One way preschoolers try to sort out their world is to talk to themselves. Many a time I’ve overheard my daughter trying to make sense of something, talking as though she is explaining an object to someone else. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to catch what she is saying…
Yesterday she was in my bathroom while I was putting clean sheets on the bed and I heard her say, “The doctor puts this in your mouth like this.” I peeked over my shoulder to see her holding my nail file to her mouth.
I took a step towards the door and she saw me; sometimes this makes her change her subject, but yesterday she stuck to her discussion, instructing me on how the doctor uses the nail file. “He puts it in your mouth like this and then he can check your heart,” she told me, very serious.
I stifled the laugh in my throat and took the nail file, observing it with new eyes. “You’re right,” I said. “This does look like what the doctor uses, but feel how rough this is? That’s so you can use it on your nails. You wouldn’t want something like this scratching your tongue; that’s why the doctor uses a tongue depressor instead…” I went on explaining what it was used for, trying to help her sort out this world she is learning about so quickly lately.
These are the moments that remind me of a child’s innocence and make me smile at the end of the day. They are also the ones that remind me how quickly they grow up.
