Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Being careful with words

I love that Benentt can understand me. We have such a great time together and I can tell her anything. She also makes me realize things I say all the time without thinking. Whenever I put a DVD in, Bennett will say, "It's coming!" I wondered where she got that until I noticed myself saying it every time I put a DVD in. There are other phrases she says now that make me laugh at myself, but then there are times when our communication goes horribly wrong. This was the scene before church yesterday. Bennett was laying on her changing table and I was putting on her tights.

Bennett: Socks?
Me: No, these are tights.
Bennett: Tights?
Me: Yes, we wear these in the winter to keep our legs warm.
Benentt: No, no, no tights. Socks. Please socks? Pumpkin! Okay, pumpkpin? (She wanted her pumpkin socks, of course. To mach her blue smocked dress naturally.)
Me: No, you will like tights. They keep your legs warm.
Bennett: Warm?
Me: (Realizing that she has no idea what the word "warm" means) Yes, that's right. Warm.
Bennett: Okay, socks?
Me: (Trying to think of a work that Bennett will know to help her understand) No, we need to wear tights in the fall. They keep our legs warm. You know, like hot. They keep our legs nice and hot.

I realized my mistake immediately. Hot is a bad word in our house. I didn't mean for it to be a bad word, but it became one. She can't touch the oven because it's too hot. She can't eat certain foods right away because they are too hot. She can't get in the bath right at first because it is too hot. We are always saying, "No, it's too hot." Bennett knows that hot is not good. I saw the look of fear in her eyes as soon as I told her that tights were hot. She started yelling-

Bennett:
Oh, no! No, hot. No, hot. No, hot. Bye Bye tights. Bye Bye tights. Oh, no. Pumpkin sock, okay? (She was crying hysterically by this point) Oh no, hot! Bye Bye hot. Socks, please Mommy? Socks.

We changed outfits. I need to find a book all about the beauty and comfort of tights or else it is going to be a long winter.

4 comments:

Lori Mercer said...

ROFL! ;)

Brittny said...

H-A-LARIOUS!!!!! I always had that problem with my kiddo with socks, hats and coats. I could only fix it by sending them out in the cold and explaining that if they put "whatever" on they would feel better. Sometimes works, sometimes don't. Good luck!!! Maybe tell her they are like really tight pants? We haven't needed tights yet. So let me know what you figure out!

Andrea said...

Tights are just really long snug socks that go all the way up! Aren't they cool! They're like special really awesome socks.

That might work... Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Maybe Mommy would let her wear tights AND socks? I gave up the battle of clothing with them at a very young age (we lived in Hawaii and didn't have to worry about tights), after that I always wanted to wear a sign around my neck that said "My children dressed themselves."