Thursday, May 21, 2009

Literal vs. Figurative

Moses loves to run. If he so much as hears the word, he gets in a tizzy about the prospect of running, and racing (or "waycing") is a common mode of bodily transportation around our house.

When we went to the park on a school day a couple weeks ago, Moses saw the kids from the nearby elementary running the mile around the park. That was all the motivation he needed. He said, "I run," and then took off from the playground to join their ranks. Milo and I followed close behind in the stroller. Moses ran his little legs off for 5 minutes and then stopped and walked with me and Milo. When another group of kids passed us a couple minutes later, he started running again--pumping his sweet little toddler arms. This time, he had some fans in the running elementary kids, and they cheered him on. He stopped a few minutes later after the kids out ran him and we walked back to the playground. That's how much he loves running.

I just need to remember that when I choose my verbs.

I had to go to the store for a few items yesterday morning so I told Moses that he had to get dressed. He grunted to let me know he wasn't going to make it easy so I said, "We just have to run to the store and we will come right back home." He was suddenly excited and didn't fight getting dressed. We went out to the car, but he said "run," took off towards the sidewalk, got in his runner's stance and said, "race." Oops. It was then I saw my error. I had to correct the misunderstanding and tell him that we weren't really running to the store but driving. He was not happy. I will have to choose my verbs more carefully from now on and consider the literal versus figurative ramifications.

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