Butterfly Intellect
The Butterfly was spending her “calm down time” before bed sitting next to her favourite parent and listening to a “Celtic Women” CD and I was struck by how clearly she sang along with the music, even those songs in Gaelic. I realised then what an amazing command of English she has, even the extent of her vocabulary seems impressive. People often remark about how alert and intelligent she is for her age, and so many people seem genuinely impressed by how well she speaks. Now I am her mother and by nature am biased, I also have no clue what she should or shouldn’t understand or know at her age and am therefore often blown away by my child.
The Butterfly finds most foods “delicious,” my clown collection “gorgeous,” playing hop scotch with mum “delightful” and wine “superb.” I have no idea if she really knows what these words mean but she has never used them out of context. She has worked out how to swop CD’s and DVD’s and how to make them work she also now knows how to navigate around her websites on the computer and she has worked out which remote or “morrow” works with which machine. The Butterfly can count to fourteen with no mistakes and backwards from ten. She can recite the alphabet and now recognises her name when she sees it written. Her attempts to write her name are almost recognisable, well okay maybe only to me, but she has definitely got the idea. She recognises numbers in their written form and seems to know by sight how many of an object there is. She knows her right from her left can tell the difference between a hexagon and a pentagon and is discovering what happens when she mixes different coloured paints together. She can tell the difference between an Oboe and a Clarinet, a keyboard and a piano even between an electric and acoustic guitar, not to mention a bass drum and a snare drum. What’s truly amazing about this is she can tell these instruments not just by sight but also by sound!
Our Butterfly is not afraid of the dark and has worked out that if she leaves her torch by her bed she can use it to help find her way to the toilet in the middle of the night or the light switch. So now even though she might wake up during the night I get to sleep through. Unfortunately she has also worked out where we keep the biscuits and how to climb up and into our grocery cupboard to get them. There I was thinking my child was not a climber, how wrong I was. I awoke one morning to find the kitchen and toilet lights on and an empty biscuit packet under the dining room table. Next she’ll be making us breakfast in bed!
She often chooses her own clothes and insists on dressing herself and even though she usual ends up putting her clothes on backwards she always gets her shoes onto the right feet.
At church, during the “Sign of Peace” she willing holds out her hand to everyone and smiling says “Please to meet you I’m Sarah!” At communion, even if we are in a different queue she will go up to the priest and wait to be blessed and says “A man!” when he’s done.
When her favourite parent arrives home from work she runs to him throws her arms around him and says “I’m so glad to see you Papa, what you got for me?”
Our Butterfly enjoys a green salad, especially if it has cucumber and onion in it; she goes nuts for raw carrots and never leaves a pea or bean on her plate. Ask her what she wants for breakfast she’ll choose porridge or egg and bread, lunch will be a cheese ham and vegemite sandwich and supper is sausage rice broccoli and cauliflower! I’ve given up making a bowl of jelly and trying to make last more than a day and we’ve taken to buying her fruits as treats instead of sweets even though a packet of sweets seems to last longer than a box of grapes. But my favourite is when you ask her if she wants to get a “kiddies meal” from “Macdonald’s” she often will say “No thanks, I want fish and chips!” and off we go to our local “Fish and Chips” shop and get a family meal for a third of the price!
Such a clever Little Butterfly!
I’ll admit I do like to boast about my little Butterfly’s intellect and I do think she is clever for her age even though I often find myself outwitted. Some nights ago instead of staying in bed she came running into my office and told me that she had forgotten to say goodnight to Papa. Only half aware of her I told her to go say goodnight, whereby she charged into the lounge and said to her favourite parent “Hello Papa, I not going to sleep, mummy wants to dance!”
Recently she was refusing to finish her dinner and I, with my complete lack of patience, got up from the table and walking away told her that she would get nothing else until she finished her food, and I went and sat in my office. A few minutes later she came through and presented me with an empty plate, I was so impressed with myself because my threat had worked. I happily went through to the kitchen and gave her the biscuit she asked for, which she took and ran off to her room. I went to put her plate beside the sink and there in the sink was the Butterfly’s uneaten supper! Yesterday she asked me if I would make cheese muffins so I told her that the cheese was finished and couldn’t make them, when her favourite parent came home she said “Papa you have to go to the big shop to buy cheese mummy making muffins!” The Mauritian did an about turn and went to buy cheese and I was obligated to make muffins!
A few minutes ago I asked her if she wants to have a shower, she answered “No thanks Mummy I don’t want you to wash my hair!”
Every time I think I’m finally one step ahead of her I find myself ten steps behind, and here I was thinking I had this parenting thing all worked out instead I’m being spun around in circles and tied into knots by a three year old for goodness sake!
Ah, hell whom I trying to kid? I love every sentimental moment!
The Butterfly finds most foods “delicious,” my clown collection “gorgeous,” playing hop scotch with mum “delightful” and wine “superb.” I have no idea if she really knows what these words mean but she has never used them out of context. She has worked out how to swop CD’s and DVD’s and how to make them work she also now knows how to navigate around her websites on the computer and she has worked out which remote or “morrow” works with which machine. The Butterfly can count to fourteen with no mistakes and backwards from ten. She can recite the alphabet and now recognises her name when she sees it written. Her attempts to write her name are almost recognisable, well okay maybe only to me, but she has definitely got the idea. She recognises numbers in their written form and seems to know by sight how many of an object there is. She knows her right from her left can tell the difference between a hexagon and a pentagon and is discovering what happens when she mixes different coloured paints together. She can tell the difference between an Oboe and a Clarinet, a keyboard and a piano even between an electric and acoustic guitar, not to mention a bass drum and a snare drum. What’s truly amazing about this is she can tell these instruments not just by sight but also by sound!
Our Butterfly is not afraid of the dark and has worked out that if she leaves her torch by her bed she can use it to help find her way to the toilet in the middle of the night or the light switch. So now even though she might wake up during the night I get to sleep through. Unfortunately she has also worked out where we keep the biscuits and how to climb up and into our grocery cupboard to get them. There I was thinking my child was not a climber, how wrong I was. I awoke one morning to find the kitchen and toilet lights on and an empty biscuit packet under the dining room table. Next she’ll be making us breakfast in bed!
She often chooses her own clothes and insists on dressing herself and even though she usual ends up putting her clothes on backwards she always gets her shoes onto the right feet.
At church, during the “Sign of Peace” she willing holds out her hand to everyone and smiling says “Please to meet you I’m Sarah!” At communion, even if we are in a different queue she will go up to the priest and wait to be blessed and says “A man!” when he’s done.
When her favourite parent arrives home from work she runs to him throws her arms around him and says “I’m so glad to see you Papa, what you got for me?”
Our Butterfly enjoys a green salad, especially if it has cucumber and onion in it; she goes nuts for raw carrots and never leaves a pea or bean on her plate. Ask her what she wants for breakfast she’ll choose porridge or egg and bread, lunch will be a cheese ham and vegemite sandwich and supper is sausage rice broccoli and cauliflower! I’ve given up making a bowl of jelly and trying to make last more than a day and we’ve taken to buying her fruits as treats instead of sweets even though a packet of sweets seems to last longer than a box of grapes. But my favourite is when you ask her if she wants to get a “kiddies meal” from “Macdonald’s” she often will say “No thanks, I want fish and chips!” and off we go to our local “Fish and Chips” shop and get a family meal for a third of the price!
Such a clever Little Butterfly!
I’ll admit I do like to boast about my little Butterfly’s intellect and I do think she is clever for her age even though I often find myself outwitted. Some nights ago instead of staying in bed she came running into my office and told me that she had forgotten to say goodnight to Papa. Only half aware of her I told her to go say goodnight, whereby she charged into the lounge and said to her favourite parent “Hello Papa, I not going to sleep, mummy wants to dance!”
Recently she was refusing to finish her dinner and I, with my complete lack of patience, got up from the table and walking away told her that she would get nothing else until she finished her food, and I went and sat in my office. A few minutes later she came through and presented me with an empty plate, I was so impressed with myself because my threat had worked. I happily went through to the kitchen and gave her the biscuit she asked for, which she took and ran off to her room. I went to put her plate beside the sink and there in the sink was the Butterfly’s uneaten supper! Yesterday she asked me if I would make cheese muffins so I told her that the cheese was finished and couldn’t make them, when her favourite parent came home she said “Papa you have to go to the big shop to buy cheese mummy making muffins!” The Mauritian did an about turn and went to buy cheese and I was obligated to make muffins!
A few minutes ago I asked her if she wants to have a shower, she answered “No thanks Mummy I don’t want you to wash my hair!”
Every time I think I’m finally one step ahead of her I find myself ten steps behind, and here I was thinking I had this parenting thing all worked out instead I’m being spun around in circles and tied into knots by a three year old for goodness sake!
Ah, hell whom I trying to kid? I love every sentimental moment!
She has got it all sussed!
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