Kids Say the Darnest Things

I recalled reading an article online somewhere detailing how many words a child will know and be able to say at what age. Now that Matty is turning 3, his skills in the department of language is undoubtfully doing well and deserves a distinction at times.

Some nights ago while getting dressed, Matty was getting cranky after a long day and was saying "no" to whatever we tell him to do. When I attempted to comb his hair for him, he retorted with "No... I don't want to comb my hair... I don't want to be cute". I was getting agitated with his constant "no-this" and "no-that"... but at that moment I burst into laughter.

Matty got into the phase of not wanting to brush his teeth yet again. I was trying to reason with him why he needs to just the other day:

Mummy: Matty, do you know why Gong-Gong's teeth dropped and he needs to wear dentures? That is because he doesn't brush his teeth before going to bed. Don't you think you don't look nice without teeth?
Matty: Mah-Mah has teeth.
Mummy: Yup... because she brushes her teeth. So do you want to brush your teeth?
Matty: I want to be a handsome boy

Expressing his feeling is what Matty is capable of doing these days. He had a quirky exchange with Mah-Mah weeks before when he told her that he doesn't want to be a big boy because big boys are not allowed to do alot of things (well we tell him that he is a big boy now and therefore he cannot be doing things like throw tantrums etc) and that he wanted to be a baby. But after Mah-Mah evaluated the pros of being a big boy, for instance going to the supermarket for shopping when little babies like Mei-Mei needs to take her afternoon nap and that only big boys can eat french fries... he pondered over it for a few minutes and declared that he wants to be a "big boy baby". He obviously wants his cake and eat it too.

Of course other than saying how he feels, Matty tells us what he wants us to do or buy. In anticipation of his upcoming birthday, he has been constantly reminding us every other day that he wants a Mickey Mouse on his cake. One night after watching the episode "Birthday Machine" in Little Einstein, he told Mummy that he wants a big birthday with a Mickey Mouse cake, hats for everybody and a blue schoolbag as present. I hope the list will stop growing. He is pretty long-winded for a 3-year kiddo - doodled on his doodle board on Sunday and came running to me showing off his masterpiece. It resembled a box and he explained that it was a present. I prompted him further and he clarified that it is his present and guess what is in the box... a blue schoolbag.

Matty has started to ask "why" and not just "what" and "where". But he does it in an unusual way unlike most children I know - he phrases it with "because?".