Bex in Moz

Single-minded? Not my son

Here is a glimpse into Joaquim’s character:

On Sunday, Joaquim and I were painting, and as usual he asked me to paint a plane, then the stairs and the people boarding (he identified them: Joaquim, Daddy). “With their bags,” he says, so I paint them in too. “Joaquim wants to get on a plane.” He gets up and fetches his gardening bag, complete with a few tools for building sandcastles. “Joaquim has his bag. Put shoes on.” I duly put his sandals on (him). “Joaquim is going to get on a plane.” He goes into the house and asks Paulo for a shirt, Paulo obliges. He comes out. “Joaquim is ready. Joaquim is going to get on a plane. Let’s go to the airport!” He gets into the car. “Let’s go to the airport!”

Despite our repeated attempts to persuade him that he wasn’t actually getting on a plane, he then spent the next fifteen minutes – at least – in the car, repeating his mantra very patiently and good-naturedly. His good friend Milan arrived to play with him (Milan is a year older than Joaquim and is his hero). Still he wouldn’t get out of the car. To Milan’s pleas that he come and play, he merely replied – what else? – “Joaquim is going to get on a plane”, and continued to sit in the car for at least another 20 minutes, alone. Finally, who knows why, he realised that perhaps he wasn’t going to get on a plane after all and came out to play, not mentioning it again for the rest of the day. He is two and a half; I take it it’s not going to get any better. God help us when he decides he wants a motorcycle/naked lady tattoo/pet tarantula.

posted by Rebecca @ 2:23 pm