mommy mention this before? That she loves both her kids to gazillion bits…? That she adores Kevin’s helping out in the kitchen and his “But Whys” with a passion? That she wouldn’t have all this any other way?

I am curious to know about the conversations you have with your toddler these days..Spill 🙂

 

This post is updated on July 2016. At present, my kids are 6 and 4. The youngest starts school this year and this Mamma is proud!