Morning

This morning Megan came into our bedroom to wake me up.

I said, "Megan, are you sure it's morning?"

Megan replied, "Yes it's morning! It's bright everywhere!"

humans!

Last night Khalto Sandy was reading bedtime stories to Megan.

Megan asked her, "Khalto, are the other humans waiting for you downstairs?"

I'm not cute!

Khalto Julie and Megan were at a restaurant and the lady at the next table said to her, "you are so cute!" and Megan replied, "I'm not cute, I'm bright!"

scared

Mommy yelled at Megan today (Megan is a very contrary three-and-a-half-year-old).

Megan whimpered a little and said to Daddy, "Mommy yelled at me and scared me. Was it supposed to scare me?"

Daddy: "Yes, it was."

magical powers

Megan slept over at Khalto Julie's house last night.

This morning they were playing and Julie exclaimed, "I'm going to eat you!"

Megan asked, "Who's going to save me??"

Julie replied, "No one!"

Megan retorted, "Then I'm going to save myself! I have magic powers in my brain!"

megan is not ready to move out...

This morning Lori, Reznor, and myself got up at 8:00. We were downstairs puttering around when Megan called out. I went upstairs to say good morning. She was hugging her bears with a sad look on her face. "Daddy, you went downstairs and left me upstairs all alone..." I explained to her that we didn't want to wake her up so she could get more sleep. "Someday you'll appreciate that and want to sleep in as long as you can." Megan wasn't buying it.

Megan says, "When I get older I'm going to sleep in your bed and Mommy can sleep in Reznor's rocking chair."

I said, "When you get older you'll want to move out and live in your own house--maybe even a condo downtown."

Megan's jaw dropped open and her eyes welled up with tears. "No Daddy, I don't want to leave."

"When you get older you'll want to leave, you just don't know it yet."

"No Daddy!"

"That's OK, you're only three... someday you'll understand. Let's go eat some breakfast."

Preschool Deception and Destruction

Megan woke up early this morning, 5am to be precise. We were tending to Reznor. We told Megan to go back to bed until 7:00. Megan says, "but Mommy, it is seven already--but don't look." I.e. she wanted us to take her word for it--she didn't want us to verify by checking the clock ourselves.

This morning Megan, Reznor, and I were sitting eating our breakfasts. I was feeding Reznor. Everything seemed to be going fine. I thought for sure I would be able to get Megan to daycare by 9am. Detecting movement out of the corner of my eye I turned to see Megan backing up slowly into the dining room. In her hands she held her Dora placemat. On the placemat was her bowl of cereal!!

Time slowed down as I leaped from my chair. "Noooooooo!" I screamed (in slow motion) as the placemat buckled and the cereal crashed to the floor.

It was a disaster.

Milk splattered all over the carpet. Multigrain Cheerios, bran flakes, mini shredded wheats, and raisons scattered all over the place.

I yelled, I fumed. Megan cried.

I ordered her to clean up the cereal so I could finish feeding Reznor. Then I mopped up the spilled milk with a couple of hand towels. It's been a few hours... I haven't gone back to see how the carpet is doing.

Wizard of Markham

Less than a week ago I introduced Megan to the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. Since that day she's been watching the movie in its entirety at least once each day. Tonight she started calling herself Dorothy and Reznor's little blue stuffed dog became Toto. I am the Scarecrow. Reznor is baby Tin Man. Lori is Auntie Em. She has yet to reveal who is the Wicked Witch of the West.

[Update: Feb 8, 2009] Megan has said recently that she loves Uncle Doug and wanted him to be her favourite, the Cowardly Lion. She's also decided that Khalto Julie is the Wicked Witch of the West. She has not explained this attribution.

[Update: March 15, 2009] Sandy is the Wicked Witch of the East and Kristy is the flying monkey.

Eating at the table

All week we've been encouraging Megan to eat at the table instead of in front of the TV. The incentives have ranged from chocolate and movies to stickers. This morning however Megan said to me, "I don't want to eat at the table. I want to eat in the family room. I don't even want stickers, or chocolate. I just want to eat in the family room."

So... what do we do now?

The Marshmallow Test

This morning we decided to conduct an experiment with Megan as the subject called The Marshmallow Test.

This experiment was first performed in the 1960s where children were given a single marshmallow. Although the child was allowed to eat the marshmallow immediately, he/she was told that resisting the temptation until the experimenter returned to the room would reward them with a second marshmallow. The idea was to test delayed gratification: a child's ability to control their behavior based on future expectations. When the test subjects were studied later in life they found that those children who could not resist eating the first marshmallow were more likely to have behavioral and academic problems, lower SAT scores, and struggled in stressful situations. The theory is that a lack of self-control led to all of these problems.

So this morning we experimented on Megan.

Daddy: [Placing marshmallow in front of Megan] Megan, you can eat this marshmallow.
Megan: [Reaches for marshmallow]
Daddy: Wait!! If you can wait 10 minutes you can have another marshmallow!
Megan: No Daddy, how about if I wait 10 minutes I can have two more marshmallows!

(Note: negotiation skills are technically out of the scope of this experiment)

So we set the timer for 10 minutes. We didn't insist she wait at the table, but she did return periodically to ask us if the time was up. After 10 minutes the timer beeped and Megan at her three marshmallows.

January 2010

Jan 3

• Megan is all stuffed up and says "I have boogers in my nose. I think it is booger water."

Jan 11

• Before Megan goes to bed she usually says "Daddy, tell Mommy and Reznor to be quiet because I'm trying to sleep."
  
  Tonight she got a little more specific: "Daddy, tell Mommy and your body and your brain to be quiet because I'm trying to sleep."