Roof Dog, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Headless Turkey

There is something about the holidays that really awakens the conversational skills of young children -- maybe it is the break from the ordinary routine into extraordinary activities -- but as a parent this time of year brings about many fun conversation with my kids and lets me get inside their heads. 

Now that my daughter, JavaGirl, is 3.5 she can tell you everything about Christmas and the Christmas season.  These are a few of the little gems she has been spouting lately:   

• Today is somebody's birthday, not mine, not yours, I don't know whose, but somebody's somewhere in the world.
• Jesus has two daddies. God and Joefesus.
• There are two Jesuses -- Baby Jesus and the Jesus who is not a baby. Roof Dog is the Red-Nosed Reindeer, he has a very shiny nose. His name is Roof Dog.
• Mrs. Claus is Santa Claus's Mommy!

Christmas, of course, is not the only holiday she is now an expert on, in November she let us know how much she learned about Thanksgiving in school -- all about the pilgrims and the American Indians.  But I'd really like to thank her preschool for doing such a thorough job of teaching her all about turkeys just before Thanksgiving; showing her lots and lots of pictures of live turkeys in the wild and teaching her about their beaks, their waddles, their wings and more.  Because when I asked her if she wanted to see the turkey before I put it into the oven (since we do a lot of cooking together) she enthusiastically said, "Yes!" and came running over and then said, "But where is his head?!"

Her brother never asked such a thing!

"Um, well, his head is... well, it's in the garbage can."

"Where?  What garbage can?"

"At the farm.  The farmer chopped off his head and puts it in the garbage can at the farm."  (When it comes to my kids, I have two defense mechanisms when it comes to these types of questions -- complex lies or the complete truth.)

"Oh!  What did he chop his head off with?"

"Um, well, it's called an ax.  I think he chopped his head off with an ax."

"Oh, what's an ax...."

Fast forward a few days and I notice that one of my turkey decorations is missing its head.  "JavaGirl, where is the turkey's head?"

"In the garbage can!  The farmer chopped off his head with an ax and put it in the garbage can." 

Now granted, the head had been a bit wobbly and it was partially decapitated to begin with, but... let's just hope they don't discuss turkeys at preschool again before Christmas break.  Other parents may not be so happy with her newfound knowledge.  I'm checking her show-and-tell bag each week to make sure there are no axes.  Or turkeys.  Or heads.

JavaGirl was my failure-to-thrive baby, she had many issues with taking in nutrition ranging from a suck-swallow problem to severe acid reflux and other issues.  All my worries about her developing infantile anorexia were for naught, however, as once she learned to eat solid food, she developed the appetite of a truck driver, even if she still maintains the metabolism of a supermodel.  So imagine my delight and merriment when she came home with the preschool collage that said, "I'm thankful for... FOOD!"

Food is something that is on her mind a lot these days.  She talks about it every time she sits down for lunch.  But it was today's monologue about milk that really got to me.  "I need milk.  It's good for my bones.  My toes are thirsty.  I have to drink milk so it goes down my throat, all the way down my tummy, down my legs, to my toes.  But just my big toes, not the little ones.  Only the big ones."

However, it was today, at the doctor's office, when I realized just how much my little girl has grown up.  When her favorite nurse-practitioner came in, she said, "I'm sick!  I'm coughing and coughing and I hurt.  But I don't want a shot!"  Frankly, I think she did a better job of describing her symptoms and her desired treatment plan than my husband did when he went in earlier this week and found out he had pneumonia!  From her failure-to-thrive days she's had far more doctor's appointments than a girl her age should, so she's well versed in the regular routine of the beeping thermometer, the cold stethoscope, and the tight blood pressure cuff and she's long known the name of each of those devices.  But today, she sat through a nebulizer treatment quite bravely, then brightened up afterward and told the nurse-practitioner, "Thanks, I feel much better now!"  With that, she hopped off the table, clutched her Roof Dog the Red-Nosed Reindeer toy, and was ready to head home, completely oblivious to her diagnosis of H1N1.

After all, it's dinnertime, and her toes are hungry.

This is an original DC Metro Moms Blog post.  Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/WilleeCole

When J.J. Newby aka JavaMom isn't closely listening to what JavaGirl and JavaBoy have to say, she's blogging at Caffeine And A Prayer.