If you have gone through the toddler stage you know they can easily discover a favorite book, song, show, toy, movie or a hundred other items and words. Then they are suddenly obsessed.
My four-year-old is passionate about a few things that cause me to lose my marbles (or the few I think I have left).
She honestly believes she can’t go to sleep without watching David and Goliath on her daddy’s iPad. Honestly, it’s pretty darn adorable. Only because I’m usually in the shower when she crawls in his lap and asks to watch it. I walk into the living room to nurse her and she’s repeating the story word for word while daddy is snoring.
This is the Greatest Show
I keep telling myself I’ll miss watching The Greatest Showman three times a day. I know how quickly they grow. But when you know every word to every song of the entire soundtrack, you know Toddler Repeat is your life.
Did I mention if it’s not on the TV, we are blasting it in the car? Yes, I was naive and purchased the whole album on iTunes. So when you see my car at the light, and a cute four-year-old is singing at the top of her lungs and mama is right on cue with her, please just look away and pray for Mom’s sanity. Seriously!
Lanky Honky Tonky Winky Wonky
Then there is The Wonky Donkey. “I was walking down the road and I saw a donkey, Hee Haw! And he only had three legs. He was a Wonkey Donkey.”
Of every single book in her room – she chooses this one to be read to her over and over and over.
But experts all agree this is healthy. It promotes stronger vocabulary and word recognition. Her pattern and rhythm of the text help her understand how words go together. As she ages, her confidence in reading will soar because she can sit down and read all about the spunky hanky panky cranky stinky dinky lanky honky tonky winky wonky donkey.
Her fluency and comprehension will grow stronger each time we repeat and repeat and repeat this silly book.
Death by Chocolate?
I never thought I would be saying this, but one can actually get tired of double fudge chocolate chunk walnut brownies. My daughters have all loved helping me in the kitchen. But my last is the most “helpful.” She can make brownies (from a box of course…can you even make brownies from scratch?) start to finish.
She cracks the eggs, adds the water and oil, and mixes with all her 32-pound body strength.
On the positive side of brownies every week, (it’s still hard to believe there is a downside, but one can grow sick of them) she’s learning fractions. She knows numbers and the process of how some things work. And when company stops by, there are brownies!
Mamas, I know kids on repeat seems like a life sentence, but rest assured it’s actually healthy for their development AND totally normal.
If you find yourself dreaming of whatever your child is currently obsessed with, know it’s a phase. Yes, one you think will never pass, but it does.
So have that dance party when the music plays, read their favorite book for the 800th time like it’s the first time, and throw an extra two or three brownie mixes in your basket next time you’re in Wal-Mart.
Embrace the moments you get to watch your child on repeat. Remember it is a powerful part of your tiny human’s life.