Sly Dog

I'd like to take this Wiggly Circus intermission to bring to you two genuine toddler moments, courtesy of Alex. He's become quite the sly little thinker these days. He's always trying to figure things out. Rather, he's always trying to figure out how to get what he wants.

Telling Time: A conversation with a 3 1/2 year old

Alex: Mom, can I play video games?
Me: No. Sorry...no video games right now.
Alex: But I want to play video games.
Me: Sorry, bud. No video games.
Alex (while pointing to the clock): Look mom! Do you see the clock?
Me: What about it?
Alex: You see what it says? Hmmm...(pretending to study the time on the clock) It says 'time to play video games!' Yay! It's time to play video games!

Growing Up: A 3 1/2 year old thinking it through

Every night after the kids go to bed, I watch DVDs of my favorite TV shows. We have a combo VHS/DVD player and the kids have been watching VHSs so I left my disc in the player. So the other morning I was in washing dishes when I heard the theme music to Smallville. I went in the living room to find Alex and Abby intently watching an episode of Smallville. I smiled and turned it off. Alex asked me what it was and I said, "It's Smallville, one of mama's shows that I watch." So he thought for a moment and then asked me, "Can I watch it too?" I told him no and he thought again, "Can I watch it when I get big like you?" I smiled and said, "Yes. You can watch it when you get big like me." He got up on the couch, climbed up onto the arm of the couch and stood as tall as he could. With arms up in a moment of pride, he exclaimed, "Look mom! I'm as big as you are! I grew up! Yay! I can watch Smallville now!"

All I could do was hug him and laugh. Cute.