When Your Kid Outwits You

When my kid was still a baby, I was very much excited to see the first time she sits down on her own, her first roll over, her first crawl, her first steps, her first teeth. Pretty much all her firsts. But among all these, I was particularly waiting for her first words.

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In my mind, the moment she starts talking, it would be so much fun. I can't wait to experience her first questions, her first arguments, her first thoughts. I said to myself, our daily conversations will be very much colorful, surprising amd of course fun. And it was. Well, it actually still is. I learned to just roll with it.

On the first months of her speaking spree, it was actually me talking to her, teaching her this and that. I taught her the colors, numbers, vehicles, weather, days of the week. Et cetera. Et cetera. I talk to her through my daily chores. I explain why I have to chop the veggies, or how long it will take for rice to cook. I talk to her about pretty much everything. I know I had to. The book I read said that I needed to help her grow her vocabulary.

And grow her vocabulary did she. Not only that, she developed a system of reasoning and logic. I think I may have created a talking machine which will be the key to my undoing.

During the first months of her lessons, I seldom check for understanding. Then I slowly integrated asking her questions to see if she would be able to answer correctly. Needless to say, I was speechless.

Left and right is one of the lessons I taught her early. (I myself still get confused where my right and left is.) I gave her a full week of lessons about left and right. While giving her a bath, I'd randomly say "Let's clean your right hand." Or I'd ask her to lift her left foot when having her wear her pyjamas. Stuff like that. And here came the question and answer portion.

Me: This is your right hand.
Kid: Right hand!
Me: (Holding up her left hand) And this is?
Kid: THE OTHER HAND!

Technically, she is correct. 1 point for Aya.

And the question and answer portion about numbers. She gets confused with the numbers 1 and 4. So I gave a little more focus on those two numbers.

Me: (Pointing at number 1.) What number is this?
Kid: Number 1!
Me: Good job! What number is this? (Pointing at number 4.)
Kid: NOT NUMBER 1!

2 points for Aya!

I guess we took a little longer during the lesson before we had the Q&A so maybe she was tired already. But still, you could agree that she's still technically correct.

Now that we're already getting ready for the next school year, our next target is getting her to give an introduction. I gave her a 4-line script. The first line would be her name, then her age, her mother's name and then her father's name. And she goes like this.

"My name is Aya. I am three years old. My mother's name is Rome. My father's name is........ Not Rome."

She always forgets her father's name and just ao that she would complete the paragraph, she went freestyle.

3 pointa for Aya. At this point, I think I should stop tallying the score. The kid is already winning.

And to make our daily lives all the more interesting, she comes up with all the questions she could think of. Some are easy to answer, some I put a pin on, some I pray she will not remember to ask again.

Like this one time she saw a picture of the crusifiction. She said "Those nails are ouchy. Why are they there?" I did what any other sensible parent would do. I changed the subject. 😵 And I told her to ask her father about it when he comes home from work.

Some of her easy questions are "Leaves are green. But why are these brown?" Another would be "Why did you chop the chocolates." She's used to just eating them right away. And since that day, she did not want to eat any chocolates. She thinks they're raw and should be cooked first.

Just the other day, while I was applying baby oil on her hair, she asked me what it is. I said "This is baby oil." To which she replied "Baby oil?" I know she was thinking of something with the way ahe asked. I nodded and said yes. Then she asked me.

"Where's the mommy oil?"

My husband thinks her funny and witty persona comes from me. Then I realized, I am doomed! She's only three years old. I am excited about how she and I will argue and discuss things in the next few years. I am bracing myself. This will be one heck of an adventure!