by Jennifer Cannon

Created on: September 06, 2008

Flies, Butts and Daydreams, Oh My!

As my eldest daughter prepares to embark on a new and exciting adventure in Kindergarten; one that officially marks the beginning of what we hope will be educationally and socially fulfilling (and continue for at least the next 17 years), I cannot help but reflect on the past five years and some of the lighter moments. My daughter is a great communicator (i.e., talker), which she no doubt inherited from me, her chatterbox of a mother. Most parents will agree that conversations with a toddler can be very entertaining and sometimes even insightful. The following are the top three revelations/anecdotes, courtesy of my beautiful girl, that I never want to forget:

FLIES

The flies had been particularly bothersome here in the east during the summer of '06. They were relentless in their attacks and packed an attention getting bite. This grated on the nerves and caused more than a few adults to openly express their annoyance, often in the presence of children, with little or no filter.
One day, after being outside for some good wholesome playtime with our friends, we were happily munching away on our lunch and talking about the possibility of naptime. At age 3, my daughter was still pretty good about this. She told me she would take a nap if I would read a particular story and then, between bites of her peanut butter sandwich, in her innocent 3 year old voice, said "Mommy, what's with these f-een flies?"
Needless to say what followed was a brief and calm conversation about how we really shouldn't say that word, that it is not a nice word, etc., etc. It was very hard not to laugh, but I was also shocked to have heard it come out of her mouth. I am happy to report that she has not said it again.

THE BUTT

During the potty training phase of our journey together, my daughter often accompanied me to the bathroom to see just what went on in there. Most moms know that when you have toddlers, you don't get a lot of privacy. On one such trip she had the following epiphany:

Her: "Mommy, know what?"

Me: "What honey?"

Her: "You never have to worry about falling in the toilet."

This was a serious personal safety issue for her at the time.

Me: "Really, why?"

Her: "Because yeeoouuuww have a Biiiiiggg BUTT!"

The beauty of being two and a half years old is that you are never aware that you might offend someone with your keen observation skills. To her this was pure logic. To me it was a gentle reminder to keep going to the gym!

DAYDREAMS

At age five my

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