Socks on

"NO! Don't take my clothes off. I don't want to get in the tub!"

"Do you want to take your socks off by yourself, or should I take them off for you?"

K considered, and then replied: "I just want to keep my socks on."

Argh! That "do you want X or Y" trick is a staple in my parenting repertoire. I knew it wouldn't work forever. I just didn't think he'd figure out so soon that he could invent a third alternative.

Another recent K-ism: he has no problem loudly and repeatedly saying NO, until I ask him an actual yes-or-no question, like "Do you want to go for a walk?" Then he replies, "Uh, I don't think so, Mommy. I don't think that's a good idea."

He's also been saying "I don't know" a lot, even to things he clearly does know. He figured out that we would stop pestering him to think for himself and just tell him the answer if he says he doesn't know. But we eventually caught on and now we're back to pestering.

We got a digital clock for his room (to reinforce a new rule: wake-up time does not start until 6-0-0! Don't make any noise until the first number is 6!) and he has become interested in numbers, reading them off signs and boxes and whatever we see. But he usually reads them backwards. He often reads letters right to left, too. We've been reading to him so much for his entire life that I was a little surprised to realize that he didn't get the concept of reading from top to bottom and left to right. But of course, I don't move my finger as I read, and he's looking at the pictures. He is starting to make out the letters and can read a few words (on, off, go). I've been attempting to read a little in Bengali to remind myself how hard it is to read when first you have to figure out what all the letters are.