conversations with a three-year-old.

One afternoon a week, I help out a family from church.  With five fairly young kids and a house renovation underway, you can understand their need for an extra set of hands to clean and cook.  On Thursday, I was cleaning the oven (which is a task I actually enjoy, weird as that is), and the family’s three-year old girl wanted to keep me company.  So, she climbed all over the kitchen chairs while I had my head in the oven, and told me all sorts of things (some intelligible, others, well, not so much.)

On animals:

I asked her, “What’s your favorite animal?” as Cookie, the loveable family dog, walked by. 

She said, “Hmm.  I can’t decide.  I like all animals, but I don’t like dragons.  My brothers actually LIKE them.”

I replied, “I don’t like dragons, either.”

On Jello:

I asked what kind of Jello she liked (what color), and mentioned that green was my favorite. 

“Well, pink and red jello are my favorites.  Green Jello isn’t good for little girls. “

“Why is that?”

“One time, we had a lot of people over, and there was a bowl of green jello on the table before dinner started.  I wanted to taste it, so I took some and put the spoon back in the bowl.  Then my mom had to put more in the bowl and I couldn’t have any after supper.”

(I have a feeling it may have had to do more with the licked spoon, and not the color of the Jello.  Maybe that’s just my interpretation.)

On cousins:

“Our cousins know how to make things that we don’t know about.  All sorts of things”

And. lastly, on gifts:

“We saw this toy at our cousins’ house and took it because we liked it. “

Her mom pipes in, “No, remember, our cousins gave that to the baby as her Christmas gift.”

Giving, taking, it’s all the same.