The Too Observant Child

Photo by Juushika Redgrave (click pic for link)

So there’s this phase after you have a baby, a span of time where your child is not old enough to understand or catch on to everything going on around them, and you can get away with some things. You can have conversations that you know they aren’t following, you can listen to music that may have questionable lyrics, you can “trick” them (you know having that really noisy toy magically disappear). It’s a nice little time where you don’t have to be quite so careful.

I thought my kidlet (age 4) was still somewhat in this stage. He’s a little hard to figure out because he’s wicked smart but then has some language delays. So sometimes I think we underestimate exactly how much he’s observing and picking up. For instance, when he was two I was out at an ice cream shop with him and the song “Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects came on the radio. Well, I used to play music videos in the background when I did housework. Well, there’s this clap they do in the video at a very precise moment. And guess who clapped his hands over his head at the exact moment that part came up?  (The clap is at the :45 mark if you want to see it.)

This interest in music and ability to remember it has only increased with time. He can now do most of the choreography for Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance from when we watched the concert on TV. So we now try to be aware of what we’re letting him see or listen to. Though, I have to admit it’s kind of cool to have a kid who can hear songs in the grocery store and announces to everyone, “This is Journey! This is Foo Fighters! I love Pink!” : )

But now his observation skills have moved beyond TV and music. Now he’s apparently watching mommy and daddy much closer than we thought.

Conversation he had in the car this week with his daddy…

Kidlet: That’s the house with the trick-or-treat.

Hubs: You mean, that’s the house you went to when you trick or treated?

Kidlet: Yes, for Halloween.

Daddy: And what did they give you when you trick or treated?

Kidlet: Candy!

Daddy: And what did you do with the candy?

Kidlet: Mommy ate it.

*cringe* Now, for the record, I didn’t eat ALL the candy. But frankly, he’s not that far off. I’m kind of the healthy-cooking, organic, no food dyes kind of mama, so I limit his junk food pretty carefully. But I thought that after the few chocolates I gave him, he’d forgotten about the rest of it. Um, apparently not. Clearly, he knew just where all that stuff was and who was eating it, lol. So sneaky me was not as stealthy as I thought.

Lesson learned: Big Brother Kidlet is watching you.

I’m now on my best behavior. Easter candy will be shared by all. : )

So has your kidlet ever figured out something you were trying to “trick” them on? Or have you ever been caught red-handed like me? 

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I’m Roni Loren,or as I’ll be called ‘round these parts, No Drama Mama. I’ve been married for ten years and have a four-year old son, who has recently been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. My days are spent writing very sexy romances (my PC way of saying erotic),avoiding all things housework, and hanging out with a kidlet who I suspect is vastly smarter than I am. I secretly dream of having a life that looks like the pages of Real Simplemagazine, but would settle for Sorta Decent if could get there. My daily goal is to keep the drama on the pages of my books and out of my life–I’m successful at least twenty percent of the time. www.roniloren.com

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