"Where's the trash?" and other stories from a day in Burlington

The afternoon was looking bleak: Alice was not napping.  She had slept in, so Zac had taken her to the park that morning to try and wear her out so she would nap on time (noon) in order for us to leave for Burlington at a reasonable time.

But she did not nap.  We though, OK, she'll nap in the car on the way there.  She finally fell asleep, raisin box in hand, when we were a mere 12 minutes away, so she only got a micro-nap.

We met Grandpa Arcaro and family in Graham to see an exhibition called "The Art of the Brick."  Basically, this guy, Nathan Sawaya, makes sculptures using Legos.  Alice was really into looking at the sculptures, although she clung pretty tightly and kept saying she was scared.  She pointed at everything and wanted to see it all.

After seeing the exhibition, we drove to Burlington. As soon as we went inside and she saw the stairs, she said she wanted to go up.  When asked why, she said she wanted to see the airplane.  Three or four months ago, when we were there last, she was playing upstairs in the play room and knocked down a blow-up airplane that was hanging from the ceiling.  It was a big story of hers for a while, repeating, "I knocked it down.  Airplane" for a while afterwards.  So it was interesting that she remembered it.  We went upstairs and she touched (gently) the airplane, which had been hung back up.  She also played the guitar, which made her really happy since her music teacher at school plays the guitar.

The highlight of the afternoon was that she got to play in her first leaf pile.  Luckily, her aunt Eleanor was around to show her how to do it right. (Click here for video).  I think the most fun and rewarding part of having kids is seeing them take such joy in things that I've simply outgrown.  Although I know a leaf pile is theoretically fun, I just can't have the same fun as a child, except vicariously by watching her and remembering.  Everybody says children are our future, but they are also a link to our past.

When Alice came in from playing in the leaves, she had some stuck in her hair.  I was holding Simon on the couch, so I took the leaf bits out of her hair, handed them to her, and told her to put them in the trash.  I knew she didn't know where the trashcan was in this house, but I wanted to see what would happen.  Here's what happened:  She took the leaf bits in her hand and circled the kitchen.  When she didn't see a trashcan, she looked up at Tom and said, "Where's the trash?"  He opened the cupboard door that contains the trash, and she put the leaf bits in.

This incident made me happy.  Let me explain why.  First of all, Alice obeyed and followed directions.  Secondly, she was tasked with a problem (finding a trashcan in an unfamiliar place) and she first tried to do it herself (by circling the kitchen looking for it).  She drew on previous knowledge (kitchens have trashcans, mom wouldn't be asking me to throw this away if there wasn't one).  When her problem proved more complex than originally anticipated, she asked for help.  She also identified the correct person to ask for help (the owner of the house).  She wasn't afraid to interact with another adult and she didn't come back to me with her problem when she recognized someone else could help.  Finally, she followed through.  When shown the trashcan, she put the leaf bits in it then went on to other things.

Of course, it doesn't always happen this way.  But it's nice to know that she's capable of this sort of process.  I think at that age I would have been way too shy to interact so confidently with adults who were not my parents.  Day care is paying off.

The other interesting thing of the visit was that it was the first time Alice sat at the table.  In the past, we've always brought her high chair or the booster seat with a tray.  This time, we just brought the booster seat and she sat at the table like a regular kid.  She scarfed down the asparagus, enjoyed the fries, and made pretty good progress on her hamburger.

Since supper was so late, we didn't leave until around 8pm.  She was pretty wound up in the car, telling her new narrative, "I knocked down the airplane.  We tied it back up."  But she eventually passed out, so much so that she didn't even wake up when we brought her in the house and changed her diaper and put on her pajama pants.  She came to for just a moment, to ask for her pillow, then she sunk back into a much-deserved sleep.