Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

No What?

Published by

Clarissa

on

Klara is in the “no” stage of her life. Everything is a no. She wakes up and the first thing she says is “No!” I say, “No what? I’m not offering anything.” So to preempt me, she now greets me in the morning with, “No what?” 

The second thing she does after waking up is look at my feet and say “Shoes!” She doesn’t like me to be barefoot. We have to go downstairs and pick out shoes for me before we do anything else. Then she picks out shoes for herself and it’s got to be the shoes that she chooses. She has no preference in clothes yet but she does in socks. Last week I put socks on her that didn’t match the outfit. She sat on the floor and refused to budge until I found socks that did match the outfit. How she figured out what matches and what doesn’t is a mystery. 

5 responses to “No What?”

  1. xykademiqz Avatar
    xykademiqz

    About matching: you don’t have to teach her. Some kids have what I presume is a highly developed aesthetic sense from the get go. She sees colors and shapes and feels strongly, in her gut, what beautiful is (or is not).

    My middle son is like that. In contrast to his father and brothers, who are of the “I wear whichever shirt is at the top of the clean-shirt pile with whichever pants are at the top of the clean-pants pile,” my middle son has always been very particular about what he wears. He likes shorts and pants in the same color, very specific about designs on shirts, etc. He also has excellent taste in general — when I need to go shopping for something where the appearance is important, e.g., a new wallet or the cover for my cell phone, I take him or ask his input because he has a great eye and sense of style and is always on point. He also takes excellent photographs and has done so since he was very little (he’s 10 now) — if I want a picture where I look good, it’s always one that he’s taken (whenever my husband takes a picture of me, I look like an ogre, in part because he thinks it’s hilarious to photograph me when I’m not looking — I guess I do look like an ogre IRL). BTW, before anyone asks, no, my son is not effeminate. He’s actually the most athletic of my boys and is very much into stereotypically male pursuits. He is also very bright and extremely strong-willed; he’s known what he wants since the moment he was born, and is a kid who fluently read at 4 because he taught himself, motivated to play older bro’s video games. He’s a wonderful and affectionate kid with strong emotions and a strong sense of justice.

    When you write about Klara, she sounds a lot like him. If so, you’re in for a fun ride!

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      My husband also takes hideous pictures of me, just hideous. He loves them, though. And I always ask, is this how you see me because eww.

      Like

      Reply
  2. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    Maybe Klara’s feet are sensitive? Also, you can look at your own feet more readily and more often than your outfit because you don’t need a mirror. As a little kid, your feet are more comfortably within her range of vision.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      My whole life people bug me about my habit of being barefoot so much. My parents, my husband. And now I have this little cutekin telling me to put on “sues”.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        In Florida I spent days with no footwear at all. Heaven.

        Like

        Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts