Dealing With a 3-year Old
Warning: Poop alert!
The phrase, “Don’t eat crayons!” sounds pretty straightforward, don’t you think? But apparently to my 3-year old it translates into “Go ahead, eat all the crayons you want!”
As if the fact of crayon-eating weren’t bad enough, I find little damp piles of masticated crayon in odd places, usually with my bare feet. Ew. But obviously she gets enough of the crayons ingested to make her poop colorfully speckled.
The worst part–they aren’t even her crayons, her pitiful victims belong to her brother. Poor little guy, reduced to coloring with ball-point pens and highlighters because his sister eats all his crayons! And this is no case of entrapment, I confiscate all crayons when I find them. I think she has a secret crayon-stash around here somewhere.
So, when I find my little crayon-bandit, evidence on her face, I tell her, “Don’t eat crayons!” I tell her over and over again as if it will make a difference. And every time she looks up at me, so solemn, so resolute, and says, “Ok, Mama.”
I swear this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I don’t know why things like eating crayons seem like such good ideas to three-year-olds! My daughter used to like to tear things apart at that age. I’m glad she’s moved out of that phase!