Parenting off-the-cuff

Lately, QQ's advances have been coming so thick and fast that I often find myself bobbing helplessly in her wake. We were drifting peacefully for so long, allowing her to have the relaxed, pressure-free, laid-back babyhood she never had, that I've had to smack myself in the face a few times in order to wake up and get myself back in parenting gear. She is dusting me at every turn these days. She learns new signs faster than I can get my rusty brain to remember them. When she needs to say something, but doesn't know the sign for it, I can see her hands furiously fluttering and shaping invisible thoughts in the air, trying to conjure up a sign with which to express what she wants to say. Obviously, we need to step it up a notch or three.

So, a week or so ago during her bath, I was letting my mind wander and trying to think up new things with which to challenge her. What does she not yet know, I pondered? And then it hit me...colors! We haven't really hit on colors yet.

So I started sorting the toys in her tub by color. I'd say the color out loud, and then match it up with another toy of the same color, lining them up in a group on the side of the tub. I'd wind up with a purple group, a green group, a blue group....And QQ seemed to love it.

Though she did not, in fact, seem to be grasping the concept. She'd imitate me by pointing to different objects in the water, but the objects she pointed to were not in any particular color group. Oh well, I though - maybe it's too soon. I'll just keep doing it every bath-time, and see when she catches on.

With a sigh, I started sweeping the color groups back into the tub, one at a time: green, blue, purple.... Suddenly, as I said "purple"and swept the purple group off the side of the tub, she grabbed a shampoo bottle out of the water and held it up to me very deliberately with a grin on her face.

"No, baby," I said gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "That's not purple. It's green."

And then she turned the bottle around, and pointed to its label.

On the label was a bouquet...of purple flowers.

I almost passed out.

So, needless to say, color grouping has become a big part of our lives lately.