The Longest Shortest Time

We Can’t Stop: Schmutzy Edition

I woke up this morning being hit on the head with a wooden mallet. A toy one, but still. I’ve been getting hit in the face a lot lately and it’s hard to know what to do. Most of the time I try to keep my cool and say things like, “No hitting people.” Or “That hurts.” Or “When you it me it makes me upset.” Sometimes it’s harder to keep my cool. Which usually makes Sasha laugh. My most effective reaction so far has been to say, “When you hit me I can’t play with you,” and walk away for a minute.

The mallet added a new dimension to the whole hitting thing and on top of that I haven’t slept in a couple days because Sasha has bronchitis and has been up coughing and generally moaning due to congestion and a high fever. So, y’know, one of those times when it was harder to keep my cool.

I decided it was super important today for both of us that I minimize her hitting opportunities. That meant reading. All day long. It was actually pretty nice because she was uncharacteristically content to snuggle in my bed, sitting still. But characteristically, she insisted that we read the same two books over and over. The snuggling was so nice, I didn’t mind. It was kind of fun to try to find new things to point out on the pages each go-round.

The first book, and probably her new favorite, is a recommendation that reader Emily George left in the comments on my last “We Can’t Stop Reading” post.

Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale followed us from room to room (even the bathroom!) all day and Sasha kept turning back to what she calls the “big whale” page—the one where the whale picks up the snail from her rock in the moonlight. I think Sasha might be whale-obsessed because we recently took a bus, through a tunnel, to NYC, where we rode a subway to get to the Museum of Natural History, to see dinosaurs with long tails up in the air . . . and a giant whale. A story she will gladly tell you repeatedly if you mention anything that reminds her of this trip.

The other book she wanted today was Gene Zion’s Harry the Dirty Dog.

Sasha is a kid who DOES NOT LIKE TO GET DIRTY. She prefers watercolors to finger paints; she makes me clean her hands multiple times throughout a meal; and the first thing she does after that meal is pull off a sock and pick schmutz off her toes with a look of disgust. Her very first attempt at a sentence was, “Dirty-dirty-dirty, mitz-mitz-mitz, wipah-wipah-wipah.” Translation: mitz=schmutz/wipah=wipe. I’m guessing she enjoys living vicariously through Harry, having all sorts of dirty adventures without having to endure the mitz.

So. Revised “We Can’t Stop Reading” list on the right.

Keep your recommendations coming. As you can see, I check them out. Also, I’d love to hear strategies any of you have employed when your child goes through a hitting phase.

P.S. For those of you keeping track, Grumpy Bird is totally off the list. Less than a month ago Sasha would practically never read anything else.