"I'm bored."

"I'm bored," the second most dreaded statement a parent wants to hear, preceded only by "I'm pregnant," and closely followed by "I'm a republican." But that is what I heard today from my precious bundle of puke. Since my self-esteem is at an all time low, it was not what I needed to hear. SS spouted that gem barely five minutes after P left. Great, only five minutes with me and the kid is bored stiff. Can't say I blame her.

We knew we would hear that statement eventually, and we probably annoyed our parents with the same complaint. But at three? SS has the attention span of a gnat, she is distracted by dust particles and shiny things. How could she be bored? This is way too early for us. The good thing about being only three is that SS is easily persuaded. That is, if it is done at the right time and in the right way. I told SS that she was not bored, that she just forgot that she was on her way to the train table to play. SS kissed me, said "thanks Mama," and made her way to the train table to amuse herself. That type of persuasion is not going to work long, but I take whatever little victory I can get.

To avoid another bout of boredom I engaged SS in some prewriting tasks. I thought the big pencil was going to help, but SS still has a strange grip on it. Although boys supposedly lag behind girls on dexterity, JJ was writing letters at three and a half. SS does not have the needed coordination and that worries me. We are going to work on her a little every day, not to overwhelm her, or worse, make her afraid of writing.

Blue tongue from Toy Story candy.