Sweet Memories Friday: A Curious Toddler

Do you remember being a curious kid? Wanting to know everything? Having a question every five minutes? I do, and Toddler has the bug, too. I like that she’s eager to learn, and I like teaching her things.

This past Wednesday was National Trivia Day, and I told her over breakfast what trivia is and also told her a trivia fact. I said that the first president of America was George Washington. We talked about it briefly, but then at dinner I asked who our first president was … and got a blank stare in return. I didn’t expect her to remember, but she does surprise me with an excellent memory sometimes.

So, I prompted her and said, “George …”

Nothing.

“George … Wash … ing-…”

Toddler’s face then lit up and she exclaimed, “Machine! Washing machine!” 

We all cracked up! Good word association, but we’ll work on the trivia aspect later. She’s only 3, after all.

(Though if we’d asked trivia on Sofia the First or Cinderella, she’d have earned a gold medal.)

But I was thinking about her mind and realized she really is curious. That afternoon I’d pointed out the waxing crescent moon overhead and said it’s a half moon, or about half full. She looked up at it for a few seconds, then asked, “When is it going to be an all the way moon? A big circle moon?”

“A full moon?” I asked. “In about a week. It takes two weeks for the moon to go from nothing to a full moon, and then it’s another two weeks to go from a full moon to nothing.”

She nodded, and I thought it went over her head, but I realized she really is absorbing these facts about our world I’m telling her. She’s starting to understand the phases of the moon – she showed me she gets that it changes from being a thin crescent to a half moon to a full moon. And that’s pretty cool!

It is sinking in!

I hope she never loses the curiosity and love of learning. It’s our job as parents to feed this desire of theirs. So this sweet memory is me feeling my toddler’s curious spirit and remembering to keep encouraging her – and forever answer her questions, even if it’s “Why?” all day long.