[blparent] Beware those sharp little eyes!

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

Hi.  For any of you moms who have little ones starting to run around and get into things, I thought I'd warn you about something I just learned the hard way.  *Smile.*  They'll see everything, especially what you don't want them to, and they'll remember.  They're smarter than we give them credit for.

I bought Sarah the Little People school bus because she's really into buses and planes and the like right now.  The package came from Amazon while she was at preschool about a month ago, and I threw the boxes in the recycling bin and hid the toy at the top of my closet, thinking I was pretty slick.  Well, she saw part of a picture on one box sticking out of the bin.  She asked about it, and I glossed over it.  We moved on, and I thought she'd forgotten about the bus.

So this morning, I went to get a shirt from the closet, and Sarah wandered in behind me.  All at once, she started jumping up and down, saying, "I see it!  Up there!  The bus toy really is here!  I want that bus toy!"

I guess I didn't hide it well enough.  She saw the box peeking out from under a blanket on a high shelf and remembered the picture from the recycling bin.  She had a bit of a meltdown because she knew the toy was there, but I wouldn't get it off the shelf for her.  I couldn't really explain why, either.  Now Santa Claus can't bring that toy to her, either, because it'll blow his cover.  I'll have to give it to her from Mom and Dad, or maybe from her brother Stephen.  Anyway, my point is, when I was a kid, my family could (and did) wrap my presents right in front of me.  But obviously, blind parents of sighted kids have to be very careful about these things.

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist