Who Do You Love?

After dinner tonight, I was on laundry folding duty, while Mark took care of baths. As I passed by the bathroom with an armload of Heath and Stella clothes, I heard, Oh Heath, don't pee on her. Not on Sissy's face. I guess she didn't mind, because I didn't hear any tormented screeches coming from her.

Stella was, however, one sleepy little girl this evening. She had a big treat of being able to hang out and play in Heath's class this morning for an hour, while I helped decorate the front hall bulletin board. She loved getting in the mix with the other 3's. She squeezed clay. She pushed comb-like blocks together. She played in the kitchen. She colored. And generally wandered around with curious delight. Every now and then I would hear her sound a squeal of pure pleasure.

The bulletin board's theme is Love. Each parent brought in a picture of their child and helped them create a Love List. The Love List consisted of some pretty standard questions. Food, Books, People, Colors, Animals that they love. Should be simple, right?

Six days. It took me six days to get this list finished.

And when I say finished, I mean finished to some sort of satisfaction that wouldn't embarrass me.

The first attempt was made last Wednesday during Heath's nap furlough. In an effort to use my time wisely, while we were held hostage on my bed during Stella's nap, I got my laptop out and tried to get Heath to talk about what he loves.

Hey Heath, let's do this fun list for your class bulletin board. What books do you love to read? I'm thinking this is an easy one. We just read half a dozen. They're sitting on the bed beside us.

He licks the computer screen.

Okay, bad timing. We'll try it again tomorrow.

Next day. Heath, what's your favorite animal? We just finished reading through his favorite Weekly Readers book about Gorillas.

Shockee.

What animal? I pick up the Gorilla book to see if I can subliminally get him to give me a straight, acceptable answer.

Lockee.

Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow. What food do you love?

Puppy bones.

What color do you love?

Poo-Poo.

Who do you love?

Poo-Poo.

Maybe it's the formality of trying to type it in while I'm asking him the questions that is throwing him off. So I try random attacks to squeeze out some reasonable answers.

Out babyjogging and we pass by Fire Station #16. Tell me about some people that you love, Heath? I'm positive I'm going to get him to say Fire Fighters. Maybe mention of my dad, Papa.

What's that construction cone doing there?

Playing at the park on the big, green slide. What color do you like, Heath?

Shockee. Shockee. We're back to Shockee. He's hip to my game.

Finally, just before he took his nap on Monday (hallelujah!), he gave me some appropriate answers for his list.

It's a Love List for a three year old. No big deal. As co-room parent I was responsible for bringing this nearly impossible task upon myself, I couldn't help but wonder if other people were having the same difficulty. I came very close to posting my Final Draft list and his original that would've read like this:

Heath Ropko's Love List

MTW 3's

Books I Love Poo-Poo Books

Food I Love Puppy Bones

Color I Love Poo-Poo Colors

Animal I Love Shockee and Lockee

People I Love Construction Cones and Poo-Poo People