Back to Zach

I haven't had much to say about my little darling, but I've accrued enough stories for another post about him. As I'm sure you all do with your own children, I love to see how the mind of a child works. They see the world in such simplicity and in black and white. They love reverse psychology even though it's all just a game, but things are very clear set for them. That's why "they" say that children thrive on a schedule. So, on to my stories...
The other day Zach was being a typical 3 year old having a hard time following orders. I feel that this happens mostly when he is tired, but it can happen at any given time. After all he's just a kid right? After repeatedly asking him to head upstairs for bath time I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I grabbed his arm and proceeded to march him up the stairs. As we were half way up I thought he was going to say something like "Ouch you're hurting me." But I was barely holding his arm, just enough to guide him. My first thought is, "No, we're not beginning this phase of attitude are we?" However, he says to me, "No! We don't hold arms, we hold hands!" My thought then was, "Thank you for making me laugh when I'm completely annoyed with your behavior." As frustrated as you can get, it is always nice when your child reminds you that they are just that, a child.

At the grocery store today a lady said to Zach, "Aren't you a cutie?!?"
After she had walked away Zach turns to me and in an angry voice says, "That lady called me NAMES!" I had to explain to him that she was giving him a compliment and telling him that he's cute. He was okay after that. But I love that he got offended by someone telling him he was cute.

This next story might be a little hard for me to tell only because as you all know I'm very long winded and I might make the story more wordy than it needs to be. So, here goes...
Zachary is learning about dinosaurs at school. He already knows quite a bit about them from home, but I've never gone into how they all died. His teacher however taught them that. Of course it's fine and I don't mind, but for the mind of a three year old he's still trying to process what die means. On the way home from the store it all of a sudden clicks in his mind.
Z: Like you dye Easter Eggs. That's how the dinosaurs died.
Me: No baby, those are two different types of dye/die. Dye for Easter eggs is D-Y-E and that means to color things. Die for the dinosaurs is D-I-E. Once they were alive and then they died. All living things eventually die. It's just a part of life.

Z: Well, one day I'm gonna go to the dinosaur shelter and get a T-Rex to have as a pet.
Me: I don't think you'll be able to do that because all the dinosaurs died. That's why we say they are extinct. But we still have their bones to show that they lived a long long time ago.

There was a lot more to our conversation than that, but I touched on the best two parts. The fact that he is convinced he'll be able to go to a dinosaur shelter one day (I still haven't convinced him otherwise) and the dinosaurs died like the Easter eggs. We're still working on what die means, but I'm not sure I can explain it to him just yet. Wish me luck however when we do get that pet T-Rex!