July 16, 2007 by Barbara.

We’ve been counting things with Reid lately, especially pointing to fingers as we count. I read somewhere that kids need to make a link between something concrete and the numbers that they are saying. Reid seems to have made a link but this link is directly tied to particular fingers.

This morning, Reid and I were “sharing” cereal, which is to say that she wanted to eat my Bran Flakes while I pretended to eat her iron-filled, cardboard Nutrios. Reid was also mooching instant oatmeal from her dad and so I asked for my cereal back. She held up a finger and I asked if that meant she would be taking one more bite. Instead Reid switched her hand to hold up all four fingers and her thumb and said, “The thumb is for you.” She then folded down the appropriate fingers with each of her next four bites. Each finger on the hand that was also supposed to be holding onto her spoon, that is. Reid met my suggestion that she count on the fingers of the other hand with a look of “stop that crazy talk” and she continued eating. Apparently only the right thumb was for me. Who knows who the left thumb was for!

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July 16, 2007 by Barbara.

On Saturday morning, we encountered a fly at breakfast and so I sang the “Shoo Fly” song. Until our most recent Kindermusik session, I knew only the “Shoo fly, don’t bother me” line. We learned the full song:

Shoo fly, don’t bother me
Shoo fly, don’t bother me
Shoo fly, don’t bother me
For I belong to somebody

I feel, I feel, I feel
I feel, I feel, I feel
I feel like a morning star
I feel, I feel, I feel
I feel, I feel, I feel
I feel like a morning star

Reid smiled and sang along. Every time Reid saw a fly, and several times when she didn’t, Reid sang the “I feel, I feel, I feel” lines over and over. She never got to the “like a morning star.” When there was actually a fly, she’d say, “go bug” but she didn’t sing the shoo fly lines, either. I tried a few times to get her to sing the full song or at least the part about the star in the second verse. Such attempts were rejected outright.

Not only do I have to deal with the songs that get stuck in my head, it seems I have to hear the ones that are stuck in Reid’s head, too.

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