Just look at our little cutie, complete with hair long enough for TWO pig-tails (well, pretty close!) just before school last week. I swear there are not too many days that go by that Lj does not amaze us. Last week was no exception. She cried the first day of 3 year old preschool and then the rest was history. She just could not wait to get there! Well, last Thursday when Mom picked her up and began to ask about her school work, she noticed that Lexi’s usual very good coloring had reverted back to scribbling. Mom asked her shy she scribbled and she replied that her friend #1 scribbles so she did too.
What??? Well, Mom made her redo her paper and then when I arrived told me about the issue. I took little Lj home and had a conversation with her about doing her best and then made her color a page in a coloring book for me. She did awesome!
So when her dad came home that night I struck up a conversation about school during dinner. Lexi began her usual aversion tactics! First she avoided the question of what she did a school. So I brought in her papers. Then her Daddy asked her what kind of shape she had colored… (no answer). Then he asked her what color her shape was and she replied, “ I don’t know.” It was then I stepped in out of sheer maddness to let her know that if she continued to play “clueless” she would get to watch no night-time tv. Yea… it worked. She quickly told her Daddy what shape it was but then when asked the color, she again replied “I don’t know”. I jumped in again and she told him, “It’s a secret.” AGAIN I told her you either tell your father what shape and color on the page or we will spend the rest of the night reading books about shapes and colors. FINALLY, she looked at him and said “it’s red!”
Now for the really amazing part… after she finally told her Daddy the color of the shape, he made a comment that if she continued to not do her best at school, he was going to call Mrs. Linda and tell her that she could do better. Well, Lexi pipes up and told her daddy, “well, she does not have a phone!”. I swear we both just about fell out of our chairs but needless to say after over 2 years of parenting her, we both knew that a straight face was in order. All I can say now is “HOLY COW!” If her 3 year old brain can now make up such excuses Heaven help us when she is 16!
Here’s our dilemma. . . how far in the name of getting her to become her own person and not be a follower do we go? And if it is short, how do you teach a 3 year old that skill? She’s clearly very bright and so much of the time, we think she is much smarter than we are!
