Two Best Things
Every day, we send Lucy off to have her own life for 8-9 hours. It's the choice we've made, and it works for us. But occasionally it breaks my heart. Particularly when I ask her, "Lu, what did you do today?" And she mumbles, "I don't know" or "Nothing."
I don't know?! Nothing?! These are the sullen answers of a 12-year-old. Where is the enthusiasm? Where is the childish detail? Where is the information about her secret life?
Then I read something. Or heard it on NPR. Or Liz told me to do it. Whatever the source, this simple question has opened up a new pipeline of info from Lu: Tell me the Two Best Things That Happened to You Today. Actually the Internet/NPR/Liz said to ask about the two best AND worst things, but I thought I would start with the best and see how much information I could glean. The answer: a lot.
Since I have started asking the Two Best question a week ago, she has offered the following, among others:
"When we got to do stretching."
"When I got picked up by Alex's mom for a play date at her house."
"When we watered our tomato plants."
"When I got to go to the Farmer's Market with Laney."
"When we got ice cream with one piece of bubble gum in it."
"When we talked about the weather in Spanish. ¡Esta nublando!"
"When we got to blow up a bunch of balloons for Anesh, and Anesh's dad came to pick them up so he could bring them to Anesh at the hospital." This came today, and while we hope to soon find out what is wrong with Anesh, without the Two Things, I would not have known even this much. Get well, little man.
It's interesting how often she uses the phrase "got to," as in "allowed to," which explains how at the mercy of other people you are when you're four. She is at the mercy of me, her teachers, all adults. How sad for her. Meanwhile, I am at the mercy of THE MAN. THE LAW. THE PRICE OF GAS.
I would kill to be four. Her Two Best Things always beat mine.
I don't know?! Nothing?! These are the sullen answers of a 12-year-old. Where is the enthusiasm? Where is the childish detail? Where is the information about her secret life?
Then I read something. Or heard it on NPR. Or Liz told me to do it. Whatever the source, this simple question has opened up a new pipeline of info from Lu: Tell me the Two Best Things That Happened to You Today. Actually the Internet/NPR/Liz said to ask about the two best AND worst things, but I thought I would start with the best and see how much information I could glean. The answer: a lot.
Since I have started asking the Two Best question a week ago, she has offered the following, among others:
"When we got to do stretching."
"When I got picked up by Alex's mom for a play date at her house."
"When we watered our tomato plants."
"When I got to go to the Farmer's Market with Laney."
"When we got ice cream with one piece of bubble gum in it."
"When we talked about the weather in Spanish. ¡Esta nublando!"
"When we got to blow up a bunch of balloons for Anesh, and Anesh's dad came to pick them up so he could bring them to Anesh at the hospital." This came today, and while we hope to soon find out what is wrong with Anesh, without the Two Things, I would not have known even this much. Get well, little man.
It's interesting how often she uses the phrase "got to," as in "allowed to," which explains how at the mercy of other people you are when you're four. She is at the mercy of me, her teachers, all adults. How sad for her. Meanwhile, I am at the mercy of THE MAN. THE LAW. THE PRICE OF GAS.
I would kill to be four. Her Two Best Things always beat mine.
posted by Kate at 9:37 PM
2 Comments:
a girl on the radio was talking about playing this game with her niece during a weeklong visit to her sister's family's house. they did best & worst moments. she was really sad when her niece's 'worst' moment was, "when i asked aunt amy to go the pool and she said no."
she said she ended up spending the rest of the visit in the pool.
hopefully anash is OK! :)
Hi, I'm Maggie's friend Mary's mom Betty (whew!). I read your blog because I wanted to catch your description of Solomon's birth (which I loved), and then I got a little distracted over to this post (hope you don't mind). I just want to say Thank You for the idea of the Two Best Things. I'm definitely going to use it on my almost-13-year-old granddaughter who lives near Denver. She's not sullen, but she doesn't seem to know where to begin when I try to elicit information from her or just chat about her life. (I only see her once a year, so our email-and-phone communication is very important to me.) Maybe this will do the trick! Thanks again, wishing you and your family all the best.
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