Children are a source of much mirth when it comes to the things they do & say. Those of you who are, or at some point in the past have been, parents, will know this is not a hard & fast rule.
Our own experience has seen the years of about 1 1/2 to 3, 3 1/2 to be trying periods. An age where they have increased mobility combined with an incredible sense of curiosity & exploration. Not a good combination. The trail of devistation left in the wake of Our eldest girl at that age earned her the title Cyclone V (Vani). What would take hours to clean by members of the house could be undone in literally a matter of minutes by the smallest. Our 2nd daughter has learnt well from her big sister & has now taken on the much coveted title Cyclone L (Lusi-Ann). Makes you wonder if the weather service folk are not commiserating each other in naming such weather patterns after their own children...
Coming out of that age, our eldest is growing & developing... & coming up with new ways to both amuse & frustrate. I don't know how she compares speech wise with other kids her own age as she's learning 2 languages, Fijian & English - I know she is more fluent in my wife's language. Some of the things she comes up with just leave me smiling. Before she mastered the phrase, "Daddy, can I whisper something in your ear", it came out something like, "Daddy, can I talk to your ear". Even though she has no speach impediment and she has no problem saying "Yellow", she still says "Hello". Other new & exciting developments include phrases like "that's cool" - something I thought only came out in school. The latest now is, "Daddy, I've got a great idea!"...
And now the first entry... best if you read this with the light on.
This story takes place a couple of years ago when Vani was just 2.
We were in Sydney at my wife's family's place. Most of us were upstairs cleaning or just relaxing. Tokasa's dad was downstairs in the laundry doing something in the laundry tub with Vani wandering around. He heard the sound of water splashing & a stick banging against the walls. It stopped. And a few minutes later it started again. A few minutes later it stopped. And started again. This went on for sometime and he didn't pay too much attention to it as he was busy.
Before too long he felt a splash on the back of his legs. He turned around and there she was smiling with a mop in hand. "Hey, what do you think you are doing?", dad said. She laughed & continued to 'mop'. Following the trail, she had cleaned all the floor where there wasn't carpet, started up the stairs a little & through the laundry. Another thought struck him and he spoke to her once more, "Vani, where did all this water come from?" (drying his legs). She ran to the bathroom, mop in hand, & dipped it once more in the toilet!
Robbie
