An Urgent Matter

One of the funniest things about a three-year-old is the urgency they feel about absolutely everything. There’s no differentiation between things that matter and things that don’t. Everything matters. I was thinking and chuckling about this yesterday when Lucia left the lunch table to go to the bathroom. Here was her monologue, delivered in a loud, frantic voice as she sat on the potty:

“Mommy! Mommy. Don’t eat my sandwich. Don’t let Greta eat my lunch. That was a lot of pee-pee! That was close. Mama—the toilet paper is almost gone! I need my blankie! I have a stuffy nose! Don’t eat my sandwich! Can I have more pear? Watch Greta so she doesn’t eat all the pear! Mommy! I’m finished! I didn’t wash hands! I’m still hungry! I will check one thing and be right back to sit down!”

This is pretty much her pitch for most of each day. Just all-out, all-in investment in minutia. She just urgently delivered a speck of dust to me at my desk (this is Quiet Time) so I could throw it away.