Numbers...

What is it with kids and the 'who wants to be first' bit. When it comes to dessert, they want to be first, when it comes to who is going to shower first, it's always the other person. The way they go on sometimes about who has to go first for a shower makes getting a shower seem like a bad thing. Once they get in, we have to shout them out. Our boys have great minds for numbers. They can work mathematical problems, tell you how much money you need to buy 2 Nintendos and even use numbers to negotiate how many mouthfuls of vegetable they have to eat before they can leave the table. However, they can never tell you how many times I've told them not to jump on the sofa or how many times I've told them to turn off the lights. Another research/study in the making....
During my youth, ( Sigh! that was 2 decades ago ) I said that when I became a mother, I didn't want to sound like my mother. Unfortunately, it must be genetically coded. I found myself saying things like "Take your dirty feet off my white walls" and lies like " There is a special camera in class that I can see you with. It's in Mother Mary's eyes. " Poor kid actually believes me. Hey, better he believes that than Santa Claus ( one that costs too much ) or the tooth fairy (don't get the concept of paying a kid to lose his teeth). nj knows that although he doesn't believe in them doesn't mean he'll debunk it to his classmates and spoil their childhood. Sorry Ade, if Cait is reading this.......
Am learning how to sign Catholic Prayers with NJ. I sign broken sign language. He signs quite fluently. I made a mistake the other day . Me with my very serious face asking him ( in sign) Who? I did it with a lot of passion. He looked at me quizzically and said,"Mummy, that's not the sign for 'who' , that's the sign for 'park'. Which word did you want?". Needless to say, I couldn't be angry anymore. He has learnt so much more than I have. I used to be the one to learn the signs and teach him. Now, I come across a word and I ask him to teach me the sign.
NJ doesn't sign very much at home but I use it a lot in Church. It keeps the conversation quiet. I can tell him everything across the room without uttering a word. The beauty is that I don't need to shout across a room or over other people's voices. I really like it. It is almost like a secret message/conversation/language that only the both of us understand. What's more special is that I can finally communicate with my child.