We are taking a bunch of vacations this summer, venturing out of our cocoon and spending wonderful times with friends and family. Slightly confusing for B as "extended family" is a tough concept for a 3.5 year old and B was getting a little stressed...but we found a solution this weekend end that works for us right now.
1."Family" is Mommy, Daddy, and B
2. "Relatives" are grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
3. "Friends" are other people who are close to us
There are a few childhood friends that kind of fall between friends and relatives, but for the most part these categories are pretty cut and dry. B totally gets this and thinks it is super fun to say "Baby V is my cousin, she's a rel-a-tive", etc. I could see it click in his mind and am so glad that he's starting to understand this!
B's new favorite game (right up there with "mommy and daddy will be stayin' right there") is for us to say:
"Is Baby V my son?"
"No"
"Is Finny my son?"
"No"
"Is Graham my son?"
"No"
(and so on and so forth using any child we have ever met)
His grin gets bigger and bigger and his giggles higher and higher pitched until the whole thing culminates in:
"Is B my son?" and he throws himself onto the ground and then into my arms, laughing hysterically but very relaxed and with a huge grin and sparking eyes.
Yay!
Later this week I'll start uploading some really cute vacation pics. The past week was B's first time swimming (in 2 pools and a big lake). He LOVES it! Throw in some watermelon, hot dogs, homemade frozen yogurt, corn on the cob, fresh blueberries (all of which we've had in the last week), and an upcoming trip to the beach and a fair, and that's the pretty awesome all-american summer we have planned. I keep thinking: "wow, it feels like such a long time since it's been summer", and "I don't remember when the last time I wore this [article of summer clothing] was" and then I remembered...right, I spent ALL of last summer in Ethiopia:-)
1."Family" is Mommy, Daddy, and B
2. "Relatives" are grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
3. "Friends" are other people who are close to us
There are a few childhood friends that kind of fall between friends and relatives, but for the most part these categories are pretty cut and dry. B totally gets this and thinks it is super fun to say "Baby V is my cousin, she's a rel-a-tive", etc. I could see it click in his mind and am so glad that he's starting to understand this!
B's new favorite game (right up there with "mommy and daddy will be stayin' right there") is for us to say:
"Is Baby V my son?"
"No"
"Is Finny my son?"
"No"
"Is Graham my son?"
"No"
(and so on and so forth using any child we have ever met)
His grin gets bigger and bigger and his giggles higher and higher pitched until the whole thing culminates in:
"Is B my son?" and he throws himself onto the ground and then into my arms, laughing hysterically but very relaxed and with a huge grin and sparking eyes.
Yay!
Later this week I'll start uploading some really cute vacation pics. The past week was B's first time swimming (in 2 pools and a big lake). He LOVES it! Throw in some watermelon, hot dogs, homemade frozen yogurt, corn on the cob, fresh blueberries (all of which we've had in the last week), and an upcoming trip to the beach and a fair, and that's the pretty awesome all-american summer we have planned. I keep thinking: "wow, it feels like such a long time since it's been summer", and "I don't remember when the last time I wore this [article of summer clothing] was" and then I remembered...right, I spent ALL of last summer in Ethiopia:-)
that is a fantastic idea of how to explain the difference between family/relatives/friends.
ReplyDeleteAND, love the cute little game
ReplyDelete