22 October 2007

Reason

Today Ella was singing a song she learnt at daycare. I don't know the song, but she sang it like this:

"Three cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mummy go to the doctor. Doctor goes no more jumping on the bed!"

Then she turned around to me and:
Ella - Mum, the monkey cannot jump on the bed anymore.
Me - Why not?
Ella - Because the doctor say no jumping on the bed.
Me - But why is he not allowed to jump on the bed?
Ella - Because the doctor say no.
Me - Why did he say no?
Ella - Because he did not want to say yes.

Perfectly logical, can't argue with that!

Sometimes these conversations actually do go my way. Like today at the shops.

Ella - Mum, can I have an icecream?
Me - No, not today.
Ella - But I want one!
Me - And I want lots and lots of money and black hair. (Thanks jeanie!)
Ella - But you don't have black hair!
Me - That's right! But I want it.
Ella - But you can't have it!
Me - Exactly! You can't always have what you want.

Touchee.

(I ended up buying her an icecream after all. Not because she kept asking, she didn't. It was just such a beautiful summer day that an icecream seemed to complement it perfectly. Sucker!)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Je kan je haar natuurlijk altijd zwart verven!
:-)

Neet said...

That's hilarious Lin!! Nice use of logic.
Dan says his mum always said "if you ask for it you can't have it"... and he says it was incredibly effective!

Lin said...

>Je kan je haar natuurlijk altijd zwart verven!
:-)

Ja, ik kon zo vlug niet op iets beters komen!

[For the English speakers, my sister commented that I could always dye my hair black. But I just couldn't think of something better so quickly.)

Jeanie told me she uses "I want world peace and skinny legs", but I cannot yet explain world peace to my nearly 3yo and I already have the skinny legs.

Neet, must try that one because these days I get "can I have this, can I have that" non-stop it seems.

Neet said...

BTW, I sing '3 cheeky monkeys' on almost a daily basis! I love my job!
There's also a version where the cheeky monkeys are swinging in the tree and teasing a crocodile, which subsequently eats them!

jeanie said...

Ha ha very cute Lin!

I really have always disliked the monkeys song - I think it is invented by parent-despising childcare workers insidiously to create as much mayhem as possible at home!!

I also wish for a million dollars!!