What's in their bag of tricks?

All of a sudden Claire can draw things that look like things! It started with an octopus with hair, then rainbows and, now, people!

I had no idea when to expect this. I pretty much don't know what sort of things older kids can do. The other day the neighbor boy who is 8-ish (yeah, can't gauge older kids' ages either) looked at me like I had two heads when I asked him if he could physically turn off the sprinkler. Apparently, that is something very easy for a child his age, but he still enjoys running through sprinklers with pre-schoolers, who knew?

Likewise, I have very little idea what sorts of tricks other people's kids can do even if they are at an age my kids have already been. I like to ask kids questions they can answer, not stump them. I was trying to get my nephew to do the animal noises he knew. Eventually, my sister-in-law said he knows wolf. That wouldn't be my first guess. I wouldn't expect an 18 month old to howl on demand until they have mastered all the barnyard animals. But, there's no order to this.

This week we visited my mom's school. To every question an adult posed to Macy, she would exuberantly respond, "I'm 2!" The girls talk about their age a lot. How old is MaMa? How old is DaDa? Seriously, I don't know how old my brother's girlfriend is. Do I guess? Ask my brother and get back to them? But, they aren't asked, "What's your name?" at home. (She eventually was able to tell them her name. Kinda freaky, though, two different people were "guessing" her name and said George.)


So apparently, this parenting gig doesn't provide one with many transferable skills. It basically is teaching me how to talk to my own kids. This is probably good since I couldn't handle more than the kids I got!