Pomme was in one of those crazy hyper giddy toddler moods tonight.  You know, when they’re so tired that they’re wired?  She’s generally a pretty calm and serious kid, (and when did she get old enough that I started calling her a ‘kid‘??) but when she gets hyper, she goes full gusto.  With Flipper as her older brother, I guess she’s had a master to learn from.

So tonight she was spinning.  She’s been obsessed with watching ballerinas on Youtube lately.  “Bina!  Bina!” she demands.  And “Pin!  Pin!” when they pirouette endlessly.  I found some videos of toddlers dancing to a video called “Bella Dancerella Ballet Studio“, which comes with a toddler-sized barre, mat, and tutu.  It looked perfect for her.  Of course, a bit of googling finds that it’s no longer in production… except for Barbie, Disney Princess, and High School Musical versions.  Um, no.

So there she was, spinning.  She discovered that if she took one of her pull toys (a big wooden one in fact) and held it by the string, it would spin with her, and quite violently.  She spun wildly with it and clonked daddy in the leg.  Now, realize here that this is a child who has rarely, truly been told “no”.  I mean, she’s heard the word plenty, she’s been corrected like “no, that doesn’t go there, that goes here”.  But only rarely has she heard it in the authoritarian sense of “NO.  You must STOP.”

For one thing, she wasn’t old enough to truly understand.  But… she’s getting there now.  She turned two almost a month ago, and it’s very obvious to us how much she understands about the world and how it works.  It’s very frightening, it’s very humbling, it’s very awe-inspiring how much she understands about the world and how it works.

So she heard it tonight.  “NO.  That hurt daddy.  You cannot spin with that toy like that.”  Of course, she’s in full giggle, so I even had to do the get-down-to-her-level thing, gently cup her face in my hand to make sure I had her attention, and repeat it staring her right in the eye.

She processed this for a moment.  Then walked over to daddy.  Oh how cute, was she going to apologize?

“Move, daddy!” she said, while pushing him out of the path of danger.  Then she started spinning again.

What could we say?  She’d resolved the problem, eliminated the obstacle preventing her from spinning with the toy.  It was flawless logic, toddler-style.

Tweet This Post  Plurk This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post