B-O-B please
You know that thing that parents do where they spell something so their kid doesn't know what they are talking about? Carsten loves Bob the Builder. He gets so excited about it we can't even say the word Bob. Frankly, it's a good thing that we don't have any friends nearly named Bob, because we could never talk about them.
Yesterday, Carsten looked at me and said: "Bob please daddy."
I told him: "It's too early to watch Bob, we just got up!"
Carsten, after thinking for a moment: "B-O-B please daddy!"
Oh dear. I think we might be in trouble. He knows our secrets.
Is there a baby in there?
Periodically we have been mentioning to Carsten that his mother is going to have another baby, just on general principles so that he isn't too surprised when someone else takes center stage. Usually he doesn't respond, but last night, he really seemed to understand. He pointed to Natalie's tummy and said "There a baby in there!" after we mentioned it. He patted her tummy and said "Hello baby!"
Then things got a little confusing. A few minutes later, Carsten pointed to Natalie's leg and exclaimed: "There's a baby in there!" We tried to correct him but he still points to random parts of Natalie to declare her maternity.
Then things got a little more confusing. Carsten ran and jumped on to my (Andy's) tummy. "There's a baby in there," he exclaimed. I had to tell him that only mommies have babies, not daddies.
Finally, things reached their ultimate confusion. Carsten and I were playing and I tickled his tummy. He looked down at his belly and said questioningly, "is there a baby in there?"
Don't drink the bath water
There are only a few rules at bathtime. Don't stand up in the tub and don't drink the bath water are pretty much at the top of the list. We try really hard not to drink bathwater. We even get a cup of drinking water every night, so that if Carsten is thirsty there is an appropriate beverage right at hand.
Once, a long time ago, the bath was a little too warm. I poured cold water into the bath, and used Carsten's little green bucket, a bath toy, to spread it around. After I cooled the bath down, I gave him a bucket full of cold water. For almost every night since then, he has asked for, and gotten, a bucket of cold water. Before he could talk, he would hand me the bucket and coo meaningfully. Eventually we taught him sign language for cold, and I made him show me the sign to get cold water. Lately, he has to say "cold water please daddy" to get a bucket. For some reason, the temptation to drink cold water straight from the bucket is especially strong.
Two nights ago, Carsten bent his head down and put his mouth to the bucket of cold water. I reminded him not to drink bath water, but he came up with a mouthful. He opened his mouth and proudly exclaimed: "I spit it out!" I was not sure what to do, so I told him "Good job, you didn't drink the water. But it would be even better if you didn't put the water in your mouth at all." After that, he spent the rest of the bath putting his chin in the water and almost getting it in his mouth.
Tonight, as usual, Carsten got his bucket of cold water. Almost immediately he bent down and got a big mouthful of cold water. He sat straight up and looked at me to see what I would do. Just as I started to say something, he spit it out on his own, but with very little force. The result was a large mouthful of almost-cold water running down his chest. He looked so shocked I just couldn't be too upset with him. And after all, he didn't break the rule. He just came
this close which is exactly what I would have done myself when I was his age.
You're a good kid, Carsten.
