Dinosaurs and... State Capitols?

[lydamorehouse]

Okay, so I know that American kids seem to naturally go through a dinosaur phase, where they suddenly memorize (and pronounce!) every kind of dinosaur known to paleontologists.  Mason has completely gone into that phase.  We have dinosaur books, flash cards, encyclopedias, concertos, and coloring books.  Tyrannosaur is, of course, a big favorite.

 

But, here’s where my boy gets weird…. Lately, his obsession is states and state capitols.  Okay, we may have encouraged this by accident because we have one of those gigantic National Geographic maps of the United States pinned on the wall next to his top bunk.  Also, he and I have been playing a game where we try to spot license plates from around the US (see Other Me’s blog for details.)  However, he now pours over his map at night, begging us to show him where each state’s capitol is.  He also has a couple of puzzles that he insisted we buy (and what parent can say no to something so educational?) that show all the states, and, in one case, speaks the state capitols (yes, a talking puzzle.)

 

I also know that kids go through a phase where they’re afraid of the dark.  Mason is also there right now, and is generally so afraid of being left alone that I’ve been trying to force him to imprint on a stuffed animal.  I mean, yesterday it was so bad that when we were all grocery shopping and Shawn would go around the corner to the next aisle without us, Mason would burst into tears and start the classic, “Where’s my mommy!?  I want my mommy!”  Anyway, to combat this I’ve tried a number of things all of which, so far, have had limited success. 

 

First, the stuffed toy.  Since he’s been reading Calvin and Hobbes, I tried to show him that Calvin isn’t afraid of being alone because he always has his stuffed tiger.  We have a stuffed tiger, one my mother made for him, actually.  But, he fails to remember to bring the tiger with him, and he also told me that Hobbes is too friendly, and thus is no good at scaring away monsters.  So, I’ve tried the stuffed great white shark he has (courtesy our friends Ger and Barb) and that seems to work a bit better.

 

The other thing I tried in desperation has had some odd unintentional side-effects.  I tried to tell him that there was nothing to be afraid of when he’s alone because the Goddess is always with him.  I told him that when he’s scared he can talk to the Goddess.  Good idea, right?  Sure, except now he wants *me* to interact with him in character as the Goddess (talk about your pressure!)  This was especially strange this morning when Shawn was trying to get him dressed and he said, “No, I need to talk to the Goddess,” and I said, “You can talk to the Goddess inside Mama.  The Goddess is in everyone.”  “NO,” he wailed.  “I need Ima-Goddess!”

 

Weird.

 

The therapy bills are going to be astronomical.

Comments

[stephanieburgis.livejournal.com]

At least all that state capital-study will be helpful later in life - I'm completely geographically-impaired, and I still remember the trauma in middle school of failing every single test where we had to find the states and their capitals on the map... (My 6th-grade teacher was SO shocked by the result - I was his straight-A student! - that he actually offered to let me illegally re-take the test...which I then promptly failed again. I still can't do it!)

[naomikritzer]

Alas, he'll probably have forgotten them by the time he has to pass the test in 4th grade (or 6th grade, or whenever Minnesota kids are required to know their state capitals).

[lydamorehouse]

Well, as others have pointed out, he'll probably forget it all when he needs it too.

I also had to stay after school on the day of the state capitol test.

[(Anonymous)]

My brother went through this phase - every day for what seems now like a year, he would type out the states and capitals and other vital state information on a fresh sheet of paper, and memorize it, and pore over maps of the U.S. Later it was sports statistics, ad nauseum. Now he travels constantly to all the state capitals as a sportscaster. So, you never know. -CJD

[ashkta.livejournal.com]

Hm...I can sort of relate on the idea of the stuffed animals. And sometimes the type of animal makes a difference. I was a unicorn kid, myself, and I carried one around all during the day. But at night, for example, I *was* afraid of the dark. I thought things would materialize in the darkness or, because my bed was arranged in front of a window, that someone would crawl through and try to snatch me (didn't help that the shadow of the neighbor's awning looked like a creeping man). So I would always sit this one specific stuffed lion to look out the window. I was convinced that he would scare away any potentially bad things.

Strange reaction to the Goddess suggestion, though, I agree. Best of luck with it.

[lydamorehouse]

Tonight, the Goddess read him bedtime stories. I must admit I kind of like someone saying, "Oh, Goddess?" and getting to answer, "Why, yes?"

[naomikritzer]

Sure, except now he wants *me* to interact with him in character as the Goddess (talk about your pressure!)

ROFL.

I would say that regardless of your religious orientation, the religious education of small children never goes quite like it does in books, KWIM?

[lydamorehouse]

Yeah, although, like I said, at least SOMEONE calls me goddess! :-)

[davidlevine]

That is hilarious. I can *so* hear your voice when I read entries like this.

And I'm glad the shrimp turned up okay. Seriously.

[lydamorehouse]

*snort*

Yeah, and thanks for the compliments.

[tlmorganfield.livejournal.com]

Gaaron has a stuffed elephant, specifically Lumpy from Pooh's Heffalump Movie, and it's the only one that been on his bed consistantly since he was 6 months old. He doesn't carry it around (that's reserved for far cooler toys, like Spiderman or PowerRanger action figures), but he won't object to me tucking it next to him at night. On the whole, Gaaron's pretty fearless, except for one thing: we have some fake butterflies on a plant in our bathroom, and if you pick one up and move towards him in anyway, he will shriek. When Dana was that young, her fear was plastic frogs. And she did go through the afraid of the dark phase, and it's only been within the last year or so that she's moved away from it. For about two years she was sleeping with the lights on all night. Drove me nuts.

That's kind of funny about the Goddess. We're not a particularly religious family and only go to church on holidays with my hubby's parents, so the kids haven't had much exposure to religion. So the only explanation for the following is that Dana is hearing other kids at school talk about it. At Christmas, when we drive by Nativity scenes, she yells, "Look! It's baby God!" Then just a couple months ago, she asked me, "When did God die?" We talk about such misconceptions, though I'm really curious where she got that notion that God is dead--I was unaware I was raising a nihilist.

[lydamorehouse]

I don't think she's necessarily a nihilist (though I'm sure you don't either,) as someone brought up outside of the christian multiverse, I kind of get her reaction. Jesus was born a long time ago, it follows he died a long time ago too.