things my Two-Year-Old Taught Me: XXII

On occasion, I do clean.  I even try to teach my two year old to help. 

Example 1 -

me: “bug, can you put your bowl in the sink?”  

bug: “What bowl?”

me: “Your bowl.”

bug: “I don’t see it.”

me: “It’s right by your hand.”

bug:  (runs into the other room)

Example 2 -

me: “Put your shoes in the cubbies, please.”

bug: “I don’t see them.”

me: “They’re right by your feet.”

bug: (runs into the other room)

Example 3 -

me: “It’s time to clean the play room!”

bug: (runs away)

me: “bug, can you grab that car and put it in the box?”

bug: (runs right past it)

me: “bug, it’s right there.  Pick it up please.”

bug: (looks around him on the floor) “I don’t see it.”

me: “It’s by your foot.”

bug: (runs into the other room)

I was starting to wonder if he had trouble seeing.  I have notoriously awful sight.  I am legally blind without my contacts.  (no, not an exaggeration) mr also has eye issues, but refuses to admit it.  I know this from multiple experiences where he thought living objects were leaves and such.  He’s too vain for glasses.

So, perhaps bug has already inherited our nasty eye genes?

Perhaps he simply doesn’t understand what I’m asking him to do?

Perhaps I am asking too much of my almost three year old?

Today I walked into the post office to mail a letter.  We don’t go there very often, especially during the school year when I watch K.  Three kids under three in a post office is a little overwhelming.  So, there were a lot of new things to look at.  A cool scale, envelopes and boxes, pretty wrapping paper, greeting cards, posters, mail boxes, people...

“I want a sucker!” bug exploded, loudly.

“What?”  I responded, caught a little off-guard as I chose envelopes and wrote out addresses.

“A sucker!”  He exclaimed.  At which time, K also picked up the chant.

I looked around.  What in the world were they talking about?  I saw no suckers.  Anywhere.  I didn’t even see anything that looked remotely like a sucker.  

“I don’t have any suckers.  If you’re good here, I’ll give you some gum in the car.”

(I do, in fact, give them gum every so often.  Is that ingenious, brave or stupid?)

They did quiet, but every so often one of them would blurt out the sucker proclamation again.

When it was our turn at the counter, I handed the postal worker my envelopes and prepared to pay.  He took my money and asked, “Would your kids like a sucker?”

I’m pretty sure the entire post office knows my kids want suckers!  I thought... why offer unless...?

And he turned, walked back to a removed counter, picked up a half-concealed bowl of suckers, and brought them forward to an eagerly awaiting bug and K. 

To say I was surprised is an understatement.  I really have no idea how bug saw the suckers in the first place.  They were all but invisible to the naked eye.  How is it possible that in a place so full of new and fun things to look at, he zeroes in on the suckers, but at home he can’t find a car or his socks if they smack him in the face?

And when I thought about it, I realized it happens all the time.  

In the grocery store -

bug: “I want that balloon!”

me: (looking around) “What balloon?”

bug: “That balloon!!”

me: “I don’t see a balloon.”

bug: (pointing up) “Right there!”

I look up and locate the balloon - a tiny red dot clear on the other side of the store up among the rafters of the ceiling.  If there is a balloon anywhere in the vicinity, he will find it.

In the car - 

bug: “Look!  A bus!”

me: “really?  I don’t see a bus.”

bug: “Right there!”

me: “bug, that’s just a van.”

bug: “No!  A bus, a bus!”

And I spot the yellow-orange of a school bus, small in the distance, driving in the opposite direction.

It’s like he has radar.  Anything bug-related sends sonar directly into his mind.  He could find a basketball amid a patch of pumpkins.  If there is a parking lot full of silver cars, he will pick out the one Escape that looks just like mine.  His powers of observation extend far beyond normal human ability.

So does he have a seeing problem?  Does he have trouble understanding what I ask?  Do I ask too much of him?  No, I’ve discovered the real issue is selective seeing.  It’s a lot like selective hearing, which he also suffers from.  Someday, he’ll make a perfect husband. 

ps, welcome to any newbies coming over from featuring you friday at Sassy Sites!  Thanks for coming!