It’s no news to us parents that our kids come out with not just gems, but startlingly perceptive comments that make us look at them in wonderment, or giggle (or more often than not a mixture of both).
And a single dad who knows this all too well has compiled a gorgeous book documenting the weird, wonderful and downright genius things his toddler daughter has said to him.
Raising his daughter Morgan by himself, Matthew Carroll had no one to turn to incredulously when his little girl said something that made him laugh, or think, so he decided to write her quotes down to share with family and friends, eventually compiling them into a book, Can I sit on your lap while you’re pooping?
“I had no one nearby the raise my eyebrows at, to whisper, ‘Holy crap did you hear that?’ whenever Morgan said something especially weird or bizarrely insightful. Instead I wrote down the things she said and shared them with family and friends. After a while it started to feel like this collection of quotes were valuable. Like a portrait, or a home movie, so I organised them into this book.”
And every parent can relate, whether it’s the delightfully weird: “Play me a harmonica song about a cat doing a back float” or the sweetly insightful “I’m going to get big and you will get small and I will carry you” or the one-point-given-for-logic-one-point-taken-for-lack-of-hygiene “It’s a good idea to pee in the swimming pool because you can’t see it”.
And of course the titular quote that basically sums up the hilarity of toddlers: “Can I sit on your lap while you’re pooping?”
“I don’t know what sort of woman Morgan will become,” says Matthew, but I hopefully that woman will one day read the things she said and A) She’ll forgive her dad for finding yet another way to embarrass her and B) recognize herself in the crazy amazing way she looked at the world when she was just starting to figure it all out.”
Love it! These two clearly share a very special bond.
What about you mums? What hilarious, weird or disconcerting gems have your kids come out with? Come on, let’s get a thread going here so we can laugh and laugh and laugh – and be a little scared.
