Auto Response

Travis has some responses that remind me of the "auto responses" that come via e-mail. The responses are seemingly without any thought to the attempt at communication. That's my toddler world!



One is "What?" This is often when he is playing and not really paying attention to what is being said. But it is just as likely to comke out when he asks a question and did not stop to listen to the answer. He can say "what?" when he has clearly heard what is being said, but for some reason he chooses to ask for repetition. He can be playing with his toys, not really caring what is going on, but he will say "what?" just so we know he's still there. It prompted me to ask the doctor if there is any way that he might have a hearing problem. He kind of chuckled and responded that at his age, if he can speak, he can hear. Great, so already the selective hearing has begun. (I have seen what it turns into on the airplane this weekend. I was passing out immigration forms and my question is, "Are you a US citizen?" And one man's answer was, "Bloody Mary." Sure, whatever. I LOVE Spring Break.)



Another is "Why?" This is of course the typical toddler question, but Travis asks it automatically, even if he already knows why! I say ANYTHING and the response is "Why?" before I even finish the sentence. I can say, "We're going to the park, let's put on your shoes." And Travis says, "Why?" Now, in my mind, the why has already been clearly answered. So I have started answering him with "Why?" right back. His favorite thing to do when driving around (well, for him it's riding, but you know what I mean...) is to look for construction workers. When they're not working, the question is "Why?" We've discussed lunch breaks, rainy days, it not being a work day, etc. but STILL I get asked why workers are not working. So, I asked him why the workers were not working and he was able to give me all the right answers. So why did you ask me??!! I am more than happy to answer a question to which he really doesn't know the answer, but in my mind I am starting him down the road to critical thinking. It helps me sleep better at night anyway.



And one of my least favorite is, "What's for dinner?" (My response) "I don't like that. I want something different." When he starts cooking, that sounds great to me, but until then...it's whatever floats mommy's boat that night! And besides, Travis eats EVERYTHING! Seriously, tonight he tried tofu and he just said that he thought it would taste better if I would mix it with something else. (Yeah, I think so too!) Travis eventually caves and eats whatever I fix, and usually a lot of it. So I am not sure why the initial protest, but it happens every night. I am just glad that he is at the age that I can say, "Fine. I hope you like what we're having for breakfast." And there has only been one night that he hasn't eaten dinner, and that was because he was playing, playing, playing at a friend's party and couldn't bear to stop and eat. He didn't even eat the CAKE, so I wasn't too worried.



I am sure there are others, but these were the ones that come to mind right now. I love Travis' curiosity and I never want to squelch it, but maybe just mute it for a bit.