Look to the future
Look into the future
“I be need!”
“What do you need dear.” When will he learn to reference back and give me a clue!
“I be need goggles.”
“Goggles?”
“No!”
“No?”
“No. I be need glasses.”
“Glasses?”
“No!”
“No?”
“No. I be need shades!”
“Shades?”
“No. I be need eye fingies.”
“Eye thingies?”
“No. I be need……binoculars.”
“Binoculars?”
“Yes.”
I look at my son. Four years ago there were several items, ordinary items, that he was unable to name.
The few that I particularly recall were television, microscope, binoculars and telephone. He refused to name anything that could remotely be called food. All of them were off his radar and therefore of no interest.
The expert tester encouraged him to point at the pictures he chose, the ones he was unable to name. He was unable to point at the pictures for fear that his finger tip might accidentally brush the texture, as paper was poison. Instead he broke silence and read out the fine print on the margins of the pages, their reference numbers and letter codes, a gesture that struck me as generous to a fault.
“Well, you know, I don't think we have any binoculars dear.” They were given away, just like so many other things that were grouped together in the category of 'boring,' or in the alternative category of 'items of torture.'
“Oh.” He looks a little crest fallen and I await the meltdown. Moments later he skips away, as happy as a lamb, or a sheep on speed.
He returns shortly thereafter, clutching a cardboard tube and dives into the kitchen drawer where his magical fingers tackle an 'item of torture,' the seleotape dispenser with it's little serrated edge, the one sure to slash jugulars.
I step forward but he bellows me away, “I do it all my myself!”
And indeed he does!
“See! Ta dah!” he thrusts them towards me, less than an inch from my nose, “dey are beed super spy binoculars!”
I feel a little light headed as I watch him snatch them away, the binoculars of torture and place them over his eye sockets, the most sensitive part of his face. He hesitates and both hands quiver, his eyebrow arch to make more room until miraculously his vision is obscured by cardboard rings, surely the most superlative day in the universe.
In the bathroom, I step over the unraveled mounds of toilet paper, another mountain conquered.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Wicked good progress! He took miles of initiative, and created miles of wasted paper, and I bet you couldn’t be more elated.
Sometimes all we need is a tiny bit of progress to encourage us. This seems like a milestone.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Hurray!!!
March 10th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Now that’s what I call ingenuity!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:35 am
somehow i knew there was going to be loo roll everywhere! we have one the same. he would empty boxes of things where he stood if he needed the box – joker particularly liked it when this was edible stuff!
the looking at the world through binoculars thing may well lead onto other discoveries – my son find s this way of watching things tunes a lot of stuff out and helps quite a lot.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Excellent!!
March 11th, 2008 at 3:17 am
The texture of paper still bothers me quite a bit (yeah, at age 43), and moreso, the matte finish of the non-sticky side of Scotch tape. But I can live with that. Styrofoam, on the other hand, is Pure Evil — a pestilent scourge to be wiped out.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Awesome!
March 11th, 2008 at 3:26 am
How exciting!
March 11th, 2008 at 3:52 am
*takes notes on TP Binoculars How-to*
March 11th, 2008 at 4:15 am
Fantastic!!
March 11th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Truly exciting. Wow.
He is the greatest!
Loved the line….” he skips away, as happy as a lamb, or a sheep on speed.”
I think your kids get their drive and problem solving skills from you…
You display so many ways of dealing with issues, that I think they see it. They are learning techniques from you. What better teacher????
Love to you and the kids,
Suzy
March 11th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Love it! Smart kid… we actually have saved toilet paper rolls for just this type of occasion.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Now you just need a project for all of the left over toilet paper!
Joe (who is not sure he would have been as calm after finding that white mountain)
March 11th, 2008 at 5:33 am
oh forgive me for letting loose with a true guffaw when i saw the paper all over the loo. i mean it’s absolutely WONDERFUL that he put together names and the overcoming of tactile dangers and made his own set of binoculars to solve his own need for them. i mean it’s miraculous really. of course, i don’t have to clean up the loo, but oh goodness it did make me laugh.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:48 am
HAHAHAHA! And here I thought they were already empty rolls. We’ve had our share of new rolls being stripped for the sole purpose of becoming “Doo-Duh-doos” which is the sound he makes when he pretends to trumpet into them. Too much fun. Wow. Progress feels great!
March 11th, 2008 at 5:57 am
YAY!! That’s wonderful!
Messy, but wonderful.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Holy Frijoles! What a guy! You know, somewhere I have a whole box of those tubes. I keep them to make Christmas crackers. Perhaps I should send them your way? You can always used the unrolled paper by pulling apart the sheets and using them flat like they used to…
March 11th, 2008 at 6:03 am
practical solutions for everyday situations! this is great, and gave me a very nice morning giggle!
happy ww – tuesday style
March 11th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Wow imagination, creativity, problem solving, touching paper, and other dangerous items! That is major! Oh and no meltdown! All great stuff, hurray for him!
March 11th, 2008 at 6:43 am
i’m giving my dad a pair of those binoculars for his boat!
March 11th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Worth ever wasted sheet of toilet paper.
Awesome!!!!
Sheri
March 11th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Awesome! Thanks for the nice read:) I have a 6 yrs old here and does that things as well! Little ones says and does the funniest yet most creative things!
Happy WW-T!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful little spy!
Also, beautifully written.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Well done! On to the tissue box guitar perhaps?
March 11th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Very bright idea and well executed!!
March 11th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Cheers! Laughs! Then, a deep sigh and tears.
Congratulations. He is a new miracle every day.
Glori B.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:27 am
You are killing me! Progress, indeed. There are too many things there to even count in the progress rolls (pun somewhat intended). Isn’t it funny how these things work?
I’ve learned to respool the paper. Takes less patience than a lot of things in your daily life – including managing to get to the store for more! There is a possibility that this is unhygienic, but frankly, around here we eat crayons, playground mulch, and old food scrounged from under the fridge (I know that you know all about pica!). Accordingly, I have a hard time worrying about whether the toilet paper has been respooled.
Best wishes for continued leaps and bounds!
March 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
That’s completely awesome and the toilet paper? I think you can extend the five second rule for items you don’t ingest.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
OOoo MY! hehe the bathroom!!!! How can you be upset though eh?
March 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am
OMG! I am laughing too hard to see straight! Wow, such a milestone…on ALL fronts. Really, what’s a couple of rolls of TP in the name of a worthier cause, right?
Oh, and you can use the TP for, um, art projects? torn bits glued on bottles and the like for vases? (Sorry, I *almost* managed that with a straight face!)
This would be a great VISA/MC kind of thing…scotch tape $1.00, toilet paper emptied off rolls onto bathroom floor $3.25, making his own binoculars? PRICELESS!!
March 11th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Same as Niksmom, I’m laughing so hard I can hardly type. Wow, and more wow. What a kid!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
LOL that’s great!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
What a brilliant young man. Now this was a fun post. Have a great day.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Now that is a solution! A wonderful post as ever Maddy
March 11th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Maddy – I absolutely LOVE this post!!! I especially love the last photo
He’s one clever lad.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I love it! He’s making progress by leaps and bounds–sounds like the hard work you’ve all been doing is really paying off!
Bravo!
March 11th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Worth the waste of two toilet rolls!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I love it!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Now, that’s determination! Good for him.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Oh god. Such progress and such waste. I would have so much trouble overlooking the waste, but i would.
Beautiful.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Very creative! I bet he would really like the rolls from wrapping paper.
At my house all the toilet paper would have been stuck in the pipes.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:22 am
awesome!
and good for you for not reacting to the toilet paper (or so you say…)
March 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
How lovely to watch that kind of progress.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
YaY!!!
March 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
hehehe that is so awesome! We love cardboard tubes around here. They become all sorts of “treasures”