Saturday, November 03, 2007

A toddler is staying with us at house in Country Town or Le Maison dan la Ville sur la Pays (did you know I was bimangle?) and he is not my toddler, he is the Other Toddler and not only that he is several months older and with many more teeth but oddly, both my toddler and the Other Toddler want exactly the same toy car at exactly the same time.

Or, exactly the same biscuit, or, exactly the same annoying beeping siren shrieking hell machine.

Tricky has already freaked out the Other Toddler who is a sweet and gentle soul, by forcing him to submit to a torturous round of Facial Feature Identification.

Using his inflexible pointer finger, Tricky has managed to ascertain that Other Toddler has a nay, a mahw full of tee, a nye, another nye, a neeyah and some lovely curly heyah and…ooh look another neeyah, let me just poke my pointer finger into it just to make sure. And what about down here? Is that a button? My pointer finger will make sure. Oh wow, water is welling up in your nye. Is that a tear? My pointer finger will make sure…. And now you’re running away from me. But I can run too, look, and then I can hug you and then when I’ve stopped you in your tracks I’ll just make sure you haven’t dropped an ear, eye or nose along the way.

In Ms Babylove’s excellent second book “The Mighty Toddler” she points out that actually toddlers are not known for their deep love for fellow toddlers. I am paraphrasing of course but it seems that the toddler spares his deep love for those familiar adults that surround him and give him exactly what he wants. His second deepest love is for children who are old enough to give him almost exactly what he wants (for instance the Naughty Nephews when they let him touch oh so gently their pet mice). Other Toddlers come quite a way down on the list for love, after biscuits, toy cars and annoying beeping siren shrieking hell machines.

Tricky’s deepest love of course is for Jimmy the Dog who has that hilarious flapping tail thing which is the funniest thing in the world ever but more importantly lets him poke his pointer finger into his nye and neeyah whenever he feels the urge.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toddlers are indeed Mighty... and apparently terrorizing as well. You are having so much fun with Tricky in your life.

neko and the crocodile said...

this is so true our toddler has little love for others in the toddler set. he reserves awe for the "big" kids.

Drew said...

Ahh....I finally finish your book. (Took me record time - WEEKS! I used to finish a novel in two days). I have to blame Poopee for that.

Bravo. Bravo. Bravo!!

Beautifully written, even though I know the ending to your story, I still read with tears in my eyes. So gorgeous. Tricky will be very proud of you. I love the story about Neddy the frog.

Well done Ovagirl. And by the way, you know there is alot of you in your gorgeous little boy. Any hopes for him to become a writer?

Gabrielle said...

Hey Tricky! Bummer about having another kid in your house to use your stuff. Don't they know they are your things? Mummy and Mumma freaked me out lately and said they wanted to give me a brother or sister. What would I want with one of those? Luckily for me (and I guess sadly for them) it didn't work last week, but apparently they will try again next year. I have been doing my best to remind them of the bad stuff - waking up in the night, being really clingy, throwing tantrums, but this is not working. Any suggestions? Love Gabby

Mima said...

I have spent the last few days reading your blog from the very beginning having come across you by accident looking for someone blogging about MS! My next move is to go onto Amazon and order your book. You write so beautifully, and somehow make the struggles of life understandable for other people. I'm so glad for you that Tricky is in your life, and love the fact that you appreciate that every day.

Unknown said...

Ha! I say again, ha!

Welcome to my world!

''...toddlers are not known for their deep love for fellow toddlers'' Not even, and I'd like to make this very clear, not even when the other toddler in question is their own sibling. Or worse; siblings.

It is simply impossible in our house at the moment for any child to have anything for more than a nanosecond's nanosecond without it instantly becoming an object of deep and immediate desire for the other two.

Even cuddles are neigh on impossible, as the moment one child climbs onto an inviting parental lap, the other two instantly want the same parent and attempt, with knees, fists and impressively effective looking karate moves, to remove first child whilst simultaneously fighting off the third.

My desperate cry, as I am trampled and beaten in the fallout, that there is 'enough Daddy for everyone' is soundly ignored for the obvious lie it is. Breda and I have now gotten used to sneaking quietly past the unfortunate one of us who is struggling on the floor under a welter of kicking and gouging children while desperately and hopelessly moaning 'share, share, share'.

Honestly, sometimes I think I might ‘have my hands full’ after all…