Why not others

Recently, Tahlia has been fascinated by things happening to other people. She is struggling with the idea the something can happen to somebody else, and it doesn't happen to everyone.

Here is a situation that happens often.

We are eating dinner and Suki steps on somebody's foot. Yes, Suki shouldn't be in the dining room when we're eating dinner. When she is in the dining room and begins moving around, she immediately begins to knock into people and furniture. This makes the meal go from pleasing to distasteful and usually leads to one of the adults in the family sternly asking Suki to leave. And yes, "sternly asking" is a euphemism.

Once moving around, and once the foot is stomped, there usually is a gasp and an exclamation concerning the location off Suki. Usually she just leaves and that, sans the pain that resides in the foot, ends the situation.

But today, Tahlia asked, "Why Tahlia and Daddy and Asher's foot not hurt?"

Mommy's answer addressed how she guessed it was because the big black dog's massive paw had only landed on her foot.

But this was not the only occasion. If somebody trips over something, she questions why it doesn't happen to everyone. If somebody knocks into something, again, the questioning. When you are in a house with two very sleep deprived people, a two year old toddler, and a large dog who acts as if she is not ten but two, there are a plethora of incidents concerning injury.

I'm fascinated to see her little mind struggle with the idea of self and others.

I'm also glad that we don't have a bigger family.

"Why Tahlia and Daddy and Asher and . . . and . . . and . . . . not hurt?"