Mommy Monday—gotta work on the math!

Sunday morning, husband is sick and barely able to talk. Oldest child has fed youngest child, so parents got to sleep an extra hour—as did MissyD, the 4yr old.

Usually, our daily routine begins with the youngest waking up the whole house, so to say that Sunday morning was a departure from that routine is an understatement!

When MissyD finally woke up, she crawled into my side of the bed and asked (in a whisper) if I could make her breakfast.

Of course I could, up she got and went straight to the dining room to wait for me to complete my morning business.  Once I got to the kitchen I realized that the oldest had already fed the youngest (hence the extra sleep) and left food for MissyD too.

Great!

MissyT is playing dollies quietly and I ask if she’d like some more raisin bread and maybe some milk.  At the same time I’m putting another slice in front of MissyD, cut in half.

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now?

Right away I hear “I wanted a whole piece mommy!”

OK, no problem, here’s a whole.  MissyT’s is cut in half, but she was still playing with her dolls and totally engrossed, so I got away with it.

Then I take the cut in half piece of bread and give each girl a slice.

Now in MissyD’s mind: her sister had three pieces on her plate, and she only has two.

You see where I’m going with this?

There were no tears, but the look on MissyD’s face said: “this is so wrong!”  No amount of reasoning would convince her that both plates had the same amount of food on them.  She sat there pouting, refusing to let me cut her “whole” piece.

Being the good mother I am I gave up and went to check e-mail.

Fifteen minutes later in comes MissyD asking if I could cut her bread in half.  Once the newly cut bread was in front of her, she did the plate comparison again.  Satisfied that she and her sister had the same amount she proceeded to eat, smile and chit-chat.

Ah, balance restored.

Then the MissyT finally makes it to the table—remember she’s two.  She proceeds to tell me that she already had one whole piece, now she’s having another whole piece and a half, for a grand total of two and a half pieces! (the child is beginning to scare me!)

MissyD  tells her that she’s having 3 halves, not a whole and a half.

Balance turned upside down, spun around and smacked on the ground.

“YES, Girls, you are both right!”

Blank looks given to mom.  Mom distracts kids with offer of chocolate milk.

Ah, balance restored….except for that little math thing….guess we missed teaching a child math…probably should do something about that….hmmm, think I could get the two year old to teach her older sister?