The Preschool Years

Last night I had this song stuck in my head: "S. I. M. P. Squirrels in my pants, S. I. M. P. Squirrels in my pants" Why? Because I had seen it in an episode of Phineas and Ferb of course. In fact I find myself humming tunes from cartoons all the time.


Once I was talking to a woman about small children and she said (when speaking of the time when her three kids were four and under) "I remember there being lots of cartoons, and that's about it." I can relate. Most days are a blur of feeding-cleaning-hugging-cartoons, in no particular order.

And toys that talk and sing. Lots of those. I don't mind that they talk in an annoying voice most of the time or that they are repeated ad nauseum throughout the day. All I ask of toy makers is that they put a volumn control on these toys. Most don't have that and I truly wish they would. Even Little d is annoyed sometimes. "Mom I can't hear the TV because Little m keeps playing her car."


But this time is also filled with lots of discovery for both of them and for me. I love to watch the ingenious ways they each problem solve. Little d needed me to open a tin of cookies yesterday and I was upstairs so she moved a riding toy car over to the baby gate, set the cookies and her plate on it, climbed over the gate empty handed, then reached to pick up the cookies. Unfortunately she couldn't reach them and a meltdown ensued, but the thought and planning that went into her process was so smart to me. Little m was playing with a toy Oreo yesterday. It is part of a puzzle game and the Oreo splits in two halves. She was trying to fit the Oreo into a travel-size Huggie wipes container. When it wouldn't fit, she stared at it for a while and then pulled the halves apart and tried to fit one into the container. Again I was amazed at the thought process.


The girls are so much fun to watch. Especially when they are sleeping. HA!